A Christian View of Death and Dying
A tsunami kills 200,000 people around the periphery of the Indian Ocean. A hurricane cuts a path of death through the Caribbean. An earthquake kills 75,000 men, women and children in Kashmir in a single minute. Millions perish from preventable diseases. AIDS grips nations. A child steps into the path of a car reversed down the driveway by her parents; the court rules "accidental" but it cannot bring back the loved one. A teenager slams his car into the only tree on a stretch of highway. A politician takes his life amid scandal. A drug trafficker dies on the gallows amid calls for clemency. Cancer strikes the rich and famous, as well as the poor and obscure. Advances in medicine mean that human existence can be prolonged, but only marginally; if not cut short prematurely, eventually the body simply wears out.
All this talk about death sounds gloomy and depressing. Many people don't like to talk about it. However, death is an inevitable part of life. As Christians we need to have Biblical responses that are both empathetic and realistic (Romans 12:15). Only then will people listen and consider opening their hearts to the message. If we are to be relevant, as Christians, we must have sensible answers for those who want to know what we believe about our mortality and how it affects the way we live. Everyone needs hope.
Death is everywhere
Death is all around us. In Western cultures we tend (or prefer) not to think about it much, until it touches a loved one, or a doctor or official delivers pessimistic news like, "the tumor is growing and medical intervention is no longer viable". Spades of talent, decades of education, shared life experiences, accumulated knowledge and wisdom, hopes, dreams, plans, carefully cultivated friendships and loving extended families, fantastic (and mediocre) relationships, possessions and debts, achievements, good people, caring people, bad people, happy people, sad people... all extinguished in a moment. Are you ready for it to happen to those you love? To you?
To some people, life is just like a bad play, a lousy plot and then we die. Is that how you feel at times? (There are also highlights to celebrate.)
Benjamin Franklin said that two things are certain: death and taxes. Even the most skilful tax evaders cannot prolong their lives. Wealthy, busy, famous, talented people experience death; we all do; often when it is most inconvenient. I worked with a colleague who had "no time" to rest, until he died of a heart attack at work. (No job is worth a person's life.) Another made elaborate plans about how he would spend his retirement years, but died within months of leaving the workforce. Ancient redwoods, and giants in the rainforest, eventually fall and decay. I've stood and mourned them, once dwarfed by their grandeur, sobered by the reality that even giants die.
Death strips us of our busy schedules, dignity and earthly possessions (Job 1:21; 1 Timothy 6:7). A friend of mine says that "No one, at the end of his (or her) life, lies on their death bed wishing they had spent more time in the office". Death puts an end to our pet projects (Ecclesiastes 9:10).
Civil war, international conflict, genocide, pandemics, homicide and accidents at home remind us of the transitory nature of life. It is a one-way journey. Hieroglyphic stories that festoon the walls surrounding mummified bodies in the Egyptian Museum tell of death, judgment and the afterlife. Wealthy officials used to be buried with their servants and supplies of food to sustain them during their journey to the supposed afterlife. This may have given comfort to those facing death, but definitely not their slaves. Hoping for reincarnation, Hindu woman in India used to be encouraged to leap into the cremation flames of their husbands (suttee), in the hope of sharing the next stage of life with them--some still follow this practice.
Life expectancy in many parts of the world has increased out of sight in the past decades, but this is no guarantee we will be given "overtime". If only we could forever remain young, or slow down the aging process. Spanish explorers in the New World (among them one Juan Ponce de Leon) sought in vain for a fabled "Fountain of Youth", said to be located somewhere in Florida. Modern quacks selling elixirs designed to preserve youth make fortunes from those for whom aging and death are the worst enemies of all. Others refuse to accept that the "real them" will cease to be, so they seek genetic options for ensuring they exist through others in perpetuity. We cannot defer death.
Families of the dying seek to prolong their existence through elaborate life support systems. Optimists talk about preserving their bodies in conditions that will allow them to be brought back to life if and when medical science discovers how to do so. Medical science is limited. The giving of life is God's prerogative alone (Job 1:21).
People respond differently when confronted with death. Some joke about it. The Irish have a reputation for turning funerals into parties. Others give the impression they think they are immortal, or, accepting death is inevitable, become hedonistic, "Eat, drink and be merry, for tomorrow we die" (Isaiah 22:13b; 1 Corinthians 15:32).
Others are escapists, submerging the inescapable fact of death in busy lifestyles or mausoleums. Many cultures have elaborate rituals to cope with the reality of death and to honour or placate the dead, particularly ancestors.
The late Elisabeth Kubler-Ross (who was not writing from a Christian world view but was nevertheless exploring issues everyone was asking) wrote a number of books about coping with death. The best known, "On Death and Dying" (1969), has sold millions of copies and is still popular. In all walks of life people want to know how to "get ready".