The sanctity and dignity of life.
Psalm 71:9
Psalm 71:9 Do not cast me off in the time of old age; Do not forsake me when my strength fails.
Thank you for inviting me to give the Friday night devotional for Vizion Church. Tonight, I want to share some words on a topic that will be sensitive to those of you who, like myself, have watched love ones suffer from disease and terminal illness.
I have witnessed family going through serious illness and this life experience has made me reflect on the sanctity of life and on the subject of ‘dignity in dying’ as it’s often phrased.
Death is all around us. It came into the world as a result of sin when Adam and Eve ate of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. (Genesis 3). We can’t avoid the subject!
Tonight, I want to share some thoughts with you on the topic of euthanasia and how we, the church, should be responding to the legislation that is due to be voted on by our politicians before the end of the month.
For clarity, we are not talking about prolonging the process of dying more than necessary. There is Active and Passive euthanasia. Active euthanasia is the legislation being put forward for those with terminal illness. This involves having a medical person administer a drug to cause death directly.
Sometimes it is necessary to allow a person to die without intervening. For example, when a person is terminally ill, and their body is shutting down we don’t give CPR if they go into cardiac arrest. We don’t continue to give people chemotherapy when it is no longer working. These are example of passive euthanasia.
In these situations, we must be the hands and feet of Jesus serving those in their final days in any way we can. That might be taking care of practical things for them, or it might be sitting holding their hand, but we should try to be as present as possible so that they feel our love over them.
What I’m talking about tonight is active euthanasia, more commonly called assisted suicide. It is a person being ‘assisted’ by another to take their own life prematurely on the basis, or assumption, that their life will end soon or that their life is not sufficiently worthwhile.
One of the effects of sin, was a desire to murder. The first murder being Cain killing his brother Abel in Genesis 4:1–16.
To cause death by murder is wrong in the eyes of God, as He commanded in Exodus 20:13 “You shall not murder”.
Murder is always wrong because we are made in the image of God, and we are His image bearers. We aren’t physically like Him, as God has no body, but we are to be reflections of Gods glory.
The devil must be revelling in this idea that murder can be a ‘mercy’ as many celebrities and politicians are currently promoting. We have fallen into the abyss of abortion with 1 in 4 babies being murdered in the womb and now we are on the verge of killing off the elderly, the disabled, the mentally unwell and so on.
One of the main arguments you’ll hear is ‘we put animals down when they’re suffering so why not humans. For the believer the answer to that should be clear.
We are not animals. We are infinitely more valuable than animals and, as I said before we are created in the image of God; Animals are not. When we reduce humanity to the same level as animals, we are undermining the Created order.
We were given dominion OVER the animals. We are not merely caretakers, although it is important to care for all of God’s creation. The only One who has dominion over us is God and only God can choose when we take our last breath. It is not for man to usurp God.
Genesis 2:7 tells us, And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being.
Life is a gift from God and one to be treasured.
There is also the very real danger of human error or human wickedness. As we know from the writing of Jeremiah (17:9) The heart is deceitful above all things,
And desperately wicked. We fool ourselves if we think we can make decisions regarding life and death without falling into the same abyss as we have with the legalisation of abortion where 1 in 4 babies is murdered in the womb.
In Psalm 71 v 9 the Psalmist writes,
Do not cast me off in the time of old age; Do not forsake me when my strength fails.
Later he writes in verses 20-21 You, who have shown me great and severe troubles,
shall revive me again, And bring me up again from the depths of the earth. You shall increase my greatness, And comfort me on every side.
This is a man of God who understands the value of life and is trusting God to uphold him in his old age. He is trusting God with the number of his days. He knows they might not be easy; his suffering might increase but still he trusts in the God of heaven because he knows He will be faithful unto the end.
We might all desire a pain free, ‘easy’ death but when we go through suffering we must hang on to the promises of the Lord and remember that God works through us “all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose” Romans 8:28. Sometimes we see the purpose in pain but a lot of the time we just have to hang on and trust these promises.
There is already pressure from some politicians to add other individuals to the legislation including those who have disabilities, those with mental illness, chronic illnesses, and non-life-threatening illnesses etc.
With all this pressure, it makes people feel they are a burden to family and friends, and they feel they have no choice but to end their lives to relieve others. Nobody should be made to feel like a burden.
I’m also mindful of the wisdom that comes with age and experience. When we think of Vizion church, and we think of some of our older members, Frances, Charlie, Rose and others, we recognise the wealth of godly wisdom that comes with the experiences of a life lived in faithfulness to the Lord. They have all faced adversity and ill health.
Imagine if they had given up and asked to be euthanised? We would have missed out on so many blessings that they have shared with us.
As Roddy’s dad I see great value in his life. He brings us a lot of joy and is a constant reminder of God’s mercy and grace toward us. If there was a prenatal test for autism, I’m sure many women would choose to murder a baby with Roddy’s diagnosis because they’ve been told it’s too hard to care for a child with a disability.
[1]In 2008 a Tory councillor in North Tyneside named Hugh Jackson made a remark at a council meeting that the council could save money if it adopted some sort of ‘euthanasia policy’ for disabled children who were in care.
He later said it was meant as a joke, but nobody found it funny. Thankfully he was reported and, I believe, lost his job as a result but deep down at the heart of many I’m sure financial costs are part (if not the main) driving force behind this policy.
We must stand bold and strong. If you haven’t already, I would encourage you to go the right to life. org and look at their link about the upcoming vote in parliament and make your voice known to your local MP.
As Christians we cling to God's promises of hope. We hold on from our first breath to our last and we share the gospel message with others. When the going gets tough, the tough get evangelising!
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