Every now and then people will ask me why I post these morbid Sudden Death! stories on Mondays.

One atheist, perdita, wrote:

I know you’re trying to make a point here, but I dislike these posts. It’s almost as if you’re getting off on these calamities. All these Sudden Death!! people had friends and loved ones that miss them and it seems rather callous to co-opt their pain for your point.

Another frequent atheist contributor, ExPatMat, completely misunderstands the whole concept as evidenced by this comment:

It’s all part of Steve’s coping mechanism, perdita.

You see, he’s terrified of dying (one of the reasons why he’s convinced himself that there’s a God, in fact) and these posts are his catharsis, as if to say; ‘phew, it wasn’t me!’

Of course, he’ll say he’s not scared of death, but that’s only because he’s suppressing his fear in false-righteousness.

Here’s my clarifying explanation:

It gives me no pleasure to report the various sudden deaths that occur throughout the year, but it is my hope that by reading these posts every Monday you will be encouraged to do something to save the lost. As a general rule, I post only the odd and strange deaths to demonstrate that  people can be taken out of this world in a variety of ways. Jonathan Edwards said as much in his famous sermon, “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God”:

It is no security to wicked people for one moment, that they are in no apparent danger of dying soon. It is no security for the natural man, that he is now healthy, or that he does not foresee how he might suddenly be taken by some accident, though his present circumstances pose no visible danger.

The long and varied history of humanity disproves the assumption that we are not on the very brink of eternity itself, and that our very next step will not be into another world. The unseen and unexpected ways that people suddenly leave this world are too numerous to imagine.

The unconverted walk over the pit of Hell on a rotten bridge, and there are countless places on that bridge that are too weak to bear their weight. These places go unseen. The arrows of death fly unnoticed at high noon; the sharpest eyes cannot spot them.

God has so many unfathomable ways of taking people out of this world and sending them to Hell that He does not need miracles or unnatural causes to do so. His ordinary providence alone is able to destroy the wicked at any moment. All the means by which sinners leave this world are under His control. Those means are so subject to His power and choosing, that it depends no less on His will if God uses them than if He does not.

Your friend, your neighbor, your loved one—that stranger on the street—may not have tomorrow to listen to you present the Gospel. What will you do about it, not next year, but today?

If you have not heard my very humorous sermon based on the video “8 Reasons Why I Don’t Share My Faith,” then please click here to listen. (You can also see the original video these sermons are based on.)