Skip to main content

Domesticating Death



By Keith Evans - Posted at Gentle Reformation:

Last month, as my aunt crossed from life to the eternal destiny which awaited her, death unwelcomely inserted itself into my family's life. Death has a way of doing that. It barges right in, uninvited, disrupting life. It rudely divides families, and leaves those who remain behind mourning, sorrowful, and diminished from who they were prior to the loss. It never comes at a desirable time, because honestly, there is no desirable time to face the enemy known as death; that final consequence due to all of us for sin.

And yet there are some (nay many!) in the church today (not to mention the world!) who seek solace in making death something less than our enemy. “Celebrations of Life” for the deceased in lieu of proper funeral services are requested even of reformed pastors by reformed parishioners in reformed churches. Faithful saints of God seek to conceal their sadness, put on a happy face, and focus solely on the positive:

“They’re in a better place”, they say.

“They’re better off”, you hear.

“They’re finally free from their constant pain”, it is alleged.

“It’s a normal part of life”, some muse.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Wokeism: When the Cure is Worse Than the Disease

 Posted at Churches Without Chests : Africa receives some American errors that are quite beneficial. For example, before the NBA finals, the Super Bowl or the World Series, sports merchandisers produce memorabilia of both finalists winning, so as to be able to immediately sell when the final is over. Unfortunately, half of that merchandise represents an alternate universe: where the team that lost actually won. What happens to the champions-that-never-were T-shirts and caps? Much of it is donated to third-world countries, where needy folks wear shirts displaying an event that never happened. Hey, we’re not complaining. Another shirt on a poor man’s back is a good thing, even if it celebrates what never occurred. Error is sometimes beneficial. Some imported errors are profoundly destructive, though. The worst of them are theological errors, for what touches Scripture touches ultimate realities. Two such errors that originated in America are particularly devastating for a country like m

MAGA's Morality Problem

U.S. Rep. Lauren Boebert speaking with attendees at the 2021 AmericaFest at the Phoenix Convention Center in Phoenix, Arizona. Photo by Gage Skidmore (Source:  MAGA's Morality Problem | Shane Vander Hart )  By Shane Vander Hart When a voting base dismisses the importance of private virtue, we shouldn't be surprised when their leaders lack it. Elected officials having affairs and the like is not new, we've seen Republicans and Democrats caught in scandals. What is new, however, are those being dismissive or defensive of the behavior. Does personal morality and character matter when considering political candidates and elected officials? For me, for me that is an unequivocal yes. The MAGA movement disagreed excusing and elevating a serial adulterer to the White House. We are seeing the fruit of this position today. Continue here.

God, History and the Nations

 By Bill Muehlenberg - Posted at CultureWatch: Published September 12, 2023 Good news about rogue rulers and evil tyrants: A major problem we have as mere fallen and finite creatures is that we lack perspective. We do not see the big picture and we do not consider the long term. Christians can be just as guilty of this as non-Christians. We can too easily become overwhelmed by events going on around us. This can especially be true regarding wicked rulers and evil nations. I have been around for a while now, and I recall worrying greatly about things like the Soviet Union and the Eastern Bloc. Communism seemed to be the wave of the future back then. But of course the wall came down in 1989, and over seven decades of godless Communist rule came to an end – at least in that part of the world. And many empires have come and gone over the centuries, be they the Assyrians, the Babylonians, the Romans, and so on. Yet when we see powerful and evil nations today, it still can seem like they are