by Terry Wane Benton<\/p>\n
The Great Physician told me that I am going to die. I don’t know how much time I have left, but it won’t be long. The official report is found in Hebrews 9:27. I’ve noticed that people tend to show greater compassion to the dying than to the healthy. I notice that I have shown greater sympathy for those who have gotten an earthly doctor’s report indicating cancer in the body, than for those who the Great Physician has diagnosed with cancer of the soul, which is sin. Also, the Great Physician is never wrong, and He has said that we have a problem worse than physical death: eternal, spiritual death (Romans 3:23; 6:23).<\/p>\n
In view of the diagnosis of the Great Physician, we should treat each other with greater compassion, and we should seek to get the Great Physician’s remedy for soul-cancer into the hands of the dying (which is everyone). Everyone is dying, and most people are dying physically with a cancer of the soul that will ruin them eternally. They need to know that there is only One Physician Who can remedy the inward man, even though the outward man perishes (II Corinthians 4:16f). Compassion should lead us all to share this vital information with everyone we can influence through this and any other medium.<\/p>\n
Also, we need to treat each other as if we realize this human being will only live a little while. It’s official! The Great Physician says, “it is appointed<\/em>” for us to die, and after this, the judgment. How would you treat someone differently when you learn they are dying?<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" by Terry Wane Benton The Great Physician told me that I am going to die. I don’t know how much time I have left, but it won’t be long. The official report is found in Hebrews 9:27. I’ve noticed that people tend to show greater compassion to the dying than to the healthy. I notice…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[27],"tags":[109],"class_list":["post-94911","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article","tag-death"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":85788,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/o-wretched-man-that-i-am\/","url_meta":{"origin":94911,"position":0},"title":"O Wretched Man that I Am","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"March 20, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"by Terry Wane Benton The law of God is like an X-ray machine that reveals the contamination and cancer of the soul, called\u00a0sin. The law shows us that we have neglected our great salvation, failed to glorify God as we should, and have not even been thankful for all the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":37758,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/is-physician-assisted-suicide-a-sin\/","url_meta":{"origin":94911,"position":1},"title":"Is physician-assisted suicide a sin?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"September 9, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Is physician-assisted suicide, otherwise known as medical aid in dying or death with dignity, a sin? What if the person is severely suffering from a terminal illness? If I was suffering I would want to eliminate my suffering. Answer: Throughout mankind's history, God has demanded that life be respected.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":59837,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/still-smoking\/","url_meta":{"origin":94911,"position":2},"title":"Still Smoking?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"March 11, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"by Dan S. Shipley As a former smoker, I know how easy it is to ignore messages from the news media and the pulpit that discourage smoking. It is difficult for most of us to be objective in considering that which condemns what we want to practice. As someone as\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/03\/smoking.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":46340,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/is-refusing-medical-treatment-a-sin\/","url_meta":{"origin":94911,"position":3},"title":"Is refusing medical treatment a sin?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"October 30, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I know that assisted suicide is sinful because it is taking matters into your own hands, but when is it a sin to refuse medical treatment, or is it sinful? I'm not talking about those who refuse it because they are going to keep right on praying that God\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":62485,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/dying-for-jesus\/","url_meta":{"origin":94911,"position":4},"title":"Dying for Jesus","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"September 5, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"by Matthew W. Bassford These days, it seems like people in our country are increasingly being led astray by a godless, secular mindset. This worldview has a lot of superficial appeal. After all, if there is no God, you don't have to submit to anybody. You can do whatever you\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":92147,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/the-crucified-king\/","url_meta":{"origin":94911,"position":5},"title":"The Crucified King","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"November 15, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"by Terry Wane Benton The King let Himself be crucified, but that did not lessen His rule or disqualify Him from being King (Psalm 2). Instead, His crucifixion became the very means of winning the hearts of those who would enter His kingdom. He is the King who rules hearts\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/94911","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=94911"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/94911\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=94911"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=94911"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=94911"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}