The old hymn proclaims “I can face tomorrow….and life is worth the living just because He lives…..” Unfortunately, Brittany Maynard could not. I hope she was ready for her eternity. I know there are some who read these blogs who do not know Christ as Lord and Savior, but I believe these readers are sensitive to His desire to have a relationship with them. In Romans, the Bible tells us “they are without excuse…” Jesus declared (and Christians should believe) in John 14:6 “I am the Way, the Truth and the Life. No one comes to the Father but through Me.” That is a bold statement.
Oregon has a law allowing Brittany Maynard’s decision to end her life and her “suffering.” I have a scathing rebuke of that law. The slippery slope upon which we step is how we define “suffering” and when that decision is made. Someone may decide for you some day.
We often hear “No one would want to live like that…. Why should they suffer?” There are medical ways to help make people more comfortable, free them from pain and lessen their feeling of despair without killing them.
In the same sense, there is no eternal hope without The Great Physician. Christ died on our behalf. The Bible tells us “The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life.” Jesus rose again on the third day as He defeated sin and death for us. We are self-condemned for eternity without Christ as Lord and Savior.
So much love, so much concern the Creator has for us that He made a way for us to get back to Him. My concern is the glorification of suicide and physician assisted suicide is one more weapon in the enemy’s arsenal of spiritual warfare.
As a society, we have made the taking of life much too easy, much too convenient. We should always err on the side of life; which by definition would be on the side of Christ. Sacrificing 50 million babies and now friends and family to the god of convenience is not how we celebrate life. To describe those things as health choices is repugnant. I have been at the bedside of loved ones as they have died. Death is not pretty. It is not romantic. We should not glorify it.
Medically, socially, ethically and morally, there is a major difference the size of the Grand Canyon, between choosing to no longer support life (such as a DNR order) and choosing to end it. As we face and debate the ethical and often faith-related questions, I would ask what is the hope that is within you? Are you prepared to face your Creator and justify your decisions? Do you know where and with whom you will spend eternity?
People know deep in their hearts they need to repent and ask Christ to save them from an eternity of hopelessness and darkness. The most self-destructive behavior we can display is to continue to live in a way that is totally self-serving and refuses that free gift of God.
I hope she was ready…
Proverbs tells us “There is a way which seems right to a man, but it leads to death.” Fortunately for us, “For God so loved the world that He gave His Only Begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him, should not perish but have everlasting life.” John 3:16.