1 Corinthians 15:55 - "O Death, where is your sting? O Hades, where is your victory?"

Just last week, as I was on the train with Joel, I had a particular discussion with him - it pertained to faith, and if one could truly be sure of our eternal security, or even the existence of God for that matter.

What would happen to us when we pass on? Do we return to ashes and nothing more? Do we enter an eternal realm of bliss? Or do we pass into eternal torment because all that we had lived for wasn't true - these were all questions that often occurred in my head, even as I profess to believing in God.

Kierkegaard coined the notion of leaping to faith, where the act of faith is born out of faith.

Personally, I do not believe that one can be fully convinced when it comes to religion - we do live in a fallen world. I will never be fully certain about the truth of God - it is simply a fact that this life is one defined by uncertainty (rather ironically of course). Yet it is truly remarkable that in every aspect of our lives, suggestions of His existence and grace are plentiful - should we choose to interpret them as such.

Reading the Daily Bread (October 15) sometime this week, I came across an interesting perspective on a familiar verse (Psalm 23). It hovered on how death was merely a transitory period into the afterlife, and suggested that the "darkest valley" of that psalm be viewed as so. I've always thought of that as merely a metaphor for the trials and pains of life, not the final frontier.

And sometime this week, Newsweek published an excerpt from a book published by a neurosurgeon entitled Proof of Heaven: A Doctor's Experience with the Afterlife. While it was replete with seemingly cliched images of the afterlife (think fluffy clouds, gleaming crystal etc.), I'd like to think that it was placed in an issue of Newsweek that I had access to for a reason.

I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief!