Dear Editor,
At certain times, children asked about spirits of dead people coming out of their graves and roaming the streets. The look of great fear was in their eyes.
It is very important that children be taught the truth about the dead. Neither parents nor others should mislead them, making them scared.
Ecclesiastes 9:5, 6, 10 states in part: “The dead know not anything … their love, and their hatred, and their envy, is now perished … there is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom, in the grave, whither thou goest.” According to these verses, dead persons know nothing; they cannot love or hate us; they cannot do anything. Hence, a dead person does not have a spirit that comes out of his or her grave in early November or at any time.
When Lazarus died, he knew nothing during the four days he was in the tomb (John 11:14, 17, 39). Only after Jesus resurrected Lazarus back to life did he know things again (John 11: 43, 44). Therefore, the only time a dead person will live again is when Jesus Christ performs the future resurrection that Acts 24:15 mentions.
God hates lying, as Ephesians 4:25 proves. So wise parents and others will not mislead kids and scare them about the condition of the dead. They will tell them the truth, thus setting them free from fear (John 8:32).
Simeon James
St. Vincent and the Grenadines
