Choosing how to die

When Saddam Hussein was hanged at the end of 2006, parts of the execution were secretly filmed and later posted on the internet. No dignity marked the drama of Hussein’s final moments. The dictator died like a criminal, though he’d insisted he should be killed honourably by firing squad.

How would I like to die?

Most of us recoil from this question. We’ve got good things we’re living for. People to hold onto. Places to go. Jobs or missions to complete. Things to say. Toys to buy. A lot of apparently vital stuff to do.

But we’ve probably known someone who was forced to give an answer, such as a terminal cancer patient with a choice to let the disease take its course, or to sustain life a little longer with every medical means, no matter how agonizing the process.

Our death is a definite future event. But that doesn’t make us eager to plan a funeral. Besides, dwelling on our demise is morbid and unhealthy.

Or is it?

Christianity’s great ambassador, Paul, knew – as many Christians in parts of the world know even today – that faith could kill him. Without doubt, Paul had imagined his own face of death, but turned away from it to contemplate the face of Jesus as his reason for living and his hope when dying.

Therefore, Paul boldly preaches, “For we know that if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens” (2 Corinthians 5:1).

In the next verses, Paul reveals ways to gain the courage required to live energetically in the face of our inevitable end of days.

Life involves suffering

Some say that Microsoft founder Bill Gates’ number one rule for a successful outlook is “Life isn’t fair – get used to it!” Paul’s spiritual roots grew in the soil of Hebrew suffering. Jewish theology of creation is built on the practical consideration that “it’s impossible to have a world of different, unique, individual entities where suffering does not occur” (Tamar Frankiel). Nature takes its course and humans act with freedom. Unfortunately, pain and death can be the result. It’s a tough world.

Paul insists we accept this harsh truth. Our earthly “tents” groan because there’s a wind called death constantly threatening to knock over the works.

The good news is that storm will be “swallowed up by life” (v.4). Suffering is real, but only temporary. Life in Christ is eternal. That truth is the basis of a hope so powerful it makes every day a gift from God.

God-given and God-going

If we’re believers, a voice in our hearts reminds us of the certainty of verse 5. We know that life is about something bigger than this world. We recognize that we’ve been given the Spirit who animates our being. He’s our reason for living and our way of living.

In 2006, a hearty 82-year-old man I knew, whose family affectionately called him Grandpa H, happily ended Christmas Day by diving to the floor for a photo of him “surviving” his pile of grandkids. Boxing Day morning he suffered an aneurism; he was dead before suppertime.

At the funeral, the gift of Grandpa H’s life was spoken about. But the greatest gift mentioned was the name of the One this man’s energy was derived from and dedicated to.

Paul says God has “prepared us for this very thing.” To live well. To die even better. We can live our days enthused (entheos = filled with God’s Spirit), and therefore die knowing (“guaranteed”) that our mortal energy will be replaced by divinely driven eternal life. We’re going to die so we can go where we’ll really live!

“Too many times we pray for ease,” writes Philip Gulley, “but that’s a prayer seldom met. What we need to do is pray for roots that reach deep into the Eternal. . . .” We can feel at times that the earth is grabbing for our body. Let it. We’ll reach higher.

2 Corinthians 5:1–5 (NRSV)

¹ For we know that if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. ² For in this tent we groan, longing to be clothed with our heavenly dwelling – ³ if indeed, when we have taken it off we will not be found naked. ⁴ For while we are still in this tent, we groan under our burden, because we wish not to be unclothed but to be further clothed, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life. ⁵ He who has prepared us for this very thing is God, who has given us the Spirit as a guarantee.

Doug Schulz is a high school English teacher in Hamilton, Ont. He lives in Vineland, where he and Annie fellowship at Vineland MB Church and together serve in the “We Care” seniors visitation ministry.