From Guest Bloggers, The Revd Peter Adlem and Shannan Wuttke:
The Bible is realistic about how hard the end of life can be:
Remember your Creator in the days of your youth, before the days of trouble come and the years approach when you will say, “I find no pleasure in them” – before the sun and the light and the moon and the stars grow dark, and the clouds return after the rain; when the keepers of the house tremble,and the strong men stoop, when the grinders cease because they are few, and those looking through the windows grow dim; when the doors to the street are closed and the sound of grinding fades; when people rise up at the sound of birds, but all their songs grow faint; when people are afraid of heights and of dangers in the streets; when the almond tree blossoms and the grasshopper drags itself along and desire no longer is stirred. Then people go to their eternal home and mourners go about the streets. (Ecclesiastes 12:1-5)
Those whose latter years are without hardship and those who pass away peacefully are perhaps the exception, not the rule. Those who care for the terminally ill and dying know just how difficult the process of dying can be first hand. This year there will be a Bill before the Tasmanian Parliament seeking to change the current law to allow for Voluntary Euthanasia (or Physician Assisted Suicide).What are Christians to think about this? What does the Bible say about this vexing issue?
Topics discussed in Pete and Shannan’s article:
- Thou shalt not kill
- Protect the vulnerable
- Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow
- If you loved me, you’d kill me
- But, it’s my choice!
- I’m sorry, we’re going to have to put her down
- Give the people what they want
- Make it safe, make it legal
See also, 35 years of my nursing in aged care and palliative care, I remain convinced.
If I was a praying type, I could only say “God protect me from the clergy and closed minded individuals. Let me live in a society that separates all religion from politics.”
Truly I wish all, a peaceful and dignified end but if ones religion says otherwise, then I say, choose your own way but do leave the choices to each individual.
As for myself. If at my end, I am in such agony, I hope that some compassionate person will assist me in dying if I can no longer do so myself. All people should have the right to say to their doctor, “I’ve had enough, help me go” and not fear reprisals by the law, for those good people.
My life my choice, get away from my deathbed. Denise
“My life my choice” is an interesting mantra. One could respond in kind: How dare you impose your values on others? How dare you seek to weaken the protections that keep the weak and vulnerable safe? How dare you undermine the absolutely therapeutic relationship of trust between the medical fraternity and those for whom they care? How dare you draw a line that says “beyond this arbitrary notion of pain,dignity, or utilitarian worth, we should allow killing to be justifiable.” You may be a self actualised, self empowered individual, good on you for looking out for your interests, your interests alone.
This article shows that the euthanasia is morally and ethically wrong; http://koti.phnet.fi/petripaavola/euthanasia.html