Well-Being and Death

摘要

For millennia, people have believed that life is well lived only if it is a life in service tonthe gods (from now on, God); it is not unlikely the vast majority of people in thenworld still believe this or something like it. Human suffering and joy find their mean-ning when properly incorporated into a divinely instituted plan; pain and pleasure arenvalued only insofar as they are the ordained means to union with God. Getting rightnwith God is not a one-size-fits-all matter: while God requires various ritual activities,nand makes various moral and social demands that apply to everyone, there is typicallynroom for one – peasant, publican or priest – to follow one’s particularly God-givennpath through one’s vocation or calling. But getting right with God is the only way tonflourish as a human being. Our finite, sometimes apparently futile, moral and spiritualnprojects gain infinite value when our time is connected to eternity. If our moral andnspiritual projects extend beyond the grave, as most people believe, then our choicesnand actions here and now are momentous because they are contributing to the estab-nlishment of God’s eternal kingdom. Eternity weighs in the balance with each temporalnhuman action.