THE COURAGE THAT FEARLESSNESS BRINGS (48 OF 56)
Scripture: Acts 21:1-16
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The Courage that Fearlessness Brings (48 of 56)
Series: The Church in ACTSion
Wyman Richardson
Acts 21:1-16
Read Acts 21:1-16
There seems to be two general approaches to the idea of death among non-believers: fear or defiance. Many people, perhaps most, have a deep and unsettling fear of death. John Stott provides two examples.
Death inspires terror in many people. Woody Allen's angst in relation to death is well known. He sees it as a total annihilation of being and finds it ''absolutely stupefying in its terror.'' ''It's not that I'm afraid to die,'' he quips,'' I just don't want to be there when it happens.''
Another similar example is given by Ronald Dworkin QC, the American legal philosopher, who has held chairs in London, Oxford and New York universities. He has written: ''Death's central horror is oblivion - the terrifying absolute dying of the light...Death has dominion because it is not only the start of nothing, but the end of everything.''
The other response is defiance, a kind of angry shaking of one's fist against death. We may think, for instance, of Dylan Thomas' famous 1951 poem, ''Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night.''
Do not go gentle into that good night,?
Old age should burn and rave at close of day;?
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.??
Though wise men at their end know dark is right,?
Because their words had forked no lightning they?
Do not go gentle into that good night.??
Good men, the last wave by, crying how bright?
Their frail deeds might have danced in a green bay,?
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.??
Wild men who caught and sang the sun in flight,?
And learn, too late, they grieved it on its way,?
Do not go gentle into that good night.??
Grave men, near death, who see with blinding sight?
Blind eyes could blaze like meteors and be gay,?
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.??
And you, my father, there on the sad height,?
Curse, bless, me now with your fierce tears, I ...
Series: The Church in ACTSion
Wyman Richardson
Acts 21:1-16
Read Acts 21:1-16
There seems to be two general approaches to the idea of death among non-believers: fear or defiance. Many people, perhaps most, have a deep and unsettling fear of death. John Stott provides two examples.
Death inspires terror in many people. Woody Allen's angst in relation to death is well known. He sees it as a total annihilation of being and finds it ''absolutely stupefying in its terror.'' ''It's not that I'm afraid to die,'' he quips,'' I just don't want to be there when it happens.''
Another similar example is given by Ronald Dworkin QC, the American legal philosopher, who has held chairs in London, Oxford and New York universities. He has written: ''Death's central horror is oblivion - the terrifying absolute dying of the light...Death has dominion because it is not only the start of nothing, but the end of everything.''
The other response is defiance, a kind of angry shaking of one's fist against death. We may think, for instance, of Dylan Thomas' famous 1951 poem, ''Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night.''
Do not go gentle into that good night,?
Old age should burn and rave at close of day;?
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.??
Though wise men at their end know dark is right,?
Because their words had forked no lightning they?
Do not go gentle into that good night.??
Good men, the last wave by, crying how bright?
Their frail deeds might have danced in a green bay,?
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.??
Wild men who caught and sang the sun in flight,?
And learn, too late, they grieved it on its way,?
Do not go gentle into that good night.??
Grave men, near death, who see with blinding sight?
Blind eyes could blaze like meteors and be gay,?
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.??
And you, my father, there on the sad height,?
Curse, bless, me now with your fierce tears, I ...
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