the end of life, annihilation, death—really holds no fear at all. That is not a Christian fable; it is a fact, and the proof of it is the resurrection. “If Christ be not risen,” said Saint Paul to his Christians, “then your faith is in vain.” You cannot be a Christian and doubt that fact. Christ’s coming upon earth, his taking on of human flesh, had no purpose if it was not to die and then to triumph over death.
