Eagerness For Martyrdom More A Sign Of Instability Rather Than Spiritual Maturity
In a sermon, a pastor said that, if he dies in bed from something such as cancer rather than being murdered for the cause of Christ, he would be disappointed.
While one should be willing to die for the name of Christ should such circumstances ever arise, isn’t it a symptom of an unbalanced fanaticism to eagerly desire such a thing?
Did not Christ also decree that He came so that we might have life and to have it more abundantly?
It is not the place of mere mortals to fully know why we are taken from this world in the ways that each of us ultimately are.
Since very few partings transpire free of some manner of pain or suffering, who are we to say that the passing after what in human terms seems like a long life trodding this earth is not also a gift from above and who are we to sneer down our noses at such a providence extended by the Almighty?
Isn't the dignity or acceptance one displays in the face of what will be life’s most terrifying existential challenge as much a mark of Christian character irrespective of whether the Reaper awaits us below the hangman’s platform or outside a hospital room?
Frederick Meekins is an independent theologian and social critic. Frederick holds a BS in Political Science/History, a MA in Apologetics/Christian Philosophy from Trinity Theological Seminary, and a PhD. in Christian Apologetics from Newburgh Theological Seminary.
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