Posted on 11/01/2014 11:34:33 AM PDT by CHRISTIAN DIARIST
It’s November 1, the day Brittany Maynard vowed to kill herself. The 29-year-old California woman says she no longer finds life worth living after being diagnosed this past spring with stage 4 glioblastoma, a malignant brain tumor.
Brittany has become the poster girl for “Compassion & Choices, ” a so-called “end-of-life choice” advocacy organization that is fighting to increase the number of stateS with so-called “Death With Dignity” laws on the books.
The model is Oregon, the state to which Brittany relocated this past summer because her home state of California doesn’t allow physician-assisted suicide (at least for now).
Oregon is one of five states – along with Montana, Washington, New Mexico and Vermont – that allow doctors to prescribe lethal doses of medication to patients like Brittany, diagnosed with terminal illnesses, longing for a premature death.
And Compassion & Choices has campaigns underway underway in four other states to legalize euthanasia – Colorado, Connecticut, Massachusetts and, of course, California (so terminally ill residents like Brittany don’t have to go all the way to Oregon to kill themselves).
If the pro-euthanasia movement succeeds in nearly doubling the number of states with “Death With Dignity” laws, it will only be a matter of time before physician-assisted suicide is routine throughout the county – like physician-assisted abortion.
Indeed, just as Planned Parenthood soft-pedals abortion as “reproductive health care,” Compassion & Choices portrays euthanasia as end-of-life “comfort and control.”
And they are shamelessly exploiting terminally ill Brittany, casting her as the face of the euthanasia movement and even setting up The Brittany Maynard Fund not to benefit her family – she and her recently-wed husband are childless – but to raise money to further Compassion & Choices’ political advocacy.
Well, as a Christ follower who this very year was a pallbearer at his 83-year-old father-in-law’s funeral, who had no moral qualms with the family’s decision not to resuscitate him when he drew his last breath, I have nothing but empathy for those who find themselves in similar situations.
But it’s one thing to allow a natural death, and quite another to actively terminate life, as in the case of euthanasia.
Indeed, God’s precious gift of life is cheapened when we send off the terminally ill, like Brittany, to a hasty death.
If we accept euthanasia today for those diagnosed with six months to live, do we accept it tomorrow for anyone with a terminal illness – cancer, Alzheimer’s, whatever – no matter how far they may be from death’s door?
Is it hard to imagine Compassion & Choices one day begging the question why the “comfort and choice” of euthanasia should be limited strictly to those with terminal illnesses?
What about those of weakened mind or sinew who feel that their quality of life has so deteriorated that death would be welcome?
And why should euthanasia be restricted to adults only? What about the infant suffering from a fatal illness? Why not put the child out of his or her misery?
Because life is sacred, as the Scripture reminds.
“Do you not know,” the Apostle Paul wrote, “that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit? You are not our own. You were bought with a price.”
It is the gravest of all sins, what is known as Sin against the Holy Ghost and is flat-out rejection of God.>>>>>>
What about the Christian who dies by refusing to deny Christ? could that be suicide in some cases? did he personally put himself in that position because he wanted to go home?
Does any one know what it means to want to go home?
It is the gravest of all sins,>>>>>>
1 Cor 6
18 Flee fornication. Every sin that a man doeth is without the body; but he that committeth fornication sinneth against his own body.
Not sure if I agree or disagree but I think we need to let God worry about this.
If she is a follower of Jesus Christ as her only Savior, yes.
Exactly
Forgiveness is preceded by repentance.
This is where you've taken it out of context. Bold comments are mine and not Scripture.
James 2:19-24
But someone may well say, “You have faith and I have works; show me your faith without the works, and I will show you my faith by my works.”
19You believe that God is one. You do well; the demons also believe, and shudder.
this belief by the demons is not the belief Christians have in Christ. it is intellectual belief. not saving belief.
20But are you willing to recognize, you foolish fellow, that faith without works is useless?
notice James doesn't say you don't have faith. it's just useless, dead, or unprofitable.
21Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered up Isaac his son on the altar?
Let's keep the timeline in perspective here as this will clear up the misunderstanding.
Genesis 15:6..The he believed in the Lord, and He reckoned it to him as righteousness.
The Greek indicates he is made right. In other words his faith was made right.
Genesis 22 deals with Abraham and Isaac. Genesis 22:1 notes that God tested Abraham. No where does Scripture suggest God was going to take Abraham's faith away if he failed the text. And no where does Scripture say God ever takes away our faith. No where.
As we know Abraham passed the test, justifying the faith he had in God.
James goes on to state that his faith was perfected. Abraham, because of his belief in God, trusted that God would fulfill His end of the Covenant that Isaac would be his heir one way or the other.
22You see that faith was working with his works, and as a result of the works, faith was perfected;
23and the Scripture was fulfilled which says, “AND ABRAHAM BELIEVED GOD, AND IT WAS RECKONED TO HIM AS RIGHTEOUSNESS,” and he was called the friend of God.
24You see that a man is justified by works and not by faith alone.
“Forgiveness is preceded by repentance. “
If she entrusted herself to Christ for salvation, yes, that implies a change of heart. That said, at that moment, all her sins, past, present and future have been dealt with judicially and paid for with the blood and death of Christ.
If she began the repentance/reformation/regeneration process in this life, it will be continued into the next.
Character flaws are specific - it's required that they be addressed individually if they are to be set aside and forgiven.
Hey Benny....we aren’t talking about ANYONE.....we are talking about GOD....and he doesn’t take to suicide!! HE is in charge of when someone dies.
Get real.....suicide is NOT what God wants.
uh.....you got that all wrong.
Who is Lauren Hill?
WRONGO!!! Jesus said that the ONLY sin that CANNOT be forgiven is the sin AGAINST the HOLY SPIRIT!!!!
You can NOT be that stupid....or are you not a Christian??
So, the woman standing at the window on the 105th floor of the WTC on 9/11 feels the flames and decides to close her eyes and step out rather than burn to a crisp, you’ve doomed her to hell?
The Marine who sees a grenade land in the midst of his compatriots, and jumps on it knowing full well he will die, you’ve doomed him to hell?
A person chooses to hasten her imminent and inevitable death in order to end her pain, you’ve doomed her to hell?
Who’s playing God now? What kind of crazy, death-obsessed God is angered by one of his own robbing Him of the opportunity to determine the time of death? That God is not described in the Bible I read.
Neither is the guy who hops into the grenade. Point is, there’s more context than meets the eye.
Brittany seems to have accepted God’s edict that she must die, which has been given to her in the plainest of terms. What is she expected to do, vainly fight against the inevitable by undergoing chemo, radiation or whatever else is out there? How is that not fighting against the will of God?
Or the Secret Service agent who takes a bullet for the elected official he’s assigned to protect?
I attempted suicide a number of years ago. I was mentally ill. Am I condemned to hell?
And that particular sin, if you will recall the passage, was regarding the Pharisees accusing Jesus driving out demons by the power of beelzebul...Satan. This situation cannot occur today.
For context,
Matthew 12:25-32. Jesus knew their thoughts and said to them, “Every kingdom divided against itself will be ruined, and every city or household divided against itself will not stand. 26If Satan drives out Satan, he is divided against himself. How then can his kingdom stand? 27And if I drive out demons by Beelzebul, by whom do your people drive them out? So then, they will be your judges. 28But if it is by the Spirit of God that I drive out demons, then the kingdom of God has come upon you. 29“Or again, how can anyone enter a strong man’s house and carry off his possessions unless he first ties up the strong man? Then he can plunder his house. 30“Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters. 31And so I tell you, every kind of sin and slander can be forgiven, but blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven. 32Anyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven, but anyone who speaks against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven, either in this age or in the age to come.
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