Episode 18: Assisted Suicide

When someone wants to commit suicide, should we talk them out of it or encourage them to go through with taking their own life? Today on the Faith and Family Radio Show, we talk about euthanasia and why assisted death isn't as loving as you might think.

Show Notes

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NEWS
Dr. Kevorkian
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_Kevorkian

Terri Shiavo

• Suffered cardiac arrest and was resuscitated
• Was on life support
• Husband argued that Terri wouldn’t want to live in “vegetative state”
• Parents fought to keep her feeding tube in
• Ultimately, the husband won the battle and Terri was starved to death

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terri_Schiavo_case

Doctor euthanized patient against their will - http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/world-news/euthanasia-patient-fought-back-doctor-9707709

• Patient with dementia had said she wanted to be euthanized when the time was right
• Doctor euthanized her without her permission, with resistance from the patient, had her  restrained by nurses so she could be injected
• Patient had been saying for days “I don’t want to die”

Brittany Maynard
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brittany_Maynard

• Brain cancer diagnosis, after treatment, cancer returned and she was given 6 months to live
• She was given a “death pill” from her doctor and when she felt the time was right, she took her own life
• Witness Radio - Episode 40

Terminal Illness  isn’t the only reason people want to partake in assisted suicide. Some other reasons I’ve found:

• Mental health (depression, mental anguish from abuse, mental retardation)
• Spouse is ill, seeking to “check out” together
• Illnesses that reduce “quality of life” - being wheelchair bound, loss of eyesight
• Guilty conscience over some past evil committed
• People deemed a burden

http://listverse.com/2014/11/15/10-heartbreaking-right-to-die-cases/
http://www.oddee.com/item_99258.aspx

LIFE ISSUES
Is euthanizing someone the same as murder?
Is it okay to help another person take their own life, with their permission?
Is it ever okay to forcibly take another person’s life if the motive is to ease their suffering? If so, what standard should be in place, if any?
Are we playing God by keeping people alive who should perhaps have died naturally if we hadn’t intervened
What about euthanizing pets? Is that okay?

DOCTRINE
Do we see any examples of euthanasia in Scripture?

• Saul- 1 Samuel 31, Saul killed himself to save himself from being killed by the enemy
• Jonah - Jonah 4, Jonah was upset that God showed mercy to the Ninevites

We see that God uses weakness and suffering in the Bible to draw us closer to Him, to depend on Him greater, to glorify Him - Job, Paul’s thorn in the side…
Is it biblical to euthanize someone? Is it truly the merciful, loving act that the world portrays it to be?
God is the author of life. Our lives and deaths are in His hands. He alone should be the taker of life.

AUDIO CLIPS
Ain’t Nobody Got Time For That

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