Encrypted in Christ

Resurrection is the key that helps us decipher the mysteries of life and death.

Here’s a riddle: What true statement can you make to another person that no one in history has ever heard? Here’s a hint: the statement is just two words.

Do you give up? The statement is, “You died.”

Don’t those words ring harshly upon the ear? More than that, they sound logically absurd. If the statement is, “you died,” then who could the listener be? If it is indeed a true statement, then what human ear could ever hear it?

You may object, “What about those people who’ve ‘died on the operating table,’ as the saying goes — but were later revived?” Maybe it does make sense in that context — but on the other hand, maybe not. Even in those rare medical cases, it’s not entirely clear whether those people really did die. There’s lively debate, in medical ethics circles, about the nature of what doctors call clinical death. Is it really death, or just the momentary absence of certain vital...