"We cannot point to the high virtue of Christian living and the gay, almost mocking courage of Christian martyrdom, as a proof of our doctrines with quite that assurance which Athanasius takes as a matter of course. But whoever may be to blame for that it is not Athanasius." C.S. Lewis, "On the Reading of Old Books"
To which I reply: quite true. But why not??
I've been thinking about dying lately; not that I have any intention of doing so in the near future, but it's unavoidable in my current job. A most melancholy thing has struck me. Hardly anyone hospitalizes gracefully or dies well. Even those who claim that their "faith gives them strength" seem to fall apart when their bodies do, and there's nothing sadder to read than a do-not-resuscitate order of a self-proclaimed Christian.
I don't think that the Church these days really talks about dying much. I'm not sure why. It's pretty likely to happen, like taxes. I'm thinking of two ladies from back home. One said, "If God loves me, He'll heal me," and when she died, some of her family fell away from the faith. It's just not true that God will heal all His children in this world. And then there's a lady who spent her last months with cancer memorizing the saints' words from Revelation. She said she was learning her lines ahead of time.
The other day I came across an article. I wish I could remember what it was in. It was talking about the cost of hospitalization and the difference between people who had hope of an afterlife, and still fought to live, versus the people who had this life only and were fine with a DNR order.
We hate death, but we do not mourn like those who have no hope!
Sweet Carolyn-
ReplyDeleteMay I beg to differ? My point of difference regards the posting of a DNR order, which you are saying is tantamount to losing all hope and despairing. I don't think this is always so. In our culture, we cling to this world with ungodly fervor sometimes. We will use any method to prolong life. But the truth is, there is a time to die. We can artificially resuscitate and prolong life where it perhaps should be let go. I think we have forgotten that there is a time to die, and that refusing artificial means of prolonging life is not the same as despairing or losing hope.
I agree that it is a rare Christian who dies gracefully. We are weak and sinful people at death as we are in life. But the important thing to remember is that the death of His loved ones is precious in the sight of the Lord. (Psalm 116:15) So if we would be His, we must hold those deaths as precious, as well, even when we see in them the ugliness of sin and the results of the fall.
I know both instances you speak of. The first instance confirms that bad theology always leads astray and saps us of comfort. The second death was a sweet-smelling aroma to the Lord. I pray regularly, particularly since my cancer battle this past year, that I would do nothing to dishonor my Lord, or shame Him, even in death. I am trusting Him to provide the strength I need for that journey, too.
I am reminded of this passage of Augustine I read a while back that was talking about the proper attitude towards death. Namely, that it is only to be feared in doubt of the afterlife, in certainty, it is a great release. He also had some interesting comments about funerals being essentially pointless to the Christian accept as a consolation to the living. Anyhow, random point.
ReplyDeleteI also wondered at the idea that a DNR order was a sad thing for a Christian. I'm studying all this stuff in Decedents' Estates right now, and while I know I dislike assisted suicide, I'm not sure what I think about DNR/living will provisions about when to stop life-giving treatment. It does seem like we hang on to life even when it is trying to leave, and it almost seems more consistent with a belief in God and heaven to have a DNR order. First, you know when you die, you're going to heaven, and you don't need to prolong life artificially. Second, you are allowing expensive hospital resources to go towards helping people who are not terminally ill as you are. As I said, I'm not sure exactly what I think about DNR orders, etc., but I'm not sure they're anti-the-culture-of-life.
ReplyDelete~Twynkletoes
Touchstone has done some good stuff on dying well recently....
ReplyDeleteI also recommend Gilbert Meilander's little book on Bioethics, which gives some good general principles on this point. (Most of the rest of the book is good too, although I disagreed on a few points.)