Christian Politics –
Part
3: Matters of Life and Death – Suicide
& Euthanasia
Pastor Bruce A. Shields
House
of Faith Church | www.PS127.org
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SERMON
INTRODUCTION
Last week we examined what the Word of God had
to say about whether it was important for Christians to participate in
elections, and whether or not Jesus Himself would vote if He were physically
here in the United States.
We see scripture establishes some of the
following facts about Christians and politics.
Ø Do not conform (to the world) but be transformed by the
renewing of your mind. (Romans 12:2)
Ø Everything we say and do should be a reflection of this transformation,
the way we think, the way we talk, the things we do and support, everything.
Ø John the Baptist said in Matthew 3:8-10 “Produce fruit in keeping with repentance and do not think you can say
to yourselves, “we have Abraham as our father.”…the axe is already at the root
of the trees, and every tree that does not produce good fruit will be cut down
and thrown into the fire.
2 Chronicles 7:14 “if my people, who are called by my name (Christians), will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked
ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal
their land.”
Over the next few
weeks, we will be looking at some of the following issues.
Ø Would Jesus vote if He were physically here in the USA today?
Ø What about the matters of life and death?
o
Healthcare
o
Suicide & Euthanasia
o
Abortion & Stem Cells
Ø Crime and punishment
Ø War, defense, and national security
Ø Guns and matters of defense
Ø Immigration and matters of national security
Ø Marriage
Ø Education
Ø Economy, budget, trade, campaign finances
Ø Green Values
These are the major issues at hand today, and we
need to remember, we have the choice to defend values during an election for our
nation.
Today we will be discussing suicide and euthanasia.
SCRIPTURE READING
Deuteronomy 30:19a
“This day I call the heavens and the earth as
witnesses against you that I have set before you life and death, blessings and
curses. Now choose life…”
I.
What “is” suicide and euthanasia?
a.
Suicide (the word)
i. The term
suicide can be traced to Oxford English Dictionary 1651
ii. Before
this term self-murder was usually used in its place
b.
Euthanasia (the word)
i. Is from
the Greek word’s Eu (meaning well) and Thanatos (death)
ii. Meaning
“well-death” or “mercy-killing”
c.
In both suicide and euthanasia
someone decides, and someone dies
i. Suicide a person decides to murder
themselves
ii. Euthanasia a doctor/patient/insurer/government
decides to murder someone either by means of action or passively
1. Active suicide/euthanasia
would be to “cause death through actions performed upon victim”
2. Passive
would be to cause a death through not-preventing causality of death. (i.e.
removing feeding tube, not providing medicine/treatments needed to prevent
death)
iii. Whether
active or passive, suicide and euthanasia is someone deciding death upon a
living person through their action or inaction.
II.
What does the bible say about it?
a.
What about the 10 commands? (Exodus
20)
i. You shall
have no other gods
ii. You shall
not make idols
iii. You shall
not take the Lords name in vain
iv. Keep the
sabbath day holy
v. Honor your
mother and father
vi. You shall
not murder
vii. You shall
not commit adultery
viii. You shall
not steal
ix. You shall
not lie
x. You shall
not covet
xi. The sixth command,
you shall not murder, the word used for murder in the original Hebrew is
ratsach, which literally means “murder”
xii. In Hebrew chalal
means “kill”
b.
Why does it matter if we say kill or
murder in the commands of God?
i. Because
there is a difference between kill and murder.
ii. Our modern
laws recognize and reflect this in our court systems.
iii. If I lose
control of my car because of icy conditions and “kill” a pedestrian, someone is
still dead by my actions, however I did not willfully seek out to end another’s
life because I am wicked.
1. Exodus 23:7 “don’t
murder the innocent, for I will not justify the wicked.”
iv. Wicked and
evil people seek out the deaths of others, and God says He will not justify
them.
v. If I drive
my car onto the sidewalk and run over a pedestrian, someone is dead from my
actions, however, they were murdered, not killed.
1.
Both situations involved me driving a car into
people, and someone is dead from my actions, YET, in one case they were killed,
in the other, murdered.
vi. The Bible
states you shall not “murder”
vii. Remember,
there IS justifiable killing, both in the bible and our lives here on earth.
1.
Remember, God allows us to defend our homes,
family and belongings!
2. Exodus 22:2a “If a thief is caught
breaking in at night and is struck a fatal blow, the defender is not guilty of
bloodshed;”
3. This is a
killing, not murder.
viii. So, God
says “murder” is a sin, but killing (justifiable) is not
c. So, is suicide and euthanasia killing or murder?
i. First and
foremost, only God can judge this!
1. Only God
can know and understand our hearts Jeremiah 17:9-10
2. The Lord
judges us by our hearts, not any outward appearances 1 Samuel 16:7
ii. We cannot
know or understand fully another person’s heart or mind, where they are
mentally, emotionally, intellectually, spiritually, we can only judge to the
best of our ability from their fruit.
iii. However,
the actions themselves (suicide and euthanasia) we CAN judge, just not the
people taking these actions.
iv. There may
be a case where God deems something a killing that we see as murder, it is for
Him alone to judge.
v. However,
the Augustine teaching adopted by the Catholic church that “Suicide is an
unforgivable sin”, is both nonsense in the fact that we cannot see a man’s
heart, and unscriptural.
vi. The ONLY
unforgivable sin is blasphemy of the Holy Spirit according to the actual bible,
simply meaning, anyone who denies salvation brought about by the Holy Spirit
through Christ Jesus will NOT be forgiven and condemned. Makes perfect sense.
d. What are some examples of Suicide & Euthanasia in scripture?
i. Judges 9:54; 1 Samuel 17:23; 2 Samuel 17:23; 1 Kings
16:18; Judges 16:29-30; Acts 16:27-28
1. We see
here examples of suicides form many “reasons”, everything from “I don’t want
the enemy to get me”, to “I betrayed Christ”
2. Some of
these are examples of euthanasia as well, Abimelech not wanting to be captured
after being mortally wounded, etc.
ii. By the
way, true martyrdom is NOT considered suicide, dying for preaching the word
(even if you know they will kill you) doesn’t count.
1. ALSO,
tying a bomb to yourself or shooting up a bunch of people in the name of God is
NOT martyrdom!
2. This falls
under “murdering innocent lives” which we read in Exodus 23:7 is considered a
sin to God and breaks the 6th command.
iii. Exodus 20:13 you shall not murder
iv. Deuteronomy 30:19 “This day
I call the heavens and the earth as witnesses against you that I have set
before you life and death, blessings and curses. Now choose life…”
v. Job 1:21 Life is God’s to give and
take
vi. 1 Corinthians 6:19 “Do you
not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom
you have received from God? You are not your own;”
III.
How should followers of Christ
view/vote about it?
a.
72% in a Gallup poll believe
i. Doctors
should be allowed to end a patient’s life
ii. We are not
talking about making a dying patient comfortable before death, but taking their
life.
b.
Though we cannot judge a someone’s
heart, we can judge the act
i. Suicide is
wrong because you are deciding whether you live or die rather than God.
Murdering yourself is still committing murder, which is a sin
ii. Our bodies
belong to the Lord, they are not our property, and we do not have the right to
destroy them
iii. Euthanasia
is wrong for the same reasons, murder is a sin, and it is not for us to decide
whether anyone should live or die.
c.
What about voting?
i. Suicide
and euthanasia only become voting issues when the government tries to control
them through either a government healthcare system, or private providers
through laws allowing the legal murder of others.
ii. “Doctor or
assisted suicide” being legal does not make it moral.
iii. Morality
cannot be determined by society which is in a constant state of decline.
iv. We must,
as proclaiming followers of Christ, “vote” biblical morality and God’s values
into our system if we wish our government system to reflect God’s values.
CONCLUSION – Do you
want to live in a Christian Nation?
If we allow the
government to decide what is moral, we may one day find ourselves in a nation
where the ritualistic murders of babies and virgins are socially acceptable as
the case of the Mayans.
The perfect case
where society and government determined morality.
Our government has
already deemed it “moral” to murder babies through abortion, nearly 1,000,000
per year.
And now we see a push
from pedophiles to make their immoral and abusive sexuality socially
acceptable. With who knows how many thousands of perverts there are in Hollywood
perverting the minds of youth through movies, in government with perverse laws
and bills, Disney twisting the perceptions and making our kids numb to
perversion so they will readily accept it, it may not be long before pedophiles
too are accepted by our society.
We must vote God’s
morality into office if we ever want to see our children protected by ourn
moral decisions.
Honor God with your
body (1 Corinthians 6:19-20)
And as John the
Baptist said, show fruits worthy of your repentance.
We must renew our
minds and have a mind like Christ in our actions, thoughts and deeds if we are
to create a world, nation, government, state, town, home where the moral laws
of God will protect our children and the next generation of those who love the
Lord.
NEXT WEEK: Part 4 - Matters
of Life and Death – Abortions and Stem Cells
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