"Dead as a Doornail"

I first heard this phrase as a young boy watching my dad and my uncles standing around a car that wouldn't start.  The hood was up and the 'hoods' were peering into the engine.  When someone turned the key the engine sounded like an old man clearing his throat first thing in the morning.  This was followed by stares, a moment of silence, and then cursing (I had to learn the words somewhere).  Finally, one of my uncles stabbed his finger at the battery and said "It's dead as a doornail."  While the adults all seemed to understand I was confused.  I really wasn't clear yet on what it meant for something to be dead (except for the worm I had recently pressed into the sidewalk).  Was the worm also dead as a doornail?

We were talking one Sunday morning before worship and she mentioned that she had had the talk with their adult children.  "I told them when I die they can do whatever they want with my body.  They can bury it or dump me in the river.  I'm done with it and I know where I am going."  She believes death is a doorway and the soul moves on.  But what if we are dead as a doornail?  And what about that creedal statement where we say we believe in "the resurrection of the body?"  What other adults seem to understand about death still leaves me confused.

I understand the need for comfort and reassurance when our loved ones die (wouldn't be much of a pastor if I didn't).  I appreciate the power of believing our loved ones are watching over us or that, upon our death, we will be reunited with them.  While I was officiating at funerals I cannot recall one time where I looked at the family and said-"Well, it looks like your loved one is dead as a doornail."

But I believe that is what the Bible teaches and what radical faith asks of us.  Dead is dead no matter how many books are written by people who have been to or seen others in heaven.  That doornail reference, as I understand it, is saying a doornail is no longer useful once it was nailed to the door.  They recycled nails back then but not the doornail.  One and done.

We tend to talk about believing in the resurrection of the dead but believe more like the ancient Greeks.  Many of them looked at the body and soul as two separate pieces of us and death was where the soul left the now unneeded body.  I don't know what is on the other side of death so please don't take my thoughts as inspired wisdom or truth.  I do believe the Bible is a more radical book than we choose to see most of the time.  It takes a lot of faith to believe in a God who will not abandon or let go of those who are dead as a doornail.  I hold to the belief that God will not let the dead stay dead.  Until the resurrection I believe the dead wait in the presence of God.  I don't know or really care what this looks like.  I don't expect some kind of doorway at my death.  I'm just going to be dead as a doornail UNTIL a loving God recycles me to a new life.  If it turns out I am wrong I will try to send word back to you all.