Francois Mitterrand, the late president of France, was an intellectual and an atheist. Yet in the latter years of his life, he had a fascination with death and desired to know what lay beyond the grave. It was something that challenged his atheism, at least philosophically. He visited the tombs of many of France’s leading citizens, pondering how they lived and died.
Mitterrand, late in life, was diagnosed with cancer of the prostate and imminent death stared him in the face. And his atheism began to be challenged by the reality of life itself. In autumn the flowers wither, blighted by the frost of the coming winter. Eventually, they die and the bulbs remain dormant, but in the spring new life comes forth. This wasn’t lost on Mitterrand who saw in nature a cycle which is unbroken.
Mitterand the intellectual confronted the possibilities of eternal life but never seemed to embrace it. Towards the end of his life, he was asked if he believed in God. He replied, "I don’t know if I believe in God, but I am tempted to believe."
As he realized his time was running out, Mitterrand asked his doctors how long he would live if he stopped taking his medication. "Three days" was their response. Mitterrand stopped taking his medicine. The next day he delivered hand-written instructions for his funeral to his doctor and a friend, finished the final editing of an 800-page book, and on the third day, died.
"I don’t know if I believe in God," he said, "but I am tempted to believe." What a sad epitaph to a brilliant life. Who knows what took place in the heart of this great man in the final hours of his life. I, for one, would not want to face death with no more certainty than being "tempted to believe".
In the final analysis God isn’t proved or even discovered intellectually. It is at the level of the spirit that we connect with the Almighty. The New Testament says clearly that whoever comes to God must believe that He exists and that He rewards those who seek Him (see Hebrews 11:6).
Can God be known with certainty? Paul wrote, "...I know whom I have believed and am convinced that He is able to guard what I have entrusted to Him for that day" (2 Timothy 1:12). Millions of searching men and women have found the same answer as did Paul and have died certain that there is a God and that He sent His Son to bring us into peace with Himself.
The question, "What lies on the other side of death?" will never be answered by rationalism, philosophy or mysticism. Its answer can only be found in the Bible, by the searching heart. Don’t be tempted to believe. Go one step further. As the song goes, "Only believe. All things are possible. Only believe."
Resource Reading: Revelation 21:1-8