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I think about this sometimes. I mean, a lot of people will be alive by the end of the world and Jesus may come down and bring those who believe up into the sky with him.

I am slightly scared of death - even though I honestly shouldn't be, but I am. I'm still working on it and trusting God more and more smile some people I know would like to experience death to wonder what it is like.

I think it would be awesome if I was alive when the world was ending and Jesus said, "Come up here!" and his believers followed and we didn't have to experience of death. I believe some people will definitely get that luxury smile

This article speaks about the good of thinking about death: http://news.yahoo.com/why-thoughts-death-may-good-222259031.html
It made me realize to look at ways of life worth living and stuff I should do before I die.

Well I think I'm contented already with the fact that we'll live forever even after we die and I can't wait to experience serenity in heaven either =D We have nothing material to gain but what we'll have then is lasting happiness mrgreen

It's pretty natural to fear death. It's a pretty universal instinct both to fight for survival, and also to fear the unknown. And since death isn't something we can experience more than once (well, technically you can be dead in the strictly biological sense and be resusitated in some cases, but I think for dying to really count as dying, you have to stay dead), and those who have experienced it really aren't likely to be able to come over for dinner and tell us all about it. You can also die very suddenly and unexpectedly. So regardless of how strong your faith is and/or how certain you feel that eternal paradise awaits you, there's always an element of the unknown with death, and that makes us as humans naturally frightened of it (in general; obviously there's exceptions). It's not always a debilitating sort of terror (and if it is, I can't imagine that's a terribly healthy or happy existence). It can be more like the sort of fear you might feel when taking a really important exam even if you know you're well-prepared for it, or the sort of fear you might get at a job interview, or going on a first date, or getting married. Most people are at least a little frightened when they find themselves in the situations I listed, but it's not always a bad kind of fear.

Personally, I've never really feared death for a number of reasons. First and foremost, I try to live with as little fear in my life as possible. I'm rather crazy in the clinical sense, you see, including but not limited to anxiety and panic disorder (courtesy of my lovely post-traumatic stress mostly, more rarely triggered by one of my other flavours of insanity) so a while back when I was first being treated for mental illness and realised that I didn't want to rely on daily medication for the rest of my life, I started making a concerted effort to let go of as much fear in my life as I could. I see death as inevidable (I really don't believe the world is going to end any time especially soon), and what's the point of fearing the inevidable? Also, I am curious about what it's like to die. Not to be confused with WANTING to die, but call it morbid curiousity. I just feel like death is such a universal human experience.

I used to actively want to die, then for a while I was just completely apathetic about whether I lived or died...luckily I pulled my head out of my bum on that. I don't want to die. I've been very blessed in this life and I'll take all the time I've got to appreciate and enjoy that. Maybe that makes me "too attached to the world," but I hardly think it's a sin to be happy to be alive. My time will come when it comes. I'm in no hurry, but it's not something I'm fearful of. I'd rather not have to suffer a painful death, but I'm not really afraid of physical pain, either. I've felt all sorts of physical pain before, and I figure at least if I'm dying while in pain, at least I'll know there's an end in sight, which is more than I can say for much of the pain I've experienced in my life thus far.

I can't honestly say that I fear hell that much, either. I feel like I probably should, or at least I've been told that I should fear it more. It terrified me as a child, became resigned to it when I was a teenager, stopped believing in it as a young adult, and now...I'm just not afraid. It's not that I'm arrogant and think I can do no spiritual wrong and/or am somehow immune to eternal damntion. I can't explain it well, so I'm just going to stop trying.

Long story short, I guess I'm just very much at peace with myself spiritually these days. It's a pretty new feeling for me, I admit, but it's pretty awesome.

I got really rambly. Wow. Sorry about that. I haven't slept much, and sleep deprivation unfortunately amplifies my long-windedness and decreases my language skills. And my short-term memory. What's the topic of this thread again? Oh yeah, being alive for the end times vs. experiencing death. I hope I at least touched on that topic. gonk

that would be neat if we could see heaven before we die.