Ernest P Janzen

Ernest has dedicated his entire adult life to the study and teaching of religious beliefs.  He completed 14 years of full-time University studies up to and including the level of PhD.  He then conceived, researched, designed and delivered 61 courses at the University-level (The University of Toronto and Winnipeg).  These courses focused on World Religions, the Sayings of Jesus, Apocalyptic Literature and (of course) Dying, Death and the Afterlife.  For 30+ years, he has taught thousands of University students about the beliefs of all the major world religions.  He would say that to the extent that someone can “know” something about what billions have believed for millennia, he knows a little something, and he would add that he is in the unique position to understand beliefs both from a personal and a professional perspective.  “Personal” because he was a believer for many years but now no longer is, and fearnotdeath.com is designed to explain why he changed his mind.  More tellingly, the feedback from his students played a critical role in this journey.  The students who have filled his classrooms over decades are of a diversity of faith-based believers (as well as non-believers), and it was their consistent encouragement and prompting that led Ernest to develop and launch this Website.  Its purpose is to provide a professional and solidly academic investigation into a topic that faith has attempted to answer for thousands of years.  Ernest explains that facts will confirm that the variety of those faith-based answers belies this fundamental problem:  you can believe anything that you like (and we have for thousands of years) but believing something does not make it so.  Instead, as a lifelong educator, Ernest proposes addressing the subject matter on a factual basis.  And that is what this Website will provide you with:  a decidedly different discussion about dying, death and the afterlife.  Finally, unlike the dizzying differences among all of the faith-based answers, Ernest will provide you with an alternative that is viable, sustainable, intelligent and respectful.  In an effort to be fully transparent, a signature quality of his teaching style, Ernest will also provide you with the means to fact-check him on the claims that he makes - something you don’t hear from those behind the pulpit.

Death – though uncertain the experience, supremely unpleasant is the thought of it. Try as we may, the topic is unavoidable, however. As we get older, we lose people, nearly lose more, and we observe the unfortunate decline of our own abilities. We soon recognize, one day it might be I who gets an unexpected diagnosis from the doctor, or I who checks a text message at the wrong time on the road; or perhaps I simply experience the natural conclusion of my rationed number of days on this Earth. I face the same uncertainty as everyone else. I wish I could so confidently say, as John Donne puts it, “One short sleep past, we wake eternally / And death shall be no more…” but I have no more evidence for this than the hope that is bound up in books written long before the first telescope peered into the heavens. To cast doubt on what has been taught by schools of tradition is not an act of moral rebellion, or a vendetta against anyone who’s done wrong – it’s simply to acknowledge with humility that I once did not exist and will no longer exist once more – and the universe will continue on as it has. Some of us “non-believers” are genuinely saddened by the knowledge that so many people, especially children, are filled with guilt, shame and fear as a means of preparing them for passage to an afterlife only known through ancient fables. Children who aren’t allowed to watch scary movies can be fed nightmarish images of human beings roasting in a pit of flames as a means of deterring them from things like taking a romantic interest in the wrong person. I believe that by saying “fear not death” Ernest is challenging you to fear not life! Dylan Thomas claims, “After the first death, there is no other” and I agree, but for effect, I would substitute the word “life” for “death.” While death is inevitable, living is a choice we make every day. Enjoy the splendor this world has to offer, spread joy to others and fear only taking the present for granted.