Having been away from the blog for awhile, and some more time having passed since that initial observation, I feel it worthwhile to mention that one of the reasons for my absence was that, before the time of my last posting, I'd been working on a letter to Dr. Samuele Bacchiocchi based on a back and forth we'd had regarding the tenets of salvation and other ideas he'd been spouting off in his last several newsletters.
It was to my great disappointment, however, that on December 20th, 2008, Dr. Bacchiocchi passed away of liver cancer. In the interim, I've had the opportunity to mull over concepts we'd discussed and to properly try to frame what, to me, the life of Dr. Bacchiocchi meant to this Adventist turned Atheist.
On one hand, as with any death, the loss of life itself is an event worth mourning since it is the only one we will ever have. And family and friends must continue to live in a world robbed of the presence of the one they loved so dearly. This is surely a sad thing.
On the other hand, it is hard for me to be reasonably convinced that Dr. Bacchiocchi's death should be anything but a joyous occasion for his loved ones given all that they believe concerning the afterlife and the surety with which they, no doubt, believe their God will welcome him into it, even if doctrine requires that he must rest in the grave for the time being.
When it comes to death, I feel that no matter what a believer might profess, the believers' emotions tell a different story and that somewhere deep down they sense that their sadness is real, tangible, and that it represents a very certain loss that will never again be repaired. You can't both have knowledge of an afterlife and yet be sad when the human animal closest to you should perish. (I will, of course, dismiss the objection that the sadness comes from not truly knowing an individual's heart and thus, his eternal life may be in jeopardy due to some unknown sin between him and God. I find such a system contemptible and worthy of moral bankruptcy of the highest order and you should too).
So, if not knowledge, then one's belief in the afterlife for their loved one must be based on faith. And if faith, then it cannot be called certain. And if it not certain, that surely the doubts must be assuaged. But how? By playing them down the believer is, in effect, trying to counter the very natural sorrow inherent in the meaning of death to their own biological self. We are forced to, whether we like it or not, acknowledge that our sorrow is the natural response precisely because we are uncertain. And if we are uncertain than no amount of wishful thinking can surmount the obstacles to the absence of that knowledge.
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I miss Dr. Bacchiocchi. I miss him as an individual who, no doubt, cared for others and lent his efforts to alleviating suffering to the extent that he could. But I do not miss with what he has left behind:
- A legacy that teaches those who listened to him to use faith rather than reason as their guide,
- A legacy that pretends that one can be learned and religious without one biting into the other irreparably,
- A legacy that fosters doctrinal divides among an already divided church in the name of "biblical scholarship" and "being led by the Holy Spirit",
- And most importantly, in my opinion, a legacy that says it is good to spend one's life in trying to understand a book that, by nature, can never be internally consistent with itself.
But it is my hope that his family yet be able to find peace and joy in this life without the guarantee of another to come. And may they equally enjoy recalling the fond memories and times spent with the man they called "husband" and "father". And may we all be so lucky to be able to say the same thing of ourselves.
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