Ever wonder why we say "Rest in Peace or RIP? WE sure did? Who or what are we saying this to anyway? Is it the soul of our loved one. Well why would we want their soul to rest? Would we not rather they rise the dimensions of eternity and enjoy their journey and find love, joy peace and light?
So here's a bit of history. RIP is an abbreviation for requiescat in pace, this translates to Rest In Peace and originally and dormit in pace which translates to sleep in peace. And it was to denote they died in the peace of the Church or united in Christ.
Okay so United in Christ...uhm I don't believe its a time of rest its a time to rejoice to be in joy. So why Rest?
So then maybe when we say it we are telling the body to Rest in peace. The body is not where the soul is though, or is it? Lets see what the Bible has to say about it:
Well first how were we created:
Genesis 2:7 (KJV) ...'And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.'
So the formula of creation of Man:
Dust formed+Breath of Life from God into the form = MAN becomes Soul
So now what happens on approaching death:
Ecclesiastes 12:7 ...'Then the dust will return to the earth as it was, And the spirit will return to God who gave it.'
This doesn't answer what is resting and wny? So what does the Bible say about this:
The Old testament says:
Job 14:10-12 ...'But man dies and is laid away; Indeed he breathes his last And where is he? As water disappears from the sea, And a river becomes parched and dries up, So man lies down and DOES NOT rise. Till the heavens are no more, They will not awake Nor be roused from their sleep.'
The New Testament says:
1 Corinthians 15:51,52 ...'Behold, I tell you a mystery: We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, AT THE LAST TRUMPET. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.'
So after reading both the Old and new Testament it feels like we should change the focus from RESTING to RISING!!
In Islam we say: INNA-ILLAHI WA INNALILAHI RAJIUN meaning from Allah we have come and to Allah we shall return.
When returning to ALLAH certainly we are rising. So isn't it time we not only celebrate the life of a transitioned love one but also that we wish their raising, their rising, their experiencing the light, their experiencing joy in meeting loved ones.
Here is a T-Shop.Ca t-shirt to express this and so if you agree, lets change the focus from resting to rising for all our loved ones.
