... beside still waters ...

... beside still waters ...

Monday, October 10, 2016

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, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?
17 If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy; for the temple of God is holy, which temple ye are.

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—where God, the Holy Spirit dwells inside us—how dare we assume authority to destroy His dwelling place?
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!

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