Daily Devotional

It Does Not Seem Too Bad 

TO MARY VAN DEUSEN, who had written him of her diagnosis of cancer: On his empathy for her and even more for those in her situation who do not have faith; on the right to happiness; and on how fear of cancer may be worse than the reality of cancer.

C. S. Lewis

9 October 1955

I have just got your letter of the 3rd. The news which it contained came like a thunderbolt—especially as the letter began (and it was rather wonderful that it did begin) on such a trivial subject as my book. And if that first sentence flattered my egoism, imagine how I was rebuked when I came to the next, and was suddenly brought up against the real great issues.

It is difficult to write because you must know by now what I do not yet know. I can’t tell whether I am writing to one who is giving thanks for an escape (oh how I hope you are in that position) or to one who is right up against the Cross. Thank heaven it is His Cross and not merely ours. I was most struck by your saying ‘It doesn’t seem too bad: for me, that is.’ So I am sure you are being supported. (What must such a situation be to those who are the majority, who have no faith, who have never thought of death, and to whom all affliction is a mere meaningless, monstrous interruption of a worldly happiness to which they feel they have a right?)

God bless and keep you: and your husband too. You will indeed, indeed, be in my prayers. I once had a bad scare about cancer myself, so that part I can, I think, imagine. But of course it is now, for you, either better or worse than a scare. If the reality is worse. At any rate it must be different. (The Litany [in the Book of Common Prayer] distinguishes ‘thine agony and blood sweat’ from ‘Thy cross and passion’, the fear from the reality). You know how I shall await your next letter.

From The Collected Letters of C.S. Lewis, Volume III
Compiled in Yours, Jack

The Collected Letters of C. S. Lewis, Volume III: Narnia, Cambridge, and Joy 1950-1963. Copyright © 2007 by C. S. Lewis Pte. Ltd. All rights reserved. Used with permission of HarperCollins Publishers. Yours, Jack: Spiritual Direction from C. S. Lewis. Copyright © 2008 by C. S. Lewis Pte. Ltd. All rights reserved. Used with permission of HarperCollins Publishers.

Fresh Catatrophes Loom: Woe To Us All

More Rules, Regulations, Restrictions Needed

Scientists Hit Back At W.H.O. For Claiming Red Meat Causes Cancer

by Nick Hallett
Breitbart London

Scientists have rounded on the World Health Organisation (WHO) for claiming that sausages, bacon and ham could pose as big a cancer risk as cigarettes.

Breitbart London reported yesterday how the WHO is due to add red and processed meats to its ‘encyclopaedia of carcinogens’, possibly leading to new government legislation demanding warning labels on packs of meat.

However, a number of scientists have expressed their concerns about the new classification, telling The Telegraph about their scepticism.

Dr Ian Johnson, Emeritus Fellow of the Institute of Food Research, said:

“Although there is epidemiological evidence for a statistically significant association between processed meat consumption and bowel cancer, it is important to emphasise that the size of the effect is relatively small, and the mechanism is poorly defined.  “It is certainly very inappropriate to suggest that any adverse effect of bacon and sausages on the risk of bowel cancer is comparable to the dangers of tobacco smoke, which is loaded with known chemical carcinogens and increases the risk of lung cancer in cigarette smokers by around 20 fold.”

Professor Richard Knox, formerly of the Institute of Cancer Research, echoed Dr Johnson’s comments, saying “most cancer deaths will not be due to bowel cancer and even fewer linked to meat consumption.”

The Contrarian Mind

. . . Achievable with Love, Morphine, and Whisky

There is a lot to be said for a contrarian mind.  In fact, as Douglas Wilson has observed, in a prevailing secular humanist clime, having a contrarian mind is arguably a basic requirement for Christian living.

Urbane contrarians, particularly those with a merry impishness, are national treasures.  He is an example:

Dying of cancer is the "best death" and we should "stop wasting billions trying to cure" it, a leading doctor has said.  Dr Richard Smith, a former editor of the British Medical Journal, said that cancer allowed people to say goodbye and prepare for death and was therefore preferable to sudden death, death from organ failure or "the long, slow death from dementia". . . .

"You can say goodbye, reflect on your life, leave last messages, perhaps visit special places for a last time, listen to favourite pieces of music, read loved poems, and prepare, according to your beliefs, to meet your maker or enjoy eternal oblivion," Dr Smith wrote in a blog published for the BMJ, a journal he edited until 2004.  "This is, I recognise, a romantic view of dying, but it is achievable with love, morphine, and whisky. But stay away from overambitious oncologists, and let's stop wasting billions trying to cure cancer, potentially leaving us to die a much more horrible death," he wrote.

One up for contrarians!