The total depravity of our children is a faith-doctrine, a biblical insight. Our natural instinct is to think of new-born children as moral and spiritual tabulae rasae, clean sheets on which to write a successful life. Admittedly the page may soon be a little blotted (the occasional temper tantrum!), but the background is still basically white, surely? Not so, according to the Scriptures: the wicked go astray from the womb and speak lies from birth, insists the psalmist.
Here is a chart comparing Arminianism and Calvinism. I’ll excerpt the part about our sin-nature.
Arminianism Free Will or Human Ability says:
Although human nature was seriously affected by the fall, man has not been left in a state of total spiritual helplessness. God graciously enables every sinner to repent and believe, but He does not interfere with man’s freedom. Each sinner possesses a free will, and his eternal destiny depends on how he uses it. Man’s freedom consists of his ability to choose good over evil in spiritual matters; his will is not enslaved to his sinful nature. The sinner has the power to either cooperate with God’s Spirit and be regenerated or resist God’s grace and perish. The lost sinner needs the Spirit’s assistance, but he does not have to be regenerated by the Spirit before he can believe, for faith is man’s act and precedes the new birth. Faith is the sinner’s gift to God; it is man’s contribution to salvation.
Calvinism: Total Inability or Total Depravity says:
Because of the fall, man is unable of himself to savingly believe the gospel. The sinner is dead, blind, and deaf to the things of God; his heart is deceitful and desperately corrupt. His will is not free, it is in bondage to his evil nature, therefore, he will not — indeed he cannot — choose good over evil in the spiritual realm. Consequently, it takes much more than the Spirit’s assistance to bring a sinner to Christ — it takes regeneration by which the Spirit makes the sinner alive and gives him a new nature. Faith is not something man contributes to salvation but is itself a part of God’s gift of salvation— it is God’s gift to the sinner, not the sinner’s gift to God.
Jan Sluijters (1881-1957), Elisha and the son of the Shunammite woman, 1904
Total depravity does not mean that all humans are all as bad as they could be. Not everyone is a Hitler, is he? There are people who are nice and compassionate and do kind things. Then there’s the Hitlers and Stalins and Pol Pots of the world. No, total depravity means that sin has touched every part of our being, totally, and we are totally unable to do anything good for God. We are all criminals in God’s eyes and in His capacity as Judge He would be righteous if He sent all humans to hell upon their death. Even children.
So what happens to children who die, if they are completely depraved but are unable to consciously and maturely respond to the Gospel?
One of the complaints I receive about the Doctrines of Grace is that God would be horribly mean to send babies to hell when they do not have the mind to even be able to contemplate the Gospel and formulate a response to it, the basis of faith and the key to entry into the Kingdom. I agree, that would be hard to swallow. But God does not send babies or children to hell. He is just, and He is sovereign, and He has a plan.
After the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001, John MacArthur was invited to the Larry King talk/interview show to try and help people make sense of the spiritual questions the event raised. In a subsequent sermon titled What Happens to Babies Who Die?, Dr MacArthur said this:
Some of you who tuned in to the Larry King Show a week ago Saturday will remember that Larry fired a question to me on the air that came out of nowhere. The question that reveals a nagging, troubling issue in the human heart. He asked me, “What about a two-year-old baby crushed at the bottom of the World Trade Center?” I answered, “Instant heaven.” He replied with another question. “Wasn’t a sinner?” I again answered, “Instant heaven.” That’s a compelling question, what about a baby crushed at the bottom of the Trade Center? What about any baby that dies? It’s an agonizing question. It’s a question that plagues Christians and non-Christians alike…what happens to babies that die?
In the essay, MacArthur shows from scripture that they go to heaven. Though they are sinners from the womb and though they have not hard or responded to the Gospel, God made a provision.
The Doctrines of Grace make me love Jesus all the more. He made a provision for the children and adults otherwise unable to cognitively understand their sin or the Gospel. God is love and His provision is demonstrates no better than the very moment an apple cheeked youngster’s laugh is stilled by death, when He receives them instantly to His arms.
Of Children: The seed of every known sin is planted in their hearts. Robert Murray McCheyne
Of Jesus: Never forget that there is more grace in Christ than there is sin in your heart and your child’s heart combined. Sinclair Ferguson
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Further reading:
These essays show from scripture why their authors believe children who die go to heaven.
I read Tim Challies’ link to Randy Alcorn’s piece on ‘bucket lists’. Alcorn, whose niche field of study is heaven and whose ministry is named Eternal Perspective Ministries wrote an essay recently titled “You don’t need a bucket list“. It is sooo true, having an eternal perspective changes everything.
Bucket list is a term popularized by a 2007 movie starring Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman. The term refers to a person making a list and doing all that is on it before one dies, or ‘kicks the bucket.’
Mr Alcorn wrote:
The idea is, since our time on earth is limited, if something is important for us to do, we have to do it now, because this is our only chance to do it.
This makes sense from a naturalistic worldview, one which doesn’t recognize any afterlife. It also makes sense from various religious worldviews that maintain there may be existence after death, but without resurrection and physical properties, and with no continuity between this life and the next. The one worldview in which the bucket list makes no sense is biblical Christianity.
and…
For the Christian, death is not the end of adventure, but our exit from a world where dreams and adventures shrink, and entrance into a world where dreams and adventures forever expand.
The resurrection’s reality makes bucket lists unnecessary. The interesting thing is I never talk about bucket lists. However the day after I read the Alcorn article, someone raised the topic and I became involved in a discussion about bucket lists. The conversation brought the Alcorn article to mind. I love how that providentially happens!
I was saved when I was 42. I had many years decades of secular living before the eternal perspective came in. In the conversation I explained that I’ve already checked everything off my bucket list. The other person said I should make a new list.
I thought to myself, “Why? I did all that I’d wanted before, I now have all that I need for victorious living, and in the future I’ll have the entire world, universe and best of all, Jesus.”
That thought got me thinking further about why secular people make bucket lists in the first place, or at least why I did.
It’s the fear of death.
Therefore, since the children share in flesh and blood, He Himself likewise also partook of the same, that through death He might render powerless him who had the power of death, that is, the devil, 15and might free those who through fear of death were subject to slavery all their lives. (Hebrews 2:14-15)
Death comes for all of us eventually. EPrata photo
And again in Romans 8:15 we read of the fear-
The Spirit you received does not make you slaves, so that you live in fear again; rather, the Spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship. And by him we cry, “Abba, Father.”
Note the connection in the Hebrews verse of the fear of death and slavery. The Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary says,
Christ by delivering us from the curse of God against our sin, has taken from death all that made it formidable. Death, viewed apart from Christ, can only fill with horror, if the sinner dares to think.
Because, behind the fear of death is the fear of judgment. All people know and understand that there are standards to behavior. God has made it plain to them. (Romans 1:18-20). We all have a conscience and a moral compass. We instinctively know that murder is wrong, for example. Each person has a conscience in them and knows that they do wrong, all the time. What they suppress is Who they do wrong against. Therefore they suppress the truth and focus on this life rather than an afterlife. And because an afterlife is too terrible to contemplate, we try to make this life as fun as possible. Hence, a bucket list.
The resurrection of Jesus Christ changed everything. The disciples who were with Him heard His words about going away and were mightily troubled. However Jesus reassured them, that His death would bring eternal life, and they would be with Him forever. (John 14, “I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life” speech).
All of the disciples of Jesus since that upper Room Discourse are similarly reassured. The atoning work of Jesus on the cross and the Father’s approval of His Son’s work by raising Him from the dead, reassures us that all who are in Christ will possess the very great treasure. This treasure is eternal.
The kingdom of heaven is like a treasure hidden in the field, which a man found and hid again; and from joy over it he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field. (Matthew 13:44)
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His great mercy has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4to obtain an inheritance which is imperishable and undefiled and will not fade away, reserved in heaven for you, (1 Peter 1:3-4)
Why cling to a bucket when we have all treasure already? When nothing will be denied to us, and we can do, see, and experience all that Christ will has to offer?
As Alcorn said, it is good to want to experience new things, and to have goals written down on a list. There is nothing wrong with that. However, the impetus behind the bucket list is removed from us due to Christ’s resurrection. There is no need to hurry up, no fear is warranted, no worries about missed opportunities. The best is not now, but is actually to come. Maybe I’ll make a POST-bucket list.
–Fly over to Saturn to view the rings up close –Applaud Jesus’ formation of new Earth and new Heaven –Do good work for Christ without selfish motivations or sin polluting it –Have long conversations learning from Abraham, Noah, Enoch, Elijah, … –Sit at the feet of Jesus and watch Him rule and reign in perfect love and justice –Smell a flower –Look up all my ancestors, all the way back, who made it to heaven –Read the bible with perfect understanding
But when this perishable will have put on the imperishable, and this mortal will have put on immortality, then will come about the saying that is written, “DEATH IS SWALLOWED UP in victory. 55″O DEATH, WHERE IS YOUR VICTORY? O DEATH, WHERE IS YOUR STING?“(1 Corinthians 15:55)
I don’t understand all that God does, or why. We understand some, because He revealed it to us in His word and through His Son.
But death…when a friend or loved one dies, it’s so sad. Even Jesus wept at the death of his friend Lazarus. He wept even knowing He would raise Him.
But what a spectacular event!
The Death of Lazarus
1Now a certain man was ill, Lazarus of Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha. 2It was Mary who anointed the Lord with ointment and wiped his feet with her hair, whose brother Lazarus was ill. 3So the sisters sent to him, saying, “Lord, he whom you love is ill.” 4But when Jesus heard it he said, “This illness does not lead to death. It is for the glory of God, so that the Son of God may be glorified through it.”
5Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. 6So, when he heard that Lazarus was ill, he stayed two days longer in the place where he was. (John 11:1-6)
I Am the Resurrection and the Life
17Now when Jesus came, he found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb four days. 18Bethany was near Jerusalem, about two miles off, 19and many of the Jews had come to Martha and Mary to console them concerning their brother. 20So when Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went and met him, but Mary remained seated in the house. 21Martha said to Jesus, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. (John 11:17-21).
Jesus Raises Lazarus
Giotto: Raising of Lazarus
38Then Jesus, deeply moved again, came to the tomb. It was a cave, and a stone lay against it. 39Jesus said, “Take away the stone.” Martha, the sister of the dead man, said to him, “Lord, by this time there will be an odor, for he has been dead four days.” 40Jesus said to her, “Did I not tell you that if you believed you would see the glory of God?” 41So they took away the stone. And Jesus lifted up his eyes and said, “Father, I thank you that you have heard me. 42I knew that you always hear me, but I said this on account of the people standing around, that they may believe that you sent me.” 43When he had said these things, he cried out with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out.” 44The man who had died came out, his hands and feet bound with linen strips, and his face wrapped with a cloth. Jesus said to them, “Unbind him, and let him go.” (John 11:38-44).
How beautiful is the glorification of the Father through His Son. And, His words echo in a spiritual truth- ‘death, let him go.’ Jesus is Master over death. He let us go! What a day it will be when Jesus says finally to satan, let go all my people, and satan is cast into the Lake of Fire.
Death, where is your victory? Where is your sting?
One never knows when the numbers of our days will reach the last digit. It did for my 81-year-old father on December 15, 2014. He never expected a short vehicular errand to result in his last breath on earth, but it did. The fatal crash, which sent two others to the hospital, sent John Baptiste Prata, Jr to his eternal destiny. He did not know the Lord.
The news reports say that he was attempting to make a left turn onto a busy highway, and failed to yield to oncoming traffic. He left this earth the way he lived, failing to yield to the Holy One, who for all of my father’s 81 years, stood ready to forgive his sins. But my father never repented. He failed to yield.
As he came forth of his mother’s womb, naked shall he return to go as he came, and shall take nothing of his labour, which he may carry away in his hand. (Ecclesiastes 5:15)
“Deathbed words: “I am dying before my time and my body is going to return to the earth.This is the fate of Napoleon the Great.”
The dead always think it’s too early to die. It is never too early to die. It’s always just right.
God numbers our days and they are determined from long before the foundation of the world. He has appointed each one of us to a time, and a nation and a place. He stretches out our days or years to the exact amount of time He wants us to walk the earth. He appoints some to His wrath and others to His joy.
For God has not destined us for wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, (1 Thessalonians 5:9)
The appointment of God’s grace is here mentioned as the efficient cause of our salvation; and the Lord Jesus Christ, as the Mediator through whom salvation is bestowed. (Pulpit Commentary)
If there are some appointed to salvation then that means there are some appointed to wrath. Gill’s Exposition says,
For God hath not appointed us to wrath,…. To destruction and ruin, the effect of wrath; though there are some that are vessels of wrath, fitted for destruction, of old ordained to condemnation, and who are reserved for the day of evil;
And many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt. (Daniel 12:2)
I’d said at the start that the dead (unsaved people) always think that their death is too early. No one who is unsaved think their death comes too late. Or rarely do they think so. But we all have a number of days.
“Man who is born of a woman is few of days and full of trouble. 2He comes out like a flower and withers; he flees like a shadow and continues not. 3And do you open your eyes on such a one and bring me into judgment with you?
4Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean? There is not one. 5Since his days are determined, and the number of his months is with you, and you have appointed his limits that he cannot pass, 6look away from him and leave him alone, that he may enjoy, like a hired hand, his day. (Job 14:1-5)
Matthew Henry says of the Job passage, and eloquently too,
Job enlarges upon the condition of man, addressing himself also to God. Every man of Adam’s fallen race is short-lived. All his show of beauty, happiness, and splendour falls before the stroke of sickness or death, as the flower before the scythe; or passes away like the shadow.
Source: The Graphics Fairy
The dead have only a short life to cling to, but the living have Jesus, who is the Giver of Life and the Eternity in which we dwell. Since they know, and we know, our days on earth are short, how will we spend them?
I hope it is that we will share life. Share the Gospel today. For some, death will come early. At least, compared to eternity, it will feel very early.
No Compromise Radio also posted these deathbed words from a person who knew Jesus:
“Live in Christ, die in Christ, and the flesh need not fear death.” ~John Knox
It’s one or the other. There is no need to make it more complex than it is.
Swallowed by death,
Therefore hell hath enlarged herself, and opened her mouth without measure: and their glory, and their multitude, and their pomp, and he that rejoiceth, shall descend into it. (Isaiah 5:14 KJV) Swallowed by life,
For while we are still in this tent, we groan, being burdened—not that we would be unclothed, but that we would be further clothed, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life. (2 Corinthians 5:4 ESV)
The difference between being swallowed by death or life is repentance of sins and falling onto Jesus. He is mighty to save. Be saved today.
Our earth is beautiful, but for all that, it is still cursed. I wonder what the Garden of Eden looked like! The place was created directly by God, and it was earth as He intended it to look.
He created Adam and then Eve, and the two were as humans intended to look.
For a while, a probably brief while, everything was perfect and in balance and harmony. Adam loved Eve, Eve loved Adam, they both loved God, the animals were friendly and submitted to man, who cared for them lovingly.
Then sin came, Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned— (Romans 5:12) Eve sinned, then Adam. How did God feel? We know He feels. He takes delight, He is angry, He loves. I wonder if He mourned the eternally changed relationship He’d had with His humans, who no longer glorified Him. They destroyed the very purpose for which they were made. We know He cursed them (Genesis 3:16, 17). Perhaps the LORD mourned. It wasn’t long after, Cain slew Abel. Cain was the first human to be born. Abel was the first human to die. Brothers, yet sin came between them and Cain killed Abel in a jealous fit. We follow what happened after that. Genesis 4 shows the conversation with Cain and God. The discovery of the murder. The penalty. And then we see Cain go off and our eyes travel down the biblical road to follow the story of sin and redemption as it is laid until its conclusion in Revelation. But turn your eyes back to Abel for a moment. We do not know how it came about…but at some point Abel’s mother and father of all the living, Eve and Adam, must have discovered their son, laying dead on the ground, blood pooled around his head. We know both of them were familiar with death. Their spiritual life died the moment they disobeyed (“surely you won’t die” the serpent lied in Genesis 3:4). They were familiar with death because God killed the first animal to make clothing out of its skin (the first sacrifice to cover them in their sin). We know they must have killed an animal themselves because they had to eat. The two humans who had never seen blood before grew to know it intimately once they sinned. And then…the blood of their son. The bible does not record the discovery of Abel’s body, nor his burial (as far as I know). But perhaps the scene looked like this.
The First Mourning (Adam and Eve mourn the death of Abel); oil on canvas 1888 painting by William-Adolphe Bouguereau.
Oh, the searing pain of losing a son! A pain that would be replicated again and again through history as sin took its toll on a million mothers in epochs to come! A grief that the Father Himself would know soon enough!! The first death was of a beloved son. The last death was of a beloved Son. Praise our Holy Savior for His death, for through Him we have life! Praise our Resurrected Savior for vanquishing sin!
There’s lots of different kinds of heartbreak with children. There’s the loss of a child because he is a prodigal. There is heartbreak when a child is abused or abandoned. There is the grief for a child through death.
Jesus loves His children. His actual, little baby children.
Here is a story about children. The original story didn’t have the scriptures interspersed. I put those in. Though the children in this article died, there are children every day who are abused, neglected, sold, or aborted. Children are precious, precious. Love them. Love them well.
“Now, don’t scream,” he said in measured tones. “One. Two. Three…Triplets!”
Jason and Marie Taylor, both in their 30s, had married only four months ago, in May 2012. They were eager to start a family from the moment they fell in love, but they decided to do their relationship “God’s way”, saving sex till both had promised the other ‘I do’.
It was an ongoing joke in the extended family that if Marie was going to “catch up” with the number of children her married sisters had, then she and Jason would have to have twins and triplets.
“For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well. My frame was not hidden from you, when I was being made in secret, intricately woven in the depths of the earth. Your eyes saw my unformed substance; in your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there was none of them.” (Psalm 139:13-16)”
One month after wedding bells, the couple was delighted to discover that they were pregnant. Now at 11 weeks, they were excited to see their ‘little one’ – or little ones, as it turned out – through the medical magic of ultrasound.
Jason and Marie were ecstatic at the news of triplets. Jason ‘high-fived’ Marie, who was lying on the observation bed.
“We were just really, really excited,” Jason told LifeSiteNews in an exclusive interview from their home last week.
The couple’s next immediate thought was: “Oh my goodness, what are we going to do with so many babies…we only have a limited number of arms.”
The ultrasound revealed that there were two girls and a boy. The proud parents named them Bernadette, Christine, and Adam.
Behold, children are a heritage from the Lord, the fruit of the womb a reward. Like arrows in the hand of a warrior are the children of one’s youth. Blessed is the man who fills his quiver with them! He shall not be put to shame when he speaks with his enemies in the gate.” (Psalm 127:3-5)
At a subsequent visit, doctors spoke to the parents about “selective reduction,” but the couple would hear none of it. Even though Marie was a trained nurse and knew that doctors would ask this question, it stung her to hear someone so unconcernedly offer to “kill one or two of my children.”
“That was really upsetting to us both since we so eagerly anticipated our children,” said Jason.
The couple began to prepare themselves and their house for the new arrivals, expected in February 2013. Three little cribs were purchased and tenderly placed in the upstairs bedroom.
Marie’s belly grew, and grew, and grew some more.
Every night before falling asleep beside his wife, Jason would lean over and talk to his unborn children. “Hey Adam, hey Bernadette, hey Christina, I’m looking forward to meeting you. I love you guys!” Before leaving for work he would say to them: “Look after your mommy!”
The unthinkable
But Marie’s body was beginning to have trouble adapting to the demands of the three thriving lives inside of her. She experienced massive headaches as well as heart palpitations and chest pains if she overexerted herself. She was troubled with severe acid reflux. One day, while in the midst of writing wedding thank-you cards at the kitchen table, she suddenly blacked-out. When she came to, she managed to phone Jason for help.
Despite Marie’s health struggles, a November 13 ultrasound revealed that Marie and her babies were doing quite well. At 22 weeks, Marie was measuring more like a pregnant woman at 35 weeks.
But the day after the ultrasound, Marie started experiencing “sharp little pains” across her abdomen that became increasingly regular. That evening, the couple decided to head for the hospital to see what was going on.
Arriving at the hospital, the couple was incredulous when doctors told Marie that she was four centimeters dilated and that labour had begun. The young couple clung to the hope that doctors could do something to prevent labour from developing further while still keeping the babies safe.
But labour progressed further. Doctors broke the news that the babies were on their way.
At 22 weeks, the tiny triplets didn’t have much of a chance. Not only was their gestational development delayed because they were triplets, but their little lungs hadn’t developed enough for them to breathe. As a nurse, Marie knew that ventilation efforts on underdeveloped lungs could explode the lungs, causing immediate death. Doctors told the parents that when born, the babies would not benefit from medical intervention.
As Jason stood by his wife’s side, witnessing the unthinkable nightmare that was unfolding before his eyes, he suddenly realized that he had been giving all his attention to Marie. He realized that his unborn children were probably just as frightened by what was happening as he and Marie were. The young father leaned over and chokingly comforted his children with the loving words he had spoken so often. “Hey, I love you guys…I’m looking forward to meeting you…”
The parents prepared to greet their children and spend as much time with them as they could.
The triplets were born in the early hours of November 15, each weighing between 360 to 450 grams, less than a pound each.
“When a woman is giving birth, she has sorrow because her hour has come, but when she has delivered the baby, she no longer remembers the anguish, for joy that a human being has been born into the world.” (John 16:21)
“They came out, full of life, and moving around,” said Jason. “I kept on hoping that they might be the only triplets born at 22 weeks to ever survive, but they faded quickly.”
Despite the deep sorrow of having to let their children go, the parents were nonetheless taken aback by how perfectly formed their little children were, with perfect little noses, tiny toes, dainty fingers and finger nails, and most of all, beautifully lovable faces.
“We held them. We had time to study them, and we really felt like we got to know them a bit,” Jason said.
By now, extended family had arrived at the hospital to support Jason and Marie and to help bid farewell to the three children. A nurse took the babies’ footprints. The children were fitted with little hats and wrapped in coloured garments.
For Marie, it was an impossible mix of emotions: “We just held the babies. We cried. We looked at them. We studied them. We talked to them. We baptized them. And…we loved them.”
Bernadette, Adam, and Christine were loved, respected, and cherished for every moment of their short four-hour lives.
“He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds.” (Psalm 147:3)
Searching for meaning
Immediately after their children’s passing, Jason and Marie wondered what should be done with the remains. They wondered if the hospital would let them have the bodies.
“On you was I cast from my birth, and from my mother’s womb you have been my God.” (Psalm 22:10)
Marie’s father came to the rescue: “Of course we must give them a proper funeral,” he said. “They lived a life, just like anybody else. They were born, they were baptized, they lived, and they died.”
Marie’s brother built a little wooden casket with three crosses on the top. The children who had grown, lived, and died together, would now be laid in their final resting place together.
Jeff Gunnarson of Campaign Life Coalition attended the funeral service. He told LifeSiteNews that he was “deeply moved” to hear Jason’s graveside testimony about the life of his children, adding that there was hardly a dry eye in the crowd.
“Jason explained to the people gathered that his children’s lives were precious,” he said. “He mentioned his daughters’ dainty fingernails and the beautiful curve of his boy’s tiny chin. He said that even at such a young age, each child already showed distinct personality traits. He conveyed that each had its own unique unrepeatable life.”
“Then Job arose and tore his robe and shaved his head and fell on the ground and worshiped. And he said, “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return. The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord.” In all this Job did not sin or charge God with wrong.” (Job 1:20-22)
“Believe me, anyone in that crowd with a hint of indifference to the value of a baby’s life at 22-weeks would have left that service re-thinking a pro-choice position. Jason conveyed just how wonderfully-made are these little human children of God. He was able to see in this serious, sad, yet profound moment of burying his beloved children a pro-life ray of hope that brought tears to our eyes and made us grateful to have witnessed so great a love.”
A Testimony to Life
Like any parents who have had to bury their children, Jason and Marie find themselves asking “why”. On blacker days, they find themselves prayerfully wrestling with God, asking him why he allowed this pain, this grief, this suffering, this loss.
“Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding.” (Proverbs 3:5)
Marie’s worst moment was waking up in the middle of the night directly after her loss. As the preceding nightmarish events crashed heavily upon her, she suddenly realized that she no longer was pregnant. “I really felt the despair when I asked myself how could anything good possibly come out of this,” she said.
The parents found themselves turning to their faith, seeking answers to difficult questions.
“We don’t know why we didn’t get to keep them,” said Marie, “but for whatever reason, God allowed them to be taken from us. We have faith that they are now in heaven reaching down trying to pull the two of us to heaven to be with them. We believe that we have three little angels up there who are interceding for us, so that we will get there someday too.”
Instead of focusing on their loss, the parents decided to focus on their blessings. “If anything, these babies are a testament to life. That’s what they have to be. That’s what we have to make this,” said Marie.
Despite their pain and loss, the parents would never wish their children’s lives away. They know that pain and loss do not have the final word.
The triplets have already made a difference in the lives of all who knew about them. Neighbors came together to support Jason and Marie. Family members saw through their petty differences and found common ground. Faith in God and family ties were strengthened. Cold hearts were thawed.
“Somehow it changes a heart just to see their lives,” said Jason.
Jason and Marie’s “hope and prayer” is that sharing their experience might “encourage” others who face difficult life choices.
They have put together a moving video tribute in memory of their triplets. The parents wrote and recorded an uplifting and heartfelt song that accompanies their story, which is told through photos and texts. The YouTube video has already received close to 3500 views.
“Hopefully our babies lives can make a difference somehow, even if it’s just giving strength and affirmation to people currently in the pro-life movement,” said Jason.
“Blessed is the man who remains steadfast under trial, for when he has stood the test he will receive the crown of life, which God has promised to those who love him.” (James 1:12 )
Gunnarson called the Taylor’s testimony “courageous and amazing,” saying that they showed the world that bringing 22-week babies into the world, even if they are not able to live for more than a few hours, is the “natural, healthy, and loving thing to do”.
“They named them, they baptized them, and most importantly,” he said, “they loved them.”
For Jason and Marie, their children will forever remain a treasured memory. Anyone who listens to their story will hear them say: “We were blessed to have met them.”
“Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.” (James 1:17)
In 2013, Aerobatic Wing Walker Jane Wicker and her pilot Charlie Schwenker were killed when the plane crashed at a Dayton, OH airshow.
The second before the plane crashed, the Dayton Ohio air show announcer said as wing walker Jane Wicker positioned herself on the upside down wing: “Jane Wicker, on top of the world!” One second later, she was dead.
I often speak of the soon return of Jesus. Today is one day closer to His return than yesterday was. Paul used to speak of Jesus’ soon return often. As a matter of fact, every New Testament book except Philemon speaks of Christ’s coming. You need to be ready.
However, we are not guaranteed a tomorrow. Yes, Jesus could come, but death could come also.
James 4:14 says “yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes.”
I often wondered what Ms Wicker was thinking as she sat on the upside down wing. Nothing indicated that one second later she would be dead. Did she think she had loads of time left to ponder the deep mysteries of faith and salvation? Had she put it off until tomorrow, but tomorrow never came?
I hope she was saved by grace of Jesus.
So many people are abruptly taken out of this world to meet their eternity. Yet so many people put off for tomorrow what they should be reconciling today. I remember during a sermon one of my elders had said that as a teen they were evangelizing in a grocery store. One of the team gave the gospel to a man who was exiting. He said he did not need Jesus. He walked out of the sliding door to the sidewalk and dfell down dead right then.
If you are not saved, then do not put off to tomorrow what should be done today. God has appointed you to a limited number of days in this lifetime. You do not know what that number is.
“Show me, LORD, my life’s end and the number of my days; let me know how fleeting my life is. You have made my days a mere handbreadth; the span of my years is as nothing before you. Everyone is but a breath, even those who seem secure.” (Psalm 39:4-5).
Taking care of business means coming to grips with a few things. First, this life is not all there is. We are given a limited number of days to dwell upon the earth, but this body and this life is only phase 1. After death, there is a phase 2. If you have repented of your sins and believed on the resurrected Jesus as Lord and Savior, you will go to heaven and be with Him. You will be given a glorified body that is impervious to death or sickness, has no sin nature, and can withstand the full blast of His glory and Holiness. (1 Corinthians 15:42-44, 50; Philippians 3:21).
If you rejected Jesus in this life- and you don’t have to actively reject Him but passively fail to accept him (doing nothing is the same as rejecting) then you will go to hell after you die. This is a place of eternal separation from God and you will be given a body that can withstand the full blasts of the punishment that will be inflicted on you as eternal payment for your sins and crimes against Him. (Revelation 14:11, 2 Thessalonians 1:5-9)
It is a lie that you will be annihilated, that there is nothing else after death. It is a lie that hell is only temporary. It is surely eternal, as your sins are eternal and as Jesus is eternal. (Matthew 25:46). That is why Christians can dwell with Him forever, (Matthew 28:20; John 14:3) because He is eternal and He paid the price for our sins eternally when He took God’s punishment on the cross. (Romans 3:23-24).
You say, “God is loving, He would never send people to hell for punishment.” Really? It pleased Him to crush His Son! (Isaiah 53:10). Jesus absorbed all of God’s punishment while He was on the cross. Is God loving who would do that? Yes, He was making a way for YOU, whom He also loves. Jesus did that voluntarily, because He loves His people. If you reject Jesus though, you reject the way to heaven. (John 14:6).
Eternity is real and it is permanent. You do not know what today will bring. Ms Wicker didn’t. I hope these few words from my heart makes you think of the afterlife. For the Christian, it is a joy to ponder the time we will be with Jesus. For the unsaved, there is dread and fear of the unknown. But you can know, your eternity could be secure- if you repent. (Mark 1:15).
Sin always brings destruction and death. Even if you are a Christian, especially if you are a Christian, you are not immune to sin’s temptations nor its effects. Satan will tempt you and tempt you. Jesus paid the price for the penalty of our sin on the cross. After His resurrection, He sent the Holy Spirit to dwell in us to help us resist sin. But we still battle it.
The bible tells us to kill sin. Romans 8:13 says, “For if you live according to the flesh you will die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live.” In other words,
“If ye do not kill sin, it will kill you.”
As believers, we cannot lose our place in heaven due to sin, because Jesus took them unto Himself, but we lose our rewards. 1 Corinthians 3:15 says, “If anyone’s work is burned up, he will suffer loss, though he himself will be saved, but only as through fire.”
Due to the nature of sin, I like to say ‘one sin feels lonely.’ In his book “Surviving in an Angry World”, Charles Stanley writes about anger’s link to other emotions. He takes the one sin of anger, and shows how it has a way with linking to other emotions, which become actions. He wrote for example, anger + hatred = rage. Yet the bible says be angry and do not sin, not letting the sun go down on your anger. (Ephesians 4:26-27). The reason is that this gives the devil a foothold. Another example is anger + resentment = retribution. Yet the bible says ‘vengeance is Mine sayeth the LORD. ‘(Romans 12:9).
Sin is a snare that captures evildoers (Proverbs 29:6). It can happen before you know it. Jesus said that anger in your heart is like murdering in fact, both are sins. What He was saying is that sins begin in the heart, then land on the mouth and once a person gives voice to it, it becomes action. In Good News Club we always used to say that we hope the Lord will be pleased with everything we “think, say, and do.” Because that is the progression of sweet aromatic actions that please the Lord, and that is the same trajectory of sinful actions that displease the Lord.
Let’s say a man is daydreaming salacious thoughts about a female co-worker. His wife sees his pleased, daydreamy look and says, “What are you thinking about?” The man of course can’t say “Another woman” so he says “My golf score last week.” So he adds lying to lust and two sins are born. Then let’s say he does not stop those thoughts and they turn to action. He says to his wife that he is running to the store for milk, and he takes the long way so he can drive by her house. His wife says “What took you so long?” and he says that he stopped to chat with a friend he ran into. Now he has added collusion + deception to his cadre of the sins of lust and lying. They are piling up fast. The final stage is when he flirts with the woman, taking his thoughts and words to action. We have a messy pile of ugly sins now, and one sin doesn’t feel lonely any more.
In the Garden, in Genesis 3, we see that disobedience was born and then right after, blame, shame, and arguing. It did not take long to open the door to a nasty pile of sins in Adam and Eve.
By the time you see a pattern of sin emerge in a person, you can bet that there are other sins alongside it. Like this iceberg.
Though the sins one sees in a person outside themselves may seem small, the heart is holding a huge pile of sins under the surface.
The Lord gave us the Holy Spirit to help us kill sin. Would you rather deal with a mountain, or a molehill? Molehill of course. Nobody likes to climb Everest when you can simply step over an anthill. Or trap a little fox as opposed to shooting big bad wolf. (Song of Solomon 2:15). No pile of sins are too big for our gracious Lord to handle. He already forgave them at the cross. But please do not let them grow in you. The bigger the mountain of sins in you, the more people are hurt when your sin is finally revealed. Sin has effects on you and on those around you, too.
If you repent, the Spirit will help you in the Lord’s power to resist the sinful inclinations of man. Pray to Him for help in repenting and resisting sin, as soon as it comes to mind.
And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them.
(Ephesians 5:11)
And always remember, it was an iceberg that sank the Titanic.
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