I never thought about it that way-- you're right. Thanks for posting this!
It's a grim and sobering reminder that our God of love and compassion promises us eternal rest in Heaven. He promises each of us death, and its intendant pain and terror, on Earth. We can hasten that death, and prolong the pain and terror, by various physical excesses which all have their roots in deadly sins: lust, gluttony, alcoholic obsessions, etc.
Of course, God also gives babies some of these diseases in utero: the sins of the mothers and fathers are visited on the children.
It is the way of things, in a grim sort of chain of cause and effect which we cannot escape. But by living right, we can lessen some of the blows and make existence in what is still a glorious creation more pleasant than if we become enslaved by bodily sins and expose ourselves more and more to illness. Part of the sufferings of life and the fear and pain of death is no doubt a part of the repayment of the debt of sin "to the last penny" that Jesus warns about.
God didn't even let His own Son get out of this world without a heaping helping of horror, agony and terror.
The judge of the universe has prepared a splendid resting place to us. But He still manifestly applies trial by ordeal. And that we think this is horrible and barbaric falls on deaf ears. It is the way it is, and we can either bend ourselves to accept the way it is, or we can defy it and court the agonies and horrors that God has provided to enforce his will.
Life is a losing game unless you figure out the saving throw at the end of it. Once you have that figured out, it is a wonderful ride, but don't expect God to be overly kind in this world. He sometimes is, but He often is not. His mercy is in the absolute and over the reaches of time. In the here and now, He can seem far away because our span of time seems so short. We don't realize that we are immortal until after we have died. Paradox of paradoxes.