Last October I had the privilege of spending a day with Dr. Stanley Hauerwas. He is the Gilbert T. Rowe Professor of Theological Ethics at Duke Divinity School with a joint appointment at the Duke University School of Law. He was voted Time magazines best theologian in America. A title he was NOT crazy about. His writings have been very influential in the church since the 80’s. His essays have included topics ranging from mental health to war and violence.
During my interview I focused on death and dying. This is the first of a series of 6 short films produced in relationship with our friends at The Work of the People. After you watch the video I would love for you to respond to a few of the questions below.
How do you want to die?
Do you fear God or death more? Does your life reflect your answer?
What is your reaction to Dr. Hauerwas’ statement about the church “making people think we’re really not going to die.”?
Nurtur3 
Well every ball needs an initial push to get rolling, so I guess I will be the instigator.
Question 1.
I want to die “with my boots on.” Whether its in a hospital bed, in my sleep, or of a heart attack on a hiking trail it is my desire to welcome that final transition we all must take with a cantankerous smile.
Question 2.
I honestly don’t think about death much. Maybe its because I’m 25, but I would rather live life in the moment and focus on the fear of God part of the equation. I would like to think that I do a good job of that. (I guess that is for others to make judgments of and for God to be the judge 😉 ).
Question 3.
I think there is a lot to that. The church focuses so much on our future and ultimate resurrection some may be surprised when that time comes for the transition to occur. I think also that it makes “death” out to be the bad guy in that it knocks the wind out of our sales and destroys the reality we paint in our minds of how that happens.
Wow – this is heavy stuff. I kinda wish we could go back to hatin’ on ed young, jr. or talkin about mma for Jesus.
I’ll start w/question #2 – I am more afraid of the entire process of dying, especially if it involves lingering for years with a terminal illness – the whole package deal. In and out of the hospital, the endless trips to MDAnderson, lab tests, waiting for results, not having enough $ for healthcare, trying to live life as normal, feeling abandoned by God, listening to well meaning people make pithy statements (i.e., “God will never give you more than you can handle!”), experiencing unspeakable suffering while my loved ones stand by helplessly, bedsores, navigating through the medicare system, nursing homes, getting a hopeful result followed shortly by a hopeless one, making decisions, having my husband make decisions, etc. I could go on and on.
Great comments Sherry and Mike. I agree Sherry, the process of dying is the tough thing. Being dead isn’t that bad, but dying can be from one perspective brutal. That Crowder song comes to mind, “Everyone wants to God to Heaven but no one wants to die.”
Thanks for being brave and stepping out on this one first. For me, this issue is as much a hot potato as homosexuality and immigration.
I disagree. (shocking huh?) I used to, when I was little, want to know I was going to die before dying because growing up Catholic wanted to to have time to confess and get my sins forgiven. I think that’s why that litany doesn’t want a sudden death…so they can get “reconciled with God”. Accepting Christ and our constant repentance already reconciles us with God we don’t need to do so in our last gasps of air as taught in some denominations. And if someone wants to wait until they are almost dead to reconcile their relationship with God and others, that’s not a good reason for wanting a slow death and is a pretty selfish prayer….”God please don’t take me quickly so I can crap on You and everyone I know until the last second and then let me abuse your mercy and grace by fixing it just before my time is up”
For me personally, its not really as much about how as it is when. Of course I’d like a quick, painless death in old age but the reason is because once I’m on that road, why wait to get to Heaven. I’d love to go there now but I know its not time. That’s why I say its more about when. I want to go in God’s perfect plan for me and not prematurely due to something I did outside God’s will. The how will be taken care of by the when.
I don’t fear death because its been conquered but I respect it. This kind of goes back to the how/when topic. I’m not going to go 200mph down I-45 because that’s something stupid outside God’s will and would end up flirting with death. But I’m not afraid of death if its in God’s plan.
And the statement about the church “making people think we’re really not going to die” doesn’t make sense to me. Maybe its because I haven’t seen that. Statistically just about 1 out of 1 go through a physical death so I don’t think the odds are in the not dying favor (however there is one generation that may not taste death which would be cool…not as much about the not dying part as about the Christ coming part). Scripture talks about all the types of death so a Christian should be pretty well versed on it too. One of my favorites when talking about life/death is Luke 17:33 “Whoever tries to keep his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life will preserve it.” It reminds me to not be afraid of death or put extra value on life but to put everything in Christ and the life/death stuff works itself out. You can’t control it anyways so why worry (Matthew 6:25-27).
One more thing… my statement “But I’m not afraid of death if its in God’s plan.” took a long time to swallow…the reason is I know that God can use death to reach people and the gravity of that hit me when praying for the salvation of a relative and asking to do “whatever it takes” to reach them.
I’m much in line with Robert’s comments. However I think Ron’s comment is the one we all need to grapple with. There is a huge fear in our culture of the unknown dying process each of us will have.
And with today’s meds we can be kept alive for years, even decades longer than previous generations. So there are not only the things that Sherry mentioned that can be “brutal” but living until you are 100 in and of itself can be pretty scary.
I think this issue makes many of us so fearful that we do everything in our power to try to keep it under our own control instead of trusting or having faith in God.
Death I’m cool with. The dying process…not so much.