April 1, 2023

Celebrate Life Not Death

While sitting in the dentist office the other day I happened to browse through one of the many magazines one often finds in doctors’ offices. I found one well know magazine intriguing because it featured several recent news events. The first was the sad story of Brittany Maynard who— after doctors told Maynard she had six months to live last spring after she was diagnosed with stage 4 glioblastoma—made headlines around the world when she announced she intended to die by taking a fatal dose of barbiturates, prescribed to her by a doctor, when her suffering became too great. Brittany said, “I do not want to die. But I am dying. And I want to die on my own terms.” She reported ended her own life Saturday November 1st at her home in Portland, Oregon. She was 29.

Another article was about the recent blockbuster movie, American Sniper. The movie is based upon Christopher Kyle’s 2012 autobiography, American Sniper; Kyle was a United States Navy SEAL and reportedly the most lethal sniper in U.S. military history. Kyle accumulated 160 confirmed kills and another 95 probable kills. Kyle stated he had “no regrets” about his work as a sniper. Ironically on February 2, 2013, Kyle was shot and killed at a shooting range along with a friend. The man accused of killing them was reportedly an Iraq War veteran. He allegedly killed them on a Texas shooting range before making off in the victim’s pickup. The suspect reportedly told his sister he had “traded his soul for a new truck.”

Another blurb in the same magazine was about the tragic and sudden death of Robin Williams by his own hand on August 11, 2014. No clear motive has emerged as to why he took his own life. It has been publicly reported that Williams was suffering from severe depression. His wife said that he was diagnosed with early stage Parkinson’s disease; and by Williams’ own admission he had been addicted to drugs and an alcoholic—yet his wife claimed he had remained sober. Post mortem tests confirm that neither alcohol nor illegal drugs were involved, and any prescription drugs present in Williams’ body were at “therapeutic” levels.

Additionally the magazine went on to highlight other celebrities who had died of drug overdoses and other nefarious behaviors over the past year.
These stories collectively describe a culture of death—as if all of this is normal! Not one word was written in remonstration in any of these stories. The story lines are very clear: one person took her life because she had cancer and she was going to die on “her terms!” Another took hundreds of lives on “his terms.” Another took his life for seemingly unknown reasons. And others died because of bad choices such as drug or alcohol abuse, or reckless and wanton behavior. The subliminal message behind all of this is death should be embraced, and at times celebrated (in the case of sniper), while living out the “hand you are dealt” is ignored. Modern culture attempts to make death attractive and in some situations an acceptable “way out!” The apostle Paul saw nothing charming about death—The last enemy that will be destroyed is death (1 Corinthians 15:26). Death is our enemy not a friend!
Lent—Easter—is a time when Christians celebrate life and Jesus’s death. While Jesus prepared to die he instructed his disciples to live, to embrace life; The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they [the sheep] may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly (John 10:10). Even in times of tragedy and sorrow Jesus calls the believer to life; Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live. And whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die. Do you believe this?” (John 11:25-26).

Viktor E. Frankl was a survivor of a Nazi death camp. He wrote a book which became a classic: Man’s Search For Meaning.” At first glance his book appears to be about his ordeal as a prisoner in a Nazi Concentration Camp. But intertwined between his harrowing accounts of beatings, forced labor, starvation, animalistic acts of cruelty is his slow realization of finding love, mercy and as the title suggests–the meaning of life. “If there is meaning in life at all, then there must be meaning in suffering,” says Frankl. Christians understand the meaning of Christ’s sufferings. His death became our death and his suffering was our suffering (Isaiah 53). In Christ’s sacrifice comes freedom and release from fear, torment, guilt and even death. When Jesus rose from the grave we through him rose with him: If then you were raised with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God. Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth. For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is our life appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory (Colossians 3:1-4). In his death and resurrection Jesus says live! Frankl, observing the times in which we are living, remarked–Ever more people today have the means to live, but no meaning to live for. Paul knew exactly what he was living for: I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me (Galatians 2:20). May I ask who or what are you living for? God’s Blessings!

Update. Since writing this article in 2015 my brother Ford was diagnosed with stage 4 glioblastoma (brain cancer) in January of 2021 an died in May. There is no successful cure or treatment for brain cancer. By the time a brain tumor causes symptoms, it has already reached stage III or IV. This means the cancer is aggressive and the prognosis is grim. The tumor is often surgically removed if the risk of severe side effects (such as paralysis, loss of speech, or blindness, are low. Unlike the lower body, surrounding brain tissue cannot be removed. There is no “getting it all:” it will grow back and often more aggressively.

Standard treatment for glioblastoma is radiation and chemotherapy. Treatment may shrink or even cause the tumor to stop growing, but only for a short time. It will start growing again. Most people die within six months to one year of diagnosis. Survival beyond three years is slim. beyond five, none. The future is measured in months not years.

I have seen many people die with cancer. A person with such a dire prognosis can either plan to live or plan to die. Everyone I know, including my brother Ford, planned on living until the day they died. No plans of checking out early. Ford’s thoughts were not on the disease that was killing him. His told me many times, “I’m living for Jesus!” Paul told the church at Philippi “For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.” Don’t allow the thought of death to lord over you. Jesus conquered death. he promised you can too.