Life Has No Opposite

On Sunday, I found out that Brittany Maynard, a terminally-ill, 29 year old woman whose story has been on national news, died by physician-assisted suicide. In a small way, I'm heartbroken (although I know that the heartbreak of her friends and family is much, much greater). I've felt burdened for Brittany since the first day I read her story, and I had it in my head that when I have a burden to pray for someone, God is planning to do something in that person's life. Brittany scheduled her death for November 1st. On Sunday, November 2nd, I watched a video in which she stated that she was still enjoying life enough to want to put it off. She also said that no one knows the right choice for her life except for her. I was elated that she delayed her suicide, literally dancing around my apartment, seeing it as a direct answer to prayer. I had hope that she would get saved (she clearly wasn't trusting in Christ for salvation, based on the things she said). Now, it's too late.

I heard a profound statement on Conservative Talk radio recently. A caller said, "What if I said that the opposite of death is not life, but birth? Life has no opposite." He was right. Life can't have an opposite because it is eternal; it never ends. Think about it. This short, fragile life can't be it. If you believe that it is, than why, why, why? Why everything? Brittany chose an early death-earlier than the one she would have experienced if she had faced her disease with real courage. But Brittany is still alive, and her life will never end. Of course I can't know for sure, but I have to think that she is alive in Hell, not because she committed suicide, but because she chose not to believe in Christ as her Savior. And that is the greatest tragedy of all.

I know that I wasn't the only person praying for Brittany. I would have done anything to stop her from going through with it, to help her understand the gospel, and many other Christians feel the same way. I know that the pain and fear she experienced were far beyond anything I've ever experienced- that I may never understand what she went through. I also know that she must have had good counsel in her life. She read the opinions of others- I know she did, because she talked about them. Some people may have been judgmental and harsh in the way they spoke to her, but I have no doubt that she communicated with at least one Christian person who told her the truth in love. That's what I specifically prayed for. The very fact that she put her suicide off indicates that God was holding her back. Yet, she chose to deal with things in her own way instead of turning to Him. I believe that God did answer my prayer, but sometimes, the person I pray for won't listen.

 

Now, I can only hope and pray that Brittany's campaign to make physician-assisted suicide legal in more states will NOT be successful; that terminally ill people  will turn to God, instead of to lethal pills. Because He is the only one who can help them. Because life is eternal, and life here on earth is just the briefest of moments. And really, it doesn't matter whether or not you seize the day now- because the only thing that will matter in the long, long, long life after death is whether or not you seized the Savior.