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Euthanasia

Discussion in 'General Baptist Discussions' started by freeatlast, Sep 5, 2011.

  1. freeatlast

    freeatlast New Member

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    What are your thoughts on Euthanasia. Does God permit us to do this or is it always sin?
     
  2. Tom Butler

    Tom Butler New Member

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    This should be a good discussion. I am interested in other views on this.

    Here's where I am right now. I'm against it. This is God's prerogative. In Acts 17:26, Paul told the Mars Hill audience that God has determined how long they will live and where they will live.

    That said, I distinguish between an act to directly cause death, and a lack of action which may result in death. Such as, removing life supports which artificially keep someone alive. Or to determine not to take heroic measures to prolong the life of a terminally ill person.

    Proponents of euthanasia make targets generally of the elderly in the name of alleviating suffering, or the inability to any longer make a contribution to society, or the fact that they are a financial burden to society.

    As a Christian, I can't buy those arguments.
     
  3. annsni

    annsni Well-Known Member
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    I believe that no one suffered more than Jesus Christ Himself and we share in His sufferings. Nothing we go through can compare. I also believe that God brings us through and gives us grace in our sufferings and we continue to grow and change to be more like Him through that.

    Now, that said, I don't believe in keeping a dead body alive with machines and believe that we should stop life support when there is clearly death evident. Just two months ago, a friend's son was fatally injured in a skateboard accident but they kept him alive so that his parents could get there and because he was an organ donor. However, it was clear within a couple of days that his body was already deteriorating and even the doctor said that he's really decomposing as we were watching. There was no question that he was dead and there was no sense in keeping his body alive other than to harvest the organs.

    I also believe that we should be generous with pain medication for those who are facing the end. My brother actually physically assaulted the doctor who was in charge of my mom when he took my mother off of morphine because he wanted her to wake up out of a coma - when she was in the end stages of breast cancer (cancer in her bones, liver, lungs and brain - she was NOT recovering from this). We wanted her comfortable even if that meant that she was going to die 2 days earlier without ever talking to us again. She deserved the pain management and he wasn't going to give it to her. We won. She died peacefully with loved ones around her praying for her.

    We need to be merciful, not be afraid of death but not be the cause of anyone to die.
     
  4. mandym

    mandym New Member

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    When you have to assist someone else with their premature death (outside of administering a legal sentence of the death penalty) you are in the wrong.
     
  5. Salty

    Salty 20,000 Posts Club
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    So would taking someone off life support be considered euthanasia ?

    You would be assisting them with their premature death
     
  6. freeatlast

    freeatlast New Member

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    I certainly agree so far. It is one thing to remove machines that artificially sustain certain body functions once it is determined that the person cannot recover and another to actively cause body functions to stop functioning through the ministering of drugs or some other outside force.
     
  7. mandym

    mandym New Member

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    Not always. Sometimes the equipment is keeping the body functioning long after they have gone.
     
  8. annsni

    annsni Well-Known Member
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    As was the case of our friends' son. "Brain dead" was written on his ER admission papers. The nurse who took care of him in the ER said that when she saw his CT scan, she knew he was gone. "His brain was not where it was supposed to be" was what she said. The only reason he made it to the hospital was because care got there so quickly and the hospital was 3 minutes away. Otherwise, 5 people would not have been saved because of his death. Instead, he would have died on the sidewalk.
     
  9. blackbird

    blackbird Active Member

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    During WW2 Germany needed hospital room to care for her wounded troops arriving home from the fronts-------nursing home facilities were systemicatically emptied
     
  10. HAMel

    HAMel Well-Known Member
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    blackbird, speaking of Germany..., that must have been extremely frightening times for those people back then. Under the direction of a madman is sheer terror.
     
  11. stilllearning

    stilllearning Active Member

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    I believe your brother did the right thing, for your mother’s comfort.

    But....I have heard preachers say, that the “Christian” way to die, is not all drugged up, but awake and alert, even if they are in excruciating pain.
    (I would think the Scripture they would use for this, would be when Jesus refused the pain killer that He was offered at the cross.)

    If was in your mother's position, I would want all the pain killer they could give me.
     
    #11 stilllearning, Sep 6, 2011
    Last edited by a moderator: Sep 6, 2011
  12. stilllearning

    stilllearning Active Member

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    Certainly you are not excluding, the taking of someone’s life, in an act of self defense are you?
     
  13. Salty

    Salty 20,000 Posts Club
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    To be consistent - those preachers would have to be against all drugs for any reason- think of it - the rapture happens and you are all drugged up for a brain operation...
     
  14. mandym

    mandym New Member

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    I'm not going to try to cover all my basis. Use your judgment.
     
  15. Amy.G

    Amy.G New Member

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    Proverbs 31:6 Give strong drink unto him that is ready to perish, and wine unto those that be of heavy hearts.


    I think God approves of drugs to comfort the dying.

    Christ's refusal was a totally different matter.
     
  16. Jon-Marc

    Jon-Marc New Member

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    I can't speak for other people, but I would not want to be kept alive artificially. If I can't live on my own, am I really alive? As for putting someone out of their misery if they request it (and not at anyone else's request),I have no problem with that as long as it is a licensed doctor who does it, and, again, ONLY at the request of the individual. If the person is not able to make that request, no one has the right to decide for them--except God.
     
  17. Deacon

    Deacon Well-Known Member
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    I’ve witnessed the horrors of a prolonged painful death; there is no honor in it.

    End of life decisions are best left to the judgment of the dying and their close family members.

    As individuals we can disagree with them but we can’t walk in their shoes.

    I withhold judgement during these times.

    Rob
     
  18. freeatlast

    freeatlast New Member

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    I see there is no mention of seeking the Lord's will in this. That is too bad. It would be much better to follow in the Lord and seek what He would have.
     
  19. blackbird

    blackbird Active Member

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    What Deacon is doing in his quote-----is that not seeking the Lord's will??? Is that not following the Lord and doing what He would have???
     
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