Article February 17, 1997 Issue

Never side with death

Gary F. Wilson

The young support group member said he could painlessly end his life when its quality was gone. Others wanted control and a merciful death once the known remedies had failed and they faced a seemingly certain, painful, or debilitating death process. Though grieving and preparing to die, they really wanted to live. Could hastening death be advantage? Merciful? Convenient? Nearest right? There weren't easy answers.

I yearned to share with them the living God's infinite, unconditional, tender love for all; the merciful, comforting ever-presence that never allows pain, that never condemns anyone. The understanding of God heals difficult conditions and makes hastening death unnecessary and undesirable! But sharing wasn't possible then.

In Vietnam I saw death as the only enemy. I knew that God is Life, and man is, in truth, God's glorious, zestful, perfect creation, which expresses Life in countless ways. Death is no part of Life, God. Life can never be extinguished, never be placed in limbo, never be suspended in unconsciousness. As God's creation, we can never be separated from Him.

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If this life is a dream not dispelled, but only changed, by death,—if one gets tired of it, why not commit suicide?
February 17, 1997
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