Woterstorff’s Reflections in Lament For a Son

Woterstorff’s Reflections in Lament For a Son
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STAGES OF GRIEF
Grief and denial are tangled. One is the necessity of the other. It is usually a difficult moment when people suffer the loss of their loved ones. Death is normally received with shock and anguish. Kubler-Ross provides a comprehensive understanding of denial and anger in the stages of life. According to Kubler-Rose, there are five phases of grief. These phases are denial and detachment, bargaining, anger, depression, and acceptance. Denial comes when people try to withhold their emotions towards tragic experiences like death. Sometimes people are not entirely controlled by anger after suffering some loss of their loved ones. Wolterstorff illustrates denial by trying to imagine how things would be different if David had not gone up the mountain.
Question 1
According to Wolterstorff pain is something that lives with him but it also disappears with time. Wolterstorff is able to fee joy beside pain and this is demonstrated through his continued hope and faith for the yet to come. Wolterstorff described the condition that leads to the death of his son has occupied his heart such that the pain of death was almost unbearable. Wolterstorff does not describe the elimination of pain as wanting (Wolterstorff, 1987). Instead, the pain shows that he appreciated his son and recognizes his presence and what they shared.
A loss is accompanied by grief, anger, sadness, and anguish (Groothuis, 2017). For example, if someone is critically ill with diseases like cancer, it is very common to see such an individual trying to bargain with the creator so that one can have more days on earth. This was the first delusion that was made by Wolterstorff after the death of David. The second stage of grief is demonstrated when someone is annoyed with the circumstances that caused the death of their loved ones. Wolterstorff shows such anger asking if David had not climbed the mountain, then death could not have occurred (Wolterstorff, 1987). The third stage is bargaining. The normal reaction of being helpless and vulnerable assist a person to regain control through the series of comments of "if only." This is the attempt to bargain. The fourth stage is depression which is the effects of the loss. Regret and sadness cause depression. The last stage is acceptance. Not everyone can reach this stage. It takes bravery to accept the loss of a loved one. Although acceptance and joy are not the negative aspects of death, Wolterstorff can experience joy and acceptance in the long-run.
Question 2
Various scholars assert that death is the consequence of the sinning nature of human beings. Demise did not exists but...