will i see him again??

[stevie1time]

When i was 11 years old,my 5 year old nephew was killed,he was run over and suffered massive injuries and his machine had to be switched off,at the time i didnt really understand death,i was just a kid myself,but over the last 24 years i know exactly what death is,i struggle everytime i even think of him,what makes it harder is that my brothers only son had spent all day with his grandad and family in a house of god,he'd spent all day in Church only to be run over and killed outside as he left to go home,this devastated our family,the majority of the family turned their back on god and faith,its simple what sort of god would do or allow such a thing to happen,if he's meant to be all powerful?,maybe a god that dosent exist,only in the minds of the weak. But if i am honest, i dont know what to believe anymore,apart from ONE thing,i really hope there is something,because i want to believe,i want to believe that when i die,i will see him again,so i can tell him how much i love and have missed him...

[luna-tic]

stevie, firstly my heart goes out to you and your family for such a tragedy and the pain and sorrow you must all have gone through and still experiencing even now.
No one can really say exactly what will be encountered on the otherside. Whether you have a strong belief in a God or not I don't think will determine what and how certain events will unfold in your life apart from the physical and emotional comfort you may receive from a belief and others who do the same.
This may sound contradictory to people who follow certain religions but I do believe in a afterlife or dimension or whatever it may be called; Has that got anything to do with religious practices? I don't know but I believe everytime you remember your nephew then this is telling him that you love him.
I don't know if this has helped stevie?

[naomi24]

Hello Stevie, I don't believe in the biblical god, but I do believe the soul survives death. Death is a part of life and is just a step into the next phase of our lives. Our physical bodies may be rendered useless, but we're not dead. There's a lot more to nature than we can ever imagine - and none of it has anything to do with earthly man-made religion and all the hocus-pocus that involves. Your nephew already knows how much you love and miss him. Don't worry, you'll see him again.

[Theland]

Please allow me to echo the sympathetic sentiments expressed in the posts above.
I believe that God promises us joy beyond anything we could possibly imagine, and if that includes our hearts desire to see loved ones again, then I can see no reason why a loving God would deny us that, in a place where he promises to wipe away every tear.

[Lonnie]

Hi stevie1time,
I can't tell you how much I feel for you amd your family, you all have my deepest, heartfelt thoughts, Hope you don't mind, I have a true story which may help.

In 1964, I had a brother, four years old, he managed to open the front door, ran into the street, got ran over and killed, Where I started asking questions about God, my parents faith in God was unshakeable, they always believed they would see him again in heaven, I was at my mothers side when she passed away, and with her last breath, she held her arms out, and called his name.

I like to believe that he had come to escort her to heaven.

If you want to believe, i'd say find a Church, and talk to the Vicar/Pastor, or whoever is in charge, and have a talk with them, I personally, am not a believer, but I do know, that these places can give comfort and hope.

I wish you and you family all the best in the future, and I sincerely hope you find what your looking for.

[pugwashjw]

Yes. But on the following conditions.
1. Providing you yourself survive Armageddon. Then you will still be alive to see him resurrected, as promised at
(Revelation 20:12-13) And I saw the dead, the great and the small, standing before the throne, and scrolls were opened. But another scroll was opened; it is the scroll of life. And the dead were judged out of those things written in the scrolls according to their deeds. 13�And the sea gave up those dead in it, and death and Ha′des gave up those dead in them, and they were judged individually according to their deeds.

And just WHERE are the dead until then?
(Ecclesiastes 9:5-6) For the living are conscious that they will die; but as for the dead, they are conscious of nothing at all, neither do they anymore have wages, because the remembrance of them has been forgotten. 6�Also, their love and their hate and their jealousy have already perished, and they have no portion anymore to time indefinite in anything that has to be done under the sun.

They are 'asleep' in death, doing nothing,

[jenstar]

I think you really just have to accept that there's no good evidence for life after death and that's tough but it's just the way it is. Sure, death isn't ideal but clinging on to a superstitious belief in an afterlife isn't going to change the fact. I really don't know how you rehabilitate someone who's clinging to religious belief like an alcoholic to the bottle, but somehow you need to let go and admit to yourself that you aren't going to see him again. And then even if the extremely unlikely is true and there is an afterlife it'll be a nice surprise and you won't have spent your whole life worrying about it.

[WaldoMcFroog]

As an athiest, I've always found the following to be good advice. It was written about the Estonian Ferry disaster, but it applies perfectly well to the loss of any loved one.

Perhaps it may strike a chord with you too.

-------------------

Through your veins and your bones
Telling you no not this way, not this way, not this way
And you would give anything
Give up everything
Offer your life blood away
For yesterday

No one leaves you
When you live in their heart and mind
And no one dies
They just move to the other side
When we're gone
Watch the world simply carry on
We live on laughing and in no pain
We'll stay and be happy
With those who have loved us today

Finding the answer
It's a human obsession
But you might as well talk to the stones and the trees and the sea
'Cause nobody knows
And so few can see
There's only beauty and caring and truth beyond darkness

No one leaves you
When you live in their heart and mind
And no one dies
They just move to the other side
When we're gone
Watch the world simply carry on
We live on laughing and in no pain
We'll stay and be happy
With those who have loved us today

And we won't understand your grief
Because time is illusion
As this watery world spins around
This timeless sun
Will dry your eyes
And calm your mind

No one leaves you
When you live in their heart and mind
And no one dies
They just move to the other side
When we're gone
Watch the world simply carry on
It's okay, we will stay and be happy
Stay and be happy
With those who have loved us today

[wizard69]

Pugwash...this is a genuine question, what is the J.W's teaching regarding children that die? Will they be in God's kingdom or will they be "asleep" (for want of a better euphamism)?
Will the children (that have died young)of believers be in the kingdom?
What of the children of non-believers?
What is classed as a child?...under 10 yrs of age...under 16yrs of age?

[naomi24]

Doubt you'll get an answer Wiz - but I hope you do.

[rosepetal]

Due to an experience I had, and through talking to other people, I am 99% sure that there is life after death.
However, remember that you have a life to lead until you meet up with your nephew again.
Take care.

[mibn2cweus]

stevie1time, Thanks for sharing this with us. I wonder if your would be willing to provide us with a name so that we might remind ourselves about the fate of that innocent child each time we get behind the wheel and start the engine in the hope that another life might not be ended prematurely and another family might be spared the grief of the loss of a loved one by someone who has neglected to thoroughly consider the enormous responsibility that accompanies the operation of something that has the potential to cause the kind of devastation you witnessed so long ago and which understandably still remains a tragedy to you �til this day.

I will not offer you an assurance I have no way to provide but I hope you will find a way to take some consolation in knowing that the way you feel about the person who you have lost demonstrates that you must have loved and cared about them while they were alive and that�s what really matters.

[stevie1time]

Thankyou to you all for your thoughts,i am pretty new to the Answerbank and have kept most of my thoughts bottled up for years,peoples,as in friends,ex girlfriends etc advice has been to just pull myself together. I am 34,i live alone but my kids come stay with me every weekend,i have a great job i enjoy(unusual eh!) ,plus a good circle of friends. I suppose ive lived a life of excess. But i am having so many thoughts go through my mind about life,death,religion,faith,god etc..I think inside i want to start to believe. I think i will see little H again, ( his name was Harry, mibn2,thanks) and all other loved ones who have passed. I just dont know where to
start, only yesterday i said to my ex partner,and a friend,that something was missing in my life and i wanted to consider religion,my ex just laughed and my friend said,' yeah right,where we going this wknd'...I truly do want to thanks you all for helping me(sounds silly,people you dont meet or really know,offer you more comfort than folks youve known all of your life)also Lonnie thanks for sharing your loss,its just not fair sometimes.thanks x