Cancer and Hope

I just learned about a young boy who is dying of cancer named Dorian Murray.  You can google the name or go to his Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/PrayingForDorian/) to learn more. Dorian is only 8 years old and will not likely be here much longer. 

I read about the boy in a special China insert in the Washington Post.  Because of the snow storm from this past weekend, I received like 4 or 5 days of the paper at one time!  Anyway, the boy's parents posted a note about Dorians wish to be famous all over the world, in particular China, and guess what -he is now famous all over the world!

The story is painful, sad, yet encouraging.  You can see how people actually care.  People who have different value systems, who may not even believe in God, who are capitalist, communist, and citizens of kingdoms all care.  People who submit to warlords and live in prosperous as well as struggling empires actually care about another human being they don’t even know! Many people can indeed show signs of being a changed and reformed Ebeneezer Scrooge – and they don’t even have to be warned by the spirit of a dead colleague into doing it!

This is the stuff that makes us think utopia is possible and that people are inherently good.  But it's not true!  Utopia is not possible and people are actually inherently evil as evidenced by 10,000 years or so of human history.  It’s all in how you define evil – or might I add, who defines evil. My atheist friends think removing religion will fix the problem.  Certain extreme Muslim friends of mine may think building one world-wide caliphate will bring peace.  Certain extreme "Christian" friends of mine think that if we legislate Christian doctrine we can have peace.  Yet, they are all wrong.  We are really no different than our ancestors and 10,000 years of recorded human history does not lie. Analyze it any way you want to, the historical conclusion is the same: we are an inherently evil species.  This is reality, no matter what we feel or think about it, and clearly most people reject this fact on all kinds of levels!

Now, the only faith system I have found that affirms this reality, and yet gives real hope for the "here and now" as well as in some kind of afterlife is authentic Christianity.  Someone may say that this hope is encased in mythology - that God created the heavens and the earth, that He cares about individuals now, and that He will redeem creation at some point in our future; some may say that this is all a myth thought up in antiquity.  But what if it is not a fairy-tale? What if it is true? If the "fairy-tale" is true, how then should one conduct their life? As it is written about the destruction & redemption of the world and the return of Christ, "Since everything will be destroyed in this way, what kind of people ought you to be? You ought to live holy and godly lives". (2 Peter 3:11).

What do you think? What if it's true?  I am ecstatic that the world is responding to Dorian Murray's wish.  My prayers are with his family because no amount of the worlds out-pouring of love in prayers, pictures, or kind and supportive words can replace the love this family has for their little boy. Albeit, I’m sure it helps.  Yet, what does it mean if the Christian faith is, in every sense of the phrase, the "absolute truth"?

As a final thought....My niece Marie Young died of cancer in December - she was only 48 and eleven years ago my father died of cancer - he was 70.  Cancer, war, death, greed, human trafficking, arrogance, pain, loneliness, crime - especially violent crime, hatred of each other, racism, false belief systems that promote (consciously or unconsciously) evil, fits of unbridled rage, alcohol and drug addiction, ignorant children making terrible decisions - especially if they are my children, and a host of other ills make me long for the return of Christ.  Sure, I can enjoy life while I have it, but anyone who closes their eyes and hides from the realities that are in this world are deceiving themselves.