How can we prolong life?
The annual surgical training course took place on Friday and Saturday in Berlin at the Langenbeck-Virchow House. The first day focused on clinical trials for the treatment of esophageal and gastric cancer. The aim is to find the best therapy to prolong patients’ lives. But one certainty remains: In the end, doctors always lose the battle against death. A brutal fact.
Before the lunch break, Dr. Klaus John spoke about a missionary hospital in Peru using 84 pictures. Towards the end of his short presentation, he said: “Our volunteers come from many countries and many churches. But they all take the cross of Christ and his empty tomb at face value!”
Christians believe that the empty tomb of Christ is a clear indication of eternal life to come. So this is about the definitive answer to death.
After the missionary doctor’s talk in Zwickau that evening, an elderly couple told us about the tragic death of two of their children. Simply heartbreaking. As Dr. John left the hotel on Saturday morning, the owner lamented the suffering in her family: “My husband is in bed with lung cancer. The doctors don’t think he has any chance of survival!”
The core statement of the Christian faith is found in the Gospel of John. “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” What if this sentence were really true? Then none of us would have to despair. /KDJ
