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To die well


Gail

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((((((Gerry))))) I'm so sorry, keeping you both in my prayers.

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For what will a man be profited, if he gains the whole world, and forfeits his soul? Mat. 16:26

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Yes, Gerry you and your wife have been in my prayers in the past, I must confess not recently.  However, I shall change that and will keep you in prayer.

 

Edited by Naomi

If your dreams are not big enough to scare you, they are not big enough for God

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I don't often post in this forum for I really dislike not being able to quote anything or anyone.  However, I read what billyjobob said I have to respond to that.  He said bring on the persecution or revolution because he wanted to die for something.

Well, if we are really Christians we are involved in a war.  A war over the misrepresentation of the character of God.  So, if we live for God when we die we will also die for something.  We will be dying as we lived, for the right representation of God.  There can really be no higher honor than that.

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Liberty cannot be established without morality, nor morality without faith.
Alexis de Tocqueville
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Numerous times have I read and considered the implications of this question, still no real idea of what I consider "to die well"  

I held the hands of both parents as they were taking their last breath, they were finally released from the pain they suffered the last months.  Is that to die well?

I have sit with family and friends as their loved ones were in the final stages of life on this earth ... I don't understand how one could say they died well.  They were good people, but to die well??  They left people who loved them, their footprints remain in various venues. Perhaps that is what it is all about

Sometime ago I  had a serious stroke and as the darkness seemed to take over and I could hear voices discussing my situation it was an unreal experience.  Peaceful and really not wanting to be disturbed with their questions, needles, etc.  When I heard them say, "We are loosing her" I only felt peace....it was okay.  While I am thankful for the miracle that has allowed me to trade 6 months of paralyzation for another 20 years of being fully recovered if they had not revived me, I suspect that would mean that I died well.  

I dare say that I suspect that it is as simple as to be that if you make your peace with the Lord each day; If you leave more people with good memories than perhaps you die well.

OR

(I believe it has already been said), but at the end of the day if we live well, we will die well

Life is about living well  

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If your dreams are not big enough to scare you, they are not big enough for God

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Just before I read what you posted I thought the very same thing.  Live well assures that not matter what you can and will die well.  Because it will be OK.  

 

My sister-in-law drowned while snorkeling in Hawaii and by good fortune a rescue team was just up the beach as her husband dragged her ashore.  They were able to revive her and bring her back.  She described what you said about feeling an unimaginable sense of peace as she drowned.  It had a profound impact on her.  

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"Absurdity reigns and confusion makes it look good."

"Sinless perfection is such a shallow goal."

"I love God only as much as the person I love the least."

*Forgiveness is always good news. And that is the gospel truth.

(And finally, the ideas expressed above are solely my person views and not that of any organization with which I am associated.)

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Great comments

Isaiah 32:17 And the work of righteousness shall be peace; and the effect of righteousness quietness and assurance for ever.

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Many of these are beautiful testimonies.  My mom died of bladder cancer about 1.5 years ago.  As her children hovered around her, she often apologized for being such a bother.  About 2 weeks before she passed, she quit apologizing and just thanked us for being there; and told us each seperately how much she cherished and loved us.  She relived precious memories of our childhood family life - vacations; successes, overcoming defeats, etc.  On the last day of her life, after we all had left the room for like 1 minute; she died. It's almost like she chose to die while we were gone, so as not to "upset" us.  She had assured each of us of her love for us; and we for her.  She died well.

 

For me, I see 3 ways of dying well:

1.  A massive combination heart attack and stroke in the middle of deepest sleep

2.  Being martyred (but not slowly in pain, I hope) while screaming "Jesus is Lord!"

3. (Preferred) Not dying at all - just being changed in the twinkling of an eye!

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What a beautiful profound transparent thread!

I know by posting a song apropos to thoughts here technically violates the rules

So I am at your mercy.

 

the pictures are beautiful on the big screen

 

For all Eternity God waited in anticipation for  You  to show up to give You a Message - YOUR INCLUDED !!! { a merry dance }?️‍?

" If you tarry 'til you're better
You will never come at all "   .. "I Will Rise" by the late great saved  Glen Campbell

If your picture of God is starting to feel too good to be true, you're starting to move in the right direction. :candle:

 

"My bounty is as boundless as the sea,
My love as deep; the more I give to thee,
The more I have, for both are infinite."

Romeo and Juliet

 

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As I grow older, now pushing 60 years of age, I remember other members when they were my age and now gone....all of us wishing to be changed in an twinkling of an eye...and I feared death then but not so much now....I now remember someone saying that they welcomed death because they were old and frail and the body was aging and giving of problems...Getting older is a reminder of younger days "when I could....."  grip harder, walk faster.poop faster/without pain, hug harder, see old friends more often, attend to family....but now they may attend to me....or not....Old age is an inconvenience not to be missed....

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Democracy is a device that ensures we shall be governed no better than we deserve.

 

George Bernard Shaw

 

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  • 1 month later...

ISIS did not block out the sound from their video of the beheading of 20 Coptic Christians.  Those men died shouting "JESUS!"  They died well.

Here's a link to a program by "Voice of the Martyrs"  https://soundcloud.com/the-voice-of-the-martyrs/muslims-finding-christ-im-sick-of-killing

In this program you will hear of Sunni Muslims coming to Christ BECAUSE they are "sick of the killing".  Sunni Muslims have NEVER before come to Christ.  No missionary could reach them.  But the terrible persecution by ISIS has CAUSED many to rethink Islam. 

8thdaypriest

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I am loving the transparency and love coming through all your thoughts as we ponder this huge topic. Facing death is one great leveler within mankind. This is the stuff of life!

Isaiah 32:17 And the work of righteousness shall be peace; and the effect of righteousness quietness and assurance for ever.

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May the Lord be with you, Gerry, on the road that you are walking.

Edited by Gregory Matthews

Gregory

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Albert Camus, the French existentialist philosopher and winner of the Nobel prize for literature, wrote his first novel about a happy death.  It tells the story of a young Algerian who violates society's rules against committing murder, escapes punishment, then experiments with different ways of life and finally dies a happy man.   But does he die well?   Won't that be determined by whether he rises in the first or the second resurrection? 

 

John 3:16-17

For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. [17] For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.

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There are multiple aspects to 'dying well'.   The medical part of me would consider dying well to be dying as comfortably as possible, with whatever assistance would be helpful.

The non medical part - hopefully to have made peace with all those close to me, and to leave my affairs in order to make things simpler for those who must pick up the pieces, and to have the change to say good bye to my loved ones.

The closest I come to seeing a close one die was my mother, some years ago....she had been a sufferer of rheumatoid arthritis which also affected her lungs and she coughed consistently.  She had also some years previously suffered from lymphoma which had appeared to respond to treatment and she felt assured by God it not to worry about it.  She also had all her marbles' so there was no blunting of distress.   She was admitted to a certain hospital, and a physician called to see her.  He realised she was suffering a chronic infection and to treat it she would have had to suffer a painful trip to another hospital, have invasive monitoring, etc.  She declined and I was there to support her decision.      I think the physician was distressed at her choice - he had only just met her - but he honoured it.  We found out that the lymphoma had reappeared but she did not know.Over the next 4 days we watched her slip away,  I had hoped to be there at the last and was not.  But she had great faith, her family all visited, and I think she died well, in a hospital where the staff were wonderful.

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I have been thinking more about this subject.  In addition to what I have posted previously, I believe that no matter how you die, if you die with the hope and assurance of the resurrection, you will have died well. 

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Yes Gerry I agree that is the final answer.  We have this (that) hope ...............

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If your dreams are not big enough to scare you, they are not big enough for God

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Works for me!

Isaiah 32:17 And the work of righteousness shall be peace; and the effect of righteousness quietness and assurance for ever.

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  • 2 months later...

I like the statement In one of Shakespears plays (I think it was `Julius Caesar) that the cowardly die every day, the brave die but once.  

With Christ on our side we do not have to die a thousand deaths, each time something threatens us (even something as non-threatening as a public speech).

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