In the current assisted dying debate, it has been notable that celebrity cases have gained much attention. For example, Dame Esther Rantzen has published her decision to end her life at the Dignitas Clinic in Switzerland if her suffering becomes unbearable. Dame Esther has given a touching description of her planned death. She wants sweet background music, her nearest and dearest beside her, the expectation of meeting her late husband, dog and mother at the pearly gates and bidding a graceful goodbye. Who wouldn’t want something like that?

There is a touching note of faith in Dame Esther’s plans. She believes in an after-life, where she’ll be reunited with loved ones. She’ll enter that after-life through ‘pearly gates’.

Unfortunately for Dame Esther, Dignitas doesn’t have pearly gates. In her own words, it’s a ‘rather unappealing place’ serving up a ‘rather disgusting medication’.

But there is an alternative for Dame Esther and I feel that her touching faith could grasp it. So I have been in touch to encourage her.

I have pointed out that there is a much more secure alternative. Jesus Christ voluntarily walked up to and through the gates of death, suffered its consequences and then returned triumphantly alive. If Dame Esther puts her faith in him, he says to her, ‘In my Father’s house are many rooms…I am going there to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me, that you also may be where I am.’ (Reported in John 14:2,3).

So Dame Esther can dismiss the plans she’s made to end her life. If she is prepared to trust herself to the man who says, ‘Follow me’, she’ll find the real arrangements for the end of her life – the timetable, the route, the destination and the company of a knowledgeable guide – have already been made for her.

So far I have not heard back from her.

David Kennedy, Glasgow

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