Gloom and Doom Need Not Dominate This Holiday

Another annual celebration of ghosts and goblins and witches and Jack-o-lanterns is upon us. I’m not among them, but there are some people for whom Halloween ranks as a favorite holiday, surpassing even Christmas and Thanksgiving. Interesting.

 

Driving around – yes, you can still do that even in these COVID days – I’ve noticed several yards when the homeowners have devoted a lot of time making their yards look as scary as possible. Several TV cable networks have scheduled Halloween-themed movies all month. And civic leaders are deciding what social-distancing guidelines are best for trick-or-treating.

The Bible says nothing directly about Halloween, unless you accept the little girl’s misinterpretation when she was asked to recite the Lord’s Prayer: “Our Father who art in heaven, Halloween Thy name….” For many folks, Halloween is nothing more than a fun day for wearing silly costumes and passing out candy. However, it does have its dark side, as depicted by gory horror movies that make it a focal point. Death is a recurring theme, and throughout history there have been those for whom All Hallow’s Eve has been a sacred rite.

 

Much is said in the Scriptures about the inescapable reality and specter of death. For instance, the book of Romans tells us about the problem,“for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23), as well as its consequence and its remedy, “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 6:23).

 

Referring to Christ’s atoning death for our sins, another passage offers these words of assurance: 

“If we have been united with him like this in his death, we will certainly also be united with him in his resurrection. For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin – because anyone who has died has been freed from sin…. The death he died, he died to sin once for all, but the life he lives, he lives to God. In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus” (Romans 6:5-11).

 

James Ward, who for many years served as music director and worship leader at New City Fellowship in Chattanooga, composed a wonderful song affirming that for the follower of Christ, death need not conjure the grim images we often see at Halloween. Instead, one’s passing from this life can indeed be a time for joyous celebration.

 

This upbeat, inspiring tune, called “Death Is Ended,” is based on 1 Corinthians 15:51-55, which declares:

“Behold, I tell you a mystery: We shall not sleep, but we shall all be changed – in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed…then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, ‘Death is swallowed up in victory. O Death, where is your sting? O Hades, where is your victory?”

 

If you’re observing Halloween this year – in some respects, it seems all of 2020 has been one continuous enactment of Halloween at its worst – I hope for you it’s funny costumes and tasty candy treats. But if you find yourself dwelling on the sobering, gloomy aspects of the day, please take to heart this glorious promise:

 

“The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Corinthians 15:56-57). 

Receiving Life – Through Death

Death. We hate thinking about it yet have a morbid fascination with it. Whenever we hear about a major disaster in which lives were lost, we rush to our news media of choice for details. If someone famous dies – an entertainer, athlete, or public figure – we’re quick to ask our friends, “Have you heard…?”

Many of us have indelible memories etched in stone when asked where we were when we heard JFK was assassinated, Elvis and/or Michael Jackson died, when the space shuttle Challenger exploded, or when the horrific events of 9/11 unfolded.

Local newscasts often open with stories about homicides, traffic fatalities and tragic fires. Why? Because people watch. We read obituaries to see if anyone we know has left this life.

At the same time we’re reluctant to contemplate our own mortality. We procrastinate in writing last wills and testaments, and cringe when thinking about making funeral arrangements in advance, as if delaying those steps could hold our own demise at bay.

But as someone has said, death is the great equalizer. It’s truly the one area in which “all men are created equal.” The mortality rate is 100 percent. It’s more certain than taxes – taxes have shelters, write-offs and deductions, but death has no such things.

So this time of year underscores a great biblical paradox: Receiving life through death.

We’re in the midst of Holy Week, highlighted by the traditional Good Friday observance and Easter celebration. Good Friday commemorates the crucifixion and death of Jesus Christ, who claimed to be the Son of God. And Easter marks the most improbable occurrence of all: His resurrection from the dead and subsequent appearance to hundreds of witnesses, spawning a spiritual movement that continues to multiply, transforming countless lives all around the globe.

Easter is easier to “get,” even without the Easter bunny, chocolate eggs and baby chicks. Good Friday, however, is more of a puzzle. I vividly remember attending a somber Good Friday service at my church as a boy. During the proceedings I asked my mother, “If this is the day Jesus was crucified, why do we call it Good Friday? What’s good about it?”

Lacking formal spiritual training, my mom deferred to “the reverend,” who after the service stood at the door shaking hands with departing congregants. I asked him the same question. As I recall he mumbled something but offered little in response. (As you might surmise, it wasn’t a Southern Baptist church.)

I concluded if the minister – a professional religious person – didn’t know the answer, who would? So my question about the basis for “Good” Friday remained unanswered into my college years and beyond. It didn’t dominate my thoughts, but certainly didn’t seem to make sense.

Then, many years later, I learned the answer. Jesus’ physical death on the cross, described by many as the most excruciating form of execution ever devised, was not “good.” But its purpose and ramifications for humanity certainly were.

Mankind had an insurmountable problem then, as it does today: Sin. Literally it means “missing the mark,” where God’s standard of perfection is non-negotiable. In response to this problem, Jesus came not only to teach and serve as an example, but also to provide the solution. Romans 5:8 states, “But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” To use a theological term, Jesus became the atonement for our sins. Or to use a more common term of the recent past, He took the rap for us.

But this is where it gets really interesting. It’s more than having sins forgiven and gaining the promise of life after death, even though those are wonderful promises in themselves. The Bible teaches followers of Christ also receive life before death. That’s what Jesus was referring to when He told the Pharisee Nicodemus, “I tell you the truth, no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again…no one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born of water and the Spirit. Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit” (John 3:3-8).

I’ll not attempt to delve much deeper. Hundreds of books have been devoted to expositions on this concept of being “born again” and its significance, both for this life and the next. But I believe it’s the linchpin of the Christian faith, perhaps the singular distinctive between it and all other belief systems. Sadly, it’s an understanding many followers of Christ never fully grasp. As a result, instead of experiencing “victory in Jesus,” they feel defeated, struggling constantly to live a life that’s impossible in their own strength.

Two verses helped to hammer home this truth for me about 30 years ago. One states, “I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me” (Galatians 2:20). The other, 2 Corinthians 5:17, says much the same, only in a different way: “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come.”

For many of us, everyday experience says those verses doesn’t make sense. We’re only human, right? Nobody’s perfect. That’s true, of course, but sinful, ungodly behavior need no longer be the “default setting” for those who have received Christ and know Him as Savior and Lord.

One passage sums up this death-to-life perspective: “We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life…. In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus… You have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness” (Romans 6:4-18).

If you profess to know and follow Christ, but this has not been your experience, don’t take my word for it. What I think doesn’t matter. What matters is what God thinks. So I would strongly encourage you to read and re-read Romans 5-8 and ask God to enable you to understand its meaning in a practical, everyday sense. If you do, this Easter might be one you will never forget.

Most Powerful TV Events?

Yesterday Sony Electronics and Nielsen released a study drawn from more than 1,000 Americans on what they considered the most “universally impactful” televised moment of the last 50 years. As such surveys tend to be, its findings were interesting – and revealing.

Before I heard the results, I had expected to hear people cite the first appearance of the Beatles on the Ed Sullivan Show (I guess Elvis Presley debuted prior to the “last 50 years” criteria), a particularly memorable sports moment, or maybe something like the final episode of “M*A*S*H.”

But the events deemed most “impactful” largely concerned events related to death, destruction and tragedy. The horrors of Sept. 11, 2001 ranked at the top – understandably so. Next was 2005’s Hurricane Katrina, followed by the O.J. Simpson murder trial verdict in 1995, the Challenger space shuttle disaster in 1988, and the death of Osama bin Ladin last year.

Other top TV moments included the 2011 earthquake in Japan, 1999’s shootings at Columbine High School, the 2010 BP oil spill, Princess Diana’s funeral in 1997, the recent death of Whitney Houston, and the capture and execution of Saddam Hussein in 2006.

The first “happy” televised event came in at No. 13, Barack Obama’s Presidential acceptance speech, followed by the 2011 royal wedding.

Of the top 20 most powerful TV moments, only three did not relate to death or violence, but even the other one involved gore (in a sense) – the Bush-Gore Presidential election results.

If this survey is accurate of Americans overall, what does this say about us? Cynics might say we delight in taking a voyeuristic approach to death, mayhem and calamity, that there’s something therapeutic in vicariously experiencing someone else’s misfortune.

There might be something to that, but I suspect there’s a greater, more universal factor: It’s been said the only certainties in life are death and taxes. But according to a recent report, only 51% of Americans pay Federal income tax, so that leaves just one certainty.

Old or young, rich or poor, regardless of race, gender or beliefs, death is the one equalizer. Not to sound morbid, but death is an integral part of life – whether it pertains to a plant, a puppy, or a person. So with major events in which lives are lost, whether in traffic and boating accidents, natural disasters or violent acts, we tend to pay attention. Why do you think nightly TV news broadcasts often start with such reports?

God understands this all too well. And that’s why the central verse in all of the Bible is so well-known in one translation or another, even by those who refuse to believe: “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16).

With death all around us, it’s good news to know that life – eternal life – is available to us, if only we’re humble enough to receive it.

‘Precious in the Sight of God . . .’

Suspend your disbelief for a moment and suppose you could communicate with a baby in the womb, days or even moments before its birth. You attempt to explain the wonderful, incredible world it’s about to enter, trying to convey some of the sights and sensations it will experience.

When your effusive description is over, the baby responds, “No thanks. I’m good. I have everything I need here. It’s cozy. I’m close to Mommy. I want to stay here.”

Of course we can’t communicate cognitively with babies in utero. And they can’t choose to remain in the womb when time comes for them to enter the outside world. Parents are excitedly waiting to welcome the new addition to the family, to set eyes on the little one for the first time. With wide smiles and arms poised for embrace, they’re ready to nurture the infant, and share in the wonderment of their new life.

This image helps me to understand one of the strangest verses in the Bible. Psalm 116:15 says, “Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints.” Reading this passage for first time I thought, “Really? Is God some kind of sadist? What’s ‘precious’ about death?”

But pondering these questions, the human birth analogy came to mind. Life on earth, with its physical and temporal limitations, is our “womb.” Despite pain and hardships, it’s all we know. So we cling to it. Death is the enemy. Even in the throes of dread diseases, we desire healing.

What if, however, on “the other side of eternity,” death looks more like birth – merely leaving one environment and entering a new, wondrous one we could never have imagined?

In fact, the Bible promises this: "No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him" (1 Corinthians 2:9). Just as an unborn infant can’t fathom the world that awaits it, the Scriptures assert the same is true of the life after death.

And just as proud parents have lovingly arranged a nursery for little Jake or Jill, our Lord is as eager to show what He’s prepared for us. Jesus said as much in John 14:2: “In my Father's house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you.” In essence, He’s saying, “Wait until you see what I have for you!”

This week another dear friend was called home by the Lord. Her passing is difficult for the family, without question. From the beginning, God built us for relationships; when they’re disrupted in this life by death, the void can’t be filled, and grieving family and friends remain.

But imagine leaving this “womb” and entering a new, unending life – and receiving the embrace of your Heavenly Father, His broad smile accompanied by the words, “Welcome home, My child. We’ve been waiting for you!” That sounds precious to me.

Borrowing the words of the vocal group Mercyme, “I can only imagine.”

Precious in the Sight of God

In June I wrote about my friend Karen, a former coworker who had been dealing with cancer. Last week I went to her memorial service, a true celebration of a remarkable woman who loved her God, and who also loved and served people the Lord sent her way.

During the service I recalled a peculiar Bible passage: “Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints” (Psalm 116:15). At first glance, this verse makes God seem like a sadist. How could He enjoy seeing people die? As I’ve pondered it over the years, however, this declaration seems true – and right.

Imagine a baby in the womb: Climate-controlled, continuous food supply, the soothing cadence of mother’s heartbeat. What a life! For the baby, that’s all the world there is. Suddenly things begin to change. The cozy living chamber contracts, pushing the little one toward a narrow opening and into another, unknown world.

If the infant could choose at that moment, it certainly would say, “No, thanks. I’m fine right here.” But the womb world, as comfortable as it’s been, isn’t all there is – far from it. There’s a vast, unimaginable, wondrous world it’s about to encounter for the first time. Soon this new world will be all it knows – or wants.

I believe it’s the same for God’s children. We cling to this visible, tangible, temporal, finite world like it’s all there is, but one day God will introduce us to a world we could never imagine. In 1 Corinthians 2:9 we read, “No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him.”

That's why the death of His saints is precious to God: He has prepared something wonderful, far beyond comprehension, for each of us. Like a parent eager to unveil a special, unexpected surprise for a beloved child, the Lord waits in great anticipation to say, “Welcome, child. Look what I have for you!”

During Karen’s memorial service, the pastor noted one of her last words, with eyes wide open and looking up, was a gentle, “Wow!” Who knows what she saw? I don’t. But I’m convinced with every fiber of my being that for each of us who are God’s children, trusting in “the blessed hope – the glorious appearing of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ” (Titus 2:13), a “Wow!” awaits us, too.

Doing the Halloween Thing

Saturday marks our annual Halloween observance – a rather peculiar holiday, if you ask me. On one level it’s simple fun, children wearing costumes of princesses, scarecrows, animals and cartoon characters visiting the homes of friends, collecting candy in response to an innocent “Trick or Treat.” Even adults join the frivolity, going to Halloween parties dressed as favorite politicians, entertainers or historical figures.

On another level, Halloween has a more sinister side populated by “denizens of the dark.” Historians report the event has both pagan and religious roots, but it’s hardly considered a Christian celebration in any sense. Viewed by some as a “festival of the dead,” according to various web sources, days leading up to Halloween emphasize the occult, feeding off America’s strange fascination with the supernatural, as evidenced by Harry Potter books, the Twilight vampire series, and any number of films about vampires, ghosts and zombies.

(Even everyday traditions, like Ohio State’s “O-H-I-O,” can take a Halloween twist, as the photo I borrowed from the Columbus Dispatch shows.)

Our preoccupation with death, I suppose, is merely a part of life. Everyone has a beginning – and an end. For many people, the uncertainty – and anxiety – concerns the part at the end. That’s why murder mysteries sell so well, why forensics dramas dominate TV…and why we read the daily obituaries. Rich or poor, male or female, young or old, death is our unavoidable common denominator.

This is one reason I find great comfort in Bible passages like the following:

“For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 8:38-39).

It’s a Matter of Perspective

Recently I attended a memorial service for a friend’s wife who had died of cancer. The occasion was a celebration of her life and contributions to family, friends and the community, and her hope of being in heaven with her Lord.

During the service the pastor cited Psalm 116:15: “Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints.” The first time I heard that verse my reaction was, “What kind of sadist is God that He finds death to be ‘precious’?” However, I now regard that passage differently.

Think of a loved one you communicate with only by letter, e-mail or phone. Don’t you look forward to being face to face again, enjoying one another’s company? I believe it’s the same with God. He can talk to us through the Scriptures, and we can reach out to Him through prayer, but if He truly is everything the Bible says, being in His presence will be beyond words.

Or imagine an infant in the womb, comfortable and content, warm and well-fed. If it could choose remaining there or entering the world, it would respond, “I’ll just stay here, thank you!” But would you leave this world and return to the womb? I believe it will like that when we draw our final breath. Since this world is all we know, we cling to it, but when we step to “the other side of eternity,” I believe it will surpass our comprehension. “Blow our minds,” as they used to say in the ‘60s.

The Bible says, “Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when he appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is” (1 John 3:2).