Why Die Young and Leave a Good Looking Corpse?

Nothing moves my heart and saddens me more than hearing about the death of someone young; most especially, if such a death could have been prevented by the person himself/herself or a different set of circumstances occurring. Take for instance the scenario of the young man who gets caught having sex with a married woman, and the furious husband chances on them, and, in his anger, strangles him to death there and then. What about the young boy who was repeatedly warned by his mom to not go on the school excursion to that dangerous waterfall, but slips out of the house, goes, and never comes back alive? Oh, Lord!

Now, if you're a literature buff like me, you'll readily recognize the inspiration behind the title of this piece: Why Die Young and Leave a Good Looking Corpse?

For those of you not familiar with that phrase, a variation of it occurs in “Knock on any Door;” a novel by African-American writer Willard F. Motley. Nick Romano, the leading character in the novel, said something thus: “Live fast, die young and leave a good looking corpse.”

I'm not in anyway trying to pinpoint and suspect people who die young as individuals who knew what they were doing. No! But some, surely, live as if they were only born to die young and leave good looking corpses. A perfect example would be the young man who gets caught with another person's wife and gets killed. What was he thinking? Has he never contemplated what would occur if the husband discovers him in the act? Only God knows.

Let's rest the speculations there. Now, why do some people die young? Why do some people leave behind good looking corpses rather than living long and growing old then dying to gift their relatives with ugly corpses to dispose off?

I believe the answers to these questions are provided in a few scripture verses—Romans 9:15 and the 13th chapter of Luke most succinctly. Yes, God sometimes takes some people away for reasons known only to him (including people who may not be sinners), but some die because of sin. Death is the reward of sin. It is.

Romans 9:15 records God saying: "I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion."

I'm no Bible scholar but will stretch my neck out to claim that if the above be true then God sometimes stays his hand and refuses to have mercy or interfere in things happening down here as he did for a while during Satan's buffeting of Jobs. Ezekiel 18:20 vouchsafes this actually.

The 13th Chapter of Luke also contains a story that illustrates this scenario poignantly. Jesus' disciples were talking to him about an accident—the Tower of Siloam falling and killing a number of people. They sort of asked the Savior, “Those people who died, were they sinners?”

“No,” the Christ seemingly replied. “They were not sinners more than those alive. But unless you repent, you shall likewise perish.”

Christ, put another way, was saying that everyone is a sinner but anyone who continually and notoriously abides in sin is like a leaf in the wind.

He/she can be blown here or there and anything can happen to him/her. Such a person can drop dead at any moment from just something small happening to him/her unless God intervenes. And HE AT TIMES CHOOSES NOT TO INTERVENE!

GOD AT TIMES CHOOSES NOT TO INTERVENE!

Now, let us pray, O Lord, grant that we have the strength in Christ to walk far from sin and abide under your heavenly care always. May we not sin and open ourselves to Satan's buffeting, for if we sin he pronounces us guilty and punishes at will. Save us from this, O Lord.

In the name of Christ we pray with much thanksgiving. Amen.

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Stanley Courage Dugah is a writer and poet based in Ghana. He regularly blogs at scdugah.wordpress.com. Besides writing online, he's also working on a number of novels, novellas, short stories, and a poetry collection. You can connect with him on facebook or Follow @StanleyCDugah