The Citizen, 2013-06-20, Page 12PAGE 12. THE CITIZEN, THURSDAY, JUNE 20, 2013.
By Pastor Ernest Down
Living Water Christian
Fellowship, Blyth
She sits for interminable hours
each day in her electric-lift padded
recliner, trying not to move.
Because, if the elderly woman has to
get up, the searing pain in her
disintegrating hips makes her wince.
She has few visitors – her family
lives at a distance. Her own system
seems at odds within her, for while
she tries to remain as immobile as
possible on account of her hips, her
urinary system forces her to get up
and go to the bathroom at frequent
intervals. And now her most recent
doctor’s visit has revealed a
weakening heart which is only going
to complicate matters further.
Frankly, she tells herself, her
prospects are bleak. Wouldn’t it be a
preferable alternative to just end it
all?
On June 12, the Quebec
government introduced legislation
that could potentially result in
approval of physician-assisted
suicide (euthanasia). Bill 52 spells
out the conditions for someone to
get medical assistance to die, and the
necessary conditions for a doctor to
become involved. Currently in
Canada, euthanasia and assisted
suicide are both illegal under the
Criminal Code. If it passes, the
legislation would be the first of its
kind in Canada. What’s wrong with
the idea of allowing someone facing
dismal health prospects the option to
sidestep months or years of painful
suffering by helping them end their
life?
On the one hand, for those who
believe God exists and has revealed
His principles in the Bible, His
sovereignty and gift of life to
humans cautions us against
terminating any person’s life
prematurely. On the other hand, even
those who don’t accept a Scriptural
worldview should be able to
acknowledge that what we know
about fallen humanity ought to give
us pause before allowing such
deadly policies.
What do we know from the Bible
about God’s sovereignty, and the
value of human life? Deuteronomy
32(39) offers this startling
declaration of God’s sovereignty:
“There is no god besides me. I put to
death and I bring to life, I have
wounded and I will heal, and no one
can deliver out of my hand.” Job at a
time of astounding suffering
declared, “The LORD gave and the
LORD has taken away...” (Job 1:21)
Job here is acknowledging life is a
gift from God which He alone ought
to have the prerogative to terminate
as He pleases (instead of Job
accepting his wife’s helpful
suggestion of euthanizing himself by
cursing God and dying!).
David in Psalm 31(14f)
acknowledged Yahweh’s
sovereignty: “I say, ‘You are my
God.’ My times are in Your hands...”
Praying at Gethsemane, Jesus
entrusted His fate entirely to the
loving and wise will of His heavenly
Father, even though that entailed
horrendous torture and whipping,
hardship through abusive treatment
at the hands of enemy soldiers, and
bone-jarring pain through hours
hanging bleeding and bruised upon a
cross.
The Bible also paints a picture of
human life as a gift from God which
is not ours to dispose of at our whim.
Genesis 1(26) tells us God made
man in His own image. In fact, the
prohibition against taking another’s
life is based on this principle that
humans are God’s image-bearers in
our original nature: “Whoever sheds
the blood of man, by man shall his
blood be shed; for [or, ‘because’ -
here the reason follows] in the image
of God has God made man.” (Gen.
9:6) The Ten Commandments given
at Mount Sinai stipulate “You shall
not murder” – life was something
with intrinsic worth, of great value,
to be protected and respected.
Scripture also helps us gain eternal
perspective on the true value of
suffering and pain. Apart from
eternity and an appreciation of the
spiritual aspect of a person’s soul,
pain may seem to have no value in
the here-and-now. But suffering can
be one of God’s greatest tools for
sculpting our being so that it shares a
likeness with the beauty of His
crucified Son. A New Testament
author counsels, “Endure hardship
as discipline; God is treating you as
sons...God disciplines us for our
good, that we may share in his
holiness.” (Hebrews 12:7,10) Paul,
who suffered tremendously in his
apostolic ministry, found that the
‘inner person’ can be bolstered in
times of suffering: “Though
outwardly we are wasting away, yet
inwardly we are being renewed day
by day. For our light and momentary
Live. Life. Today.
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From the Minister’s StudyAssisted suicide goes against God’s law: Dow
Continued on page 14