A Really Weird Post Sort of About Doctor Who...But Not Really

From time to time I think that everybody struggles with the idea of their own mortality. I know that I do. I can hear it now, some of my friends are like, “You’re in your twenties! Why are you thinking about death?”

Well, I’m not really, but ever since I was 15 and spent a month attached to a heart monitor, I've lived with a today-could-be-the-last-day mentality. That’s why I’m such a driven person. I don’t want to waste my time. None of us know how long we have.

And I guess that recently it’s just gotten a little bit stronger. I have a very minor heart problem, and although it’s not something that is dangerous to me, it is something that I feel every day. Although as a twenty-something I have the mentality of “Oh! I want to go play, and run, and dance, and skate!” my heart is like, “Oh gosh I’m winded…Please give me a break!” And even though I really have little to worry about, it does make me feel and think about my own mortality at times.

Recently I've been totally swept up in Doctor Who mania and have been watching 2 or 3 episodes a day. Well, I finished the “first” season, and went on to the episode where the Doctor is finishing his regeneration (into David Tennant), and it made me think. When the Doctor regenerates, he passes from one physical form into another. His personality, his memories, and the essence of who he is never really goes away. He just changes physical form and sort of moves on into another life.

I think that this is a lot like what death is like for a Christian. If you are born again, you don’t have anything to fear in death. As 2 Corinthians 2-4 (NLT) says, We grow weary in our present bodies, and we long for the day when we will put on our heavenly bodies like new clothing. For we will not be spirits without bodies, but we will put on new heavenly bodies. Our dying bodies make us groan and sigh, but it's not that we want to die and have no bodies at all. We want to slip into our new bodies so that these dying bodies will be swallowed up by everlasting life.

It’s kind of like the Doctor. He never really dies, not in the traditional sense of what most people think of death, where a person passes from this life, never to be seen again. Instead, he just changes forms, receives a new body. And as Christians, it will be the same for us. We don’t need to fear death. We’ll just be “changing forms,” if you will, and passing on into a new sort of adventure—a better one, I think.

Don’t I just sound like a fun person to watch TV with? *winks*