The Godless Say There Is No Other Life

Hi! and happy TGIF to all of us, GUYS.  Our "daily bread" this Friday:

THE GOOD NEWS (11 March 2016)

"Led by mistaken reasons they think, 'Life is short and sad and there is no cure for death.  It was never heard that anyone came back from the netherworld.

By chance we were born; when life is over, it will be as if we never existed.  The breath in our nostrils is like a puff of smoke, and thought is no more than a spark resulting from the movement of the heart.  Put this out and the body turns to ashes, the spirit melts away like idle air.

In time our name will be forgotten, no one will remember what we did.  Life passes like the shadow of a cloud, disappears like mist chased by the sun and overpowered by its heat.  Our days are like the passing of a shadow; from death there is no turning back, the seal is set: no one returns.

Come then and enjoy all the good things; let us use creation with the zest of youth, making the most of choicest wines and perfumes and not passing by any flower of spring.  Let us crown ourselves with rosebuds before they fade.

Let everyone take part in our orgy; let us post everywhere the signs of our joy, for that is our due, the lot assigned to us.

Let us oppress the upright man who is poor, and have no thought for the widow, or respect for the white hair of old age.

Let our strength be our right, since it is proved that weakness is useless.  Let us set a trap for the righteous, for he annoys us and opposes our way of life; he reproaches us for our breaches of the Law and accuses us of being false to our upbringing.

He claims knowledge of GOD and calls himself son of the LORD.  He has become a reproach to our way of thinking; even to meet him is burdensome to us.  He does not live like others and behaves strangely.

According to him we have low standards, so he keeps aloof from us as if we were unclean.  He emphasizes the happy end of the righteous and boasts of having GOD as father.

Let us see the truth of what he says and find out what his end will be.  If the righteous is a son of GOD, GOD will defend him and deliver him from his adversaries.

Let us humble and torture him to prove his self-control and test his patience.  When we have condemned him to a shameful death, we may test his words.'

This is the way they reason, but they are mistaken, blinded by their malice.  They do not know the mysteries of GOD nor do they hope for the reward of a holy life; they do not believe that the blameless will be recompensed." - Wisdom 2:1-22 

(By chance we were born.  The "impious," meaning those who have freed themselves from the Law of GOD and their conscience, are friends of death since they do not know true life.  For them wisdom consists in profiting from life: let us enjoy the good things now.

Let us see the truth of what he says.  Because the godless are the friends of death, they necessarily come to persecute and even kill  the good.  For them it is like a game to prove to what extent the righteous can remain firm, since they themselves believe in nothing.  They need to destroy others to convince themselves that they alone benefit from life.

If  the righteous is a son of GOD, GOD will defend him.  The words in 2:16-20 reveal the situation of JESUS on the cross.

This is also verified in the lives of real believers, a scandal to a materialist who enjoys inflicting suffering on those who make sacrifices for others.  We have seen comfortable "Christians" rejoicing over the death of those who speak of justice and who, by their involvement, disturb the conscience of the satisfied.

The mentality of the godless who do not believe in the hereafter is, in some way, very much like that of the society in which we live.  Let us set a trap for the righteous for he opposes our way of life.  Secretly we all admire an upright person, but in any institution, her presence disturbs us - in the unions just as in the factories - because we cannot buy her conscience.

He does not live like others and behaves strangely.  When this was written the Jews were  not well-thought-of by pagans because of all the things in their lives that were different from the pagan customs.  The same is true now, as well; even though believers try not to be distinct, their integrity and enthusiasm make them "strange."

Those who stand with death experience death.  Those who do evil begin to experience death.  There is a physical wearing down caused by vice [alcoholism, licentiousness], but there is an even greater deterioration of enthusiasm, generosity and trust.  "He who sows in the flesh will reap from it corruption and death" [Galatians 6:8]. 

The text considers what JESUS will do; that behind a mass of evils that tear humanity, and behind our disbelief there is a presence of  "the Enemy.")