Can someone please explain to me both sides of euthanasia (views of those in favor of the practice and those opposed to the practice) and then give your viewpoint and explain why you hold that view. In your explanation, use Scripture to support your viewpoint.
Thanks in advance for answering this question.
2007-12-29 13:42:34 · 5 answers · asked by Anonymous in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
How should a scripture be able to support any view-point?
2008-01-02 13:14:17 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Scripture is clear that taking life is not appropriate. Ex 29:13. The only argument I have against suicide (or euthanasia) is the religious one, and I accept the thesis that it is not appropriate to try to legislate religion. I do accept the understanding that a person in pain should have access to adequate pain relief. I don't think it is reasonable to prolong the agony and run up an astronomical bill for a terminal illness. Sorry, I don't have any neat scriptural support for my position. Though I try to keep all of my understandings within scriptural limitations.
2007-12-29 21:53:07 · answer #2 · answered by hasse_john 7 · 3⤊ 0⤋
This is a very difficult issue. There are two sides that are difficult to balance. On one end, we do not want to take a person’s life into our own hands and end it prematurely - euthanasia. On the other end, at what point do we simply allow a person to die – a living will?
What about euthanasia? The overriding truth that drives me to the conclusion that God is opposed to euthanasia is His sovereignty. We know that physical death is inevitable (Psalm 89:48; Hebrews 9:27). However, God alone is sovereign over when and how a person's death occurs. Job testifies in Job 30:23, "For I know that You (God) will bring me to death and to the house of meeting for all living." In Psalm 68:20, we read, "God is to us a God of deliverances; and to GOD the Lord belong escapes from death." Ecclesiastes 8:8a declares, "No man has authority to restrain the wind with the wind, or authority over the day of death..." God has the final say over death (see also 1 Corinthians 15:26, 54-56; Hebrews 2:9, 14-15; Revelation 21:4). Euthanasia is man's way of trying to usurp that authority from God.
Death is a natural occurrence. Sometimes God allows a person to suffer long before death is realized; other times, the person's suffering is cut short. No one likes to suffer, but that does not make it right for us to determine that a person is ready to die. Often God's purposes are made known through a person's suffering. "In the day of prosperity be happy, but in the day of adversity consider - God has made the one as well as the other so that man may not discover anything that will be after him" (Ecclesiastes 7:14). Romans 5:3 teaches that tribulations bring about perseverance. God cares about those who are crying out for death to end their suffering. God gives purpose to life even until the end. Only God knows what is best, and His timing even in one's death is perfect.
At the same time, the Bible does not command us to do everything we can to keep a person alive. If a person is being kept alive only by machines, it is not immoral to turn off the machines and allow the person to die. If a person has been in a persistent vegetative state for a prolonged period of time, I do not believe it would be an offense to God to remove whatever tubes / machines that are keeping the person alive. Should God desire to keep a person alive, He is perfectly capable of doing so without the help of feeding tubes and/or respirators.
As a person who has been through this situation, I truly feel for those who must make these life decisions. It is never easy to tell a doctor to suspend the life support of a loved one. We should never seek to prematurely end a life, but at the same time, neither do we have to preserve a life as long as possible. My best advice to anyone facing this decision is to pray to God for wisdom (James 1:5) in regards to what He would have you do.
On a practical note, I believe a living will is an excellent thing to have. A living will simply states your desires in regards to this issue. A person with a living will can state that they do or do not want to be kept on life-preserving machinery. A person with a living will can say what procedures they do and do not want done to them to preserve their life. A person with a living will can state what conditions they do or do not want to be kept in. Most importantly, a person with a living will can save their loved ones from having to make these painful and difficult decisions.
Recommended Resource: In His Image by Brand & Yancey
2007-12-29 23:15:40 · answer #3 · answered by Freedom 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I don't think anyone has a right to take another's life, I am not in favor of it in any way, I also don't agree with keeping people on machines when they are gone and controlling their bodies with artificial means
a murderer does not have eternal life in them
2007-12-29 22:48:31 · answer #4 · answered by sego lily 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Why would i use scripture to support anything?
Love and blessings Don
2007-12-29 21:50:25 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 1⤋