 I remember whenever the Terry Schiavo case was the talk of the nation. I vehemetly defended her right to live and I believe her "husband," (legally at least), wanted her money more than her to be "at peace," therefore he sought her death. Her death came 2 weeks after removing her feeding tube. She therefore was starved to death! She died on March 31, 2005.
Since then, the topic of euthanasia (Greek meaning "a good death,") is a biy of a touchy subject to me. As a Christian, and as a human, I must defend the right to life even in the midst of a culture obsest with death. Of course the whole issue began in 1973 when on-demand abortions were legalized and since then millions of innocent infants have been slaughtered with the approval of the government and many Americans. Though this has been practiced for almost 35 years now, our society is not satisfied with murdering unborn babies. Now, there the process of euthanasia, or assisted suicide, our culture has sought to murder the elderly, the handicap, and anyone deamed "unworthy to live," to be murdered. Countries in Europe are already practicing such a grotesque approach to sanctity of life issues. I believe J.R.R. Tolkien said it right whenever he wrote in the "Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring:" “Pity Bilbo didn’t kill him when he had the chance!” “Pity? It was pity that stayed Bilbo’s hand. Many that live deserve death. And some that die deserve life. Can you give it to them, Frodo? Do not be to eager to deal out death in judgement. Even the very wise cannot see all ends. My heart tells me that Gollum has some part to play yet, for good or evil, before this is over. The pity of Bilbo may rule the fate of many.”
Because God is provident, He does not make mistakes. That includes infants, the elderly, the handicapped, and the "unworthy." Though parenting may be difficult, God ordains and blesses it. Though illness is hard, God ordains it and blesses it. Though difficulty of life be thrown at us, God is in complete control. If only our society would embrace that. Of couse they won't, because God has been kicked out of the public arena. God has been booted, and Darwinian evolution has been given a standing ovation. If we are only animals, then it is out of mercy and love that the "unworthy," must be "put to sleep." Like a horse with a broken leg, or a dog with an illness, the elderly, handicap, and anyone else are subject to this type of treatment. And it is done in the name of love and compassion. It is the humane thing to do. In the movie, "Million Dollar Baby," the main character becomes paralyzed toward the end. Out of frustration and regret, the main character asks her boxing trainer to assisted her suicide. The trainer, played by Clint Eastwood, refuses at first, but eventually performs the suicide out of compassion and pity. His character comes to believe that he is doing the right thing, and honoring her wishes. And so this issue is clearly in the mainstream. Our society is pushing this issue. Dr. R. Albert Mohler, Jr., President of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, has written an interesting article concerning this subject. He points out that this issue of assisted suicide has gone from the right to die to the duty to die. This is most clearly seen in the drop of infants born with Down Syndrome. The reason for this drop isn't due to medical advance, but because parents are aborting babies who would be born with the disease in the name of compassion. It is the humane thing to do. What kind of parent would want their child to grow up with such a disease? So the argument goes. Mohler is right is pointing out this distinction. The issue has gone from a right to die, to a duty to die. It has become an assumption among medical professionals and ethicists that people who are elderly, sick, handicap, or to be born in a "not so good" situation, should be euthanized or aborted. Simply because it is the humane and compassionate thing to do. As Christians, we must not give sway on this issue. Suicide is a sin and any form of it is not compassionate or humane. In a society that celebrates death, we must celebrate life, even the handicap and the sick. We must recover God's plan for marriage so that every child is welcomed (it's ashame that such a sentence must be written). Though sickness and health issues are hard on the family and the sick, it is a part of life. Murder is never the answer. This is a hard issue, but it is an issue worth fighting. Every life is sacred and must be defended and fought for. Isn't it interesting that everyday liberals and the media make such a big issue out of the death of every soldier (and we should), and yet celebrate the death of infants, the elderly, the handicap, and the unwanted. Such a worldview is dangerous, and it should be the Church of Christ that must take a stand and proclaim that every person is made in the image of God. And God makes no mistakes!  The state of Oregon legalized a form of assisted suicide in 1994, but its neighbor to the south, the nation's most populous state, has no such provision. Efforts in California to pass legislation allowing assisted suicide have failed five times over the past fifteen years. California has adopted liberal legislation on any number of controversial issues, but not this one. Why? Assisted suicide proposals have been thwarted by disability rights activists.
The logic of the disability rights movement is easy to understand. Once a society adopts a right to die as a matter of policy, a duty to die cannot be far behind. This logic is already evident when it comes to babies born with Down syndrome. Among many doctors and ethicists, the question has shifted from the right of parents to abort a baby diagnosed with Down syndrome to a duty to abort. These doctors and ethicists frame the question this way: What right do you have to bring such a child into this world when we already face huge social costs of health care and face scarce resources? This is the logic of the Culture of Death, but it is a logic now argued rather openly. Disability rights activists understand that this same logic threatens persons with disabilities. When does the argument for a right to die morph into an argument for a duty to die? The question is not merely a matter of intellectual interest. It is a question of life or death. The Los Angeles Times reports that a bill modeled on the Oregon legislation failed to make it out of a General Assembly committee in June. As the paper explained: Many disability rights activists contend that the increasingly cost-conscious healthcare system, especially health maintenance organizations, inevitably would respond to legalized suicide by withholding expensive care from the disabled and terminally ill until they chose to end their lives. Paul Longmore, a history professor at San Francisco State University, argued that assisted suicide would lead to inequities and would not be limited to those with a terminal illness. "Our concern is not just how this will affect us. Given the way the U.S. healthcare system is getting increasingly unjust and even savage, I don't think this system could be trusted to implement such a system equitably, or confine it to people who are immediately terminally ill." His concerns are clearly justified. These patterns are already clear in countries such as the Netherlands, where the so-called "Dutch cure" now includes policies for infanticide when a baby is born with severe abnormalities. Professor Longmore is also right when he asserts that the grounds for assisted suicide will be broadened beyond what is sold to the public when the legislation is adopted. A look just to the north will be sufficient to prove that point. Even if legislation could protect those with disabilities from the threat of involuntary elimination, how long will it be before the disabled, the elderly, and others requiring extra care begin to wonder if their loved ones would not be better off with them gone? Calls for assisted suicide arise at the intersection of human despair and political opportunity. The absence of a Christian worldview leaves personal autonomy as the foundation of ethical choice. Death becomes, of all things, a matter of individual rights.
The only real alternative to this logic is the framework of the biblical worldview -- a worldview that understands every single human life to be sacred, every individual to possess full human dignity, all life to be a stewardship, and death to be a matter for God, not we ourselves, to decide. Make no mistake. When death is claimed as a right, it will soon become a duty. You don't have to be in a wheelchair to see where that leads.
For previous blogs I have posted on the subject of euthanasia, click here. | 
