There is no reason to fear death. Death is inevitable and entirely necessary. If people did not die, the world become dominated by its own excess. When people, and living things in general, die, it results in the re-fertilization of this planet. So we take and take and take, and then we give back with our Carbon molecules.
The only reason to fear death is if you are religiously confused and have the idea that if you don’t believe in God, or do enough good, that you will burn in hell or come back as a fruit fly. So in order to understand a fear of death, it must be taken into consideration that people are afraid of punishment. Since this is something I cannot provide evidence for, I will cease at this point, and people will keep being afraid of hell. I would say since there is no evidence, there is no reason to be afraid (which I am in a round about way), but then there is faith, which should be the next question.

I’m eleven years old and have absolutly no understanding of god or heaven or anything religious. but i think that so what if death is just nothing? we’ve lived our life and it’s gone. We’ve laughed we’ve cried. Also were complaining or being scared of death when we are so lucky. say were all plant or brainless cell living for a day and just dying off. We are intelligent human beings. and my grandfather once told me when i was my age and died for a couple seconds and came back to life he felt so great and happy he wanted to stay longer. so maybe if you don’t believe in god you could have great happiness forever so im guessing that’s the non bilievers heaven and for the people who believe in god should have nothing to worry about. so no matter what there is a happy place we go when we die

Since people insist on coninuously population and having children in excess (i.e. more than two to replace the parents when they pass on) death is most certainly a good thing. We could not keep up with the needs and demands of every person that were to be alive. As we are now with people dying we are still being threatened that we will lose some of a major resources in the near future. Some people may see how death could be a bad thing if we were capable of ceasing procreation because then the great minds that are working on technological and scientific advances would not have to stop their work when old aging begins, but because of this is why we need death. People get set in one track minds and if the same people were to continously do the same occupations, change would rarely occur. The world would become closer to a stand-still situation because people’s minds would become exhausted of creativeness and ideas. Death is certainly a tragic experience and no one ever wants to lose their loved ones and with death comes the uncertainty of a possible after-life, but new people and minds new to be brought about to keep the world in successful rotation.

If death is bad then life is also bad. We have no choice as living humans to experience life and death. We willingly understand and embrace life and living, and often put off thoughts of death until later in life. Our society does not prepare us for death and the events that lead up to a death, yet we face it every day. With life comes inevitable death. With the acceptance of this, we can make meaningful decisions and learn to apprecate the small things in life. Live a good life, that is all that is necessary.

Death is sad but you know that person is in a better place. I just lost my grandpa on May 3,2007. I don’t think it’s bad. It’s not because death brings you to new life with Christ and are joined with the people you loved that passed before them.

People have a natural fear of the unknown.What unknown has been speculated on more than death?Their are many beliefs on what happens to us after death.But the truth is that nobody knows what will happen if anything at all. Fear is one thing that makes us human. Whether it’s right or wrong to fear one’s death because it’s inevitable doesn’t matter.It’s inevitable that you will have to take a driving test to get your liscense but you still have fear on what the results will be.It’s the fear of not knowing what will happen. The same as fearing death,not knowing what will happen afterwards.So depending on what the results will be,(which the living may never know) it’s difficult to say whether death is bad or good for the individual.I believe fearing the unknown is rational.Therefore fearing death is only natural.

I think this question can be viewed in several different ways. Here are only a few:
_________
Is death bad? – Bad for whom?
The deceased? – Impossible to know.
The living? – It can be sad.
Society as a whole? – This depends on the person and what they chose to do in life.
_________
Perhaps we could look at this another way: Does the person and the kind of life they lived make a difference as to whether or not their death is good or bad? Is a convicted criminal?s death good? Is it bad? How about Adolf Hitler?s death? George Washington? What about your death? _________
The question ?Is death bad? could be re-written as ?is life better than death?? If it is, then yes, death is bad. If it is not, then death could be considered good.
Until we experice death, we cannot know the answer. Even then, we may not know. __________
Perhaps death is neither good nor bad. Perhaps death just is. I think asking ?is death is bad? is similar to pondering the political affiliations of a turnip. You may as well ask “Is death fluffy?”, or “Is death republican?”

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Yes, death is bad! Bad for the living, not for the dead. My father-in-law passed away in 2003 (thanks to a lifelong relationship with Mr. Phillip Morris) with no pain. However, in the weeks and months, even years, before his death, his pain had become his constant companion—he couldn’t breathe, couldn’t walk the length of the driveway to fetch the newspaper, couldn’t LIVE! I have struggled with the loss of “Pap” for these many years, but now I think I have come to realize that his death was his ultimate release of his enemy, pain. Therefore, I can’t call death the enemy, for dad, pain was the enemy.

How can we view what is inevitable bad? It is what it is. No one escapes so why fight or dwell on something we can’t change. I know I’m going to die I just don’t want to be there when it happens, Ha…
I get a kick out of all those elitists who think they are better then others because of their economic situation when in reality all they can possibly get out of it is a better casket. Dust to dust and all that jazz.

It is not good and it is not bad, but it is sad. If you have health problems it is good because when you die you’ll be in a better place.

Death is bad from the perspective of the one who is passing and sad for those of us who knew the one who leaves this mortal coil. We know not what if anything exists for us beyond this earthly realm. Religion, philosophy, and science can only comfort us but our inevitable journey is as natural and necessary as birth, childhood and maturity. Immortality violates the laws of physics and extremely extended life spans would be the cause of our species’ self destruction. Some of us have faith in the supernatural promise of an afterlife but sometimes that faith becomes distorted in an unnatural desire to speed our journey to that realm (Jim Jone’s mass suicide event or any jihadist’s desire to arrive in paradise with virgin princesses awaiting by wrecking unholy carnage and death on the infidels or countless other less dramatic cases of suicide). If death means automatic resurrection for all humans, that means that 60+ billion souls have made it to the other side. What about the souls of apes, whales, dogs, horses, mice, bumble bees, bacteria, and viruses--are they all not worthy of redemption and by who or what reckoning? And what of all the other countless life forms in the universe so incredibly immense (hundreds of billions of galaxies each with hundreds of billions of stars and planets and trillions of intelligent and no so intelligent creatures)--are humans on this pale blue dot the only redeemed? If Buddhists are correct, our reincarnation proceeds through many cycles until through learning, sharing, caring, and yes dreadful mistakes of horrendous sinning, until we finally reach perfection and the cycle ends with our joining of a greater consciousness. A good death is supposedly dying in your sleep and a bad death is the demise of an infant or another innocent somewhere or somehow. If and when our universe ends, what of all the souls--are they still part of the physical matter and dimensions that are destroyed? In a megaverse where all possible alternatives mutate into another parallel track, creating countless realities, perhaps our deaths never really happen at all--our consciousness becomes part of another track. Death may only be the beginning of something that innately we all suspect may be our fate. Is the light seen by those in near death experiences, the light of the world seen by our future selves--fetuses about to be born to another life as our head comes out of the womb? Death is B.A.D.--i.e., But Another Death and so on and so on, etc. One more: death is bad if the life ended is so full of grace and light that the world is such a much poorer place.

Is death bad? That’s a many sided question I think. Obviously, religion and personal beliefs play a role not only in the passing but of how the family deals with the loss. “Grandpa is in Heaven” is oft used. Would “Grandpa” prefer to be in Heaven or on earth? Saying that death is bad/good for the person who died is inarguable, who knows? For the ones that person left behind? It can be a virtual hell.

The fact that death is inevitable seems somewhat irrelevant to a discussion of whether or not it is bad. If I know that I am going to be tortured in three days, and I also know that I can do nothing to stop it, it still seems like it’s a bad thing. The inevitability of my being tortured has no bearing on its intrinsic worth. To say that something cannot be bad because it cannot be avoided is a bit of a logical disconnect.

Furthermore, to say that in order for death to be bad, life must also be bad does not quite seem intuitive. By their very nature, the two would probably have opposite values; if one is good, the other is probably bad. The fact that they both co-exist does not imply that they both must have the same value. Let’s take two other opposites to illustrate: pain and pleasure. It would seem that the two inevitably (though not necessarily) co-exist, but while pleasure is generally considered to be good, pain is generally bad. The two clearly co-exist, and arguably in the same way that life and death do, and yet they have opposite intrinsic values.

Whether death is good or bad I’ll have to think on a bit more, but the two reasons that I’ve addressed for saying that death is good don’t seem to do justice to the topic.

Death, as pointed out by earlier posts, is natural and not to be feared. Fear is of the ego,which wants to thrive. Lack of fear leaves room for love and death is but a transition. It could be said that we have narrowed our scope of “life” into only this body and that it is the only life we have, and therefore our death is THE END! Oh, the peril! The DRAMA! I like to think that death is normal, even for the babies and the kids and anyone at anytime. It happens, and it is OK. The question that it raises is what is really important? What is life FOR? Is “God” some cruel dude who says “Well too bad sonny, you are gonna get knocked off this wicked earth on May 27, 2007 at exactly 4:20 pm….falling off your bike, to be exact.” What a jerk. That is just silliness. It seems that this “life” is just a biiiiig ego trip and that “dying” is really not a big deal because maybe there really is a different and more real and positive life that is outside of this crazy mind and tired body. Fear of death may be rational…to the clinging ego. Let it go and live your phreakin life like each day is your last…because some day you will be right!

I was going to say what Chad said, but he beat me to it. Given his example, I am pretty certain that the inevitability of an occurrence is not dispositive as to whether it is rational to fear such occurrence.

Is death bad? Intrinsically? Is life intrinsically good? If so, and if we define death as the negation of life, it would be bad.

Seriously though, in order to answer this question, we would have to approach it with the same (or very similar) metaphysical and moral foundation. One who believes in an afterlife would certainly have a different response than one who does not. Likewise with those who have different opinions as to what is moral.

Intuitively, I doubt many people would think that the “death of an unspecified living thing” is inherently good or bad without more information about that thing. Just approaching things from a set of personal preferences, I can think of dozens of examples where I would consider a death good and dozens more where I would consider death bad.

Is the death of one who suffers from a long-term, painful, incurable disease bad? What about the death of one who causes great suffereing to others (a Hitler for example)? I would be quite comfortable saying that I would prefer for those deaths to occur. I would even go so far as to say, in certain circumstances, that causing some deaths is morally good. Even with regard to my own death, I think that I would prefer being dead to being placed in excruciating pain.

But then again I would also say that I would not prefer the death of my mother. Or the death of an unspecified newbown baby. And just to be clear, I would certainly hold that, in certain circumstances, causing some deaths would be morally bad.

So looking at it that way, I can say that there are some deaths I prefer, others that I would not prefer, and still others that I am indifferent about. And further, I would say that causing some deaths would be a morally good choice and causing other deaths would be a morally bad choice.

Given that, I think its clear that I do not consider death, in and of itself, to be a good or bad thing. Both as a preferential value and as a moral choice, it seems to carry no weight by itself; it is very much dependent upon the nature of the thing that dies.

On to another question: Does a thing need to exist in order to be harmed? Well, strictly speaking, yes it does—a nonexistant thing cannot have the property of being harmed. However, I have some strange views regarding existence and time, so I would distinguish between something that at some point in time exists and others that do not exist at any point in time.

This question actually has me thinking about issues of property law, specifically matters regarding heirs and descendants.

In law there are certainly concepts of harming someone before they exist. For instance, lets say that A has two children, B and C. And lets say he sets up a trust, with X as the trustee, for the benefit of “all A’s children.” Sometime after the creation of the trust, X violates his duties as a trustee and appropriates some of the trust for his own benefit. And then sometime after that, A sires another child, D. X has thus harmed D even before D has been born, in that X has harmed D’s interest in the trust.

Another example could be conceived of with A creating a will, then dying, and then somebody fraudulently destorying or altering the will contrary to A’s wishes.

These examples seem to coincide with what Dr. Wicclair is saying in his answer.

So it seems that something could be harmed before or after it exists. However, I would maintain that something that never exists cannot be harmed. (Pretty novel theory, huh?)

Well I’ll leave at that, I think I’ve written enough tonight.

What is death but and escape from life. On the other hand life if but an escape from death.

Death may not be anything more than becoming part of the infinite knowledge of the universe.

Can a dead person be harmed?

Dr. Wicclair’s answer to this question provided insight into situations where a deceased person’s well being has been posthumously altered in a negative manner. However, the examples given do not answer the question of whether someone has to exist in order to be harmed.

For example, if a person’s legacy is altered (i.e. an assumed achievement is discredited postmortem) does that affect the deceased person? Or does it only affect what or whom is left after the person ceases to exist? In which case, the harm caused would have altered the living’s perception of the deceased and not the deceased’s own state of well being since he or she is not physically capable of feeling or thinking anything.

Is awareness of a negative act necessary in being harmed? Is it possible that a dead person is aware of being harmed in a manner that goes beyond the awareness of their physical body? Lastly, is the harm done to the deceased’s remaining earthly manifestations (i.e. physical body, reputation, or legacy) made real for the deceased by the reaction of the living to the situation?

Death, no matter how it occurs, is painted in such a way as to teach everyone that it is horrible in thought and reality. Capitalism has utilized death as a marketing ploy; the government utilizes death to invade other countries and to create wars; religion utilizes death for belief. To believe that death is either right or wrong employs a need for relevancy. When a degree of relevancy is applied, it is for revenge or manipulation of a situation that favors a specific outcome.

All in all, death is a natural occurrence that helps to balance nature in its ever changing behavior. For one to conclude that death is right or that death is wrong is narrow-minded. Death, just simply, is.

i think death is kind of sad.i am scared to die.some people are because they dont know what it is like.that is why i am scared.but there are some people that arent scared to die.and those are the people who know christ and beleive in him.those are also the peoploe that know and beleive that heaven is the safest place on the earth and that know and trust god that they will go to heaven.i trust and know and believe in god and i have a good feeling i am going to heaven but i am still scared.and that is only because it is like your not walking on earth anymore.but when you die you will be connected with all of your loved one that have died before you.but i know that when i die i will be with all of my loved ones that have died before me.and any family member i dont remember or ive never met before i will get to see and meet them.that is what i think about death and what its like.

To ask if death is bad and expect a coherent answer is a non sequitur. Death is; just like life, the universe, everything. It can neither be bad nor good. It can only be. Can people inflict death wrongly? Can it seem unfair, unjust? Sure it can! But to ask if it is bad is to assume it can be.

One might as well ask if rocks are bad. Well, we use them, so no, if I hit you with a rock, is the rock bad? No, it simply is, and was misused, (unless it was specifically my “hitting-people-rock” then I suppose it was just fulfilling its role).

The point being, anything can be seem favourablly or unfavourablly, anything can be misused or abused; anything can harm us. To have inherent ‘wrongness’ it must be against the natural order, and destructive to the cycle. Death is a part, a necessary part for a healthy system. It is neither bad nor good, it just is.

Why are you questioning whether or not death is good or bad? Humans call it death, they gave it a name where it was meant to strike fear into most of the population’s hearts. Death is neither good or bad. You are not given the right to judge that on your own accord. Your opinion is to be kept to yourself even in the time of reason. If you seek answers by religion then go by the religion and don’t doubt it. If you seek answers by logical sense then go by it and do not share. Why are you bringing more confusion upon the lives of humans?
Death by definition is something that ends the existance of something else. Death by belief is either a new beginning or a horrid end. Why bother questioning what is already there? It is the same as questioning how we came to be. It is either evolution or the work of a god or divine being. Either way, both reasons are on the same side of the coin. Neither has any proof of how it came to be, they both just believe.
And why are you using such big words? Can’t you just state that death is bad or death is good? It does not make you seem smart or more intelligent to use big words. It just gives the reader a headache.

Since I haven’t died, I can’t say whether it is good or bad. There are times I think that death is quite cruel, because if you let it seep in enough you wind up attaching yourself to every moment in fear of its eventual end. Have you ever been simultaneously elated and aching because you are with someone you love so much and wishing you could prolong that time forever? But, on the other hand, I think death encourages to make our lives matter. If there’s no end, why set concrete goals? We need death as a motivator, and yet I wish it didn’t exist.

I can’t wait to attend WVU…and now on to my answer!

Obviously, I haven’t read everyone’s response. I’d rather just jump in and give answers, simply because that is how I am. So, is death bad for you? Is it rational to fear it? Okay, well, you can approach these questions from many different angles…so, let’s just cycle through a bunch of them that come to mind.

Is death bad for you?
Usually, I don’t ever side with relativism, or an atheistic approach, but I’ll provide a theistic response as well. Relatively, if you were to be an atheist, or another religion that believes in no creational beginning, then I would say “No, it isn’t bad for you.” How could it possibly be bad? Obviously, if you truly don’t believe in God, then you can’t believe in a hell because the two are tied, and since Atheists don’t believe in God, they certainly won’t be going to hell in their opinion. So, you would simply cease to be—it would just be a nothingness. No more consciousness—just nothing. That certainly couldn’t be bad…you wouldn’t have anything to worry about. Now, from a Christian’s perspective, or a God fearing perspective, it certainly isn’t bad but, in fact, good for the soul. Death is the reuniting of the soul with the heavenly father—the all perfect God who loves unconditionally and celebrates 24/7 in heaven. For muslims, heaven is full of pretty women. That’s got to be good for the men. So, either way—it just wouldn’t be bad.

Is it rational to fear death?
Unfortunately, like so many others have said above, you fear the unknown. We like to know what’s going to happen in advance. (I know I do.) That’s why scary movies are so, you know, scary. Things pop up and take you by surprise or give you a heart attack. Facing the unknown is like facing the Grim Reaper himself. So, if you really fear the unknown, I’d say it’s rational. But, since Atheists believe that the world just somehow came to be, and that they reside in no place after death—that there is simply a void—then they shouldn’t be fearing it. But, is there a problem with this? I would have to say so. How does your mind simply stop thinking. I mean REALLY, how does it? Even in sleep you’re mind is obviously conscious and cycling through memories and daily experiences—so, you’re doing something. There isn’t ever a time where you just stop thinking. Also, we explain voids as emptiness—large open spaces where things just aren’t there—Like a giant white room would be an example of something close to a void—but even that isn’t a void. Its an empty white room! Do we even know what a void truly is? There it is again—the fearful unknown. Since I am not an Atheist, and since I do think that I got here somehow, I’m not too keen on the idea of a void and unconsciousness. While there is supposedly nothing to fear in an Atheistic death, I think that there is something to fear. Wouldn’t you be afraid of just not thinking—-what a void might actually be? And from a Christian perspective, if you get to reunite with god, and if you’re a muslim and you reach a paradise, I don’t think you can fear it unless you fear being in a good place.

Obviously, I haven’t answered all the questions asked, but I have answered the few that everyone seems to respond to. If nothing makes sense, and it seems like I am rambling, then I apologize. You just might have to read it a couple of times to get my point. Hopefully, my answer doesn’t seem like a load of bull. Thanks :]

Death is the end for some, and the beginning for others depending on their beleif systems. For some, you simply cease to exist. Your body becomes earth and in time contributes to the enrichment of some other living organism…probably a plant, which in turn may serve to feed an insect that gets eaten by an animal, which becomes food for another person, and so on and on the circle revolves.
Do we really ever die then? Is our spirit lifted away to Heaven or Hell for eternity? If so, our former physical bodies still go through the process I just described. If we end up in Heaven, are we given a new body, or are we simply matter or energy floating around with the ability to think, talk, act, feel, etc. as our former bodies were able to do, or are we simply absorbed into some larger mass? I wonder if it really is true that when a person dies their body instantly weighs 21 grams less than when they were alive leaving speculation that that person’s soul just left their body.
Either way, death is something to fear if you beleive in God, but don’t practice your beleif. Death is something to fear if you want to do things in life and have not yet done them. Death is something to fear if you don’t beleive God exists and he actaully does. Death is, for all of us in one way or another the end of our journey as one being. It may however, be just the beginning of another one. I don’t know, but I’ll see ya on the other side when that time comes…hopefully many, many, many years from now.

Life is a dream and we must all wake sometime.

A la Robert Jordan :-).

I was a young bride and new mother when my husband was transfered to Viet Nam, to participate in the first war that came into U.S. homes every night via television.

One time back then, the 5 o’clock news included a film clip of a thin, tired-looking Vietnamese, plodding along while balancing two buckets, hanging from a wooden yoke across his back. After just a moment, however, the photographer’s local-color feature became a lagniappe of hard news—the burdened Vietnamese suddenly crumpled, shot dead by a hidden sniper.

Naturally, I immediately realized that the victim could have just as easily been my husband, no matter how careful or well-trained he was. Then my mind made another leap back to my own upbringing in a fire-and-brimstone Baptist church: “That’s just what all those revivalists meant when they said that you can never know. You could fall off your doorstep and die tomorrow.”

Well, my timing for this—for finally personalizing the fact that mortality is real—could have been a lot better. Fortunately, though, my mom was living nearby. She also recognized that quoting Bible verses wasn’t going to be much help. In fact, it probably would spark some irately dissolutioned discussion of existentialism.

The next morning we were driving to Drury College (where she taught and I was a student), when Mom started this gently Socratic questioning about the lifecycles of the wildflowers, grasses, butterflies and birds we were passing. When she arrived at her “therefore” point, it seemed very clear: All we can have any possible chance of understanding logically is the world where we are now. And, Earth’s one constant message is rebirth—although not necessarily with the same form or attributes.

Looked at that way, whether death is good or bad is sort of a moot point. Death is just a stage in a continuum, and that makes a big difference!

It occurred to me soon after, though, that another thing to consider might be the law of physics that says energy also can’t be destroyed. I found that thought process sort of interesting, particularly combined with the fact that our brain function—who we are—is apparently just a matter of interrelated energies.

Later on, PBS and Joseph Campbell took me to another stage of realizing that an additional thing I could deduce about humans on Earth is that they’ve always seemed to invent or discover (i.e., need) a God. The form their God took and the fervency of their beliefs appeared to relate to their situation. But, a constant of the ones that lasted was some version of the Golden Rule.

I liked that. Plus, the commonality was reassuring, nudging the subject away from a natural fear of being humanly vulnerable and toward … what? A shared instinct? Collective wisdom?

I ended up making a considered choice of which belief system I thought could give humans the best odds for successfully living with each other and growing individually—here and now and perhaps after we die. I came back to the same territory where I’d started as a child, but with Christ’s teachings, not any church’s.

Strangely, since then I’ve seen and experienced all kinds of things that no logic can explain. Bad combinations that should never have been ABLE to happen have forced me into whole new depths of learning, growth, and understanding. Good things that happened despite minuscule odds have brought joy, peace and a rather bewildered humility and gratitude that “Vocatus atque non vocatus deusaderit” (Bidden or not, God is present). That makes a big difference, too.

Death is only feared by people who still have stuff they want to do. Many elderly people have zero fear of death because they feel they have done all they can in their lives. Younger people on the other hand my have a fear of death because of all the things they could still do with the rest of their lives. It?s not so much of if fearing death is wrong but when the right time to stop fearing it.

The idea of death have being harmful is misleading. In order to have an untimely death you have to be harmed, but death isn?t really doing the damage. It?s the result not the cause. Chicken before the egg if you catch my drift.

How is it possible to harm something if it has to feeling, or purpose? Once a person dies they serve only as idols to be remembered.

As death is for those gone by, and life is for the living.
And as the scriptures say “God will judge the living and the dead” so what is the difference being alive or being dead all that really matters is that we must live every second of the minute and every minute of the hour as best we can, and pleasing to God in every way, and in doing so we have nothing to worry, and instead of fearing death the unknown, live life to the fullest which is known. This is my friendly advise to all.

Death is not bad and it is not good, it just happens.
To say death is bad is to fear death, which we shouldn’t. We should not be afraid of something that is inevitable. We will have to face it so there is no reason to think negatively about it.
To say death is good is saying that one doesn’t appreciate the life they have. I know there are some religions where the people can’t wait to reach their promise land, but they don’t seem to stop and get the full experience of being here now in this physical form. We are here to learn things about this physical world, and we shouldn’t cut it short.

Death is a good reminder to live each day how you want to. We will die alone, so persevering through this insane world alone shouldn’t be so bad.

My answer is that death is both good and bad.
My reason for thinking this is that death can have many effects on a person.
Death can be sad if you lose a loved one unexpectedly. Thoughts go through your mind, such as ‘why was he taken away from me’ and ‘I was not ready to let him go.’ Death is sad when you are not ready to let go of someone.
Death can be scary when you hear of people dying in terrible ways, such as a fire or a bridge collapse or a car accident. You worry about the possible pain you could feel while dying.
However, death can be good if the person was suffering immense amounts of pain and could not live normally because of the pain. Sometimes, it is a relief when people who have been fighting the unbeatable cancer pass away because we know that they are in a better place where there is no pain.
Overall, death is the end that we all must face. Whether it be good, bad, scary, or sad, death is inevitable. If we face it with bravery and have faith in an everlasting life in Heaven, it can be a good end.

My answer is death is neither good nor bad.
My reasoning for this is that death is a natural part of life. Because it is inevitable, people should accept death rather than fear it.
However, while death itself is nothing to fear, it is natural that a person fear the manner and/or timing of their death. One cannot always choose if they will die in a peaceful or painful manner, whether they will die a quick death or have to suffer, or in which stage of their life they will die. Many people fear a premature death because of the responsibilities they will leave behind, such as children, and what will happen to those responsibilities once they are gone.
It is only natural to want to live one’s life to the fullest, and it is therefore logical that one would fear the process in which they died.

Death is not bad. It is inevitable. Regardless of who you are can beat death. Death isn’t something to be fear it should be accepted. No one knows what happens after you die. It’s the greatest adventure of our lives, going into something unknown.

Death is not bad. It a way of nature. It is a way for nature to refresh itself. Humans are the only animal that knows that we are gonig to die at somepoint. Theres no point about worry about it so we should live are life and have fun.

Describing death as being good or bad is a completely relative way to try and explain it. Death is a part of life, a mere fact of our existence, and it is different for everyone. Perhaps the hardest concept to grasp is that death brings nothingness, where good and bad, or anything else for that matter, exists. Instead there is an emptyness that cannot be experienced by someone who is alive. Is that good? Is that bad? Or, does it even matter?

My answer is death is not bad.
My reasons are that it cannot be prevented and for many it ends the suffering physically and mentally. Death allows for a new start. The end of one life could mean the loss of a loved one but maybe it will be the start of a new soul in the world.

In describing whether Death is good or bad we must first analyze the problem. On one side of the argument, many fear death because it is the end of life. To them, life equals happiness, excitement, and an entire plethora of joyous moments. The other side, however, embraces death because it is the end of life. To them it is the end of suffering, or pain, whether it is mental, physical or emotional. So for the same reason that some fear death, others embrace it; death is the end of life. Is death good or bad? I believe neither are the correct answer. Death is equivalent to an end, and an end is either good or bad. So death is absurd. It can be interpreted two ways which cancel eachother out resulting in the afore mentioned absurdity.

death is only bad if you are a lover of life.

Is death bad?
The first thing a person has to realize is that “bad” is a fluid concept; the same situations can yield different interpretations of being “good” or “bad”. To look at one example, let us say person (X) and person (Y) are at a party where alchohol is being consumed. Both consume a lot of alchohol and both end up having sex with a very attractive member of the opposite sex. For (X) this was a very good turn of events and that particular person is happy because it happened. For (Y) this was a bad happening because that person was waiting till marrige and has made his sexual debut a lot sooner than he had planned. It is all down to how the individual views something as “good” or “bad”. For an example with death both persons (X) and (Y) are about to die. Person (X) is happy because he is a Christian and believes he is going to heaven to be eternally happy and with god. Person (Y) is sad and views it as bad because that person is an Atheist and realizes that this world is the only world we have and death is an end to existence. The application of this question on broad terms is trivial at best because the term “bad” is so fluid and subjective. However an individual might come to some conclusion by his own interpretation that might be of substance to himself only.

To fear death, is to fear not living. Life is good. What does the word ‘bad’ mean in ‘is death bad?’ In order for something to be bad to me, it is the opposite of what is good to me. What is good? If you think life is about self-pleasures and self-pleasures are what is good, then to you, to take away your life is to take away what is good, and simply to take away good is bad. Sure, it will be like 0, which isn’t bad, but you have to go from +1, to 0, although you won’t be -1, according to you, you will be 0 happy, although 0 sad. If YOUR life is what it is good that is good to you, then do you not want to extend the goodness. In this case your only fear would not be having good pleasure longer. Simply it is unlogical to fear not living, except for you fear the unknown, which is the only true thing which causes fear in life. To live in fear, is to let fear control your life, and to be guided by death into death. As a Christian I must say that you should let life lead to life. Death is not something that should be worshiped, because the loss of joy from the earth, strikes the heart of others, but relative to yourself, it is not something you should fear, except that you live for yourself. So as to die for yourself, is for all good to not live in you, to not live in you anymore, and all your life was a waste. But to live for others, is quite beautiful, as the good lives on in others. You aren’t there to experience it, but good is good and bad is bad only that which is left in this world, so to fear death, or to think that death is bad, is to fear that outside your relative perspective, the only thing you left is bad. Is your life going to be an implosion, taking good for self, and leaving more bad in the world? or like an explosion, leaving more good than bad when you left. Those are the only things to fear for a logical person, who is a non after-life believer, who died. To let death guide you leads to many rash decisions, like many o’ people, who try to be the biggest implosions they can be. Trying to fill their every desire, so that when death takes them, they will be ready to face nothing. And that is illogical. Why live your time here to such a way that only you are satisfied? Pleasures are earthly things, and into dust you will return.

I believe, however, all good is love, good is not self pleasure.  Love is the caring for the overall well-being of another person.  Once a person is dead, the only thing left to care about is their spirit, and if you don't believe in that then the only thing that you have to care about is who the life of the person who died how it affects others, and if everybody in the world is apathetic to the death, then there is nothing to fear from the death, and it is not bad.  "It is better to have loved and lost than to never to have loved at all"  William Shakespeare.  While you are here this glimpse of a life that you have loved, will have been worth it, and if you believe in an afterlife, it is not only worth it because of the remaining perspectives, but also because it will continue to affect you.  Once you die, all that is left of you is your spirit as you body wither away.  "That which is spirit is spirit, and that which is flesh is flesh"  Jesus of Nazareth.  So with faith we have not a thing to fear, and not a thing to worry, so for us, death is good, as we are just asleep.

I don’t want to die. I think that when I die, it’ll be like going to sleep, and that’s it. Nothing. Even a bad day is preferable to nothing.

Death is necessary. If there was no death, then life would be like a very long class that never lets out. We’d be like rocks, never really doing anything because it wouldn’t change anything. For there to be life, there needs to be death.

But still, I don’t want to die.

Honestly, I’d prefer to live on forever, but I do not fear my mortality. Two things could happen to me; I go to heaven/hell (depends on god) or i cease to exsist.

I just live live one step at a time and try to have a optimistic point of view in life.

I didnt read most of these responses, so maybe mine is redundent.Oh well. I suppose death is a general fact of existence. everything “dies”. Bacteria, dragonflies, squirrels, maples, oaks, redwoods, Mountains and continents all are born, exist for a lifetime and disappear. Suns run out of fuel. mountains erode and their components are subducted. death occurs in all time frames. from the infintesimal fraction of a second, to time on the order 100s of billions of years, considering the basic elements and their stable existence. whole lineages, species as a whole die on an average of evvery 4 million years, though it must be considered that during those 4m they would probably speciate and lead to something new. I guess what Im trying to say is that, how can a fact be good or bad? we dont ask wheather gravity or friction or food webs are bad. it seems to be outside the realm of being called good or bad. And death creates life. decay on the forest floor leads to more forest, and those analogies are everywhere.

We can qualify any experience as “good” or “bad” – is that just subjective? Or is there an objective truth for the experience of death? I think there is – because the evidence in all creation points to everything having a fixed nature – natural laws don’t change. We don’t always understand them, but the more we learn about them, the more we see the constancy of things – even decay. So if everything is decaying – i.e. the law of entropy, how did it get so ordered and “undecayed” to begin with? Is death supposed to be a part of our existence at all? Maybe not. Pain is usually an indicator of a problem in the body or mind as in emotional distress. Pain is useful to help us to avoid dangerous situations or to learn from bad experiences – to keep us safe from future harm. Death is often very painful both for the person dying and those around him/her. If death is not the end of our existence, then how can we know what is after death? If there is a God who created us, might He have wanted us to know somehow? If so, how might He tell us? If He cares, wouldn’t He want us to know and not have us fearing the unknown of death? If the Bible is from God it seems to have some possible answers. It says “the wages of sin is death.” So we have a potential cause for death. What is sin? According to the Bible it is breaking God’s laws – lying stealing, looking with lust which Jesus said is adultery in the heart, hatred which is murder, etc. If breaking the law leads to pain and suffering and even death, then should we not try and avoid that? What if we cannot? What if we have already violated the law? Is there a way of escape from a possible penalty for violating those laws? The Bible says we can be forgiven of our sins and have life – even eternal life, if we believe in Jesus. It also says no one is good enough for heaven. So what does it mean to believe in Jesus and if He is real how can He help me? If He was really sinless when He walked the earth 2000 years ago like the Bible says and if He has all authority on heaven and earth like it also says, then He could “pay my fine” for the laws I’ve broken. If the “fine” is death, and He died in my place on the cross like it says, then I wouldn’t have to die. So why do Christians who believe in Jesus die? Could there be a different kind of death besides the physical death? Perhaps. The Bible says we if we are “born again” we are “born of the Spirit.” So maybe the life after death is a spiritual life that continues forever for those who have been “born of the Spirit,” and the quality is such that it is “good” as opposed to a bad quality of existence that we might call spiritual death or hell. So if we continue to exist after physical death, it stands to reason that this existence could be good or bad. I can say I don’t believe in hell but if it exists, then that’s like standing in front of a tidal wave and saying “I don’t believe in tidal waves.” How can we know for sure? Maybe we should ask God – if there is a God. “God – if you can here me – whoever you are, whatever you are – show me who you are and tell me what is after death! Is Jesus really your Son and if so how can He help me?” It’s worth a try eh? He just might answer!

Is death bad?

Yes, in the sense that it separates us from loved ones; also, not all deaths are peaceful and painless. Yes, because change and uncertainty are things which we find frightening. No, because it will happen to all of us—as they say, it is the great equalizer—and (hopefully) it will be a fitting punctuation in the story of a long, productive, and good life.

The Christian viewpoint challenges death’s inevitability as being only short-term. It is the tragic consequence of sin, and it will not always be this way. That’s a heartening thought.

One last thing…
“We could not keep up with the needs and demands of every person that were to be alive.”
Weren’t we all supposed to die of starvation back in the 70s, according to Erlich?

Death is definately bad. Animals, such as our selves and other species are born into this world with an innate fear of death. Animals can resort to extreme measures to avoid death, therefore our primal natural instincts tell us to survive, not because we enjoy this life, which at times seems futile and unimportant, but because after death, whatever that may hold, is something which we do not wish to comprehend.

The importance of “life” however is unestablished and therefore, whether or not I correspond to the bounds of society is unimportant, I believe the best route through life is that which comes most natural and most importantly a satisfaction of your conscience, because if that is not satisfied through life, it will undoubtedly bother you in death.

If you were to ask me, death is not bad at all. this may be misunderstood by some, but why do we live….We live in order to die, the only thing defining everyone on this planets life is that they are going to die. Death is the ultimate motivation to do something with your life…. Why do people get rich….maybe skill, talent or some luck, but those people don’t want to die poor. Why are poor people happy when they don’t have 1/1000th of the resources the average american does, They dont want to die unhappy….. Death gives life a reason. From the poorest most uninfluential person, to most prestigous, and well known people. Death gives everyone something to live for

yes

Not many if any actually want to die but maybe if you are extremly sick or old death may be a better choice then staying alive, but there is no reason to fear something you cant control

One should not fear something that they can’t control. I don’t think death is always bad, because I believe in life after death. Yes i think a dead person can be harmed because they have people still living that they exist through and if that person is harmed then the dead person is harmed.

Is death bed? If you have a god figure in your life then death is mostly likely viewed as good. But if you don?t then what? And for those of you that do have a god in your world, what if you?re wrong. I know that faith is a powerful thing. But still you won?t fully know until then. So for now we will focus on the act of death. Does it hurt? Losing a loved one hurts. So does losing yourself hurt. I think so. Personally I think of death like sleeping. Its hard to say where you go but you aint there any more. And now that I think of it in death you lose everyone. Just losing one person hurts. So what would it be like to lose every one? Even with god you would lose everyone for awhile, just tell they die. Well anyway, a dead body most likely cant be hurt, at least physically. But going with the god factor, I suppose they could still be somewhat hurt emotionally. If they can see their loved ones hurt then I guess they would be hurt to. And in the aspect of heaven and it being nothing but love because of god, does that mean that there will be immeasurable pain to, for all the people you seeing getting hurt? Well so far I think death is a rational fear but that?s just my opinion.