Let’s talk about any subject: sex, politics or even religion, but not that one. What is this subject? Death and Dying.
We hide ourselves from it, deny it will happen to us or perhaps worse to the ones we are closest to. And yet it is one of the surest things in life that we all will face death - both our own and that of our loved ones if they do not outlive us.
This covering up of death is prevalent in Britain today and in certain other industrialised countries and yet it is not universal throughout all cultures or across the centuries.
So Why the Taboo?
Taboos vary across time. Sex is openly talked about in Britain today, yet it is not many decades since it was unmentionable even more so than death. It seems that one taboo is broken another takes its place.
After life - Then What?
If you ask people what there is beyond death - increasingly the response is that death is the end; the final breath is the cessation of life. Others will think that we will again become part of a collective consciousness, or that we live on in the lives of our children. Mention God or Heaven, and people will say, "You don’t really believe in that, do you?" Even those who do accept that there may be an after life with God or in Heaven may well dispute the existence of any alternative such as Hell, judgement, and punishment. A loving God will forgive us all in the end won’t he?
This uncertainty about the after life contributes to the sense of the finality of death, the permanence of any loss and the fragility of life.
A "Live for the Now" Culture
If there is no God and death is final then it is logical to live for the now, live for yourself and live with no regard for the future. If there is no eternal consequence of what we do then we determine what is right for us. We make take chances and follow risky behaviour, anything for the thrill of the now for tomorrow we... The worry of this is that a result of risk taking behaviour is injury in some cases premature death itself. Yet death is not looked at squarely, if it happens by accident or as a consequence of our behaviour it is unfortunate, if it is after a disaster in is tragic, but when it is an event that in all certainty will happen we shy away.
The strange twist is when life goes wrong we say "it is not worth living" and may seek to end our life albeit not knowing where we are going rather than looking to solve the problems causing us distress.
Attitudes to Death
Through environmental improvements, hygiene, nutrition, etc., people are healthier and living longer. The death of a child is now relatively rare; formerly it was commonplace, particularly in the first few months/years. Of life. The death of a woman in childbirth was far more common than it is now. These are just examples of how the "power of death" has appeared to be tamed. Life is now something that people believe can be controlled. This control has taken a further step, a step beyond.
Death normally takes place in hospital and not at home. It is therefore perceived as a clinical process or a result of clinical failure, not a normal event.
With the advances in Medicine, life is seen as the norm. Death is the failure of medicines. Doctors are given the credence of being "like God", having the power of life and death. People not only talk about medicine having the potential to create life but that of maintaining life forever.
People avoid using the term death or dying but use euphemisms like pass away, moved on, etc.
The reluctance to face death is often seen in the way people do not prepare for death. Wills are not made; affairs are not put into order. This often leaves great difficulty for those who are left.
Even in grief, people have been offered medication to "Take the pain away". This in extreme grief can be necessary but the normal feelings of pain and loss are a result of our relationship with the person who has died. They are there for us to work through to a healthy resolution and not to be anaesthetised away.
Controlling Life and Death - The Early Years
We now endeavour to control the environment of life from conception to death. These controls include:
- Control of fertility - determination of when or if life is given opportunity to develop. This allows for family planning but also takes responsibility for the timing of conception from God and the creative process.
- Assisting fertilisation by test tube conceptions, insemination by donor, surrogacy. In the past an infertile couple would pray, now they are more likely to pay. Childlessness is a painful situation to be in, however, it again has become an area where rather than going to God we now take it to ourselves to find a solution.
- Control of foetal potentiality - determining whether an embryo and then the foetus is allowed to grow or whether to terminate. This, of course, is an alternative way of saying that we hold the decision of life or death. The use of abortion as a term seems to be in decline because it has become "tainted"; other words, which are less loaded, are adopted until the same occurs. It has to be seen as strange that a medical team may on the one hand be fighting to save one baby’s life and within minutes be involved in eliminating the life of another of a similar gestation.
- We now decide whose life is worth living. If the child is to be born disabled it can be deemed to justify termination. Are they less human beings than we are? What criteria do we use? What is the determining factor for life or termination?
- All of the above revolve around who controls the start of life, the definition of when potential life becomes life and who has rights to determine its continuation. Has the new life rights or is it ours to determine what is done? Life in our hands. Are we trustworthy to hold it?
Controlling Life and Death - In Later Years
Medicine as a profession is geared up to bring healing, to cure the sick, and preserve life. The challenge is when or if those who seek to preserve life should stop the efforts to keep someone alive or should assist a person to die.
- Death when it comes suddenly comes as a shock to the family and friends but it has no lingering moral dilemmas attached.
- If a person is found before it is too late to resuscitate and revive the automatic response of many in the health profession is to do whatever it takes to save the life. But what if the person has given a statement in writing - a living will - to request the non-resuscitation of life? If life could be revived but is not - is this not assisted suicide by another term?
- Another dilemma occurs when the person is in a persistent vegetative state, the body is still living but with no recordable brain function. Do you continue to treat the person as living or as dead? The more scientific methods are developed the more we are faced with the decision of when is life there or when has death occurred. Who has the decision to choose for treatment to continue?
- If the person is clearly alive but their quality of life is poor and declining and/or they are suffering from an enduring, or terminal illness, should they be helped to die, allowed to die? This can take a number of forms. The withdrawal of treatment, the supplementing of treatment or the specific overdose of drugs whether this is turning a blind eye to the individual’s actions or with active supply and/or assistance to commit suicide. Attempting suicide is not illegal but assisting someone else to is illegal.
- Euthanasia is a term for medical assisted premature death, it may be seen as merciful, but it is still taking away a person’s life. What right d we have to decide who lives and who dies? What criteria should be used?
- A very difficult issue is the concept of double-effect where the prescribing of medication, which is given to alleviate pain and/or symptoms, hastens the patient’s death. The question remains when does treatment ends and euthanasia begins?
So what does God say about Death?
God designed us for life. God created Adam and Eve and breathed life into them. Genesis 2 v. 7
Death is a consequence of the sinfulness of mankind and not part of the original design for us. Genesis 2v.17 & 3v.19
There is a time to live and for the duration of the current era a time to die. Ecclesiastes 3v.2
God is there at our conception and knits us together in our mothers’ womb. He knows us from the earliest point of our lives. Psalm 139v.3 & 119v.73
There is a length of life allotted to us all. This is normally 70 years Psalm 90v.10 to a maximum restriction of 120 years. Genesis 6v.3
God holds the power of Life and Death. We should not try to take this into our own hands. Job 14v.5 & Psalm 31v.15
If we take a life we are accountable to God for what we have done. Genesis 9v. 5-6
Murder and wars are a consequence of our sinful actions. James 4 v.1-3
We are made of body, soul and spirit. The cessation of life on earth is not the end. Hebrews 4v.12
God desires all to spend eternity in His presence. It is open to all who believe. John 1v.12-13
Our belief whilst we are alive on earth determines our eternal destination. John 5v.24, Luke 16v.19-31
God sent His only son Jesus to die as a perfect man in our place to take our punishment for sin so that all who come to God through Him can receive eternal life. John 3v.16
In the New Heaven and Earth there will be no more sickness or death but judgement and punishment awaits those who do not respond to God’s offer of life through Jesus Christ. Revelation 21v.4
Those who die in faith are not lost to us but we will go to be with them if we too have faith in God. 1 Thessalonians 4v.13-16