They believe all human beings should be restricted from causing or having an early death from to any person. The Roman Catholic Church revolves around the teachings of the Bible, including many other main churches, however, not all churches do not oppose to Euthanasia in a serious manner.
There is a society that believes that Voluntary Euthanasia is an independent choice to do, they are called The Voluntary Euthanasia Society. They believe the human race has an independent choice to decide the human race whether or not they should participate in the offered Euthanasia. This will allow a direct decision to end someone’s life in peace.
Christian teachings that would show an example towards Euthanasia could be Jesus’ story about the Stray Sheep. The story is about a shepherd and his group of sheep, one of his sheep becomes lost. The stray sheep can be referred to as the person’s euthanasia, the shepherd as the one who will choose to or not participate in Voluntary Euthanasia.
A2 – ‘What biblical and Christian teachings might be used in the discussion about Euthanasia?
Euthanasia means when someone wants to die because they have suffered too much stress or any form of pain. It can also mean the act or practice of killing painlessly. There are three forms of Euthanasia, they are:
Compulsory
Voluntary
& Suicide
The main oppositions of the groups are The Roman Catholic Church and The Church of England. They oppose Euthanasia because they believe all life is sacred, so taking your own life would be as much a crime as taking another’s. They believe human beings do not have the right to allowing a human being to have the responsibility of dealing with Euthanasia.
Christian teachings that would show an example towards Euthanasia could be Jesus’ story about the Stray Sheep. The story is about a shepherd and his group of sheep, one of his sheep becomes lost. The stray sheep can be referred as the person’s euthanasia, the shepherd as the one who will choose to or not participate in Voluntary Euthanasia.
My choice of five Christian teachings is:
“Thou shalt not kill” – 5th Commandment – Exodus 20.13
This quote promotes the rule that killing others without the permission of God is an evil act. It is evil not only because he died without living to the fullest, even if there was only 10 seconds left, but because it also creates distress for the people who knew and loved that person who died. Killing also means less law and order, and more chaos.
“To live life in its fullness” – John 10.10
This phrase tells us not to hesitate chances, live life fully, don’t walk into dangerous things blindly so that we can experience life and all of its beauty. We can die at any time, at any place, whether it’s because of a major war or a road accident, which is why if we do not make use of every second of our lives, then we will not experience life in its fullest glory.
“But if anyone does not take care of his relatives especially the members of his own family, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever” – Paul’s letter to Timothy 5.8
This statement tells us that if we mistreat our relatives and family then we will be denying the love that it is within our family and God’s love, as he is within all of us. If we lie to our relatives or family, then we will be denying the faith that they believe our lies, which makes us worse than non-believers of God. This is because non-believers of God are still human and maybe better in person than most people.
B – Explain how Christians might put their beliefs about Euthanasia into action.
Euthanasia means when someone wants to die because they have suffered too much stress or any form of pain. It can also mean the act or practice of killing painlessly. There are three forms of Euthanasia, they are:
Compulsory
Voluntary
& Suicide
When Christians respond to euthanasia, they condemn it because they believe it is murder, even if the person wants to die. Christians are an anti-euthanasia religion; they do not permit euthanasia at any form at all, though in some cases there could be an exception. I have 3 points to validate and firstly Christians believe that as individuals, we cannot kill ourselves at will. This is because we live in this world for a reason, not to die when we feel like it as only God has the right to condemn death upon us.
My second point is that euthanasia is another form of killing, with only a few differences to pinpoint. This is why Christians do not promote euthanasia at all, as euthanasia is not much different from killing another person. Instead they discourage it and so the end of a life is not something that can be intercepted.
Lastly, euthanasia cause more harm to people who love the person who done killed himself, so the only outcome of this, is that the person ends his own misery, but condemns sadness onto others. The only thing that person earned is thing, which is death.
There are several ways to prevent a person from euthanasia I will point out 2 ways. Firstly, the person can perform with others to pray and participate in mass services and because mass services have places where the person can participate in, he can make friends and enjoy the wonders of life. He can also ask the father for advice on his suffering and things that can help him; it can also get him to know the father a bit more. Praying can help the person as well because his messages to God can make him more faithful, stronger and more will powered to battle against euthanasia.
Working with other Christians in speaking out towards euthanasia can help, as it can show those unfortunate people that they can be strong willed to fight against such a thing. Christians can also be their sign of hope and encouragement, which can stump down on euthanasia. Christians can also explain the fifth commandment “Thou shalt not kill” and elaborate on it a little more, as even killing yourself is equal as killing another person, only that in euthanasia, that other person is you.
C – “Euthanasia can never be justified” Do you agree?
Euthanasia means when someone wants to die because they have suffered too much stress or any form of pain. It can also mean the act or practice of killing painlessly. There are three forms of Euthanasia, they are:
Compulsory
Voluntary
& Suicide
During the course of this work, I am convinced that euthanasia can never be justified. I will support my agreement with 3 reasons and to show that I have looked at both sides of the coin, I have supported 3 arguments against the statement.
Firstly, is that life is sacred and cannot be sacrificed because it is the rejection of life, as it is the one gift we cannot hurl back at God, it is given once and only once, so we must make use of it fully. Killing yourself is also thought as murder because you are a life, which is same as the circumstances of killing another person, which causes sorrow and misery. You cannot choose to die, as only God has the right to do this misfit.
Secondly, euthanasia not only takes away life, it also has a consequence, as there are people who loved the person, which causes more misery, which in the end, does not allow anyone to gain anything but death.
Finally, euthanasia is not a solution, it is damnation, and there are ways in getting yourself on both feet instead of breaking them both. You can ask for help or participate in things like mass services yourself, though it is more preferable if you participate, as you can make friends, ask advice and have joyous occasions. Asking someone to kill you is definitely not help, because you’re only helping yourself get killed and as above, you gain nothing out of it but death.
On the other hand, some cases of euthanasia can be perfectly exceptional, such as having yourself killed so a major virus won’t spread around a city killing people.
Secondly, it can be very restricting that God sides on anti-euthanasia believers, it means we have no choice in the sense that we have no control over ourselves and that we must obey God because he said so. This can cause a slight fall in Christian believers because they lack control over their life.
Lastly, sometimes suffering and pain can be too much and is best to end it before it affects others because they are concerned about you. This can be referred to the Tony Bland incident, who suffered a dire brain injury and was left in a coma, which his parents did not want to see at that current state that they wish he would die.
In conclusion, there is definitely no right or wrong in this matter, as suffering is wrong but ending may be right, but killing yourself is not right. As killing yourself would mean that you will miss out on the years you have sacrificed, plus, all but God would know what would happen in the future, perhaps someone was going to help you with your life and make it better.
