Today's email is from a friend of ours, a listener named Matthew, who lives in San Antonio.

He's thought up a creative way to get us into the tricky thicket of end-of-life decisions.

Here's what he wrote.

Pastor John, thank you for this podcast.

I know from listening to the podcast for years, you are very hesitant to speak to specific

end-of-life decisions because it requires so much wisdom from medical professionals and

because every life is so different.

But we have nearly endless medical advances we can take advantage of now to prolong life.

So I'd like to ask my question strictly within a hypothetical that I made up.

Here it goes.

Imagine a 40-year-old middle-class Texan, a regenerate Bible-believing Christian man married

to a godly Christian woman for 18 years.

He's diagnosed with aggressive terminal cancer and has two options before him, neither

of which he likes or favors, but one of which he must choose.

One, he does nothing, he lives a relatively normal life for one more year.

Two, with aggressive treatment and three surgeries, he will live for four years and those

years will be less than pleasant.

He has modest life insurance.

His gracious employer will continue to employ him and pay his salary plus one year after

he passes.

So two years or five of income, he has two kids, 16 and 12, been unclear if they're believers.

What if any biblical principles would inform your own choice between these two options?

...