Euthanasia: a Wolf in Sheep's Clothing

If I had a painful, fatal disease, and was told I had one more year to live, I think Euthanasia would be a tempting proposition. I don't like pain.

Once when I lived in Colombia I thought I could outrun the pain of a toothache. I was convinced that it was all a matter of mind over matter. I was sure I was strong enough to overcome the pain. I went about seven excruciating days before I finally went to a dentist.

To someone caught in the dark corridors of severe pain, Euthanasia appears as an angel of light. Euthanasia however is a wolf in sheep's clothing. It appears as a "kind" and "rational" option, but in reality, it is the most wicked and potentially devastating option whose havoc extends far beyond the grave. The basic premise behind Euthanasia is that suffering is bad and must be avoided. It's as if to say we should not have four seasons, but only live in summer. We want only day and no night. We want only joy and no sorrow; we want only pleasure and no pain. But the truth is that suffering whether in the beginning, middle, or end of life plays an important role. It is not to be avoided, or despised. Listen to what some of our greatest thinkers have said about it: Aeschylus (456 B.C.)

"Wisdom comes through suffering" Marcus Licinius Crassus (70 B.C.)

"Those who aim at great deeds. must also suffer greatly" All great deeds all great art, all great thoughts and actions spring from suffering. Samuel Butler (1680)

"Poets by their suffering grow". Elizabeth Barret Browning (1861)

"Knowledge by suffering entereth." Marcel Proust (1922)

"We are healed of a suffering only by experiencing it to the full...the most terrible reality brings us, with our suffering, the joy of a great discovery. Martin Luther King Jr. (1964) In his Nobel Prize acceptance speech said "Suffering is redemptive."

The idea that suffering is to be shortened on the death bed is a new, and feeble, idea which is contrary to the great ideas of our heritage. In shortening a fellow human's suffering, we might be depriving him, or her, of the greatest revelation that life can offer.

Those in favor of Euthanasia call it "Mercy Killing". They argue that we put animals to death if they are suffering and soon to die, so we should do the same for human beings. Alas they must see a human's life as no higher than a pig's. If I thought that human beings were just another species of animal like a cow, or a skunk, I would feel as they do. But I believe people are made in God's image.

And that brings us down to what the debate is truly about. It's not about suffering and mercy, but about differing world-views. How you view humans and their relationship to life is called your world view.

It's a fact that Hindus have a different world view than Westerners. They see life as Lila Maya. It's kind of a cosmic dance of illusions.

In the atheistic Communist world view there is only matter.

Western thinkers have traditionally viewed the world dualistically: hot cold, black-white, up down, good bad, true false etc. In the mid twentieth century westerners began to shift from dualism to existential relativism. There are many western thinkers who hold that there are no absolute truths. Everything is relative. I would posit that at the end of the twentieth century we have a hodge podge of world views that keep bumping into each other. You can not label or pigeon hole Euthanasians. But those I know tend to hold a pick and choose world view. They tend to be pacifists, pro choice, politically to the left, and concerned about, if not actively involved in animal rights. They believe in compassion and mercy and don't want to see others suffer. They would say their view is based on love and kindness. I applaud them for their "good feelings" and "caring ways". But there are many out there, like myself, who base our world view on the teachings of Yahshauh. Who believe that there are absolute truths, and we call "Mercy Killing" "Mercy Murder".

Now this is a strange combination. How can you yoke Mercy and Murder? Well there are various forms of murder: accidental, cold-blooded, and crimes of passion. And then there's this new form called Mercy Murder. This is not as frightening as the cold blooded kind, but it is murder just the same. It is the unauthorized shortening of a person's life. Now if there is such a thing as murdering someone with noble motives, then Euthanasia is it. You see I have a warm spot in my heart for the Euthanasians, for I can see how I might easily be among them. I hate to see people suffer and care about people. So I don't fault them for arriving at their position. I myself would be among them if I viewed the world as a freak happenstance of evolution. In a world where the fittest must survive, it only makes logical sense to hasten the deaths of the weak and dying (especially if they are in pain and requesting death). As I I can perfectly agree with their point.

Where I, and I hope many others, differ from them is the fact that I use the scriptures as my guide for right and wrong.

Right in the heart of the Ten Commandments, it says "Thou shalt not kill" (Exodus 20.13).

To me, Euthanasia is murder. And to make it worse, it is premeditated murder. Now don't get excited. I do not believe Euthanasians believe it is murder. I do not believe Euthanasians are demonic, or psychopathic. But I do believe they are misguided. Most are honest agnostics. The agnostic says "I don't know". I don't know if there is life after death. I've never died. I don't know if there is a heaven to win and a hell to shun. I don't know if there is a God. I admire agnostics for their frank honesty.

After all, I have not died either so how can I say "I KNOW". I have not experienced it first hand. But I have experienced God. I had my first vision when I was ten and my next one when I was thirty three.

In my last vision I was told that the the words of Yahshuah were true and every word prophesied therein would come to pass. At age thirty three I became a passionate reader of the Bible and I can tell you it places a high value on suffering, and the sanctity of human life. It says Moses chose suffering with the Hebrew slaves rather than the pleasures of Egypt "It teaches that the way to perfection lies up the winding thorny path of suffering. Jesus was made "perfect through sufferings" (Heb. 2.10).

"We must through great tribulation enter the Kingdom of God". (Acts 14.22). "For as much then as Christ has suffered for us in the flesh, arm yourselves likewise with the same mind." (1Pt.4.1).

The elimination of suffering then, while noble sounding is really soggy thinking. And beyond soggy thinking, Euthanasia, could be sending people prematurely into hell (the pit of annihilation).

Our history is replete with examples of death bed conversions. Many a wretched soul thrashing on a death bed has repented of their agnosticism and cried out to God. Even the great French thinker Rousseau is said to have repented in the last throes of death. Thus to shorten a suffering life in the hopes of showing mercy, may turn out to be the ultimate injustice. You see if that person has not made peace with God, they will be lost. .

Now there is another reason that I am opposed to Euthanasia, and perhaps this is even more compelling than the point about suffering. My second argument flows from this question: Who among us has the right to take another life? The Euthanasians hold that each individual should have the right to end their life with proper medical consultation and assistance. Others, like myself, say that all human life is sacred, because the Bible man is made in the image of Yah (God) (Genesis 9. ). Only Yah can give life and onlyYah can take it. The sanctity of life extends from the womb to the tomb. This argument is a seamless garment which holds that the taking of life by any man, woman, or group of men and women (including the State) is murder.

Euthanasia is not Mercy killing but "Mercy Murder". Capital punishment is murder, and warfare is murder.

Granted you will find many who claim to base their world view on the Bible who believe the State has the right to execute criminals and wage war, but these people are only partially Bible based. Just as many Euthanasians accept abortion but oppose capital Punishment and Warfare. Both the partial Biblicists and those who pick and choose which forms of killing they will accept are INCONSISTENT.

If you let the teachings of Yahsuah your world view you must leave all warfare, revenge, and executions in the hands of God. "The battle belongs to the Lord." (1 Sam.17.47) Vengeance is mine saith the Lord." "The Lord giveth and the Lord taketh." (Job 9.12).



In My opposition to Euthanasia is based upon my world view which is based on the teachings of Yahshuah. My two arguments are straight forward: 1) there is value in suffering, and especially in death bed suffering. 2) No one (including the state) has the right to shorten a life. Only Yah has the right to take a life; all others who usurp that right,are murderers.

I have shown that historically the concept of greatness springing from suffering is an integral part of humanity's storehouse of wisdom. I have shown that I am completely consistent in my position on the sanctity of life. I have shown that the Scripture forbids the taking of life by human agents. And I have treated my opponents with value, and presented them not as fanatic, psychopaths, but as inconsistent fellow pilgrims on the quest for truth.

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