Death - Let's Face It...

[Dennis1209]

It's very apparent the Apostle Paul, had he had his way, preferred to go home and be with the Lord, rather than stay on this earth. The Book of Philippians makes that abundantly clear.  

Philippians 1:21 (KJV) For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.

I've known many devout Christians and pastor's whom came down with terminal illnesses; and subjected themselves to everything from experimental treatments to radiation and chemotherapy to painful bone marrow transplant etc. We Christians know our destiny and Heaven is going to be glorious and we get to personally see our Lord and Savior. 

I'm not suggesting or implying anything here, just curious as to why; and I definitely include myself in this. I personally have never seen a Christian with a terminal illness give up without kicking and fighting to stay in this world. Some have spent tens of thousands of dollars to get a few more weeks or months on this earth, trying to avoid the inevitable; no doubt I will too. It goes without saying the Lord appoints the time, place and everything else.

Why do we go to great lengths and financial mountains and additional painful sufferings to try and extend our bodies for a short period of time with terminal illnesses? Scripture is clear that we are to fear the second death, not the first death of our physical bodies if we are in Christ; yet many of us do. Why am I, and maybe you, fearful of our coming physical bodily death? Some may say I'm not fearful at all; but I've seen that change when they had advance notice and given two weeks to a month by a doctor. Some resigned to their fate and accepted it when the doctor's told them there was nothing more they could do.

Thoughts??

[OneLight]

I have heard here, and other places, that God gave man the knowledge to use medicine in a way to help those who are suffering to live longer, and to ignore this "gift" is ignoring God's will.  I don't buy it.  I know that when it is my time, nothing will stop me from leaving.

[missmuffet]

We have technology today and it has saved many lives. As a human we always want to give those new medications and technology a try. A physician takes an oath to preserve life. Sometimes the doctor will say that there is no hope in a recovery. We then have to make a choice. I am very sad when a person leaves this world without Jesus Christ in their life. They have no idea what their eternity will be like. If they think they had suffered it was just a walk in the park. 

[JustPassingThru]

For me, I'm like Paul, I would love to go and be with my Lord, but, it's profitable for my Tahitian friends and the general population to stay, my work here is not finished, ...years ago Father called me to stand in the Gap for the Tahitians in prayer and a few years ago Father put on my heart to pray for a revival here, so, I've not finished the work He has sent me here to do, as to whether I would seek medical help for a terminal illness, ...probably, for the sake of my bride.

Lord bless

[ayin jade]

I have faced that this past year. My biopsy was one year ago yesterday. Stage 1a breast cancer. 

So why did I choose to fight it? 

My cancer has a high survival rate. No need to just give up and die. To me, that is a form of suicide. 

[Jostler]

I think the root  issue is dealing with  the fear of death.  And many of His have not.  I feel fortunate I was put in situations where I was repeatedly confronted with the  possibility  I might die, and it did force me to deal with the fear of it. 

This is a personal decision I have made, for myself, in Him.  It's not something ANYONE else has any responsibility to mimic  or any responsibility  toward at all.

I've become SO aware of how corrupted  our  whole medical system has become, I have personally chosen I will not seek care from that system for anything other than physical wounds...broken bones or something that  needs stitched up.  And that's not going to happen before  I ask Him for a miracle either.

I don't think there's a thing wrong with understanding He is the healer and He has granted men increasing insight  into  how the body  works  and how  to  fix it when it functions abnormally.  I just don't trust you can be secure in believing that knowledge is going to be used to heal in every case.   Not all doctors are sold out to the system but I can't be stuffed trying to find one that isn't.

I'm not putting my  life into  the hands of any  doctor for the  sake of cancer or any other disease.  He's gonna fix it or I'm going home and I'm fully  satisfied with whatever He chooses.

[AnOrangeCat]

Sometimes it's not death that's so frightening so much as the idea of separation from people we love, even if only for a while, and concern for the pain that death causes to others.

[warrior12]

It's INNATE to the human species when we have choice.

In my lifetime , I was in situations that I really thought I was going to die twice.   It was with spiritual matters and I made my decision that I would not sell my soul in exchange to live on here. The Lord had the final say in the matter and I am here today.  The last occasion was last year.  I would have like to give a testimony of this, but at another time. All praise be to the Most High God for all his mercy and kindness. 

[walla299]

Death is a change of address for the believer. I've been in plenty of situations where I could have died and the Lord decided that I (and sometimes others with me) would live through it. If I have to spend money for cancer treatment, etc. I'm going to die because I've got very little money. That's just the way things are.

I will admit that I'm a lot more concerned about the Bema: when we stand before Christ after our lives are over. That judgment is not about sin, but about how we served our Lord. I do not want to get there only to find I've screwed the whole thing up - or wasting my life chasing the wrong things.

 

[BeauJangles]

3 hours ago, Dennis1209 said:

I personally have never seen a Christian with a terminal illness give up without kicking and fighting to stay in this world.

I have. She opted out of treatment, and passed away. My sister was diagnosed with advanced stage 3 cancer. She was told to get her final affairs in order, as they didn't expect her to make it. She fought long and hard, has been in remission, and a survivor for almost 20 years now. I've another sad story, but it's very personal and hits too close to home. There's yet some troubling dreams concerning it, so we'll skip that one.