Your Dead Loved Ones​—Where Are They?

ALEC was devastated. Within a week, he lost two of his friends. One of them, Nevil, died from a gunshot wound. The other, Tony, was killed in an automobile accident. Questions that had not bothered him before now plagued the 14-year-old South African boy. ‘Why do people have to die? And what happens after death?’ he wondered.

On his way to Nevil’s funeral, Alec sincerely hoped he would get answers to these questions. “But,” he recalls, “the priest just read from a book and said that Nevil had gone to heaven. Then, at the graveside, he said we await the resurrection. I was confused. If Nevil was in heaven, how could he be awaiting a resurrection?”

Later that same day, Alec attended Tony’s funeral. The ritualistic service was held in a language that he could not understand. Yet, the hysterical behavior of some mourners convinced Alec that no comfort was given. “That night,” he explains, “I was terribly upset. I felt helpless and lost. No one could give satisfactory answers to my questions. For the first time in my life, I really wondered whether there is a God.”

A few weeks after his bereavement, Alec found the answers to his questions. One of Jehovah’s Witnesses called at his home and showed him what God’s Word says about death and about the resurrection. This comforted Alec and brought new meaning to his life.