The End of Everything

Nathan Oppman

Oct. 2024

I have been thinking about the end of things.  This may sound morbid or perhaps depressing.  It could be, if the end was bad.  But the older I get the more I realize that the end of things is what matters most.  Thinking about the end, or telos, is something Christians should make a habit of.  So, what do I mean by The End?

Let me tell you a tale from that famed storyteller Tolkien of Lord of the Rings fame.  There was once a Hobbit by the name of Bilbo.  Bilbo found a ring in the course of a long journey.  This was the One Ring forged by the dark lord Sauron to enslave all of Middle Earth.  Bilbo did not succumb to the ring’s evil influence but passed the ring to his nephew Frodo.  Frodo with the aid of Gandalf and other friends set off on a quest to destroy the One Ring and with it Sauron himself.  After many great battles and harrowing escapes with his friends from Gondor and Rohan, with rangers, dwarves, and elves, Frodo reached the fires of Mount Doom and prepared to throw the ring in to destroy it and Sauron.  However, like Isildur before him, he succumbed to the power of the ring and refused to destroy it, giving it instead to Sauron and causing all of Middle Earth to be enslaved in darkness.

Of course, I modified the end of the story a bit.  But notice how the end affects everything else.  The charge of the Rohirrim, the last stand at the Black Gate, the mercy of Bilbo, the wisdom of Elrond, Galadriel, and Gandalf, all seem hollow.  If, after all of the labor, all of the struggle, and all of the sacrifice, the dark lord wins in the end, then the story is indeed bleak.

Perhaps another story would make this clearer.  If, after the promise to Adam and Eve about the seed (offspring) who would crush the serpent, after the the ark that saved Noah and the seed of the woman, after the promise to Abraham of a seed that would bless the world, after the promise to David of seed that would reign forever, after the salvation of baby Jesus from the hand of Herod. If, after the disciples were called, the water was turned to wine, the lame were healed, the blind given, sight, the lepers cleaned, Lazarus was raised, and Jesus died on the cross, there was no resurrection, we, of all people, would be most miserable (see I Cor. 15).  What a sad story that would be because in the end things were different.  In the end things were bad.

But thankfully, Jesus did rise and that makes all the difference.  If we think deeply we can clearly see that it was the end of the story that made the beginning and middle worth it in the earlier examples.  You can change much in the beginning and middle of a story and still have a satisfying end, but if the end isn’t right, the rest of the story falls.

What difference does this make in classical education?  How does understanding the end change our part in the story?  Well, this principle of looking at the end of things can be applied to the great story God is telling in all of human history.  It can also be applied to the little stories within the grander story.  To understand the little story we have to keep the grand story in mind.  In keeping the grand story in mind we can be part of many great stories, some of which last a day, some of which last a lifetime but all of which are wonderful if placed in their proper context.

Over the next few articles, I plan to cover the following “little stories” and how they should be understood in light of the grand story and of keeping The End in mind.

  1. Homework, grades, and the hard toil of education.  How do I survive when every day is hard?  Is there something wrong with me?  With my child?  What can be done?  Should I accept a C or demand an A from my student?  Am I signing up for 13 years of struggle?
  2. What do we do with disability?  How should we approach the teaching and training of children with different capabilities?  Is classical Christian education for these students?
  3. What do we do with exceptional ability?   How much should I challenge my child?  Is Calculus, Greek, and Hebrew a goal I should pursue?  Is an elite education something I should sacrifice to give my child?  Is there a danger in giving a child too much knowledge?  What if my child is smarter than me?
  4. Putting it all together. We have looked at three common areas of challenge in classical education.  The daily grind of a challenging education.  The challenge of students with disabilities that affect their education.  The challenge of students with gifts that make finding a challenging education difficult.  What should we take away from this conversation?

I hope this conversation will be a blessing to you.  Thinking with the end in mind everyday can be a life-changing experience.  My hope is that you will leave these articles with a renewed sense of purpose and a resilience grounded in the grand End of God.