The dying American girl and hope of heaven
THE concept of heaven is a point of
convergence for all the world’s major
religions. It is believed to be the dwelling
place of God and the ultimate destination of
the faithful who meet certain conditions and
please God. The point of divergence – a
critical one – has to do with the kind of
passport and visa required for entry into
heaven.
For some of the religions, one only needs
to believe in God and live a life that is
pleasing to Him from that moment till
departure from earthly life. The
teachings about the nature and character
of God on the one hand, and God’s
expectations of mankind on the other,
differ significantly from religion to
religion.
Of the passport and visa requirements
for heaven, Jesus in whom the Christians
believe as both God and Saviour of the
world, is unequivocal. He declared to His
apostles and, by extension all those who
profess faith in Him, in the sixth verse
of the 14th chapter of John’s gospel: “I
am the way, the truth, and the life. No
one comes to the father except through
Me.” His declaration made over 2000
years ago was unprecedented and there
has not been any other quite like it ever
since.
In His teachings, Jesus gave the number
one requirement for the journey to
heaven as faith in God and acceptance of
the divine plan for salvation which He
came to execute through, His earthly
ministry. To make heaven, one must
believe in God, profess this belief,
embrace the plan of salvation, live a holy
life and love God and fellow humans.
But while most of the religions espouse
various doctrines of heaven, very few
faithful actually look forward to making
it there.
As the famous reggae star, Peter Tosh,
sang “everybody wants to go heaven but
nobody wants to die except Jesus.” A
disappointed Master of Ceremony who
was finding it hard to get his audience to
applaud the high moments of a function
deviced a funny but effective strategy.
He urged the crowd to clap the number
of years they wished to live with each
clap representing an additional year.
They just went on and on with even the
elderly struggling to outclap younger
folks.
Even among Christians, heaven is
becoming a rare sermon topic in a
generation where motivational talks and
prosperity messages present a stronger
appeal. Way back then in His earthly
ministry, Jesus had wondered: “For what
profit is it to a man if he gains the whole
world, and loses his own soul? Or what
will a man give in exchange for his
soul?” Matt 16:26.
The case of Julianna – the dying five-
year-old American girl is therefore
worthy of celebration in a generation
that is so afraid of death and cares little
about heaven. Julianna is the daughter
of Steve and Michelle Snow. Steve is a
retired U.S. Air Force pilot who gave up
his job partly to take care of terminally
ill Julianna while Michelle is a
neurologist. Julianna was born with a
hard-to-diagnose incurable disease on
August 25, 2010 as a second child to the
couple.
According to excerpts from the mother’s
blog, she and her husband noticed that
at the age of nine months, Julianna could
not sit up steadily. By her first Birthday,
she could not stand, talkless walk. As the
parents were to painfully discover,
Julianna was suffering from “Chacot-
Marie-Tooth (CMT) disease, a
neurodegenerative illness,” a hereditary
condition where neurons in the brain
and spinal cord are progressively
destroyed. Julianna obviously inherited
the disease from her father who had a
very mild form of it only detected after
suspicions over the origin of the little
girl’s plight led in that direction.
The best experts in the U.S., and indeed
the whole world, cannot save Julianna’s
life. Thus far, she has been sustained
through painful therapies of
mechanically sucking mucus out of her
lungs by passing a tube down her nose
and throat. The doctors’ verdict: buy a
little more time by continuing the
painful therapy each time she is brought
to the hospital or let her die quietly at
home. Her chances of survival with the
continuation of the therapy in the
hospital are very slim and she may not
survive a fresh attack. Whichever way,
Julianna seems certain to die. The choice
of whether to bring her again to hospital
or leave her at home to die was left to
the parents.
Next, the question had to be put to
Julianna herself then aged four. Her
mother asked her what she would prefer
if she were to get very sick again: go
back to hospital for more treatments or
die at home. She chose to rather die at
home and go to heaven. Now five,
Julianna is more determined. After a
series of clarifications on the
implications of her choice of heaven
over hospital by her mother, Julianna
said she perfectly understood that
further treatments could extend her life
and give her more time with her family.
She also understood that her parents
would not be coming to heaven with her
right away and that she would be going
all by herself. Her valedictory: “Don’t
worry. God will take care of me. He’s in
my heart.”
Rather than wallow in self-pity, Steve
and Michelle have been excellent parents
and coaches to Julianna. At age four,
they, like experienced counselors, had
lovingly shared the consequences of
choosing heaven over hospital without
compelling her to decide otherwise. The
decision was left to her and not
manipulated to assuage the family’s
sense of loss in event of her expected
death. Her elder brother has also been
prepared for the eventuality that his only
sister may soon be gone for good.
They are even better prepared for
Julianna’s eventual exit now that she is
five and still resolved to go to her maker
rather than suffer further pain. They
have not inundated God with the
questions of why all this is happening to
Julianna and the family. Or why God
would not heal her. Even in death as is
most likely and perhaps imminent in
Julianna’s case, God is already glorified
in her faith and confidence in Him and
choice of heaven over temporary earthly
reprieve.
Julianna’s plight presents many
profound lessons for an increasingly
godless world about faith in God and the
certainty of heaven and hell. Julianna
did not choose her parents and what to
inherit from either or both of them.
No one ever does despite the advances in
reproductive science. No one has a
complete choice of what life may bring.
But everyone has a choice of how to
respond to the challenges of life.
Everyone has a choice of where to spend
eternity. It is not enough to believe that
heaven and hell exist. It is more
important to make and sustain a
conscientious choice.
God has spoken loudly and clearly
through pains in both ancient and
contemporary times and may just be
speaking one more time through five-
year-old Julianna. After all, it is written,
“Has not God made foolish the wisdom
of this world?” 1 Cor 1:20. This is not the
time to weep for Julianna and her
family, it is time to choose wisely about
eternity.
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