The word Euthanasia comes from two Greek words which together mean “good health.” Administering active euthanasia could be understood as “inducing the death of a person who is undergoing intense suffering, and who has no realistic hope of recovery.” The main motive behind euthanasia is to release a person from his misery, and active euthanasia is often called “mercy killing.”We now know the first type of euthanasia is active euthanasia, or inducing death. The second type of euthanasia is passive euthanasia, which is “choosing not to provide or withdrawing life-sustaining equipment, surgery or medications from a patient, when such action may result in his death. Passive euthanasia does not take his life but allows the person to live or die without extraordinary medical efforts to keep him alive. Sometimes people have lived much longer than anticipated and some have even fully recovered when such life support techniques have been withdrawn in passive euthanasia.
In active and passive euthanasia we break them down even further defining each into categories. We have voluntary active euthanasia, involuntary active euthanasia, voluntary passive euthanasia, involuntary passive euthanasia. Each of these categories may include a number of variables from case to case. The big question, is euthanasia morally right or wrong? Well, put yourself in the shoes of many facing the same question. Your child is born with a severe mental handicap that does not allow him to even breath properly. Your mother has terminal cancer, her suffering is horribly painful, and she pleads with you to give her a pill that will put her to sleep for good. Your father has been in a coma for 12 months and depends on a hospital respirator for every breath. Now consider the advances of modern technology and how it is able to sustain life far beyond the point of where death should have occurred naturally.
These great advances are sometimes the curse and not the cure, not just for the ones suffering the illness but also for the loved ones and families who must sit by and watch the suffering that will surely end in death anyway. And now I ask. What should the Christian think in such a case? What should he do? What does the Bible say?The Bible offers many relevant ethical issues regarding euthanasia which usually fall into three categories-direct commands, examples and principles. “Thou shalt not kill”” Whoso sheddeth man’s blood, by man shall his blood be shed, for in the image of GOD made he man” “And Jesus went about all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the Kingdom, and healing every sickness and every disease among the people”The Bible clearly tells us not to kill. However, the Bible talks a lot about having mercy on ones neighbors and loved ones.
