Ambrose Bierce was a master writer who was at the top of his craft in 1890 when he wrote An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge. The story starts:
"A man stood upon a railroad bridge in northern Alabama, looking down into the swift water twenty feet below. The man's hands were behind his back, the wrists bound with a cord. A rope closely encircled his neck. It was attached to a stout cross-timber above his head and the slack fell to the level of his knees. Some loose boards laid upon the ties supporting the rails of the railway supplied a footing for him and his executioners..."
No word is out-of-place or extraneous. The narrative is fast-pace and vivid.
Spoiler alert: I am going to reveal how the story ends below the break.
The spy who was being executed escapes and makes a run for home. The trauma of the escape makes time's passing very weird and the landscape is unfamiliar.
Finally making it home, he sees his wife on the front porch of his home. Reaching the front gate and opening it....
The rope of the noose tightens and breaks his neck. The escape and all of the detail had been totally within his feverish brain.
The Bible
The Bible is silent on many topics. For example, the Bible is silent on the topic of reincarnation. Where it is silent one must be careful to not allow our popular culture to slip not-supported by the Bible substitutes.
Two examples: Popular culture has "Heaven (Harps, angels, etc.) as our divine endpoint while a strict Biblical reading suggests "Heaven" is a waiting room until the end-times and then we all get Glorified Bodies similar to that of the Resurrected Jesus.
The other example is that popular culture would have us believe Eve deceived Adam into eating the forbidden fruit. A critical reading of the Bible is that Eve was Adam's helpmate and at no point does the Bible say Eve was alone. The logical inference is that they were together and Eve was the only one of the two how thrashed around and resisted Satan. Adam was there the entire time and didn't argue with Satan.
Near Death Experiences
I am just playing with an idea here.
What if our brushes with death and near-death-experiences were in fact events that caused us to slip our mortal coil. What if our "life" afterward was a series of moral dilemmas and moral ambiguities...something like an oral thesis defense after an inconclusive set of final exams.
That may sound totally "whacked" but there are some religions that consider salvation after death to be possible. I believe the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints holds this belief. I was corrected by a reader, this is a belief of the Church of the Latter Day Saints.
More traditional Christians will point to the story of Lazarus and the Rich Man as the Bible saying salvation does not work that way. I really do not want to engage in minutia but I am not sure it totally rules it out as a possibility, either.
Anything is possible for our infinite, all-powerful God.
Over the top?
I like to buy insurance. If there is even a tiny chance that my encounter with the car did not have the miraculously happy ending I seem to have enjoyed, why would I not try to slam-dunk every moral dilemma, moral ambiguity, every chance to recognize and support the people who are (or did) everything they could to create that happy ending?
It is a no lose situation for me, from asking the EMT what I can do to help him with his mission to being a compliant, uncomplaining patient. They can do their job better with fewer distractions and I get well more quickly.
Since I am still enjoying your company, you must still be here in this realm.
ReplyDeleteI remember that story from High school, didn't much care for the ending.
The fact that you remember the story 40 years later is evidence that it was a very good story. Maybe not one you enjoyed, but one that registered.
DeleteA teacher of mine played that film for our class in junior high. Yes, 40 plus years ago. I, too, did not like the ending. You're right about it registering.
DeleteNo,
DeleteI really enjoyed the story.
The fact a rebel was sticking it to the guvmint suited me just fine even at 16.
I did not like the ending.
Rope slack to his knees would rip his head right off.
ReplyDeleteERJ - The only verse that came to mind was Hebrews 9:27: "As it is given once for men to die, and after that the judgement". It seems to suggest a single trip only.
ReplyDeleteThat said, we certainly do not know what happens in the in between space between death and the afterlife: is it instant? Is it an eternity? Christ told the Thief on the Cross "This day you will be with me in Paradise", which suggests an immediacy of transference from one realm to the other.
One clarification: The "Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints" is now known as 'Community of Christ', and does not have the same beliefs in salvation as the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, which *does* believe in the possibility of salvation for those who didn't have the opportunity to hear Jesus' message while on the earth.
ReplyDeleteThank-you for the clarification.
DeleteI've never read that story before - Thank you for linking and mentioning it.
ReplyDeleteThe 1st 'shock' story I read was in 9th grade English. I don't recall the name of it, but it involved an individual who was chauferred in a sports car and parked on the street. Another driver asked the person if he would move his car for some reason - the passenger refused. The driver insisted but passenger was unmoved. The driver than challenged him to a fight, and opening the passenger car door, found out the passenger had no legs.
I did not see that coming.
Re: An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge. I hadn't heard of that one by Bierce. Made me DL his Collected Works. (Free off Internet Archive.) I'll probably be looking for the dead tree editions also. Good reading.
ReplyDeleteMy fifth grade teacher read that story to us (he might have skipped some of the laborious descriptions). I remember his explanation of grapeshot. I always wondered what the title was; thank you for bringing this up.
ReplyDeletePrayers for your recovery.
Playing catch up here. Sorry for you injuries.
ReplyDeleteI've recently been made aware of the Judeo notion that the spirit hovers around for up to 3 days , which is why Jesus dilly dallied for three days before raising Lazarus.
My mom had one of those after death experiences.
She described the events surrounding her body after being declared dead from a hepatitis laden transfusion.
If this is true, perhaps someone could come to a place of repentance after being declared dead, only being as Miracle Max said "Mostly dead".
I wouldn't want to play chicken with death, though.
I wouldn't say that scripture is completely silent on this matter. I've always understood John the Baptist to be the reincarnation of Elijah. I've heard people try to explain away that Christ didn't really mean that, but that's the plain meaning I get from his words.
ReplyDeleteI've always thought between stories like this, the "Tale of Two Drovers", and "The Pearl". It's amazing any students want to read anything at all.
ReplyDelete