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TO DIE IS GAIN

Mahmoud (a student at a small middle American college is taking a Christian Apologetics class hoping he can get himself an easy “A” to boost his grade point averaqe) is on his way to the college snack bar where he is about to overhear some Christian Bible students discussing the topic of his assignment which is to consider Paul’s words in Philippians 1:21 where he said, “ ... to die is gain.” The professor, he recalls, says this verse is constantly used in discussions about death and dying. When Mahmoud arrives two Bible students are already having a discussion about this very matter.

SCENE. College snack bar

Enter MAHMOUD. (FRED and BILL are already seated in the next booth). He sits.

Fred: “Did you know that the Bible says, ‘To die is gain?’ When you die, you go to heaven.“

Bill: “It does?”

Fred: “Yes, it does.”

Bill: “Wow! That’s amazing!

Fred: “Yes, it is.”

Bill: “Then, why don’t you go and kill yourself?”

Fred: “What?”

Bill: “Why don’t you go and kill yourself?”

Fred: “That’s crazy!”

Bill: “Yes it is. But, it’s just as crazy for you to say something stupid like, ‘To die is gain.”

Fred: “What do you mean? Are you calling the Bible stupid?”

Bill: “No, I’m calling you stupid for saying that the Bible says something it doesn’t say.”

Fred: “Now who’s the stupid one? It says clearly that to die is gain right here in

Philippians 1:21, ‘For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.’

You go to heaven when you die.”

Bill: “Will I get to have seventy-two virgins when I get there?”

Fred: “Bill, you’re really getting goofy on me! Stop it!”

Bill: “Well, the Islamic terrorists say that if they die in jihad, say, by blowing up some innocent people to further the cause of Islam, they will go right to paradise to be with their prophet, Muhammad, and their god, Allah. Plus, they will get to enjoy the delights and pleasures of seventy-two virgins.”

Fred: “You’re not a Muslim, are you?”

Bill: “No, but don’t you see the manipulation, just like what you’re trying to put over on me?”

Fred: “No, I don’t”

Bill: “Look, the Muslim holy book, the Qur’an, does not mention these seventy-two virgins, but most Muslims believe it does.”

Fred: “Well, why on earth do they believe something is in their holy book if it isn’t really there?”

Bill: “Fred, you are so close to what I am trying to tell you.”

Fred: “Whatchoutalkinbout?”

Bill: “Remember all those jokes about Confucius we used to tell when we were kids? You know, like Confucius say ...?”

Fred: “Oh yeah. But most of them were kind of dirty.”

Bill: “Well, I have a new one. Confucius say, ‘Who say I say all these things?’ ”

Fred: “Did he really say that?”

Bill: “No, he didn’t really say that! I just made it up. But, I’m trying to illustrate a point here. Why do so many Muslims believe that part about the seventy-two virgins, if it’s not really in their book? Because all their Imams, Mullahs, or ‘holy men,’ are trying to manipulate the hell out of them, especially the young men by appealing to their frustrated sexual urges.”

Fred: “Now you’re getting really weird on me.”

Bill: “No, think about it. You have a whole bunch of impressionable young men, worked on and worked over in their indoctrination centers they call schools, or madrassas. They are exhorted to wage jihad against the infidels all over the world, wherever they can find them. And, as a reward for getting themselves killed in the process, they are promised immediate entrance into paradise where they will be comforted by the virgins. That’s gotta be pretty appealing to a young man who can only properly behold a woman when she is clad head to toe in a black burkha. Hubba, hubba, come on and be my burkha baby.”

Fred: “But, if it’s not in their holy book, you’re saying they believe all this simply because they are told it’s there?”

Bill: “Yes, simply because they are being told it’s there. And, they are being told this by the ones who want to manipulate them into doing what they want them to do. Their self-proclaimed holy men are using their own people like cannon fodder. Do you think they would be able to get so many people to do what they want them to do, if they couldn’t use the lure of the promise of the heavenly virgins as bait?”

Fred: “What about the women homicide bombers?”

Bill: “I don’t know. Maybe they will end up with 72 Fabio’s. Don’t you see how ridiculous this all is?”

Fred: “That’s awful! It’s not right to tell them something that isn’t true.”

Bill: “That’s what I’ve been trying to tell you about ‘To Die Is Gain.’ Let’s take a closer look and see just what The Bible actually does have to say about all this.”

Enter APOSTLE PAUL.

Paul: “Hi, everybody. The Apostle Paul here. Sorry to interrupt, but can we talk? I’m dead right now, but I can talk to you via my words, if you will allow them to speak and give their own testimony. You see, apparently people have been twisting my words and shouting them all over the place, making it appear that I was saying things I never said, as it were. As my good friend, James, was always fond of saying, ‘These things ought not so to be,’ or something like that. It always drove me crazy trying to figure out what ought so to be, and not so to be. Almost sounds like that young kid, Shakespeare, who would often ask many years hence, ‘To be, or not to be?’

Let me just state that the words, ‘To die is gain,’ are definitely found in Holy Scripture – what you now call The Bible. I know, because I wrote them. But, they don’t mean what you think they mean. Let me explain.

In translating any passage of Scripture, the context must be kept in mind. In this case I was talking about the magnification of Christ, and that He should be magnified in my body, whether I lived or died. The theme, the subject of what I was talking about was the magnification of Christ.

It didn’t make any difference whether I lived, or if they put me to death. The result would be the same – the magnification of Christ. Then I made the statement: ‘For to me to be living Christ, and to be dying gain.’ (If you don’t know New Testament Greek, get yourselves a Greek interlinear and follow along with the words). Now, doesn’t it seem like something is missing from my statement?

The King James Version translators figured out that something was indeed missing, and they supplied the word ‘is.’ But, that didn’t really make too much sense because, ‘For me to live is Christ,’ doesn’t make a complete sentence. Again, what is apparently missing must be supplied from the context. So, what I was really trying to say was that, ‘For to me to be living is the magnification of Christ.’ The figure of speech I am talking about here is called ellipsis. But wait, there’s more.

I also used another figure of speech called chiasmos, which means a crossing over of ideas. So, what I was actually saying, or at least trying to convey to the hearers, was, ‘For to me to be living is gain for Christ, and to me to be dying is gain for Christ.’

If you care about God’s truth, you have to be willing to stand firm on it, no matter what the cost. It’s the main thing that matters. I became such a man after I got knocked off my ass and onto my ass, while traveling along the road to Damascus. Thereafter, the most important consideration to me was sharing God’s word, His truth, with whosoever.

In my letter to the Philippians I was using some literary devices called Ellipsis and Chiasmos in my writing. You don’t have to remember these fancy terms, but please keep in mind the underlying ideas.

See you all in the resurrection.”

[Exit PAUL.

Mahmoud: “I think I understand the point that Bill and the Apostle Paul are making about this Bible verse in Philippians. We want to be really careful about saying there is some greatness about dying. As Christians tell me, elsewhere the Bible speaks of death being an enemy.

[Exeunt.