Quotation about how death is viewed in the Bible

“Psalm 104 and Matthew 6, among other biblical texts, speak of organisms eating other organisms, never once ascribing this to the fall or calling it suffering or a waste.”
- quotation from Chapter 18 in Understanding Scientific Theories of Origins by Robert C. Bishop, Larry L. Funck, Raymond J. Lewis, Stephen O. Moshier, and John H. Walton. My source is here.

Job 38-39 are “other biblical texts” that don’t call predation a waste, or a cause of evil suffering. Neither does Jeremiah 12:8-10, Amos 3:4-5, Nahum 2:11-12, or other passages.

Thanks for reading.

The Art of Divine Contentment: An Exposition of Philippians 4:11 by Thomas Watson. Excerpt 59

Watson continues to urge his readers to be content with what they have:
The [ninth] argument to contentation is, The shortness of life. It is “but a vapour,” saith James. (Ja. 4. 14) Life is a wheel ever-running. The poets painted time with wings to show the volubility and swiftness of it. Job compares it to a swift post, (Job 9. 25) our life rides post; and to a day, not a year. It is indeed like a day. Infancy is as it were the day-break, youth is the sun-rising, full growth is the sun in the meridian, old age is sun-setting, sickness is the evening, then comes the night of death. How quickly is this day of life spent! Oftentimes this sun goes down at noon-day; life ends before the evening of old age comes. Nay, sometimes the sun of life sets presently after sun-rising.

Quickly after the dawning of infancy the night of death approaches. O, how short is the life of man! The consideration of the brevity of life may work the heart to contentment. Remember thou art to be here but a day; thou hast but a short way to go, and what needs a long provision for a short way? If a traveller hath but enough to bring him to his journey’s end he desires no more. We have but a day to live, and perhaps we may be in the twelfth hour of the day; why if God gives us but enough to bear our charges, till night, it is sufficient, let us be content. If a man had the lease of a house, or farm, but for two or three days, and he should fall a building and planting, would he not be judged very indiscreet? so, when we have but a short time here, and death calls us presently off the stage, to thirst immoderately after the world, and pull down our souls to build up an estate, is an extreme folly. Therefore, as Esau said once, in a profane sense, concerning his birth-right, “lo, I am at the point to die, and what profit shall this birth-right do me?” so let a Christian say in a religious sense, “lo, I am even at the point of death, my grave is going to be made, and what good will the world do me? If I have but enough till sun-setting, I am content.”

Thomas Watson lived from 1620-1686, in England. He wrote several books which survive. This blog, God willing, will post excerpts from his The Art of Divine Contentment: An Exposition of Philippians 4:11, over a number of weeks, on Sundays.

My source for the text is here, and I thank the Christian Classics Ethereal Library for making this text (and many others) available. The previous excerpt is here.
  
Philippians 4:11 Not that I speak because of lack, for I have learned in whatever state I am, to be content in it. (World English Bible, public domain.)  

Impressions, by Martin Wells Knapp, 54

In a previous excerpt, Knapp stated that there are four features of "impressions" from God. These are Scriptural; Right (consistent with good morals); Providential (in harmony with God's will); and Reasonable. His discussion of the result of living by "Convictions from Above" continues:

God's Guidance Comforts in the Dying Hour. It led the psalmist to say: "Though I pass through the valley of the shadow of death I will fear no evil, for Thou art with me, Thy rod and Thy staff they comfort me." The promise Jesus made never to leave or forsake is sweetly fulfilled in death's trying ordeal. When a dear one in great agony was nearing the last moments on earth, I spoke to her of the inscrutable mystery that God should allow His children thus to suffer. "Oh," said she, "it's all right. We can't see the reason, He can. We are finite, He is infinite;" and thus God upheld, and soon she was in the land where suffering can not come. Hence the Christian triumphantly sings:

"And when my task on earth is done,
When, by Thy grace, the victory's won,
E'en death's cold wave I will not flee,
Since God through Jordan leadeth me."

Christ Likeness. All who are divinely led will be like Jesus. Though they have many infirmities which He had not, yet in love, patience, boldness, meekness, and all the graces of a Christian life, they are like Him. The Holy Spirit seeks to bring all to be like Jesus. The Word and providences are the chisels He uses to chip us into the likeness of Jesus. Hence all who yield to Him are transformed into characters of such beauty as will make angels to marvel.

It is this that enables an eminent saint to testify: "This joyful boldness is grounded on the assurance of a conformity to the image of the Son of God, and that I am through the transfiguring power of the Spirit, like Him in purity, and that the Judge will not condemn facsimiles of Himself, 'because even as He is so are we in this world."'

Communion with God. They talk with Him and He answers them. Upham, speaking of those who are "truly sanctified," says: "It is not impossible for them to speak, if it is done with a notable degree of reverence, of holding conversation with God, of talking with God. The expression corresponds with the facts. To talk with God, to go to Him familiarly, as children to a parent, to speak to Him in the secrecy of their spirits, and to receive an inward answer, as gracious as it is decisive, is not only a privilege granted them, but a privilege practically realized."

Excerpted from Impressions, by Martin Wells Knapp. Original publication date, 1892. Public domain. My source is here. The previous post in the series is here.

Sunspots 615

Things I have recently spotted that may be of interest to someone else:

Christianity: A Relevant writer says that we're called to serve immigrants, legal or illegal.


Health: (Sort of) Listverse has 10 descriptions, from people who died, or thought they would, on what it's like to die.

History: A report on the report of the finding and salvaging of the Hunley, the first submarine to bring down an enemy ship in war. The Hunley sunk in the Charleston, SC, harbor.

Listverse on why the Germans voted the Nazis into power.

Politics: Authorities in so-called Red States are working to eliminate the effects of climate change, but they don't call it that, according to Scientific American.

Science: Scientific American reports on the discovery of 7 planets, around a star that's "only" 40 light-years away, which planets may be suitable for life.

Scientific American also explains the mechanism of the poison that apparently was used to assassinate the half-brother of the North Korean leader.

Bees (not honeybees) have been shown to learn how to do a task by watching another bee do it, according to Nature.

Sports: (Not really) A Relevant writer says it's time for Sports Illustrated to stop publishing the annual swimsuit issue.

(And history) Listverse on 10 sporting events that influenced subsequent events strongly.

Image source (public domain)

Sunspots 494

Things I have recently spotted that may be of interest to

someone else:

Health: The University of Southampton (in the UK) has reported on a study of near-death phenomena, based on hospital reports.

Science: Ants can regulate their falls from heights, so that they land where they want to. (Report from Wired.)

Wired also reports on how to understand cat behavior. You really can.

From the BBC: flocks of over a million starlings perform what looks like a dance, or an animated sculpture.

Sports: From USA Today - Steve Nash, a long-time spectacular and hard-working NBA player, may finally have to retire, due to injury.


 Image source (public domain)

Sunspots 490

Things I have recently spotted that may be of interest to

someone else:

The Arts: (And Christianity) A fascinating discussion of so-called "white magic," which is illustrated thus:
Many Christians, including many parents, are practicing “white magic” whenever they fear and shun objects, symbols, and Things more than they fear Jesus Christ and hate inner sin.
Health: National Public Radio reports on how many days dying patients spend in hospitals, and what causes the variation. It varies widely, almost three times as much in New York and New Jersey as in Utah and Idaho.
Science: NPR reports on a portion of the brain that may be a main cause of unselfish behavior.
The BBC asks if all the ants on earth weigh more than all the people. I thank one of my brothers for this link.
Wired reports on a spider that lives its entire life underwater.
(And politics) Some right-wing news outlets are trumpeting a recent study, by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, as showing that global climate change is not caused by human activity. Not exactly. Here's a report on the study, from the Associated Press. To quote the AP: "The study ... does not question global warming but argues that there is evidence that in at least one place, local winds are a more important factor explaining ocean warming than greenhouse gases." Critics of the study have pointed out that local winds, themselves, are probably influenced by human activity. And, of course, even if human activity has no effect on winds, the report is not global, and it does not question that human activity effects ocean warming. Here's a press release, from NOAA, on the report.
Sports: The scoring summary of the September 21, 2014 NFL game between the New England Patriots and the Oakland Raiders. All of the scoring (a touchdown, an extra point, and six field goals) was done by three players, Sebastian Janikowski, Rob Gronkowski and Stephen Gostkowski. That must be some sort of record . . .

Image source (public domain)

Slow Medicine: Knocking on Heaven's Door

I recently read Knocking on Heaven's Door: The Path to a Better Way of Death by Katy Butler. Here is the Amazon page on the book. I thank one of my brothers for suggesting this book.

Butler, a journalist, gives us a no-holds-barred, yet compassionate, view of death and dying. Her main message is that, as we approach the end of life, health providers act too quickly, with invasive, expensive, and, usually, futile, procedures, and that patients, and especially families, need to watch out for that:
Dying is not an emergency. Emergency rooms, 911 systems, and intensive care units are all primed to prevent natural death. Engage them with caution. The most important sentences in this book  may be, "Can you refer me to hospice?" "I request comfort measures only," and "I am concerned about quality of life." (chapter 20)

Why is this? The reasons are well known, if seldom discussed in our public discourse. The main one, Butler believes, is that there are financial incentives for expensive procedures. Insurance companies, including the government, pay more for them. Specialists, for example the doctors who implant pacemakers, or do coronary bypass surgery, get paid several times more than family doctors or internists, who often give valuable advice, or listen, and care for the spirits of patients and families, supporting them when they need it most. Butler says that doctors may say that they don't make medical decisions based on the amount they, or the entities they work for, will be paid, and, perhaps, they also think that they don't. But, once the money is available, there is a natural, perhaps unconscious, tendency, to go for it. There doesn't seem to be much doubt that hospitals, although they render important services, are money-driven, and they get more from surgery and expensive devices than from comfort care, or going slow, to see if the patient can get better without such measures. Butler does not believe that the situation is going to change, unless the financial incentives are changed, and she is right.

It is also true that medical schools don't give much training aimed at backing off, and letting someone die in peace. EMS workers don't get much training of that type, either. Doctors and EMS workers try to save lives, as quickly as possible, and that's usually a good thing, but not always. It is often true that they bring people back from the brink of death who didn't want that, and had even specifically requested that they not be so "rescued." (Operations on the aged, unfortunately, often cause dementia that wasn't detectable before the operation.)

As Butler said:
"It did not once occur to us to say: 'You want to do major heart surgery on an eighty-four-year-old woman showing progressive dementia? What are you, nuts?'" (quoting journalist Michael Wolff, about his mother. chapter 18)

Butler is an advocate for "Slow Medicine," taking a slower approach to doing things that may damage quality of life significantly. (Here's a review of another important book advocating Slow Medicine.)

Butler's own experience involved her father, living in New England, while she lived in the West, and her mother's care for her father, who had had a stroke, and suffered from dementia. One complication was that her father's pacemaker kept him going when he would otherwise have passed away, but it was nearly impossible to get anyone to turn it off.

She also points out that people who care for the dying at home don't get paid a lot, which is unfair. Butler suspects that part of the reason is that such caregivers are usually women. She has nothing but praise for such people. My own limited experience with them agrees. We probably didn't pay enough, and they were wonderful.

Butler is not a Christian. If anything, she is a Buddhist. But she understands that the circumstances surrounding death have changed, and gone away from the way things used to be:
After the mid-1950s, the attitudes of many doctors and patients shifted from faith in God and acceptance of death to faith in medicine and resistance of death. There was always something, no matter how ultimately futile, that a doctor or nurse could do. (Chapter 5) She points out that Christians, dying in the recent past, were most concerned about their relationship with God, and with other people, not about being kept alive, sort of, for another day or two.

A fine book, and it certainly made me think.

I have written on death-related subjects previously:

Here is a review of a book about the death of a Christian woman in the 1800's, Mrs. Hunter's Happy Death.

Here is a meditation on sudden dying, occasioned by the accidental death of a child in our small town.

Here is an essay on why sickness and death bother us so much.

Finally, here is an essay, in which I argue that God does not like human death.

Mrs. Hunter's Happy Death, part 2

J. Wood's account of her life and death makes clear that Mrs. Hunter did not so much "study" the Bible. Rather she partook of it, she savored it, and she ingested it, as if it were food and promised nourishment she could find nowhere else. . . . Her deep and abiding concern was how she herself could get on those pagers, how she could make the story of her own life conform to the stories she encountered there. (p. 133)

In my experience, people die the way they live. There are exceptions, of course . . . But most people's dying words -- the words of their final days and weeks and months -- have been bred into them by years and years of practice and repetition. (p. 141. Quotes from Mrs. Hunter's Happy Death: Lessons on Living from People Preparing to Die. New York: Doubleday, 2006, by John Fanestil. The book has its own web site.

Fanestil deals with Kübler-Ross's concept of the stages of dying. But, he says, her scheme is based on fear and denial of death, which is not the way everyone approaches that last transition. Specifically, Mrs. Hunter did not, and we shouldn't. (176-7)

Fanestil, quoting one of his own sermons, delivered in a home for the aged and infirm, points out that almost anyone with any mental capacity at all can believe, and think about, and act like the two main commandments given by Christ: love God, and love your neighbor. (182)

Fanestil and his father went to England, and tried to find out more about Mrs. Hunter. Apparently she was pretty well off, and it is likely that one of her siblings knew John Wesley well. (Possibly Mrs. Hunter did, too.) Wesley said "our people die well." Evidently they did. They died well because they lived well -- they lived holy lives dedicated to a relationship with God. Fanestil is not the only author to research this topic, but he is probably the first to concentrate on Mrs. Hunter.

The first part of this two-part series is here.

Thanks for reading. Read Fanestil.

Mrs. Hunter's Happy Death

Mrs. Hunter and her peers in the late eighteenth century did not consider questions of religious belief unimportant, but their primary concern was not that they get things right intellectually. For them the life of faith was more about the heart than it was about the head. So Mary Clulow -- not yet married and just a few months past her eighteenth birthday -- saw clearly what should be her life's principal ambition: to love God with her whole heart. (77)

Mary Clulow Hunter, an exemplary Methodist, was extraordinarily busy in "working out her own salvation." She was busy at worship and prayer, busy at reading the Bible, busy at doing good. She did not perceive her life to be divided into spheres -- "private" and "public," "work" and "play," "personal" and "social" -- as so many modern people are inclined to do. The whole of her life was consumed with her search for holiness, or "purity of heart." She perceived her every act -- from "attending to her little ones" to "visiting persons in the sick-ward," from "domestic duties" to her dedicated times of prayer -- as a part of this single, overriding concern. For Mrs. Hunter the life of faith was by no means confined to church -- to the contrary, she saw opportunities to exercise holiness at every turn and every avenue of life. She dedicated her daily living to fulfilling the most familiar phrase from Jesus' most familiar prayer: "Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven." (79) (Both quotes from Mrs. Hunter's Happy Death: Lessons on Living from People Preparing to Die. New York: Doubleday, 2006, by John Fanestil. The book has its own web site.)

Fanestil, until recently a twenty first century Methodist preacher, has written a fine book. The first half of it details some examples of "happy death" from his own experience, which he intersperses with the account of the life and death of Mrs. Hunter, who was twenty-six at the time of her death, in 1801. He makes clear that her life and death were typical, not exceptional, for the Methodists of her time. The second half is entitled "Lessons on Living from People Preparing to Die." The lessons are predictable enough -- prayer, Bible reading, taking up the cross, recognizing God's presence, praising God, loving one's neighbors, and similar portions of seeking God through our lives. In an appendix, the entire account of Mrs. Hunter's life and death, largely taken from her own journal, and edited by a J. Wood, is set forth.

Fanestil's people are diverse -- male and female, young and older, dying from various things.

The author spends a little time on doctrine, explaining something of the long-standing arguments between Arminians and Calvinists, but the book is, like Mrs. Hunter's life, about far more than that, and about something simpler than that.

Mrs. Hunter passed away on January 17, 1801.

Thanks for reading. Get this book, and read it, if you can.