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In the United States, assisted suicide, more formally known as “Death with Dignity,” is legal in several states.
Three Types of Assisted Suicide:
- TLS (Termination of Life Support) – Involves stopping medical procedures that keep a critically ill person alive.
- PAS (Physician-Assisted Suicide) – When a doctor provides a patient with the means to end their own life, typically by prescribing a lethal dose of medication.
- Euthanasia (mercy killing) – The act of intentionally ending someone’s life to relieve them from suffering.
What Does the Bible Say?
- Human life is made in God’s image. Human life is a sacred gift and a basic and intrinsic good.
Death is an enemy and normal part of life. Death was not a part of God’s plan. It came into the world as a result of the entrance of sin (Rom. 5v12; 1 Cor. 15v21–22)
- Taking an innocent life is a sin. (Ex 20v13)
- God is the only one who can end life. (Heb 9v27)
- Take care of the dying. We are obligated to care for the most vulnerable, which throughout the biblical period clearly included the dying.
- Suffering has redemptive value.
Arguments for Assisted Suicide:
- Autonomy Argument: Individuals should have the right to choose the timing and manner of their death.
- Compassion Argument: Assisting in the death of a suffering individual can be seen as an act of mercy, relieving them from unbearable pain and suffering.
- Quality of Life Argument: Some argue that when a person’s quality of life is irreversibly diminished due to illness or suffering, they should have the option to end their life.
- Death with Dignity Argument: The desire to die with dignity, rather than endure a prolonged process of dying, is cited as a reason for PAS/euthanasia.
- Reducing the Burden Argument: Some believe that choosing death can be a way to avoid becoming a burden on families or the healthcare system.
Sample advance directive from Melinda Penner of Stand to Reason: https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/ar…