Christian Arguments Against Euthanasia
Christian ethics can be defined as the way of life appropriate for those who accept the Christian faith. Christian ethics helps someone who accepts the Christian faith to make decisions about what is right thinking or right action. Right thinking helps Christians to determine the motives for their right actions. There are many different variants of Christianity- Catholic, Orthodox, Anglican, Uniting, Reformed, Pentecostal, Presbyterian, Baptist and many others. Within each of these variants there are some people who are very conservative, others who are fundamentalist and still others who are liberals. This means that there are many different views among Christians about what is right action or right thinking. Christian ethics therefore helps
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The arguments are usually based on the beliefs that life is given by god, and that human beings are made in Gods image. Some churches also emphasise the importance of not interfering with the natural process of death. Human beings are valuable because they are made in Gods image, human life possesses an intrinsic dignity and value because it is created by god in his own image for the distinctive destiny of sharing in Gods own life. People have a unique capacity for rational existence that enables them to see what is good, to propose euthanasia for an individual is to judge that the current life of that individual is not worthwhile, such a judgement is incompatible with recognising the worth and dignity of the person to be killed, therefore arguments based on the quality of life are completely irrelevant nor should anyone ask for euthanasia for themselves because no one has the right to value anyone, even themselves, as worthless. The process of dying is spiritually important and shouldn’t be disrupted, many churches believe that the period just before death is a profoundly spiritual time and they think it is wrong to interfere with the process of dying as this would interrupt the process of the spirit moving towards god. The Fifth Commandment clearly states that it is wrong to take another human life “you shall not murder”(Exodus 20:13). The bible doesn’t give any specific teaching on euthanasia, but many Christians would use this commandment to argue that euthanasia is not permitted. The Roman Catholic Church regards euthanasia as morally wrong. It has always taught the absolute and unchanging value of the commandment “you shall not kill”. Pope John Paul II has spoken out against what he calls a ‘culture of death’ in modern society and said that human beings should always prefer the way of life to the way of death. Life is a thing of value in itself, its value doesn’t depend on the extent that it brings pleasure and
The arguments are usually based on the beliefs that life is given by god, and that human beings are made in Gods image. Some churches also emphasise the importance of not interfering with the natural process of death. Human beings are valuable because they are made in Gods image, human life possesses an intrinsic dignity and value because it is created by god in his own image for the distinctive destiny of sharing in Gods own life. People have a unique capacity for rational existence that enables them to see what is good, to propose euthanasia for an individual is to judge that the current life of that individual is not worthwhile, such a judgement is incompatible with recognising the worth and dignity of the person to be killed, therefore arguments based on the quality of life are completely irrelevant nor should anyone ask for euthanasia for themselves because no one has the right to value anyone, even themselves, as worthless. The process of dying is spiritually important and shouldn’t be disrupted, many churches believe that the period just before death is a profoundly spiritual time and they think it is wrong to interfere with the process of dying as this would interrupt the process of the spirit moving towards god. The Fifth Commandment clearly states that it is wrong to take another human life “you shall not murder”(Exodus 20:13). The bible doesn’t give any specific teaching on euthanasia, but many Christians would use this commandment to argue that euthanasia is not permitted. The Roman Catholic Church regards euthanasia as morally wrong. It has always taught the absolute and unchanging value of the commandment “you shall not kill”. Pope John Paul II has spoken out against what he calls a ‘culture of death’ in modern society and said that human beings should always prefer the way of life to the way of death. Life is a thing of value in itself, its value doesn’t depend on the extent that it brings pleasure and