5 Difficult Suicide-Related Situations and How to Handle Them With Humility
Here's the deal: As we remove God and His commands from our culture and fail to uphold the sanctity of life (everyone is created in the image of God), we are on a slippery slope to our demise. Our only hope is for a genuine spiritual awakening and that is something I give my life for each and every day.
Euthanasia comes from the Greek words meaning "good death." Alternative and equally misleading terms used for actively taking someone's life are "mercy killing," "death with dignity" and "physician assisted suicide."
Scripture tells us that all life is sacred and the command is clear, "You shall not murder" (Ex 20:13). The seriousness of this is seen when David ordered capital punishment for the man who assisted Saul in his suicide act (2 Sam.1:1-16). Yet euthanasia proponents like Dr. Phillip Nitchkie say, "Many people I meet and argue with believe that human life is sacred. I do not..."
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The further our Western civilization drifts from our Judeo Christian foundations, the more countries embrace euthanasia coupled with abortion and infanticide. Euthanasia is now legal in Belgium, Columbia, India, Ireland, Luxembourg, Mexico and the Netherlands (with the Netherlands small population they still euthanize 2000 people yearly plus now have guidelines for infant euthanasia). 73% of French doctors admit using drugs to end an infant's life.
Like homosexual "marriage" it is gaining ground in America as we now see physician assisted suicide legal in Washington, Oregon, Montana, Vermont and New Mexico. Barring revival, it is coming to a neighborhood near you!
With economic debt skyrocketing, the baby boom population aging (78 million strong) and socialized medicine becoming more and more a reality, we need to make preparation now for end-of-life decisions as "death panels" will slowly be introduced like they are in Canada and elsewhere.
When my wife and I worked on our "Living Will" (ps: You need one and should address it now lest you lose savings and possessions in probate court plus others will make dying decisions for you!) we incorporated end-of-life guidelines that can be obtained from "The National Right to Life."
The smooth and seductive reasoning presented by advocates of euthanasia needs to be exposed and resisted vigorously by people of faith. Doctors helping "suffering" elderly people or those with dementia, depression or severe injuries be "put out of their misery" with lethal doses of medicine is contrary to the will of God.
Now there is a clear difference between actively killing someone and passively allowing a person to yield to inevitable death as we see in the Bible with Jesus, Stephen, Jacob and others. This is not suicide. Also, our Christian faith requires us to compassionately care for all people approaching death as well as those with reasonable hope of recovery. Even King David nearing death was granted a young, beautiful virgin to lie in bed next to him and keep him warm (with no romantic intimacy)!
When it is obvious to all that death is at hand; there is no reasonable hope of recovery; extraordinary life support measures aren't advisable; and, the dying individual desires (ideally with family) to be allowed to "walk through the valley of the shadow of death," then the appointed time has arrived to meet one's Maker!
Consider Billy Graham's wife, Ruth, and how she concluded her days on earth. Valiantly battling persistent infirmities plus struggling with pneumonia and being bedridden, "At her request and in concert with her family, she stopped receiving nutrients through a feeding tube for her last few days hastening her death."
Sometimes an individual refuses chemotherapy when told they are in stage 4 terminal cancer. While not refusing minimal nourishment, others refuse a feeding tube and other extraordinary measures so as not to delay but hasten their homegoing experience.
My 74-year-old father attended a Sunday morning church service and then came home, sat in a chair and begin to read a devotional book when he lowered his head and passed into the presence of the Lord.
My 87-year-old mother was flanked by my sister and me as we swabbed her lips, gently encouraged her to let go, and as I read the 91st Psalm she yielded her spirit as I said these words, "For He will command his angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways; they will lift you up in their hands..."
"She's gone!" exclaimed my sister.
"Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints"
(Ps. 116:15).
