Question:  Dear Greg,

            I’ve been taught for many years that when we die it is God who takes us away.  Recently I’ve been hearing ministers on the air saying that this isn’t true.  Is there a verse in the Bible to support this or is this just a manmade idea?

            Please advise.

            Sincerely yours,

            Darrell

Answer:  Dear Darrell,

            An answer depends upon what meaning we are giving “God taking us away.”  There are, no doubt, times when God takes people—when it is God’s will that people die in a specific time and place and manner.  The Bible says that “the righteous are taken away to be spared from evil” (Isaiah 57:1).

            On the other hand there are times when accidents occur—Christians are involved in horrible accidents and crime and die leaving young children, etc.  God clearly does not take this life away, in the sense of being directly responsible for the details of brutality and mayhem.

            Deuteronomy 32:29 could be the passage you or others have reference to: “I put to death and bring to life, I have wounded and I will heal…” But again, is this saying that God is intimately involved in all deaths?  God is creator, and having given life, and having given a life span, thereby determines the boundaries of physical life.  Within those boundaries does he determine in all cases that one person will die at ten years of age, another be murdered at age 18 by a criminal, another die in the military at age 24 and someone else dying in their sleep at age 88?  The Bible does not presume that God is involved in all such details—while, of course, there are times when he is.

            In Christ,

            Greg Albrecht