Sanctity and love at the end of life

Justin Taylor recently posted on his blog an item, with video, that poignantly illustrates what it means to value the sanctity of all human life and what it means for a husband to love his wife.

Robert Mounce has served the Christian community as a Bible translator and commentator. Now, he is serving his bride during an extended illness. He will be 90 years of age before the first of the year. She is 91.

Mounce, president emeritus of Whitworth College, helped in the translation of the New International Version of the Bible and was on the translation committee for the English Standard Version. He served on that committee with his son Bill, who is a Greek scholar.

Bill Mounce wrote the following about his father:

I wish I could share some of the emails Dad has sent to me and to his grandkids. Wonderful musings on the end of life, on what love is, and especially on his thoughts about prayer. Do you pray that the Lord take her home (which mom wants) and end her pain—or do you pray for strength and God’s will? Dad told me the other day that he has come to see mom’s extended illness at the end of her life as her final gift to him so that he could learn at even a deeper level what love is. Ah, that we should all finish life this well.

Shelby Mack, a filmmaker, recently captured Mounce’s service to his wife in this brief video: