Assisted Dying Would Be ‘Profoundly Christian And Moral’ – Former Archbishop of Canterbury

Telegraph (UK) ^ | August 12, 2015

[Steelfish]

Assisted Dying Would Be ‘Profoundly Christian And Moral’ – Former Archbishop of Canterbury Lord Carey dismisses ‘pain is noble’ claim as Church of England brands assisted dying criminally naive

By John Bingham, 12 Aug 2015 Allowing doctors to help terminally ill people to take their own lives would be a “profoundly Christian and moral thing” to do, the former Archbishop of Canterbury Lord Carey has insisted.

He dismissed arguments that enduring pain at the end of life is a “noble thing” and insisted that proper legal safeguards could be devised to ensure vulnerable people are not pressurised into ending their lives by greedy relatives.

His remarks, ahead of a Commons vote on assisted dying, underline a growing rift with the official position of the Church he once led. It came as one senior Church of England official condemned the attempts to change Britain’s euthanasia laws as “criminally naive”.

[Fungi]

Let us start with you.

[hinckley buzzard]

I don't know where he gets the "pain is noble" thing. That's what painkillers are for. Nothing virtuous about being in pain if you don't have to be..

[Huntress]

I do not accept the premise that people who WANT (or think they want) to die NEED HELP to die. With the exception of people who are paralyzed or otherwise completely immobile, someone who really has the will to die will find a way to do so. Those who enlist “assistance” to die have reservations about it and want someone else to make the decision and do the deed for them, or they are succumbing to pressure from others.

[RobbyS]

“There is no nobility in enduring pain.” If that endurance has purpose, yes there is. Sometimes there is no avoiding pain.

[sparklite2]

ensure vulnerable people are not pressurised

[steve86]

Nothing virtuous about being in pain if you don't have to be..

Actually there is. Read up on "mortification of the flesh" and "redemptive suffering".

[A CA Guy]

By all means the archbishop first.

[The Ghost of FReepers Past]

No it would not.

[cherry]

agreed.....there is no need to assist dying....it happens, all by itself....

the patient can simply stop eating and drinking, take pain meds....death can not be denied, especially when the patient is already terminally ill....death would be welcomed.

[dadfly]

leftist strawman. of course pain does not equal nobility. pain has nothing to do with any moral principle.

the endurance of pain, as our Lord did before and on the cross had a purpose. it is the pain that serves a godly purpose that is noble.

[RginTN]

I notice these leftwing “Chirstians” never quote scripture to back up their leftwing ideas

[NRx]

And the Anglicans continue their steady slide into apostasy.

[Secret Agent Man]

Easing pain is not same as killing early with overdoses.

Hospices manage pain, they have no desire to end life early.

[amihow]

Some hospices hasten death with overdoses of pain meds.

The moral principle that has existed for longest time and still works is to give as much pain medication as necessary to relieve suffering even if it secondarily hastens death.

Not morally permissible is giving more medication than necessary and causing death.

[metmom]

“There is no nobility in enduring pain.” If that endurance has purpose, yes there is. Sometimes there is no avoiding pain.

Go ahead. Fill us in on the purpose for enduring pain and tell us why it's so noble.

[HiTech RedNeck]

Many Christian sects idolize suffering per se, thinking any suffering ipso facto is in conformance to Christ’s suffering.

They were among those who fought against the adoption of modern surgical anesthesia, believing it better that the patient should be in full faculties.

They were wrong: suffering for the sake of works of love always makes sense because it is upheld by Christ’s suffering, but otherwise it is a self centered fetish. Why would the Lord say “I desire mercy, not sacrifice.”

To kill oneself would be a sin, but to risk death because of a treatment for pain would not be.

[HiTech RedNeck]

The moral permission to put oneself to death would soon become the responsibility to do so. Without something that says “stop” the slope is greased Teflon.

[mlizzy]

Read up on "mortification of the flesh" and "redemptive suffering."

Consequent upon her deep Eucharistic love coupled with passionate Marian coredemptive fervor, Gemma was led to the ultimate sacrifice of her life in union with Jesus our Redeemer and Mary our Coredemptrix. On June 8, 1899, she first received the Sacred Stigmata, a major crowning point in her life of ultimate union with Our Lord on the Cross. From that point on, every Thursday around 8 p.m. she would weekly receive this redemptive experience which would remain until Friday around 3 p.m.

The other horrendous experience which she also received was His Crowning with thorns, such that once Christ “appeared to her crowned with thorns, and, taking the crown from off His own head, He placed it on hers…This wonderful phenomenon recurred regularly for some time from the Thursday to the Friday of each week, and even continued after the stigmata in the hands, feet, and side had ceased…Sometimes, when at supper…drops of blood appeared upon her forehead, which…trickled down her cheeks and neck”[22].

This very unique sharing in the sufferings of Christ came about through her sweeping, overwhelming desire to be united intimately with Jesus, particularly His Agony and Passion in which as Christians we find our hope, fulfilled in the Resurrection. -regarding Gemma Galgani

http://www.stgemmagalgani.com/2011/12/spirituality-of-st-gemma-galgani.html#sthash.SHfRbBr4.dpuf