On the Prospect of Death: Baha'i Responses

One of the umpteen different searches that brings visitors to Baha'i Views is to enquire about Baha'i beliefs about death. Here is an excerpt from a newspaper article in which two Baha'is shared their personal views on the prospect of death. -gw

...we asked people of various faiths: “If you knew you had only one month to live, how would you live your life? Would you live your life differently than you are now?” ...

Melissa Higgins of Independence, a Baha’i, said she hadn’t feared death until she had children — and even then it wasn’t a fear of death so much as a fear of leaving them motherless.

“I imagine I would be bolder about sharing my faith,” she said. “I imagine at the grocery store checkout, telling the cashiers I’ve been acquainted with for years and years, ‘I’ve got 26 days left before I go to meet my Maker. I want to tell you about the Baha’i faith. It’ll change your life. Here’s a little book and my number.’ Why not?”

Another Baha’i, Barb McAtee of Overland Park, said she would praise God for her life, thank God for the life to come, and pray for guidance to finish the work she was put here to accomplish.

“I would review my will and testament,” she said. “It is a law of the Baha’i faith that each person should write one.

“I would contact family and friends, convey to them my deepest love for them. I would ask them to forgive me for any way I might have hurt them. Likewise, I would assure them of my total forgiveness of them.”

"If your days were numbered, would you live your life differently?"
By HELEN T GRAY
The Kansas City Star 02/08/2008
reposted on http://www.mindfulnesskc.com/2008/03/if-your-days-we.html
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Photo: "Palm trees at the Baha'i cemetary in Haifa," uploaded on July 4, 2007 by Sholeh on flickr, licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 2.0 Generic}