Title: Facing Death and the Life After
Author: Billy Graham
Date: 1987
Publisher: Word Books
ISBN: 0-8499-0474-9
Length: 265 pages plus 6 pages of endnotes
Quote: “Only about one in everry five adults has made a will...Such situations create needless hardships and heartache for loved ones.”
Yes, of course Billy Graham’s book on Facing Death has a lot to say about the Christian doctrine of judgment and reward. “A Christian funeral should be a coronation.” I chose to quote the section on wills because Christians need to know that this book was meant to do more than endorse their religious beliefs, or some debatable variant form of their beliefs. It really is meant to help people prepare for their parents’, their mates’, and their own illness and disability as well as death, in practical more than emotional ways.
In 1987 Graham was only 69 years old. In the picture on the cover, he hardly looks that. Still, this is a book only a senior citizen could write, full of the kind of insights that come to people as their friends grow old and die. Billy and Ruth Bell Graham would remain active for several years after Facing Death was printed, but the book shows that they didn’t take their longevity for granted. Both of them had considered the possibility of widowhood, and taken steps to make things as easy as possible for the survivor.
Young people don’t like to think about such “heavy stuff.” “I’m only twenty, forty, or sixty years old. I hate funerals. If I die unexpectedly, just donate the body to medical science.” Even if the body is donated to medical science, the family will probably want some kind of memorial service. If you want to keep people who loved you from being exploited, you might as well plan something simple and sensible while you have some say in the matter. Dying costs money. Whether you pay into a life insurance policy or a savings account, your family will appreciate any financial preparation you can make, during the crisis.
Should you make a will, a living trust, or some other arrangement to ensure that your estate is transferred to the right people? Different states recognize different ways of directing the transfer of property. Graham discusses a few possibilities, but encourages readers to get legal advice about what works in their state (or country).
What is your position on life support devices? Are there medical procedures you want to refuse in advance? Are you willing to risk a transplant or transfusion? If these risky and expensive procedures seem “indicated,” hospital staff are not going to make it easy for your relatives to reject them on your behalf. If you want a Living Will that rules out certain treatments, Graham recommends obtaining legal advice, reading and signing your Living Will on videotape, and having your primary physician as one of the witnesses identified on that tape (or disk or whatever).
Usually, before facing our own death, most of us face the death of several other people. Facing Death contains some counsel for the bereaved, and for those who want to help them, too.
Shortly before writing the first draft of this review, I’d received a comment on an AC article that mentioned “excessive” grieving. By now everyone has probably heard that there is no timetable for grief. If the family really grieved for their loss of Grandpa when he became disabled, and empathized with his pain for several years, his death may seem like a merciful release for all concerned. If Grandma always seemed more like a 50-year-old than a 90-year-old and was actively involved with the things younger people were doing, they may think of her and shed tears every day for a year. If, however, you are still feeling overwhelmed by grief after a year, there is some possibility that your feelings of grief may be covering other feelings, e.g. guilt, and counselling might help. Facing Death contains some counsel for people in this situation.
Facing Death and the Life After was written primarily for Protestants, but it’s the sort of book that could be helpful to anyone who is alive.
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