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Posts from the ‘Death’ Category

Apr 15

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Playing God

Yesterday’s National Post had an interesting article about a 71 year-old, perfectly healthy Vancouver woman who is seeking the right to die alongside her ill husband. This isn’t legal in Canada, but there is an organization in Switzerland (Dignitas) that is apparently willing and able to administer lethal doses of drugs—after counseling, of course—to those looking to check out of this life. Ludwig Minelli, director of Dignitas, says that although assisted suicide was originally advocated as an escape only for the very ill, “it should be an option for anyone who feels they can no longer go on, and has the mental capacity to make the decision.” Read more

Feb 12

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Eschatology on the Way to School

For those tracking the progress of my pre-Easter reading project, I do continue to pick away at N.T. Wright’s The Resurrection of the Son of God (my pace has slowed considerably over the last few weeks—that’s going to have to be addressed if I’m to finish in time). Right now, I’m in the middle of his discussion of various views of the resurrection in the Hebrew Bible and how these differed from the views of the ancient Greeks. Read more

Jan 20

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What’s on the Other Side?

Last Friday a pastor from the mainland phoned me up and asked if I would be willing to do a graveside ceremony for a family who was returning the body of their loved one to Nanaimo for burial. I still find it very strange to be entrusted, in however minimal a fashion, with these significant events in people’s lives, but I also find it very difficult to to say no to a friend. So, today I was off to say a few words at the burial of a stranger, hoping and praying that something I said would be of some comfort to those present. Read more

Sep 23

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Running among the Dead

One of the things I miss about Vancouver is, perhaps surprisingly, living close to a graveyard. During our time at Regent I made sporadic attempts at regular jogging. The life of a student was, obviously, a fairly sedentary one at times and going for a run was one way to break the monotony of hours spent reading, writing, editing, etc. I didn’t run for very long, mind you, but I did try to get out a couple of times a week to maintain some modicum of fitness. Read more

Sep 10

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Death be Not Proud

There’s been a lot of death in the air around here over the last little while.  Our church is in the process of navigating the tragic death of a young father, husband, brother, son, colleague, and friend.  This past Sunday was the memorial service and it was, as are most memorial services, difficult.   Read more

Dec 19

Death, the Enemy

Sitting here in the library on a dreary, rainy December day, I find myself thinking about death—which is ironic, and perhaps a little morbid considering the fact that we’re in a season of the year which is focused on the birth of Christ, who came to give us new life. Nevertheless, I’ve been mulling over a conversation I had with a student on the last day of the class I taught at CBC this past semester—a conversation in which she wondered why I had presented death as the ultimate “enemy” of humanity in my final lecture. “Why do we need to see death as an enemy?” she asked. “Why not just look at it as a normal part of life and make the most of the time we have?” Read more

Jun 6

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What’s Death Good For?

I’ve been meaning to read this little book for quite a while, and finally got around to it last week (ironically, the spur that finally prodded me to buy it was the fact that we needed another $7 to push our Amazon order high enough to get free shipping and this was the cheapest book I could think of off the top of my head—it’s a good thing edification isn’t tied to the purity of one’s motives…). It’s really quite moving to see a guy who I’m used to reading in dense philosophical discourse struggling with the pain of losing his son, and how his faith is tested and strengthened by this awful tragedy. For those inclined to think that death is just a normal and proper part of life (or something to that effect), Nicholas Wolterstorff’s lament represents a pretty convincing voice to the contrary. Death is, and always has been, the enemy of humanity. Read more

May 4

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But Why, Daddy?

The other day one of the moms from our kids’ kindergarten class asked me for some “pastoral” advice about how to deal with what was for her son, the traumatic discovery that everybody dies (this discovery came via the film Charlotte’s Web). I fumbled and mumbled my way through some explanation of how we try to teach our kids that God is ultimately going to reclaim and redeem the world of our present experience, validating all that is good and true etc. My response may or may not have been adequate, but I was reminded of some of the questions that arose when our kids recently encountered death. One of their preschool friends was tragically killed in a traffic accident last year, and I remember being surprised (and heartened) by their bewilderment—even outrage—that such a thing as death should occur. Read more

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