Regional Synod of Canada - Reformed Church in America

Pioneer Christian Monthly

Date - Sept/65

Contributor - Bill Roth

Title - Euthanasia:

Topic - Euthanasia:

"To be, or not to be". Almost everyone knows that these famous words were spoken by Shakespeare's Hamlet when he was contemplating suicide. Few people would argue that there is any moral justification for suicide, even though no-one else is physically harmed by it. The Christian's simple answer is the sixth commandment and the scientist's answer is that all living things have a desire to live, and to end life would be morally wrong. And with that we sweep aside the question whether suicide can be moral. Moreover, a person who thinks of committing suicide is usually afraid of life and its troubles, and we don't like cowards.

There is, however, another kind of killing which seems respectable to many people. Indeed, many proponents of this theory seem to have very plausible arguments that cannot so easily be brushed aside by our Christian platitudes. I myself do not have a Christian answer for the advocates of euthanasia, commonly known as : "mercy-killing", because of my lack of research and I have never seen an article written about it by any professing Christian. Undoubtedly there must be some material on the subject.

One especially becomes aware of the problem when he visits, as we as Reformed Junior Youth Fellowship group did, a home for retarded children, like the one Mr. Vos operates at Doon, Ont. Here children are cared for with all sorts of physical deformities and in various stages of mental retardation that in many cases accompany each other. Most of the children are kept under constant sedation in order to prevent them from getting out of control and hurting themselves. Some of these children even live in a void; their existence is like that of a plant. After we had walked through the building we were told that these children at Doon were not the really bad ones; those were kept at Waterloo.

After seeing this miserable heap of humanity the question arose in my mind, and I am sure also in other minds, "What is the use of keeping these children alive ? Would it not be better for everyone concerned that they, however harsh the words may sound, were put to death?" Impious questions? Perhaps: yet one cannot help but wonder.

Looking at it in purely monetary terms, the money spent on these children could be used, for instance on mission fields to feed and clothe children in Korea and China. The time and care given to them may be to greater advantage in the slums of the larger cities if given to children who are physically and mentally fit.

Against these arguments stands God's command, "Thou shalt not kill". Yet, we do kill! Many Christians have killed and died fighting during the last two world wars. Different circumstances?

Yes: but the same result. Moreover, some Christians still believe that the death penalty should be enforced and they quote the Mosaic law, "an eye for an eye',, or, "if any man kills another man, let him be put to death". It may be true that a murderer by taking someone else's life forfeits his right to live, but does that give someone else, or society as a whole, the right to kill him ? They may be able to contribute more than a helpless, unconscious child who lives in a void.

There is another question for which I have no answer. What or who causes these children to be born; to exist like vegetables ? God ? I hardly think so, for God cannot be the author of something imperfect. The Christian answer, I think, is that they are the result of evil; not necessarily committed by their parents, but the result of evil in general. Since all mankind, through original sin, is responsible for evil, so he must perhaps also carry the burden and sorrow of raising these children. just as sickness is the result of evil, so the mental and physical shortcomings of these children are the result of the destructive force of the evil one. But does this mean that as we try to destroy sickness while healing a sick person, we should perhaps destroy these children ? God's Word tells us that they too are created in the image of God and therefore perhaps, should not be destroyed. The question then comes up, "What is God's image and what do we understand by that?" Surely these children do not represent God physically. What then do we mean when- we speak of God's image ? Must it not be something that sets man apart from the material and animal world ? There is, for instance the reasoning faculty. But we are told that some, if not most of these children have no power of thought. Then there also is the soul of man that marks him off from animal life. It is perhaps here that the answer lies, but I am afraid I cannot find it. Maybe someone more "expert" could answer these questions for us.

I am aware that I have not provided any answers to the question of mercy-killing. I have simply written to stir up some interest in the subject in the hope that I have invited some response. God knows the reasons and one day we too shall know the why's and the wherefore's. Mr. Vos summed it up reverently, "For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face".

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