Euthanasia
The Story
Last year just after the Terry Schiavo story broke in North America, The Sydney Morning Herald reported on a controversy generated when a Catholic Italian man, after he spent years pleading for his respirator to be removed, finally succeeded. Piergiorgio Welby died soon after the respirator was removed. The Diocese of Rome refused permission for Welby to have a church funeral claiming that he had committed suicide and that he was doomed to Hell for eternity. In response, the former archbishop of Milan, Cardinal Carlo Maria Martini, wrote a letter to the Vatican asking for a reconsideration of its current position on end-of-life issues. While the Catholic Church is alone among Christian Denominations in its assertion that Hell is the punishment for euthanasia /suicide it is not alone in its negative views of euthanasia. Most denominations have in fact produced documents which are largely anti-euthanasia. The Church of England, the United Church of Canada, and to a lesser extent, the United Methodists (USA) and the Presbyterian Church in Canada represent some of the only dissenting voices and yet it would be wrong to consider their views “pro-euthanasia”.
The History
Hippocrates mentions euthanasia specifically in the Hippocratic Oath, which was written between 400 and 300 B.C. The original Oath states: “To please no one will I prescribe a deadly drug nor give advice which may cause his death.”
The English Common Law from the 1300’s until today also disapproved of both suicide and assisting suicide. In 1828, euthanasia was explicitly outlawed in the U.S. Support grew in the 1900’s. Societies were formed in England in 1935 and in the U.S.A. in 1938 to promote aggressive Euthanasia. In 1937, doctor-assisted euthanasia was declared legal in Switzerland as long as the person ending the life has nothing to gain.
In 1939, Nazis, in what was code named Action T4, euthanized children under three who exhibited mental retardation, physical deformity, or other debilitating problems whom they considered “life unworthy of life”.
In 1977, California legalized living wills and other states soon followed suit. In 1990, Dr. Jack Kevorkian, a Michigan physician, became infamous for encouraging and assisting people in committing suicide which resulted in a Michigan law against the practice in 1992. At the same time in 1990, the Supreme Court approved the use of non-aggressive euthanasia. In 1993, the Netherlands decriminalized doctor-assisted suicide, and in 2002, restrictions were loosened even further. During that year, physician-assisted suicide was approved in Belgium. An Australian province approved a euthanasia bill in 1995, but that was overturned by Australia’s legislative branch in 1997. Kevorkian was tried and convicted in 1999 in Michigan for a murder.
More recently, amid government roadblocks and controversy, Terri Schiavo, a Floridian who had been in a vegetative state since 1990, had her feeding tube removed in 2005. Her husband had won the right to take her off life support, which he claimed she would want but was difficult to confirm as she had no living will and the rest of her family claimed just the opposite.
The Truth
Sadly the Bible is not always the end all and be all when it comes to hard questions. In short, the Bible does not specifically address every issue in a clear and simple manner. Perhaps this is a good thing. This means that we are not meant to be drones; it means that we are meant to be thinking and reasoning people of faith who investigate truth rather than proof-text our own beliefs.
What the Bible does do – is give us some clues that can help us to come to a better understanding of life and death issues.
A Typical Bible Debate
Person 1) Thou shall not kill. (Deuteronomy 5:17) Euthanasia is Murder and that is all there is to it!
Person 2) It’s not murder. It’s taking people away from suffering.
1) …yeah by killing them; the ends just don’t justify the means.
2) You know “thou shall not kill” isn’t the end all be all. Right after that command is given, Moses starts listing exceptions. In Deuteronomy 22:23 God declares that if someone breaks into your house at night and you kill him, you are not guilty of murder. In other words there are times when ending a life is justifiable. Also in Deuteronomy 21:1-9 it says that capital punishment was an allowable way to deal with murderers. In other words – although the Bible says “You should not kill” it also gives us some times when it is allowable to do so. Euthanasia could just as easily be one of those times when it’s understandable to end a life!
1) Protecting people from murders is one thing; starving someone’s grandmother to death in a hospital where there is plenty of food all around her is whole different story. In Genesis it says that we are made in the image of God and that is the reason we are not to kill, because killing the image of God is like burning an effigy of God. (Gen. 1:26, 27; 2:22-25) Is a person in the hospital somehow no longer made in the image of God?
2) The Bible doesn’t really say what the image of God is. It certainly isn’t how we look. I doubt very much that Good needs genitals or that God has to eat for sustenance! It may be that the image of God is our self-awareness. Really, it could be just about anything. In any case this is not about arbitrarily killing someone. This is about ending the suffering of someone who is already moments away from death. This is about being humane.
1) What you call humane – I call murder. Look this is simple… is that a carrot lying on the bed or is it a human being. Is that person still alive or not? ‘Cause where I’m from if something is both human and alive than killing him or her is called murder.
2) When someone is completely brain dead - that is it. It is just a body being forced to breath by machines and nothing more. It’s not really even human. It’s just a shell and there is nothing wrong with taking water away or food away from them if that is what they would have wanted. There is nothing wrong with allowing them to die peacefully. They’re already dead, the mind is gone. Why do you want to keep all these vegetables around taking up valuable space and time? Hospitals waste millions and millions of dollars on people that are already dead while people who need help can’t get it.
Besides there is nothing wrong with assisted suicide anyway. If your life is miserable and you are in constant pain and there is no getting better for you then you have every right to die with dignity!
1) Who determines what “dieing with dignity” is anyway. I think it’s the coward’s way out. Run and Hide – End it all – I think facing death head on is the only way to die with dignity. And the fact that hospitals don’t have enough money to deal with everybody doesn’t matter one bit! If a hospital only has $10 and two patients, the moral thing to do isn’t to just kill one off. The moral thing to do is to get the hospital more funds. Lack of money does not create morality!
2) The Bible says, “to every season there is an appointed time, a time to live and a time to die… a time to kill and a time to heal”. (Ecclesiastes 3)
The Verses up for discussion
Abimelech - Judges 9:50-54
Abimelech was a wicked man who usurped leadership of Israel. When a woman dropped a millstone on his head, as we was dying he had his armor-bearer kill him so people would not say he was killed by a woman.
Ahithophel - 2 Samuel 17:23 (read the commentary for them)
Ahithophel was an advisor who encouraged Absalom to rebel against David. He gave advice that would have led to David’s defeat, but the advice was not taken and David escaped. He hanged himself.
Zimri - 1 Kings 16:18
Zimri was a wicked man who killed the king of Israel and reigned 7 days. Then Omri led Israel against Zimri. Seeing he would be defeated, he burned his house down around himself.
Philippian jailer - Acts 16:27,28
If a jailer lost his prisoners, he was punished with torture and then death. Thinking his prisoners had escaped the jailer in Philippi was about to kill himself, but Paul stopped him.
Innocent - Exodus 23:7
Do not kill the innocent and righteous.
King Saul - 1 Samuel 31:3-5
Saul rebelled against God, so God rejected Him as king. He was about to be captured in battle, and fearing torture, he asked his armor-bearer to kill him. He refused, so Saul fell on his sword and the armor-bearer did the same. [1 Chronicles 10:4,5; cf. 2 Samuel 1:1-16]
Life is a blessing from God - Gen. 2:7
| nephesh |
1) soul, self, life, creature, person, appetite, mind, living being, desire, emotion, passion
a) that which breathes, the breathing substance or being, soul, the inner being of man
b) living being
c) living being (with life in the blood)
d) the man himself, self, person or individual
e) seat of the appetites
f) seat of emotions and passions
g) activity of mind
1) dubious
h) activity of the will
1) dubious
i) activity of the character
1) dubious
Body without spirit is dead - James 2:26 (Different word for Spirit – a different language)
| pneuma |
1) the third person of the triune God, the Holy Spirit, coequal, coeternal with the Father and the Son
a) sometimes referred to in a way which emphasises his personality and character (the “Holy” Spirit)
b) sometimes referred to in a way which emphasises his work and power (the Spirit of “Truth”)
c) never referred to as a depersonalised force
2) the spirit, i.e. the vital principal by which the body is animated
a) the rational spirit, the power by which the human being feels, thinks, decides
b) the soul
3) a spirit, i.e. a simple essence, devoid of all or at least all grosser matter, and possessed of the power of knowing, desiring, deciding, and acting
a) a life giving spirit
b) a human soul that has left the body
c) a spirit higher than man but lower than God, i.e. an angel
1) used of demons, or evil spirits, who were conceived as inhabiting the bodies of men
2) the spiritual nature of Christ, higher than the highest angels and equal to God, the divine nature of Christ
4) the disposition or influence which fills and governs the soul of any one
a) the efficient source of any power, affection, emotion, desire, etc.
5) a movement of air (a gentle blast)
a) of the wind, hence the wind itself
b) breath of nostrils or mouth
Good Questions
Own Body. Does not God own the whole being? The argument that “everyone has a right to do with their own body as they see fit” does not seem all that solid. For example, prostitution is done to ones own body, so also is drug use – but are those things really crimes done only to ones own body or are their other effects? Nothing is done in a vacuum; all action has affects on others.
Quality of Life. Many of us believe that life is life only when it is healthy and comfortable or “average”. But what does this say about how we view the handicapped or the mentally challenged?
“Good Death” The term euthanasia has a long and complex history. In its original usage, meaning reflected etymology; “good death” referred to efforts to keep terminal patients free from pain. Who can condemn the desire for a good death? What does it mean to have a good death? What is the meaning of suffering? In an age of advanced medical technology, when do we cross the line between saving a life and causing a `bad death’?
Natural? What is so natural about being feed through a tube or having oxygen pumped into ones self mechanically?
Statements I am willing to make!
The comfortability of family and friends has no bearing on the morality of euthanasia.
Medical costs have nothing to do with the morality of euthanasia.
Dying with dignity is far too subjective as to provide any solid answers.
Each side in the elective death debate can cite long-standing ethical principles to support their positions. Both sides, however, face some troubling difficulties should avoid attempts to set in stone their views as social policies.
Death can never be taken lightly and should always been seen as a tragic loss.
In end-of-life dilemmas, participation involves a sense of awe and reverence, which leads to humility. Suffering and dying are deeply intimate and personal experiences.
No matter how well intentioned people are on both sides of the debate, we, all of us, remains limited by our own human understanding. We cannot see with the eyes of God and should not pretend as if we can.
Where there are heated disputes within families or friends with differing recollections life should be the preferred choice.
The period just before death can be a profoundly spiritual time for both the ill and the loved ones. This should be remembered and respected.
The church should be a frontrunner in providing spiritual, emotional and physical support for sufferers and families alike and should always be aware that the Bible has no specific or clear statements on euthanasia as we know it today – what it does have is “love your neighbor”.
