Do You Knock at the Gates of the Grave?
We knock and listen so we are prepared for the day—the inevitable day—when the gates will open to receive us to new life or a second death, to the bliss of heaven or the horrors of hell. We knock to ensure we are waiting, to ensure we are ready, to ensure we will go to be with the Lord we love.
There is a sense in which we are less familiar with death than our forebears, more insulated from its horrors. Of course the death rate in the twenty-first century is identical to every century before and every century to come—“it is appointed for [each and every] man to die once, and after that comes judgment.” So perhaps it is better to say we are less familiar with what we consider premature death—the death of infants, children, and young adults.
Because we are less familiar with death, we tend to prepare less for its inevitable encroachment. With the average lifespan now extending well past the promised threescore and ten, it is easy enough to set death alongside retirement, pensions, and inheritances as matters that should concern us sometime in the future, but certainly not right now.
But it was not always so and there are lessons we can and should learn from previous generations of Christians, for they had a heightened understanding of the importance of being ready. They had to. Like first responders, they had to be in a state of constant preparation, ready to be deployed at a moment’s notice. Like servants, they had to be dressed and ready for the moment they were summoned into the presence of the king. They did not have the luxury of associating death with a life well-lived to a ripe old age. Death could come quickly and at any time. It commonly did.
In reading the Puritans and their successors, I’ve often come across a captivating little phrase: “knocking at the gates of the grave.” Jeremy Taylor wrote a whole book about Christian dying and said, “He that would die well must always look for death, every day knocking at the gates of the grave; and then the gates of the grave shall never prevail against him to do him mischief.” Theodore Cuyler sometimes recounted strolling through Greenwood cemetery where three of his children had been laid to rest—two as infants and one as a young adult—and using his time there to metaphorically knock at the gates of the grave, “to listen whether any painful echo comes back from within.”
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“Pride” Month is not License to Resort to Name-Calling the Faithful
It’s telling that the Associated Press chose not to show respect for religious values when it comes to sexual morality. For AP, June Pride Month licenses its writers to insult religious people for their ancient and current beliefs. This is a form of intolerance veering into hatred, especially anti-Jewish hatred, that deserves to be called out and shamed every time it occurs.
As I read the paper the other morning, I found an article titled, “Pride parade held amid tensions.” It was an Associated Press article and related to a Pride parade in Jerusalem. In the very first paragraph, it engaged in open insults against religious conservatives in the Israeli government.
Israel is always interesting to me due to reading the Torah (or, as Christians say, the Old Testament) beginning when I was a child. Therefore, I pay a certain amount of attention to news related to that nation. I also have had the privilege of visiting the Holy Land and places important to both Jews and Christians.
The article’s first paragraph read:
JERUSALEM (AP) — Thousands of people on Thursday marched in Jerusalem’s Pride parade — an annual event that took place for the first time under Israel’s new far-right government, which is stacked with openly homophobic members.
I was shocked to read those words: “. . . which is stacked with openly homophobic members.” How do they know they’re “homophobic” and not simply religious Jews and people?
Shame on the Associated Press for resorting to name-calling, e.g., “homophobic members.” Would they call people who are religious and disapprove of adultery, “adulteryphobic?” Or would they call those who oppose pedophilia “pedophobic?” There are other sexual acts or relations that could also be named that are mutually considered sinful and forbidden by Islam, Orthodox Judaism, and Christianity.
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A Time To Keep Silence
Speech and silence can both be vices. Knowing the difference between the two requires wisdom. And through wisdom, we will find the virtue between the vices, and learn how to give life through both our words and the silences between them.
If something is of ultimate importance, you should say it as soon as possible, right? If something is true, and vital to know, then circumstances be damned, we just have to say it. The person we’re talking to will, in the end, be better off than if we hadn’t said it.
Christians often apply such logic to evangelism and discipleship. These tasks deal, necessarily, in ultimates – life and death, curses and blessings, first things and last things. If the Good News is so good, the judgement so terrible, and the task so unfinished, then we should surely be turning every possible moment into a conversation about Christ and the Gospel. The truth, by virtue of being true, demands restatement whenever possible. Even if people are not ready or willing to listen, they will have heard the word of God, which is living and active, and that is never a bad thing. And who knows – perhaps the Holy Spirit will zap them with new life out of nowhere.
And yet thinking about truth in this way is actually quite odd. If we consider how some of history’s greatest philosophers (i.e. those who love wisdom) and theologians (i.e. those who speak about God) have thought about speaking ultimate truth, we find they have this in common: there is a right time to speak of ultimate things, and a right time to remain silent.
This week, I’ve been reading Plato’s dialogue Alcibiades for a Davenant Hall class, taught by my colleague and podcast co-host Colin Redemer. The work is a conversation between the philosopher Socrates and the title character, young Alcibiades (a genuine historical figure who became a great Athenian leader, defecting at different points to both Sparta and Persia). Alcibiades has reached young manhood, and his ambitions to enter into politics are finally blossoming into reality. This is what kicks off the dialogue: Socrates has long seen Alcibiades’ drive and ability, but only now does he approach the younger man to take him under his philosophical wing before he begins his political career. Why? Because he knows Alcibiades is now ready to listen. Socrates says:
“It is impossible to put any of these ideas of yours into effect without me – that’s how much influence I think I have over you and your business. I think this is why the god hasn’t allowed me to talk to you all this time; and I’ve been waiting for the day he allows me.
I’m hoping for the same thing from you as you are from the Athenians: I hope to exert great influence over you by showing you that I’m worth the world to you and that nobody is capable of providing you with the influence you crave, neither your guardian nor your relatives, nor anybody else except me – with the god’s help, of course. When you were younger, before you were full of such ambitions, I think the god didn’t let me talk to you because the conversation would have been pointless. But now he’s told me to, because now you will listen to me.”
Alcibiades 105.d
The blossoming of a serious desire for leadership signals to Socrates that Alcibiades is finally ready to listen to him regarding ultimate things. And it is ultimate things Socrates really wants to talk about. His main message to Alcibiades is that there is no point embarking upon a political career if he has not first cultivated his very soul. It is hard to imagine a more important topic of discussion, and yet Socrates did not badger Alcibiades with it every day. He waited. In fact, he says that God himself made him wait.
You find a similar thought in Augustine’s Confessions.
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60 Questions for Pro-Choice Christians
You may have considered all of these questions before. You may not have ever considered any of these questions before, but they are certainly worth considering before condemning the position the church of Jesus Christ has held for a couple millennia.
For many evangelicals, the leaked draft decision last month felt like the culmination of many prayers, tears, hard conversations, and difficult decisions at the voting polls. Now that Roe has fallen, the most vulnerable will now have a chance to be legally protected in some states and the pro-life movement will have some headway into the culture.
For many of our neighbors, the overturning of Roe and Casey is a sign of an upcoming theocratic takeover filled with fundamentalist extremism. A woman’s fundamental right to choose, which we have been told is paramount, is now under assault.
As Jonathan Haidt has pointed out, we are not getting better at debating and we have little to no tolerance when it comes to embracing tough conversations. Social media, institutional overreach into politics, and polarization are all factors, but I wonder if another contribution is something we have lost along the way.
Jesus asked over 300 questions to his friends, disciples, adversaries. He was fully God, fully man and knew full well the answers, yet he asked many questions.
With that I have 60 questions for any Christian who identifies as pro-choice. These are not meant to be dismissive, snarky, or rhetorical. They are much more helpful than calling an entire segment of people “bigots” or “baby murderers.”Are all humans made in the image of God?
How do you think Genesis 1:27 can speak into the abortion discussion?—And God created man in His image, in the image of God He created him, male andfemale He created them.
Is a fetus a “potential human life” or a “human life with potential” (if you don’t intentionally end it)
Is the life that is being ended through abortion worthy of protections?
How can Proverbs 6:17 help us think about abortion?—“The LORD hates those who shed innocent blood.”
Is life within the womb innocent?
What do you think of the fact that there is entirely new, separate human DNA in the fetus at the moment of conception?—medlineplus
What do you think of Jeremiah 1:5 telling us that a person exists even before that person’s birth
Is the life within the womb human?
When does a person deserve rights?
What is an abortion?
Have you ever seen an abortion?
Do you think the pro-choice / pro-abortion position aligns more closely to a Biblical worldview than the pro-life / anti-abortion position?
In America, it is illegal to kill a bald eagle, carrying a maximum fine of $250,000 or two years in prison. And the law extends to the eggs of the bald eagle, making no differentiation between a living bald eagle and a pre-born bald eagle. Why should a bald eagle egg have more protection than an unborn baby?
Does the Bible provide us reliable wisdom on how to think about abortion?
Did you know that followers of Jesus have been distinctly pro-life and anti-abortion since the 1st century A.D.?—Justin Taylor’s Did the Early Church Oppose Abortion?—For instance, the Didache 2.2 (c. A.D. 85–110) commands, “thou shalt not murder a child by abortion nor kill them when born.”—Another non-canonical early Christian text, the Letter of Barnabas 19.5 (c. A.D. 130),said: “You shall not abort a child nor, again, commit infanticide.”
How do you think God is most glorified through the various abortion methods? (Vacuum Aspiration, Abortion poison pill, Dilation & Evacuation)
What do you think your view on abortion testifies to how God views children?
How does God view children?
When should abortion be legally allowed?Read More
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