Talking about Death

Here's a post we did a couple of months ago with 7 tips on talking about death. We thought we should bring it up again to help you as you chat with friends, family and colleagues who saw the Terry Pratchett documentary on euthanasia.

So here's seven things to say on the subject cast in a more positive frame:

1. It's bad news for doctors. Their hippocratic oath commits them to "do no harm." Their job in any circumstance is clear and easy. Their role is to preserve life, not destroy it. To involve them with "another option" is simply unfair to them. Ask back - why do you think that every single one of the medical Royal Colleges voted unanimously to reject the proposals last time they came round? Because doctors will be the ones asked to perform the injection - and they just don't want to be involved.
   
   
2. It's unfair to the weak and vulnerable: many of whom already carry a vast burden of guilt that they are a burden to others. Giving them this option will inevitably encourage some to take it.
   
   
3. It encourages greed from relatives. Anyone who has had a relative die, and been involved in family arguments about the will knows how tortuous these things can be. People appear out of the woodwork when there is the possibility of a cash handout. Family relationships are strained. Legalised suicide will move this process back a step when someone is alive, leading to people being encouraged to take the option.
   
   
4. It denies the real possibility of medical advance: It is curious that this has become more of an issue when almost daily there are reports of breakthroughs in the treatment and prevention of Alzheimer's or heart disease or cancer. How dreadful to pull the plug on dear Uncle Eric, and then discover two months later that his "incurable disease" has suddenly become less than terminal...
   
   
5. It assumes that we can make good choices. Who draws the line? Who decides what quality of life is? Who decides what My friend Gerald who lives a life of struggle with Cerebral Palsy would no doubt not have been born today, but loves his life, and has a rich life in his mind. As Christians, we would want to say that only the Lord has the wisdom to make such decisions, because no one else can see the totallity of the circumstances.
   
   
6. Emotive cases make bad laws. Of course the pro lobby holds up cases where it seems the compassionate thing is to allow them to die. Our hearts bleed for them. But a law would be applied to everyone - including the growing millions of aged people where the issues are so much less clear.
   
   
7. Check out the track record of Holland, Oregon and Switzerland. These are all places where assisted suicide is legal, and they are often held up as fine examples. Despite the hype, just googling on this will throw up ghastly horror stories, like the Oregon woman diagnosed with terminal cancer who was denied treatment but was offered the funding to pay for suicide.
   
   

Full post here

The Good Book Video

Christians and euthanasia

Terry Pratchett’s BBC documentary on the BBC last night will no doubt reignite the long-rumbling euthanasia debate. What to make of it as Christians? This is the first of a few blogs we’re going to run on the issue.

Few people are scared of death itself:

• many kid themselves that it is no more than a whole heap of nothingness;
• many more assume there is open access to heaven;
• a few plan on reincarnation;
• those of us who follow Jesus have the certain hope of eternal life.

But many of us, if we are honest, are afraid of the whole process of dying. The thought of a failing body, the potential for pain, the possibility of not quite being ourselves, leaves us profoundly disquieted.

As human beings we tend to want to make pain go away—so it shouldn’t come as a great surprise that there are plenty of people who want to control the dying process. There is something deeply appealing about knowing that it’s not going to hurt too much, or take too long.

The trouble is, we can only take control of the dying process if we are first willing to dump the Lord of life and death (Matthew 10:29-31): To take a life (including our own) means ignoring the God who says “don’t kill” (Exodus 20:13).

It involves denying that there is something intrinsically special about being in the “image of God” (Genesis 1:27, 9:4-6). And it must mean forgetting that God, who knit us together in our mother’s womb, has a plan for each day of our life and is intimately involved in sustaining us through those days—no matter how hard—until He takes us home at the best moment, the moment of His choosing (Psalm 139).

As with all ethical issues, we need first to get a right view of who God is and what He says; and then allow ourselves and our opinions to be directed by that view.

Last night’s programme on the BBC will no doubt reignite the long-rumbling euthanasia debate. And in the face of that Christians have a double responsibility:

• to argue passionately for the protection of life;
• to love tenderly those who struggle with the pain of dying.

But at the core of both those activities lies a Christian’s ultimate responsibility—to tell the world that God is good, and He is sovereign. And that rather than dumping Him, the best response is to follow him, trusting Him for the power to persevere in this life and to bring us to pain-free perfection in the next.

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Fighting the Monday Feeling

O LORD, you are my God;
I will exalt you and praise your name, for in perfect faithfulness
you have done marvelous things,
things planned long ago.
(Isaiah 25 v 1)

So much to praise God for: His faultless faith; the incredible things He's done; His perfect plans.

On to a Good Thing

www.vennthattune.com
A few inspired...

The Good Book Quiz

Christianity Explored website review

www.christianityexplored.org has now had over 50,000 visitors since its launch last month. A great initial response which we're all very excited about and thankful to God for.

We're about to have a fun review/planning meeting about the site and would love your feedback on the site.

• What do you like?
• What do you hate?
• What do you want more of?
• What do you want less of?
• What have we done well?
• What could be done better?

Do post a comment below as we read them all and want this great site to keep getting better and be more useful as time goes on.