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Christians and euthanasia

 
Helen Thorne | 14 Jun 2011

Terry Pratchett’s BBC documentary on the BBC last night will no doubt reignite the long-rumbling euthanasia debate. What to make of it as Christians? This is the first of a few blogs we’re going to run on the issue.

Few people are scared of death itself:

  • many kid themselves that it is no more than a whole heap of nothingness;
  • many more assume there is open access to heaven;
  • a few plan on reincarnation;
  • those of us who follow Jesus have the certain hope of eternal life.

But many of us, if we are honest, are afraid of the whole process of dying. The thought of a failing body, the potential for pain, the possibility of not quite being ourselves, leaves us profoundly disquieted.

As human beings we tend to want to make pain go away—so it shouldn’t come as a great surprise that there are plenty of people who want to control the dying process. There is something deeply appealing about knowing that it’s not going to hurt too much, or take too long.

The trouble is, we can only take control of the dying process if we are first willing to dump the Lord of life and death (Matthew 10:29-31): To take a life (including our own) means ignoring the God who says “don’t kill” (Exodus 20:13).

It involves denying that there is something intrinsically special about being in the “image of God” (Genesis 1:27, 9:4-6). And it must mean forgetting that God, who knit us together in our mother’s womb, has a plan for each day of our life and is intimately involved in sustaining us through those days—no matter how hard—until He takes us home at the best moment, the moment of His choosing (Psalm 139).

As with all ethical issues, we need first to get a right view of who God is and what He says; and then allow ourselves and our opinions to be directed by that view.

Last night’s programme on the BBC will no doubt reignite the long-rumbling euthanasia debate. And in the face of that Christians have a double responsibility:

  • to argue passionately for the protection of life;
  • to love tenderly those who struggle with the pain of dying.

But at the core of both those activities lies a Christian’s ultimate responsibility—to tell the world that God is good, and He is sovereign. And that rather than dumping Him, the best response is to follow him, trusting Him for the power to persevere in this life and to bring us to pain-free perfection in the next.

2 Comments

Valdestine

11:01 PM AEDT on January 8th
how horrible, you seem to have zero respect for other peoples beliefs or wishes

Carl Laferton

11:01 PM AEDT on January 8th
I'm not sure that's quite fair on Helen, who wrote this post, or on us as The Good Book Company. We totally respect everyone's right to believe in and wish for what they consider best, on whatever grounds they make that decision. But that doesn't mean we will always agree with it. For example, someone may believe it is fine to steal, and wish to steal your wallet. But though they have every right to believe and wish that, I (and I imagine you!) would say their belief was not right, and their wish should remain unfulfilled. I haven't met anyone who really, truly thinks that everyone should have the right to act on whatever they believe, and lives that out consistently.
As Christians, we base our beliefs not on what we, with our limited knowledge, think up as being right and wrong, but on what God, who has perfect knowledge, has said. Ultimately, how God wishes his world, and the people he has made, to be treated are the wishes that come first for any Christian—firstly because he's God and we're not, and secondly because living his way in this world, and enjoying life with him in the next, is what is best for each of us, delivering the security and satisfaction we all seek from life.
So we try to think and live according to what God says even in really difficult circumstances. Life and death issues of course arouse strong feelings, on both sides of the debate. If you're not in agreement with what's on this post, we would never want to stop you putting your point across, nor would we use emotive language to describe your character, and we would want to listen carefully to your views to see if we've made a mistake in our reading of God's word, the Bible—and if both "sides" can treat the other with respect and without insults, then we'll be able to listen to, and learn from, each other's points of view.