Essay on Christian View of Euthanasia

Introduction

Euthanasia is to a painless practice of intentionally ending one's life to relieve pain and suffering. The debate over the matter is not something new. The Greeks, Pythagoreans, and stoics had already dealt with the subject. Euthanasia is categorized in two ways voluntary and involuntary. As for Voluntary euthanasia, the patient is the one deciding while in Involuntary, the decision is purely by another person.

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Christians have had difficulty in understanding the complexities of euthanasia. They generally oppose mercy killings because they are not biblical. The arguments are usually based on biblical aspects and the belief that life is a gift from God. "...I put to death, and I bring to life," Deuteronomy 32:39. All life is God-given and should be respected. God is the creator and giver of life, birth and death are also processes he put up for all living. Christians consider death to be a spiritual process and thus should not be interfered with. When a person loses a life, there is a process in which the soul gradually moves towards God. This being a divine process it should not be by the hand of another man. The so-called 'right to die' denies the almighty an opportunity to work solely on a shattered life and to bring glory upon him (Muson, 2017). It also promotes suicide as a way of evading pain and problems which is not the solution but just leaving those problems to family and friends. An act of killing another man is also considered 'sinful.' This does not give any human the authority to take the life of another, even if the other person has consented (Hamil-Luker & Smith, 1998).

Every human being is valuable in one way or another. The Christian community perceives that administering painless death is similar to passing judgment on a fellow human. According to the holy book, no man has the right to judge another 'Whoever sheds a man's blood shall be shed, for, in the image of God, He made a man,' Genesis 9:6. This scripture prohibits anyone from taking life. Every Christian understands that come judgment day; everyone will have to atone for his or her actions. Ending one's life is not by the morals of the church. The worldview of Christians is that we are all part of a community joined to each other, the decisions we make can, therefore, affect them. The church considers us stewards in life rather than the owners. Our lives worth is immeasurable, and we possess God-given dignity.

Death is part of life, and everyone will go through it at one point or another. As the bible states, there is time for everything, a time to be born and a time to die (Muson, 2017). Those who die in Christ shall have eternal life. 'Do not be excessively wicked and do not be a fool. Why should you die before your time? 'Ecclesiastes 7:17. According to this scripture, everyone should live his or her life wholly without any unnatural influence. The Christian perspective puts God in total control of life and death. He is the author of life, and so we should put all trust in him. He should be the only one who determines what ultimately benefits us and what befalls us ("Christian Views of Euthanasia," 2018). As Christians, we should all abide by the commandment "thou shall not kill," Exodus 20:13.

Conclusion

Christians are commanded to love one another as they love themselves by the scriptures. The church does believe that nothing and no one can in any way permit the killing of innocent life. It is morally wrong to perform the practice or to be involved in decision making where the life of a human being is at stake.

References

Christian Views of Euthanasia. (2018). Retrieved from http://www.religionfacts.com/christianity/euthanasia

Hamil-Luker, J., & Smith, C. (1998). Religious authority and public opinion on the right to die. Sociology of religion, 59(4), 373-391.

Muson, R. (2017). Intervention and reflection: Basic issues in bioethics (10th ed.), (pp. 300- 335).New York, NY Cengage Learning.