Elderly people often feel they are a burden on their loved ones and so may decide that it would be best for all involved if their life was ended when really they want to live on and on until their natural time to go arrives.
Euthanasia takes away the value, and the sanctity, of life and so people may start to feel as if life is a thing that can be easily disposed of which could lead to a huge death rate, and the doctor / patient relationship could be destroyed as in the Hippocratic oath it says doctors should be there to preserve lives, not end them.
If the country had better facilities to deal with dieing people euthanasia wouldn’t be needed.
God gave us “dominion over every living thing”(genesis1: 28) and so we have a responsibility to use life to the full, as it is a gift from God and is sacred, holy and the property of God and hence only God has the right and the duty and the privilege of being the controller of life and death
Those Christians who say that voluntary euthanasia is fine and present these arguments for their pro-euthanasia policy:
Everyone has the right to decide if, when and how they should die and could preserve patients dignity as it is quick, humane, painless and ends the suffering and the heartbreak felt by family members as they watch a loved one in pain and it would help doctors if they knew, and could carry out, their patients wishes
The Methodist church says that
“the argument for euthanasia will be answered if, and only if, better methods of caring for the dying are developed. Medical skill in the care of the terminally ill must be improved, pre-death loneliness must be relieved and the patient and their family must be supported by the statutory services and by the community. All the patients needs, including the spiritual, must be met.”
(Methodist Conference 1974)
this means that some see euthanasia as the only option because there are not enough facilities for dying people so no-one can argue with euthanasia until they come up with any ideas or schemes to help the dieing or the terminally ill.
Section Two: Describe How These Teachings Influence
The Actions Of A Believer
If a Christian was about to die then depending on their denomination and their beliefs they would request to go to the hospice and die peacefully with friends and family around them this is generally Roman Catholics but although this is what the Pope says is right there are Roman Catholics who choose euthanasia.
Other Christians such as Pentecostal Christians (who are old fundamentalists) would not go to a hospital or a hospice but they would ask their church to pray for them because they believe that God will heal them if they pray and remain faithful to Him.
Yet others would pray and go to hospital or hospice aswell, as insurance, you could say, to make sure that they get all the help they can.
If a Christian was asked for advice, as they often are, then they would quote people such as the Pope or Mother Teresa or they would quote the Bible saying things such as “when Moses was given by God the ten commandments written on tablets of stone on mount Sinai the sixth commandment was “thou shalt not kill” (NIV. Exodus 20:13) meaning that to take a life is a sin which will grant you an eternity in Hell or Purgatory (depending on your beliefs) but ultimately the decision is yours on the euthanasia issue.” when facing the decision of whether to let someone die or not Christians must ask themselves “am I doing what God wants or what I want? Being a loving God, would He judge my actions to be an act of love or an act of selfishness? As I truly believe God is love and He gave humans the gift of free will, I would pray that He would see it as an act of kindness” though it hard to think all this when your mind is filled with the spinning possibilities of the big question “what if?”. Well informed and measured though our arguments may be if and when the time comes would we really be able to end the life of someone we love and hold dear? as this takes a great deal of courage and faith.
If they were to advise someone using the Popes teachings they would say that the Pope says that when God decides it is time for someone to go He will take them
no-one should interfere with this process unless it is an accident caused by drugs, such as morphine, meant to help the person who is dieing.
If they were say something which Mother Teresa said or did, they would say that she said not to leave the sick people on the street but to take them to her to be cared for, although Mother Teresa did not start or have anything to do with the hospice movement this is definitely something akin to it, it is called palliative care.
If other believers such as Methodists were asked for their opinion, they would say that they believe it is wrong to take the life of anyone especially your family members or yourself as life is a gift from God and therefore sacred.
Section Three: “Death Is God’s Business And No-one Should Interfere.”
Do You Agree? Give Reasons To Support Your Answer
You Must Mention Christianity In Your Answer
No I do not agree because almost anything we do is interfering, such as if the dying person is put on a life support machine then this is interfering but letting someone opt for euthanasia is also meddling as is doing nothing in a way. I believe that God, as he has eternity, can set out a plan for every one and so he controls the choices made by people that would stop his plan from working, small choices such as “should I have a bag of crisps or not?” are taken by the person involved depending on what their conscience tells them to do. I believe this because of the bible quotes “before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart. I appointed you as a prophet to the nations.” (Jeremiah 1:5) and “your eyes saw my unformed body. All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.” (Psalm 139:16) . Many Christians may say that this is only applicable to important people such as prophets but God has a lot of time on His hands, and in His eyes, everyone is equal as he loves everyone as His children. These Christians may also say that free will makes this impossible as God would not give us a gift then not allow us to use it, but I would say that if God told us that we have free will and we believe Him then are we using free will? No we are just believing Him if He didn’t control us we could prove Him right by asking Him.
There are some Christians who ask their church to pray for them and refuse any sort of medical treatment for any condition from a stubbed toe right through to cancer. One example is Marvin Andrews who broke his leg and was told without treatment it may take six months to heal and even then it may not heal completely he declined treatment and asked his friends, family and church to pray for his return to health. That was 7 weeks ago, 2 weeks ago, he was running around playing football with his mates on the park, this is in my opinion another way of interfering with things and had Marvin’s condition been life threatening his friends and family would have been interfering by praying. Everything we do, even if we do nothing, is interfering.
So people cannot not interfere, so death is God’s business, but the ways of this earth He has created are so complex, so tangled that to not interfere we would have to make ourselves stop existing. Also God gave us people who created medicine so obviously He wanted us to interfere.
