Good Questions: Praising God and Life After Death

Praising God

Dear Dr. Tom: How do I praise God in a way that glorifies His Holy Name and returns spiritual blessings to me? 

—Praise Warrior, Atlanta, Georgia 

Dear Warrior: The question suggests you are a traditional Christian who is profoundly devoted to the faith. Let me offer a rambling answer as a Unity person who grew up in a mainline Protestant church; studied at three different theological seminaries, and has deep appreciation for all people who want to enhance their spiritual life. 

First, the “how do I” part. Praise is only part of a complete prayer experience. Some Christian denominations publish optional guidelines for individual and group prayer which follow the ACTS formula: Adoration, Confession, Thanksgiving, and Supplication. Here’s a bullet summary. 

1) Adoration includes praise. This can mean rejoicing in the grandeur of the Universe and celebrating divine order, which expresses in ever-renewing, glorious diversity. The Christian doxology (“Praise God from whom all blessings flow …”) is a classical example of adoration. 

2) Confession allows an opportunity to face our shortcomings and offer them to an all-forgiving God. Unity people might follow such recognition of human limitations by blessing, releasing and forgiving others, knowing that divine love can hold no grudges. 

3) Thanksgiving expresses appreciation for all the good we have received and will receive in the future. 

4) Supplication usually means asking God to extend special care to persons, circumstances, and relationships in need. Healing, relief from suffering and natural disasters; world peace and prosperity, harmony in our personal lives and among God’s children—such concerns for others are often raised in this outward-looking prayer. 

Now let’s consider a few unspoken issues about prayer, which I suspect many readers of my “Good Question” column have been mulling while deciding whether to skip this answer in its entirety. Why praise God at all? Does God require our approval before deciding to allow the sun to rise each day? Some ancient people believed morning sacrifices literally coaxed an unseen sky-power to release the flat earth from the dark grip of night. 

That worldview has faded with the advance of scientific discovery, but the fundamental question remains. Why ask for special blessings from the Divine? Wouldn’t an all-loving, all-powerful, divine Father-Mother provide for us like any good parent? 

Some have said that God—however the word is understood—doesn’t need our praise and prayer, but we need to give them. Methodist founder John Wesley is credited with saying prayer is “not just a means of petitioning for needs, but a way to cultivate a loving relationship with God.” 

From ancient times, humans have needed to speak our joy of life aloud. Whether God in heaven looks “down” upon me when I gaze up at the starlit “heavens,” I certainly feel a Divine Presence in the unfolding cosmos. I need to whisper, “thank-you,” to the Universe. 

Like I said, just some rambling thoughts. Religion is highly personal. I hope you find an expression of prayer which fits your world. 

Life After Death

Dear Dr. Tom: What do you think about life after death? Do you believe in heaven, hell, reincarnation, absorption into God, or extinction and oblivion? 

—Getting Older in Florida 

Dear Florida: Since I’m getting older in Arizona—the other great retirement destination for winter-phobic Americans—the question about what comes next has crossed my mind recently. And the answer seems less abstract and more important with each passing year. 

Since we’re all going to die some distant day, it’s also an existential question bound to get me into trouble with almost everybody. Like the grouchy church member said about the young pastor whose sermon was about tithing, “Now you’ve quit preaching and gone to meddling!” 

So, let’s meddle with eternity. First, there is no conclusive evidence about what happens after physical death. Despite the libraries of books, commentaries, firsthand reports and arcane manuscripts, it remains an unsolved mystery. Certainly, there are tantalizing stories and anecdotal accounts, East and West, about some form of postmortem survival. 

Reincarnationists will point to complex memories about previous lives, but Buddhists say the personal soul itself does not survive, which would contradict the central Buddhist doctrine of impermanence. It’s a complicated metaphysical question that has kept gurus and spiritual guides gainfully employed for millennia. 

There is also the “Near Death Experience,” first popularized in 1975 by Dr. Raymond Moody, who has been called the father of the modern NDE movement. In his best-selling book Life After Life, Moody sampled 100 case studies of people who had returned to consciousness after dying in clinical settings. When revived, they told amazingly similar stories. Many encountered loved ones at a barrier who sent them back to life. Some recalled floating over their bodies to the ceiling in the hospital room. The vivid events repeated for the NDE patients, but not everyone had exactly the same experiences. Even so, enough similarities occurred to suggest something comparable had happened to them. 

One caveat. The people Moody studied experienced clinical death, measured by no pulse or breathing. None suffered brain death, which is the expiration of cerebral tissue causing all brain functions to cease irreversibly. Nevertheless, similarities of NDE encounters remain an unexplained medical conundrum. 

I wish I had a simple answer. There are breadcrumbs, but no bakery. Benjamin Franklin, a Unitarian who believed in God, was asked he views about eternity in the twilight of his life. The wise old rascal refused comment, saying he would discover the answer firsthand soon enough. 

Standby, Ben. We’re on our way.