"God gives life and only God can take it away" Do you agree? Give reasons for your answer showing that you have considered more than one point of view.

GCSE Religious Studies (Philosophy & Ethics)

“God gives life and only God can take it away”

Do you agree? Give reasons for your answer showing that you have considered more than one point of view.

The statement

‘ God gives life and only God can take it away’

Is true because God gave each of us on earth a right to live and he gave us this right for a reason. He created us in his own image and no one, other than God has a right to change this image.

However, there are people in the world today who continually try to be like God and change the way we live. These people may or may not know they are doing wrong, but they are.

One example is Euthanasia and it is a popular topic for debate. Some think that people who are suffering and feel they are prolonging the inevitable should be allowed to use Euthanasia as an option. It relieves the person of endless pain and lets them die with the dignity and respect they deserve. Also, for the family, seeing a close member of their family go through such agony can be traumatic.

I believe that it is not up to us as humans to decide when or what way we should die. If God believes that we should die suffering, then we should. We should not try to outsmart him by trying to ‘play God’. Even if it seems right at the time to see Euthanasia as a way out, it is not God’s way he wants us to die, therefore it is wrong.

Another such example of when people try to play God is in war. We have so many ...

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Another such example of when people try to play God is in war. We have so many dictators in our world today that it feels as if there are lots of Gods in our world, but there is only one. These dictators try to be like him by thinking they are more powerful and superior to others.

Hitler was an example to someone who played God. He thought the German’s were a superior race and that he was their leader or their God. He decided whom he wanted dead and this resulted in millions of Jews being executed. He got what he wanted just as God should. Another more recent example of someone who ‘plays God’ is Osama Bin Laden. The thing is, with him, people treat him as if he is one. He cut short so many people’s lives because he wanted to. People argue that he was fighting a war for his country but the bottom line is, he broke the commandment:

‘Thou shalt not kill’

And no matter what he is doing, it is wrong to go against the will of God.

As Christians we have a duty to be against war, known as pacifists. Pacifism is the belief that war and violence are morally unjustified and that all disputes can be settled by peaceful means. Someone who claims to be a pacifist will promote non-violent solutions. However, there are not many leaders in our world today who believe in this as a way to settle a war. I believe this is the most reasonable solution to a problem as in the long term it cuts down on the number of innocent civilians that die in a war. They have nothing to do with they war so they don’t deserve to have their lives shortened because of it. Leaders involved in the war should try to negotiate with each other and try meet with each other’s needs because it will save casualties and also it is the war God wants us to live, in peace and love for each other. Even our most hated enemies.

also firmly believe that these dictators are nothing like God. When hard times arise, all these so called Gods can or could do is to fight their way out of it with weapons and arms.

I believe our God is a peaceful one, who decides when it is the right time for us to die, but he is a forgiving God and treats us all equally, and we, as Christians believe that:

“We are made in the image of God and therefore human life is God’s gift to us and is uniquely precious. We are not the owners of life, but its minders.”