You Shouldn't Have to Wonder: Did Dickinson, Emerson, Frost Believe?

Do you ever wonder what certain people you have admired believed about God? The three that come most readily to my mind are Emily Dickinson, Robert Frost and Ralph Waldo Emerson. There are more, but I'm going to focus on them. I just saw a lengthy article today about the faith of Robert Frost. I have read about how Emily Dickinson either remained sitting or walked out of a meeting where people were asked to stand if they were willing to publicly declare their faith in Jesus as Lord (I am not sure of the exact words). It is fairly well known that Emerson was an ordained Unitarian minister. I have thought a lot about all three of these scenarios and my honest assessment, if you will, is that you shouldn't have to wonder. I have thought that what Dickinson may have been objecting to was religiosity or feigned piety, even, because if you thoughtfully read some of her poems, she appears to have believed, and I agree with some who have said she simply preferred not to conform to a certain expectation of a performance for people, being, apparently, a very private person who lived much of the later years of her life in complete seclusion. I haven't read a great deal of Frost's work, with the exception of the very famous "The Road Not Taken," so I am clearly not well-versed in his work, and, quite honestly, most poetry is a mystery to me anyway. I rarely understand it, even though I do try. I thoroughly enjoy reading Emerson, and actually understand what he has written, while Frost and Dickinson, I like reading, but understand only a fraction of what I read. There are several things that I just don't understand much: poetry, politics and murder mysteries. They all belong in the same category for me: obscure, confusing and troublesome. Obviously, these three people were more gifted, more intelligent, more productive and more renowned than I will ever be, or ever hope to be. There's a passage in the Bible about "not many mighty, not many noble, are called. But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty and the base things of the world and the things which are despised God has chosen, and the things which are not, to bring to nothing the things that are, that no flesh should glory in His presence. But of Him you are in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God--and righteousness and sanctification and redemption--that, as it is written, 'He who glories, let him glory in the LORD'" (1 Corinthians 1:26-31). When I have enjoyed someone's literary, artistic or musical accomplishments, it is natural for me to ask myself, are they a believer? Did they know the Lord? Were they people of faith, or did they not believe, and was, perhaps, their work their passion, their reason for being--even their religion, or their god. That is what I wonder. Believing as I do, everything in the Bible and every word spoken by Jesus Christ to be the eternal truth for all people everywhere, living or dead, I have always been curious about famous people's spirituality. I always hope that they did believe, because I would love to have a conversation with them some day, and that will be impossible in this life, but, perhaps not in the next, if they belong to Christ. Though this might be a little heavy for some people, I bet there are other believers who, like me, wonder about this at times. But there is something that is actually more relevant to my life and perhaps yours as well, and that is, the spirituality of our loved ones. I feel like we should not have to wonder whether or not these loved ones of ours are people of faith or not, and that is especially if they are already deceased, in which case, you have no more chances to ask them anything. In any case, clearly it is not our job to be everyone's judge in these matters, far from it; however, if we are called to make disciples, it becomes urgent to us whether or not these people we admire or even just people of our acquaintance, will share eternity with us and with the Lord, and for me, I just think that, in most cases, you really shouldn't have to wonder, but if you still wonder, you can always ask.