DIGNITY IN DYING?
1 Corinthians 6:19-20
(KJV)
19 What? know ye not
that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have
of God, and ye are not your own?
20 For ye are bought
with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are
God's. 1 Corinthians 3:16-17 (KJV)
16 Know ye not that ye
are the temple of
God
17 If any man defile
the temple of God ,
him shall God destroy; for the temple
of God
There is a fallacy in
the “Dying With Dignity” argument concerning assisted suicide being a way to
alleviate suffering... on the surface it seems merciful to assist someone who
is suffering pain from a debilitating disease or injury, but the truth of the
matter is that it insults God who alone has the right to determine when a
person'/s life ends. He is the giver of life at conception (no matter how
liberals classify the unborn at any stage of development) and only He has the
right to remove the spirit from the body when His appointed task for them is
completed. This is especially true for Christians who have given themselves to
the Lord, to live or die at his pleasure. This is why martyrs did not spare their
lives when offered freedom if they would but renounce Christ. The believer in
Jesus has committed his life—for whatever comes—to live obedient to the
commands of the Lord and accept whatever He deems necessary, knowing that their
suffering brings Him glory.
To end someone's life prematurely (murder in
any form is still murder—and no murderer has eternal life abiding in them, I Jn.
3:15) is to deny God the opportunity to bless them with a healing if it is His
will; it is also to shortchange the spiritual lessons the person may need to
learn and/or share with others through their suffering (read C.S. Lewis' The
Problem of Pain).
It is nothing but human
hubris to assume we have a right to do what we want with our bodies instead of
seek God's will, asking for his gift of healing to relieve us of our pains according
to His will. If we are the temple
of God
Beyond these spiritual
reasons against taking one's own life or the life of another, there is the
danger of these man-made laws of being misapplied by "progressives"
when they turn "nazi-like" and decide that some lives are not worth
living—like the elderly, the impoverished, the mentally and/or physically
challenged, etc. Once these progressive ideas are codified into law, they are
easily warped into uses other than the well-intentioned, but naive originators
of the laws meant; this is because we inhabit a fallen world where satanic
forces have sway over the affairs of unregenerate mankind and will inevitably
erode even a decent nation’s laws into sin (witness the USA’s Supreme Court
June 2015 rulings on Obamacare and Gay marriage.)
Proverbs 14:12 (KJV)
12 There is a way which
seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death. Proverbs
21:2 (KJV)
2 Every way of a man is
right in his own eyes: but the LORD pondereth the hearts.
AS believers we need to
challenge every cultural "solution" that non-Christians propose by
examining it in the light of God's revealed will—his Word!
