Listening to NPR this morning I heard a report about the ethical debate centering on euthanasia and terminally ill children. What I found to be of particular interest was the observation that those parents described as religious were more resistant to the concept than were those described as secular. It raises a question that continues to puzzle me even though I’ve received theological training and have worked through the issues of death and grieving with hundreds of people as their pastor. Why, when the Christian profession of faith declares triumph over the ultimate enemy, are we still afraid of death?
While it is true that confessing/professing Christians are rather selective about the kinds of death they resist—abortion, euthanasia, their own—and are accepting of others—capital punishment, war, and the death of relationships called divorce—to make these kinds of distinctions only makes finding an answer to the question more complicated. Sharing the tearful moments at the deathbed and witnessing the sorrowful countenance of funerals only serves to reinforce the basic premise that we don’t want to die because we are afraid of death.
It is little wonder, then, that non-Christians look at the proclamation of Resurrection with a degree of skepticism. First, did Jesus not have to actually die before he could be resurrected? And if his resurrection actually constituted a physical resuscitation why was his ascension necessary? Why isn’t he still with us here and now as a living testimony to his defeat over death? And if the nature of Jesus’ resurrection was something other than resuscitation, how does that affect the idea that I can share in that with him? It’s nice to talk about eternal life, but it’s an altogether different thing to believe it.
Author's note: the actual NPR broadcast to which I refer was 02/19/05.
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