Whether it’s suicide to end suffering, doctor assisted suicide, or mercy killing – our society, which is bent on ‘good becoming evil and evil becoming good’, is shoving it in our faces through our morally bankrupt media. They want to sanitize it just like they did abortion, then promote it as a humane and necessary thing to do. At the same time they want to abolish capital punishment as a scourge of our modern society by promoting it as being barbaric.
The media and government promote these sanitized suicides and mercy killings in the nice neat package called ‘the dignity to die’. But there is a world of difference between ‘suicide to end suffering’ and ‘the dignity to die’. The first is taking a deliberate action to end life. The other is simply choosing not to allow any intervention, medical or otherwise when the time has come to allow the natural course of life, which involves death, to naturally occur.
The following Scripture gives us very clear orders:
So then, since Christ suffered physical pain, you must arm yourselves with the same attitude He had, and be ready to suffer, too. Dear friends, don’t be surprised at the fiery trials you are going through, as if something strange were happening to you. Instead, be very glad—for these trials make you partners with Christ in his suffering, so that you will have the wonderful joy of seeing His glory when it is revealed to all the world. But it is no shame to suffer for being a Christian. Praise God for the privilege of being called by His name! So if you are suffering in a manner that pleases God, keep on doing what is right, and trust your lives to the God who created you, for He will never fail you. (1 Peter 4:1, 12-13, 16, 19 NLT)
The only time God allows us to take a life is when a person is found guilty for a capital crime as determined by a society’s just criminal system (death penalty), for protection of life (defense), or for protection of nation (war).
Only the Lord initiates life and only the Lord has or gives the authority to end it. Daniel had to remind an ungodly king of this:
But you (King Belshazzar) have not honored the God who gives you the breath of life and controls your destiny! (Daniel 5:23 NLT)
The Book of Job is considered to be one of the oldest books of the Bible. It is the story of Job who suffered horribly, but never stepped beyond his bounds. Hear his words that express his attitude throughout his ordeal:
Then Job arose, tore his robe, and shaved his head; and he fell to the ground and worshiped. And he said: “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, And naked shall I return there. The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; Blessed be the name of the Lord .” In all this Job did not sin nor charge God with wrong. (Job 1:20-22 NKJV)
When it comes to anyone who assists someone in suicide, both them and the recipient are guilty of murder in God’s eyes. In the following biblical account, the young man thought that King David would reward him for, so called, taking mercy on King Saul and ending his suffering. King David had no way of knowing the young man had actually lied (see 1 Chronicles 10:4) to try and elevate himself in front of King David. The plan backfired because King David carried out rightful justice for the crime the young man claimed he actually committed:
Then the young man who told him (David) said, “As I happened by chance to be on Mount Gilboa, there was Saul, leaning on his spear; and indeed the chariots and horsemen followed hard after him. Now when he looked behind him, he saw me and called to me. And I answered, ‘Here I am.’ He said to me again, ‘Please stand over me and kill me, for anguish has come upon me, but my life still remains in me.’ So I stood over him and killed him, because I was sure that he could not live after he had fallen. And I took the crown that was on his head and the bracelet that was on his arm, and have brought them here to my lord.” So David said to him, “How was it you were not afraid to put forth your hand to destroy the Lord ’s anointed?” Then David called one of the young men and said, “Go near, and execute him!” And he struck him so that he died. So David said to him, “Your blood is on your own head, for your own mouth has testified against you, saying, ‘I have killed the Lord ’s anointed.’ ” (II Samuel 1:6-7, 9-10, 14-16 NKJV)
Abortion and assisted suicide are two scourges of our society. We may have the power by unjust laws to allow them, but we do not have the true authority. Only God does! Those that seize upon a false authority will face God’s judgment because of it.
The following verses from Psalm 139 make it perfectly clear that the Lord takes interest in every single soul that has, is, or will exist. Being a true born again believer means that we relinquish the decisions in our life to our Creator and Judge, no matter how difficult it is to relinquish them. That is the true meaning of making Jesus ‘The Lord of Your Life’:
O lord , you have examined my heart and know everything about me. You know when I sit down or stand up. You know my thoughts even when I’m far away. You see me when I travel and when I rest at home. You know everything I do. You know what I am going to say even before I say it, lord . You go before me and follow me. You place your hand of blessing on my head. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, too great for me to understand! I can never escape from your Spirit! I can never get away from your presence! If I go up to heaven, you are there; if I go down to the grave, you are there. If I ride the wings of the morning, if I dwell by the farthest oceans, even there your hand will guide me, and your strength will support me. I could ask the darkness to hide me and the light around me to become night— but even in darkness I cannot hide from you. To you the night shines as bright as day. Darkness and light are the same to you. You made all the delicate, inner parts of my body and knit me together in my mother’s womb. Thank you for making me so wonderfully complex! Your workmanship is marvelous—how well I know it. You watched me as I was being formed in utter seclusion, as I was woven together in the dark of the womb. You saw me before I was born. Every day of my life was recorded in your book. Every moment was laid out before a single day had passed. How precious are your thoughts about me, O God. They cannot be numbered! I can’t even count them; they outnumber the grains of sand! And when I wake up, you are still with me! Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. Point out anything in me that offends you, and lead me along the path of everlasting life. (Psalms 139:1-18, 23-24 NLT)
The preciousness of life has always risen above the want to end suffering even in many non-Christian societies. The original Hippocratic Oath written in Greek in the 5th Century BC for doctors contains this:
With regard to healing the sick, I will devise and order for them the best diet, according to my judgement and means; and I will take care that they suffer no hurt or damage.
Nor shall any man’s entreaty prevail upon me to administer poison to anyone; neither will I counsel any man to do so. Moreover, I will get no sort of medicine to any pregnant woman, with a view to destroy the child.
Luke, who was a physician by profession, records these words of Jesus almost 500 years after the Hippocratic Oath, further supporting the preciousness of life:
But Jesus knew their thoughts. He said to the man with the deformed hand, “Come and stand in front of everyone.” So the man came forward. Then Jesus said to his critics, “I have a question for you. Does the law permit good deeds on the Sabbath, or is it a day for doing evil? Is this a day to save life or to destroy it?” (Luke 6:8-9)
This brings us to a simple question:
Does any action taken preserve or destroy life?
Suicide to end suffering definitely destroys life. And yes, this most definitely includes those with terminal illnesses. Because of the fact that suicide destroys life, this removes it from being an option in God’s eyes. But the Lord does give other options. One of those is devine healing. Look at all the desperate people that were healed as recorded in the four Gospels and the book of Acts. For those who were not healed, Jesus gives the grace to endure:
I (Paul) was given a thorn in my flesh, a messenger from Satan to torment me and keep me from becoming proud. Three different times I begged the Lord to take it away. Each time he said, “My grace is all you need. My power works best in weakness.” So now I am glad to boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ can work through me. That’s why I take pleasure in my weaknesses, and in the insults, hardships, persecutions, and troubles that I suffer for Christ. For when I am weak, then I am strong. (2 Corinthians 12:7-10 NLT)
The Lord further ensures us that nothing that we cannot endure will be laid upon us:
No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it. (I Corinthians 10:13 NKJV)
So my friend, if you are looking at suicide to end suffering, I have a question for you: Have you truly given Jesus a try? Only Satan makes you think your case is hopeless.
Have you asked Jesus to cleanse you of your sins, which are more deadly than any disease or suffering? Because without Jesus, all you will accomplish with suicide is enter an eternity of suffering. Ask Jesus now to reveal Himself to you and heal you both in body and soul! No case is too hard for Jesus! Only with Jesus will you have eternal life with no more suffering or tears:
And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away. (Revelation 21:4 NKJV)
Annointing 