PDO Cemetery

There is a cemetery located at PDO (Petroleum Development Oman) where a lot of expats are buried in Muscat, Oman.  They usually hold a “Remembrance Day Ceremony” on November 11th of each year to remember fallen soldiers.  I think it’s always a healthy thing to think about life, death and eternal things at the beginning of each New Year to put life in its proper perspective.An interesting sign next to the gate reads “No dogs please“.  For any student of Scripture, this may bring to mind the verses in the book of Revelation describing the New Jerusalem, “¹⁴Blessed are they that do his commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city.  ¹⁵For without are dogs, and sorcerers, and whoremongers, and murderers, and idolaters, and whosoever loveth and maketh a lie.” (Revelation 22:14-15)  When the Bible states that “dogs” may not enter, it refers to morally  unclean people and sometimes to false teachers, heretics and evil doers (as in Philippians 3:2)Nice gate!  Right out of John chapter 10! “⁷Then said Jesus unto them again, Verily, verily, I say unto you, I am the door of the sheep.” “⁹I am the door (or “gate”): by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture.It was very peaceful walking through the cemetery, reading the tombstones and considering the lives of many of these expats who left family and friends behind to come to Oman.People love to put such sentimental thoughts on tombstones.  Here is the poem in full (on another tombstone in the same cemetery):A couple of things about this type of “cemetery poem”.  They often, like this one, assume that “God will take everyone“, as if ALL people are going to heaven… Then there’s the line “no finer person this world could hold” which is quite an exaggeration to say about any person who lived in this world apart from Christ! Here’s an interesting quote from the poem, “The Soldier“.Another wishy-washy sentiment.  This concept, that the dead are never really dead as they “live in our hearts and in our memories” is one that is very popular today and takes peoples minds off the fact that there is a real heaven and a real hell and a judgment for each of us.Here is a scene I’ve never read in my Bible (God: “Oh, you smiled at quite a few people during your life.  Sounds good enough for me.  Come on in!”)This is a great image with which to end my stroll through the cemetery.  It conjures up the image of “resting in peace”.  I really enjoyed this article by Richard A. Ciarrocca on this very topic.