Part of a continuing series, which began here, and was followed up here.
Wherein my father, who has, within the last week, been diagnosed with Stage 3B-4 Lung Cancer, talks of why he's choosing the path he is taking, and why the Right-Wing ChristoCultists (my term) has it wrong.
Now cross-posted on Street Prophets, as it seems appropriate...
From dad:
Update 2:
I ran out of gas yesterday, having described four people who got (?) lung cancer. three chose Chemo, and to my subjective eye, died horribly. The fourth rejected any further treatment, and left as gracefully as she could, surrounded by her sons.
Now, which ones were the people of faith, the believers, if you will, and which was not?
Right! Of the three who had chemo, one was one of the top five contributors to the church, one was a member of the choir, and one took care of the church property. All dedicated, faith-full Christians.
The one who let Nature-God-the cancer take its relentless course came to church once in a very long while, like Christmas Eve. Maybe yet she understood the core of our Christian faith.
The core of Christianity -- and I'll let you dig out your own proof text for or against -- is what happens when we die. Jesus tal;ks about it a lot. Our hymns -- Gospel, Traditional, pick your Hymnal -- are almost all about sfter death.
nd yet... we spend a major portion of our Gross National Product on staying alive. Chemo, radiation, transplants, vitamins, pharmaceuticals -- "Ask your doctor if (fill-in-the-blank) is right for you!" The actual thought of dying scares the hell out of us. Look at the hoo-hah over the comic "Funky Winkerbean."
And lest we forget there's the Terry Schaivo case, with Federal Laws passed to "save" her and Sen. Bill Frist making a positive diagnosis based on a 6-month-old video tape. "Look, she's responsive!"
to be continued...