Rest in Peace?

This past Wednesday, Tina Turner died at 83. I wasn’t a fan of the singer, but played some of her records while working as a disc jockey in the 1980s. In response to a Facebook post written about Tina's passing, someone repeatedly accused me of being hateful because of questioning her eternal destiny (she was raised Baptist but later became a Buddhist). I soon unfriended and blocked this person.

Whenever celebrities die, those who care about them will often say, “Rest in peace.” Sometimes the initials R.I.P. are engraved on headstones as well as Halloween decorations. R.I.P. originated from the Latin phrase “requiescat in pace.”


The truth is that all dead people are not resting in peace. When a person dies, they either experience great joy in heaven or eternal torment in hell. There is no in-between place such as purgatory. Hebrews 9:27 says, “And as it is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment.”


One doesn’t magically change into an angel or get a free pass into heaven just because they had a rough life or were “good.” The Lord said in Isaiah 48:22, “There is no peace…for the wicked.” The wicked are not select individuals the world considers “bad people.” All of us have broken God’s laws and need a Savior. 


If you haven’t already done so, I encourage you to enter into a relationship with Jesus Christ. Once you do that, then you will have rest and peace in this life and the next.


“For those who follow godly paths will rest in peace when they die.” - Isaiah 57:2 (NLT) 


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