Euthanasia, Anti-humanism, and the Image of God

British lawmakers voted to allow some terminally ill patients the right to end their lives.

The UK is just the latest Western country to advance the pro-euthanasia movement.

Canada’s ‘Medical Assistance in Dying’ (MAID) program has been running since 2016 and has expanded. What started as assistance in dying for those with terminal illnesses now includes someone experiencing mental health issues.

Every year, those taking advantage of MAID have increased. It’s the slippery slope opponents of Euthanasia fear.

I am against medically assisted suicide, and yet I recognize the complexity of the subject.

Is “pulling the plug” or discontinuing life-saving medication considered euthanasia? What about the use of morphine, which may be aimed at relieving suffering but ultimately expedites the death of the patient?

This is not a simple subject, and yet, I feel like the above cases are distinct from actively ending someone’s life using a lethal injection - especially if that person has a terminal condition.

The danger is not only in the details but in the spirit and worldview that is driving the euthanasia movement.

It is not a coincidence that the most secular countries in the world are the most in favor of medically assisted suicide.

As followers of Jesus, our value is grounded in believing that a loving God made us. He gives us inalienable rights that no policy, person, or government can take away.

The comfort of knowing I have worth as God’s child comes at a cost. I don’t belong to myself alone, and this runs squarely against a foundational tenant of secular humanism: I alone determine my fate.

When our worth is untethered from a transcendent maker, the best we can do is ascribe value to ourselves, but this is a meaningless exercise: I matter because I say I matter, which makes me matter.

Pro-euthanasia is ultimately pro-choice - about death. It’s the logical outworkings of a worldview that says I define reality, right and wrong, and even when I die.

This is a grim world indeed.

And yet, to some degree understandable. While bright and beautiful, this world is also hard; for some, it is unbearably so. For a Western person raised in a belief that life should always be pleasurable, suffering is a harsh pill to swallow.

To such a person, why would you confront suffering when there is an easy way out? Isn’t it easier to turn the lights off than confront the monsters of the daytime?

Of course, this is the greatest lie of all. Life doesn’t end at death, and our hardships will either be relieved or amplified.

The pernicious anti-human spirit driving the euthanasia movement is hastening people to unimaginable and enduring pain forever.

There is no relief for those who die apart from a saving faith in God.

For this reason, followers of Jesus need to speak loudly against euthanasia and the satanic spirit that drives it.

Jesus gives us unparalleled resources to endure the challenges of life, and a hope for the future that no disease, rust, or thief can destroy.

It is to this hope we must point people. For in the absence of it, only hell awaits.