The Church of England has come out in favour of allowing doctors to let seriously or severely ill newborn babies die.
Here's where I stand on this. First, babies should be fed and cared for; they should not just be "allowed to die" and starved to death. They should be cared for and comforted. However, I think there may be cases where going to extraordinary means to maintain life though artificial devices, such as being strapped to a machine, may not be warranted. [I am open to hear other views on this position; I may be wrong.] In some cases, just as at the end of life, it may be best to "let nature run its course".
From what I have read, the Church of England is advocating a more radical approach one that would not just withhold extraordinary medical interventions but which would, in effect, abandon a child and let him or her starve to death. This position would, in time, no doubt lead to active euthanasia of infants.
Here's my view on this;
We were all -- every human being -- disabled and malformed through sin. We may not see ourselves this way; but God does. Jeremiah said that the heart of man was "desperately wicked". Jesus spoke of a wicked and sinful generation.
God could just "let us die". He was just when he destroyed the world of old by a flood, and merciful when he spared eight souls. If God were to let us all die, he would be just to do so.
Those who favour euthanasia of the disabled should, logically, accept that it would be just as right for they themselves to be killed by God, since, in His sight, we are all disabled; we all fall well short of his original plan and intent for humankind. I suspect that most of them do not hold to this view, and would attribute wrong-doing if not wickedness to God if He were to execute destructive judgement upon us.
INSTEAD!
Instead, he paid an incalculable cost -- the death of His own Son -- to redeem us. We are of infinite worth because of Christ's saving love. This is the heart of of why Christians value all human lives. First, because we are created by God. Secondly, because we are created in His image as the highest expression of His nature and glory on this earth, and thirdly, because of the infinite worth of the blood of Christ which was shed to redeem us.
Secular liberals who tout human rights and dignity conveniently forget where the basis for rights and essential dignity come from -- they come from the Christian view of man created in God's image.
When people rebel against God, and reject the light of the gospel, God gives them over to a reprobate mind; people think that they can adopt select ungodly, "liberal" positions, and then stop. They can't. The Anglican Church is showing every sign of being given over, by God, to a reprobate mind.
Which means, left to their own devices apart from the sovereign grace of God, their views will become more and more heretical and ungodly.
Understood in this light, it can be said that the latest position by the Church of England is shocking, and sad, but understandable.
And that's the way the Ball bounces.
2 comments:
What sort of future can we look forward to?
It is very depressing.
Some other religions believe that children who are born with deformities should be allowed to starve and die so they can be reborn again physically in a future reincarnation.
Since Christians do not believe in reincarnation, what is their justification for actually starving people?
Perhaps the next step will be to let an Anglican bishop starve to death when he is unable to take care of himself.
The Roman Catholics have it right.
http://www.breitbart.com/news/2006/11/14/061114121931.cz2p8l5u.html
The Vatican is at odds with the Church of England over moves to allow passive euthanasia in exceptional circumstances for some seriously disabled newborn babies.
"The life of an innocent being cannot be rubbed out, by whatever direct or indirect means," Cardinal Javier Lozano Barragan told the Corriere della Sera daily on Tuesday.
"Euthanasia is never accepted ... be it for the terminally ill or for babies, even when they are born with severe handicaps," said Barragan, the head of the Vatican Council for Pastoral Assistance to Health Care Workers.
The Observer newspaper reported in London on Sunday that the Church of England made a submission to a British medical ethics committee looking at the implications of keeping severely premature babies alive through technological advances.
The Bishop of Southwark, Tom Butler, reportedly wrote that "it may in some circumstances be right to choose to withhold or withdraw treatment, knowing it will possibly, probably, or even certainly result in death."
"There may be occasions where, for a Christian, compassion will override the 'rule' that life should inevitably be preserved," the south London bishop is said to have written.
"Disproportionate treatment for the sake of prolonging life is an example of this."
Last week, Britain's Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists called for a debate on whether deliberate medical intervention to cause the death of severely disabled newborn babies should be legalised.
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