Explain the reasons why there is a moral debate about Euthanasia. (10)
Many Christians are against Euthanasia. The arguments are usually based on the beliefs that
life is given by God, and that human beings are made in God’s image. Some churches also
emphasise the importance of not interfering with the natural process of death. Physical
death is inevitable. However, God alone in sovereign over when and how a person’s death
occurs. Job testifies in Job 30:23,
“For I know that You (God) will bring me to death and to the house of meeting for
all living.”
This means that God has the final say over death Euthanasia is man’s way of trying to usurp
that authority from God. Death is a natural occurrence. Christians believe that sometimes
God allows a person to suffer long before death is realised; other time, the person’s suffering
is cut short. No one like to suffer, but that does not make it right for us to determine that a
person is ready to die.
Euthanasia is a grave violation of the law of God, since it is the deliberate and morally
unacceptable killing of a human person. Most Christians believe that life is sacredThe Roman
Catholic Church regards Euthanasia as morally wrong. It has always taught the absolute and
unchanging value of the commandment:
“You shall not kill”
This means that many Christians trust God to end life when the proper time comes and
would not accept any intervention that would end a life before God decides. The church has
said that nothing and no one in any way permit the killing of an innocent human being,
whether a foetus or an embryo, an infant or an adult, an old person, or one suffering from
an incurable disease, or a person who is dying. Pope John Paul II spoke out against what he
calls a ‘culture of death’ in modern society, and said that human beings should always prefer
the way of life to the way of death. The church regards any law permitting Euthanasia as
basically and unjust law.
Many Christians are against Euthanasia. The arguments are usually based on the beliefs that
life is given by God, and that human beings are made in God’s image. Some churches also
emphasise the importance of not interfering with the natural process of death. Physical
death is inevitable. However, God alone in sovereign over when and how a person’s death
occurs. Job testifies in Job 30:23,
“For I know that You (God) will bring me to death and to the house of meeting for
all living.”
This means that God has the final say over death Euthanasia is man’s way of trying to usurp
that authority from God. Death is a natural occurrence. Christians believe that sometimes
God allows a person to suffer long before death is realised; other time, the person’s suffering
is cut short. No one like to suffer, but that does not make it right for us to determine that a
person is ready to die.
Euthanasia is a grave violation of the law of God, since it is the deliberate and morally
unacceptable killing of a human person. Most Christians believe that life is sacredThe Roman
Catholic Church regards Euthanasia as morally wrong. It has always taught the absolute and
unchanging value of the commandment:
“You shall not kill”
This means that many Christians trust God to end life when the proper time comes and
would not accept any intervention that would end a life before God decides. The church has
said that nothing and no one in any way permit the killing of an innocent human being,
whether a foetus or an embryo, an infant or an adult, an old person, or one suffering from
an incurable disease, or a person who is dying. Pope John Paul II spoke out against what he
calls a ‘culture of death’ in modern society, and said that human beings should always prefer
the way of life to the way of death. The church regards any law permitting Euthanasia as
basically and unjust law.
