4-3-2016 Bioethics Part 51

In this transcription, a pastor discusses the importance of talking about difficult topics such as suicide, physician-assisted suicide, euthanasia, and the distinction between killing and letting die. He emphasizes the need for careful answers and the significance of love of neighbor. The pastor also touches on the increasing complexity of death and dying due to technological advances and the desire to extend healthspan rather than lifespan. He mentions that people today are more afraid and anxious about death, despite advancements in medical technology. The pastor explores the concept of death with dignity and the assumption that individuals have the right to die when, where, and how they choose. He mentions the current status of physician-assisted suicide in some states and the complicated nature of condemning suicide. The discussion revolves around personal autonomy and the notion of being maximally free. The pastor concludes by stating that the conversation will focus on Christians All right, let's pray and get started. God, we pray that as we talk about these things this morning, that you would give us understanding, that you would enlighten us, in order that we might be a light to others. In Jesus' name we pray, amen. We are in the midst of a rather extensive section in our study on bioethics, looking at the subject of death and dying. Why on earth should anybody do such a thing? We're all going to die. There you go. Good. What else? People we know are going to die. There you go. What else? What about death itself? It's not natural, right? Is dying easy? No. Is dying getting more easy? No, it's getting way more complicated. So, it is worth talking about these things. Having taken a look at how virtues shape the way we view death, and also what death actually is, and then, for the last couple weeks, looking at the complex issue of organ donation, and if Christians can morally participate in it, we're now going to turn to an area that is much more difficult, if not more vital to talk about. For the coming weeks, I don't know how long exactly it's going to take, we will be looking at the subjects of suicide, physician-assisted suicide, euthanasia, and the critical distinction that we have to make between killing and letting die. As with many of the things that we've talked about during this time, we'll be going slowly on purpose, but we will be taking our time, because very hard topics demand careful answers. It is way too easy to be simplistic on things like this. You might not like to talk about this. In fact, I think if you did like to talk about this, there might be something a little strange. It's not easy to talk about these things, but it is vitally important, because they are surely faced by those around us and possibly ourselves. Taking the time to talk about these things is one of the billion things that constitutes love of neighbor. If you have not thought about these things, then when your friend, relative, neighbor is suicidal, what are you going to do? What are you going to do? And don't think for a minute that that won't happen to you, because statistically it probably will. Humans have always had to consider the issue of suicide and killing. It's not something that's new. However, due to continuing technological advances, we have seen this issue get more and more complicated as time has gone by. The ability to cure disease and extend life has had a number of effects in the world. One of those effects is that people live longer and therefore experience what? More difficulty. Define what difficulty is. Illness? Suffering? Yeah, great. You mean just physical? Mental, that's right. Though we keep pushing the boundaries of lifespan, we are to the point in human progress where there are some who I believe are rightly saying that we should stop seeking to extend lifespan and instead seek to extend something they're terming healthspan, because living longer is becoming more and more difficult for those who experience an extended aging period. Because of this very thing of the longer we're living, the more difficulties we're experiencing. And so if we can't live healthy lives, then for example, if many people who, not everybody, but many people who live to 100 years old through the help of medical technology are experiencing extreme amounts of depression and physical pain, then why on earth would we be spending our time and resources trying to push it out to 120? It doesn't make sense. Now, if we could do that in a healthy way, then that's a different conversation. But the question is, could that even be possible? The irony is that for all the promise of technology today, people today are actually more afraid of death than they used to be, more anxious about death than they used to be, not less. People used to be very accustomed to death. It was normal. It was expected. It was assumed. Now it comes as a shock, which is a very weird paradox. We've kind of talked about this before, because every single person in here knows, like at least hypothetically, that they are going to die because everybody else who has ever lived has died. Therefore, you will die. But somehow, the existential part of dying, the feeling, the knowing that I, me, going to die and experiencing that is rather traumatic. David Van Drunen says, we continue to marvel at each new medical advance, yet often shudder when to contemplate being a recipient of such advances, at least for too long and under the wrong circumstances. The longer life can be preserved, it seems, the more interested people show in death, quote, unquote, with dignity. One of my favorite musical artists named Jason Isbell, and in one of the songs of his, this is my favorite, there's a line that goes like this. There's one thing that's real clear to me. There is no death with dignity. Now, there is a very real sense in which that is true, even in the best of cases. You and I might strive for it. In Christ, we might attain a degree of dying with dignity, depending on how we define that. Dying in the hope of the gospel and stuff. But still, dying is a rather undignified event. You usually die in a way that leaves you in a state of fear. You feel undignified. Death with dignity is a nicer way of saying what people usually mean. They ought to have the legal right to die because nobody wants to die without dignity. Therefore, the assumption in our society is, in order to preserve dignity, you have the right to die when, where, and how you choose. This includes the right of people to take their own life. It includes the right of doctors to help those people who desire to take their own life, or even to make decisions for others when we deem them to be living a quote-unquote undignified life. That's what we would consider euthanasia. Now, even that last part gets insanely complicated when we try to define who's the we that makes that determination, and what's the standard upon which we base a life to be undignified. But all in good time, we will get there. Much of the talk in defense of these things rests on people's human rights, on the notions of personal autonomy, and the mastery of the natural world. The cry of the modern man is, I am the captain of my own ship. I am the master of my own destiny. I control my fate. Which sounds really cool when, like, you know, somebody's climbing a mountain or something. It sounds a little different when somebody has stage four cancer and is suffering every day of their lives. They still say it, and they still mean it. Five states currently have legalized physician-assisted suicide. Those states being Oregon, Washington, California, Vermont, and kind of Montana. It's through the courts. You don't just have the right to do it yourself. More states are likely to come. As with most things, the southern states will probably be later on the list, but we're looking at most likely all states having this in place sooner or later. Now, it might be easy to condemn suicide, but on what basis? Well, our position is infinitely more complicated because you and I ought not to believe, indeed, we should not believe, that illness should not or should always be combated. We've seen this before. All illness should not be combated. There is a very real sense in which some people at some times, in some circumstances, ought to give up. And we also do not believe that life always should be extended. So, if we did believe those things, then it would be much easier to argue against suicide. But we do indeed not do not believe in those things. So, what's the way forward? This won't be a public policy discussion. We did kind of get a brief look at that when we were in organ donation. This is going to be a pastor talking to Christians. So, looking at all these things, we'll start looking at the issue of suicide. We are very much in shock when somebody kills another person, correct? At the same time, we, particularly kind of, in what would be considered to be culturally, quote-unquote, the West, have, for a very long time, held that people ought to be free in what they desire to do with their own stuff, right? Current debates in the United States over tax law reflect this notion. How dare the government tell me what I do with my money? Abortion laws. How dare the government tell me what I do with my body? Right to die advocates. How dare the government tell me what I ought to do with my own life? Same thing. Is personal liberty a bad thing? Yes or no? No. It's funny, like, not very many people answer that question. Is this where Jeremy turns into a communist? No, not necessarily. Of course, you and I are not free to do whatever we want, correct? Give me something you are not free to do in our society. Jake? Kill other people. Okay, good. Anything else? Steal from them. Okay, good. We can go on and on. We do not believe in absolute autonomy, right? That creates a society that could be characterized, even in generalized terms, and no, people who actually consider themselves to be this actually believe this. But if there was a society in which you could do whatever you wanted, what would that be considered? Anarchy. That's right. Now, there are currently anarchists who, I don't know a single one that's mildly intelligent, that does believe that you should be able to do whatever you want from whomever you want. All people seem to be arguing that humans ought to be what we would consider maximally free. Okay, that's the term. Maximally free. Every fight we have in society and in the church comes in defining what maximally means. It applies to things like abortion, and it applies to things like the speed limit, and it applies to things like whether or not Christians should watch radar or movies. What does it mean to be maximally free? One argument for suicide is that people's bodies belong to them. It's my personal property. The government didn't give it to me. They ought not take it from me. So, I can do with my body what I want, including the decision to end my life. And as Christians, we would agree that you can do a lot with your body, right? Like, it is yours. There are some who would like to restrict a lot of what you can do with your body. What's one thing that Christians are often in debate about, about whether you can do it with your body or not? Alcohol tattoos. Alcohol tattoos, huh? They have tattoos. They have tattoos. Alcohol tattoos, huh? Dance. Brian loves drinking and dancing, everybody. There it is. That's right. Even some things like men can't have long hair and women can't have short hair, right? You can only, you can't color your hair. You can't wear makeup. You, you know, you have to wear makeup. All kinds of crazy stuff. We believe that you have a rather large amount of freedom when it comes to your body. But does a person own their own body? That's the question. Is it your personal property? Do you have the right to end your life because you don't feel like living anymore? Christians have almost always answered that question in the negative. You do not have that right. Your body does not belong to you necessarily in that ultimate sense. Nor do you possess the right to just give up on life should you so desire. It is answering the follow-up question, why, that gets a little tricky. Why do we not have that right? Huh? Well, yeah, okay, good. Thanks for stealing my thunder. We were, the question is, does that pertain to your body? Right? So, we can say all day long, yeah, we're purchased with a price. But that seems to be about redemption. And people would say that, yes, that has to do with my soul. It's at least not clear that it has to do with our bodies. Yes, he did. We are created by God. That is absolutely and completely true. However, that does not mean that we cannot take our own lives should we so desire. The two prominent arguments, this is good. I'm glad we have better theological arguments than most people give. We have a creational argument. And we have a kind of redemption argument or a salvific argument. These are good. The two common arguments that we hear are, you shouldn't take your own life. You shouldn't take your own life because you shouldn't play God. Or, you shouldn't take your life because that's not God's will. There are about 4,000 problems with both of those answers. Anybody have an idea of what would be a complication of those answers? What is God's will? Yes. Right. What else? There we go. Yeah, can you? There's a sense in which, yes. You shouldn't steal. And people steal all the time. Are you breaking God's will? Yes and no. That's the answer. We'll get into the two wills of God at some other point. Here's the thing. There is no way to determine what the will of God is necessarily in every instance. And number two, playing God is not something that you have hardly ever taken into consideration in almost any decision you've ever made. Have you ever stopped and gone, wait a second, I might be playing God here. I don't know if I should ask this person to marry me. Or, hold on, I don't know if I should take this job or not. I don't want to play God or anything. I'll just not take this job. Of course you haven't because you are a sane and rational human being. That doesn't come out. Imagine that there is a building on fire. Imagine that there is a building on fire. And in that building, there is a human being. I know the human being is in the fire. And not only that, but I know the human being is alive in the fire. And I run into the building to get the person who's on fire. And I run out with the person. Is anybody that's standing on the lawn going to come up to me and go, you jerk. How dare you play God? How dare you go against the will of God? Anybody gonna say that? Absolutely not. Nobody in their right mind is going to do that. Therefore, it is also true that when it comes to suicide, it is simplistic and not necessarily wrong, but not nearly enough to just be like, you shouldn't play God. And you shouldn't go against the will of God. You gotta say something more. It has to go beyond that. But what do we say? The Bible actually has quite a bit to say that pertains to the topic of suicide. Notice that I am carefully avoiding the false notion that the Bible has all kinds of things to say about suicide. No, it doesn't. It has things that talk about and about that pertain to the issue. But the Bible is not a bioethics manual, just as much as it is not a science book or a political document. There are things that are political in there. There are things that would pertain to science in there. But that is not the purpose for which it was written. And I would definitely not want anybody to leave here today thinking, I know the Bible, I learned in Sunday school this morning, the Bible is an anti-suicide manual. False. It is not. Now, if you would open with me to the book of Ecclesiastes, chapter 3, we begin to see a number of things that pertain to the issue. Ecclesiastes chapter 3. Just read verse 2. We'll begin verse 1. For everything there is a season, a time for every matter under heaven, a time to be born and a time to die, a time to plant and a time to pluck up what is planted. Also Ecclesiastes 8, verse 8. No man has the power to retain the spirit or power over the day of death. There is no discharge from war, no wickedness deliver those who are given to it. Nobody can control death. There's other verses we could look at, but these will suffice for now. You and I have to recognize from the beginning of our lives, our lives are going to end. Every single person here is a dead person walking. And this does not mean that we should be apathetic towards death, that you should just like buckle down and just realize that one day you're going to die. Don't worry about it, right? Don't pursue your goals, don't pursue your dreams, because your life is useless because you're going to die. I would assume that only immortality in this life makes anything worthwhile, which is not true. What we should do though is live and act in humility towards God, especially in the matters of life and death, knowing that there is a very strange sense in which you and I are not the masters of our own destiny. Now, you will come up to a point where you have to decide whether to take a job or not take a job, and you will either take that job or you will not take that job, and in some sense that is being the master of your own destiny, right? You could sit there and all day long pray for God to reveal to you a sign, and what is the most likely thing that God is going to say? Nothing. There you go. Augustine got it right, which this is a very much truncated version of what he was saying, but he said, Love God and do what you will. Now, the first one norms the second, so you can't say I'm going to go rob a bank because that is not participating in the love of God, right? But if one is loving God, then they should pursue what they're desiring to pursue, in some sense that would be a master of your own destiny. However, it's all going to end in death, which is a very freeing thing in a very big sense. So, the sixth commandment is, anybody? Good guess. Yes, I should have just messed with everybody and gone like, what is this, you know, 14th commandment or something? Everybody goes, wait, hold on. Yes, thou shalt not kill. This seems like an open and shut case against suicide, doesn't it? Right, you quote the sixth commandment and there you go. Suicide is off the table. There's only two rather large problems with this idea. The first one is, is that there are very clearly in the Bible itself, clear injunctions that go against this commandment. We'll get to them in a moment. There's also the fact that nothing in the Bible ever explicitly condemns suicide. Thou shalt not kill does not say you shouldn't commit suicide. So, isn't the Bible silent on the matter? Now, remember that I'm playing devil's advocate, like always, to just like slow down if you're getting frustrated. We'll start with the first and then go on to the second. We have time, which I guarantee we won't. There are some exceptions to the command. Thou shalt not kill. Can anybody please, in the Bible itself, can anybody give me one exception to, huh? War, that's right. The only thing I'll do to modify that is say just war. Okay, what else? We'll define these in a moment. Sacrifices, okay. So, in that case, like human sacrifices? Animal sacrifices, good. Yeah, so there's animal things there. So, you go, so shall not kill. We at least have to define what killing is in that case, right? You all participate very ordinarily. I'm guessing the vast majority of you in the slaughter of animals. So, are you breaking the sixth command? Does that apply to that? At least it's a question, right, because it says just don't kill. Great, what else? Idolatry? Adultery, okay, yes. So, adultery in the Old Testament, there's people who die for that. What else? Okay, punishment in the Old Testament, great. Punishment in the Old Testament, great. Interesting, yes, there would be kind of passive forms of possibly something that somebody could consider murder where you put somebody outside the camp. Okay, yeah, Jesus was killed. We also have the idea of capital punishment, okay. And, lastly, which kind of plays into the adultery thing and also in the act of defending the life of another person. Let's walk through three of these just very briefly, right? This is not a talk on the sixth commandment necessarily, but this is going to play into our talk on suicide. So, capital punishment, go to Genesis chapter 9. By far, one of the most important chapters in the entire Bible. Genesis chapter 9, this is post flood. And, post the flood, you have God making a covenant with all creation. He says, whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed for God made man in his own image. So, this gets to the kind of creational thing that Hadassah is talking about before, at least when it relates to other people. No human being is to kill another human being. And, if a human being kills another human being, that person ought to be killed. Okay, this is what we have in this capital punishment. Capital punishment is vastly expanded in our own judicial system. And, I will not be commenting on our own judicial system, more than to say simply this, I am not sure if any judicial system can perfectly carry any of this out. I definitely know that the Bible only enjoins outside of a theocratic state that no longer exists in the nation of Israel, only enjoins capital punishment for one act, and that is the murder of another human being. So, capital punishment is an injunction, at least, on the sixth commandment. Then, there is war, or just war, staying in Genesis. We won't really read it, but over in 14, if you were here when we preached through this, here is where Abram, who is the man whom God has called to give the promises to, has a nephew, that nephew's name is Lot. Lot has chosen the nicer piece of land, closer to Sodom. Some raiders come in and take Lot and his family and the raiders. And Abram takes his servants, there is the battle of these kings, and three kings kind of win and take these people captive, including Lot and his family, and Abram and his servants go and take off after them, 300 and some change servants. So, when you think of kings, you should really think of small tribal rulers, we are not talking about like, you know, the kings of Israel, catches up to them, makes war with them, and captures them. This is what a just war is, it is in the protection of life itself. It is not war for the cause of honor, it has no notion of pre-emptive strikes, or anything like that. This, of course, is exempting, again, the very use of the word war, in the land of Israel, when the people of God are given to take over the land of Israel. A very much complicated, but one-time kind of action, unless you and I are the new people of Israel, called to carry out a holy war for a piece of dirt, if that is what you want to call it, then we are going to call it a holy war. Number three, is the defense of human life. There is, in the law, set up in Exodus chapter 22, this idea that if you are protecting the life of another, and that will require the taking of life, then you have to protect the life of another. So, if you are protecting the life of another, then you have to protect the life of another. So, if you are protecting the life of another, and that will require the taking of life of the aggressor by you, then that is permitted. Most cultures, through time, have held some variation of these three kinds of exemptions from the other general notion that is also held in cultures, that have no understanding of the Bible, that ordinarily, murder is wrong, but there are certain instances in which murder is permissible. What do all three of those things have in common? Justice, okay. What else? There you go. One person in all these cases is attempting, at least, to kill another person. All of these arise from a serious respect for the sixth commandment. They are carried out as a result, they're essentially the positive side of this commandment. The threat of a life being taken permits the taking of a life. Now, in a radically violent and reactionary culture, I have to point out that in two of these three instances, you are never permitted to take a life. Capital punishment is carried out by the capital, in the first case. In the second case, just war is not something that you commit against your neighbor because his dog is crapping on your lawn. In the third case, which is the defense of human life, even this is not something that you should glory in. I will attempt to remove myself from my soapbox, but if I could change one thing, it would be the fact that people, including and almost particularly Christians in our culture, seem to revel in the fact that they possess personal firearms with which to blow anybody away who determines to come into their home to commit something. It doesn't really matter what. There is never any, at all, for any reason, a desire that should be in the Christian heart to murder somebody else. It is always the most lamentable human action possible that one could commit against another human being. Always. In every case. And if that is not true, then you have a serious problem. Any killing that falls outside of the bounds that I have explained is distinctly, completely, and absolutely non-Christian. You and I do have to deal with the intricacies of life under the theocracy of Israel, however, we are never to be about the business of trying to justify killing, because it is the worst of all things. So what of suicide? It is clearly not in the defense of life, but the destruction of it. And when I say this, I'm defining suicide in a particular way. I'm not talking about suicidal acts. Can you please give me an act that is, quote-unquote, suicidal, but would not really fit under the rubric of suicide? Rubric of suicide. Okay, yeah. Walking on a tightrope, right? Suicide bombers? Okay, yeah, that would also probably not be technically under this, what we are considering to be suicide. It would be a suicidal action, right? But carried out for a very different purpose. Your desire is to die in the act of pursuing something else, not just merely end your own life, okay? Right, yes. General recklessness, drunk driving, for example. Absolutely. Anything else? Drug overdose? Good. You guys are all mixing like the one that everybody always points to. This is awesome. These are way better than the one that everybody always points to. It's the grenade that gets thrown into a group of people, right? And you throw yourself on the grenade, which will inevitably end in your own death, right? But you're doing it in order to save other people. Is that action suicidal? Yes, it is. It is. You're putting your own life on the line, as it were. And in that case, it is more virtuous that it's not just walking on tightrope or whatever. Have nothing against tightrope walkers. Like, go for it if that's your thing. Drunk driving is a different case. Drug overdoses are foolishness. But even in those cases, there is a very big distinction between drug overdoses. Now, there are people who could participate in drug overdose who are seeking to kill themselves, or drunk drivers who are seeking to kill themselves. But many times, it's not that way. It's just an inevitable result of acting in foolishness. When we're talking about suicide, we're talking about the destruction of one's own life due to any number of circumstances and causes that brings one to believe, for whatever reason, that life is preferable to death, or death is preferable to life. Suicide is very much, in that case, a breaking of the Sixth Commandment. There is no defense of any life going on whatsoever. So, we'll end there. Let me give you kind of a preview of where we're going. Next week, we're going to look at that second kind of objection that Scripture really never explicitly condemns the practice of suicide. That's at least the assertion. Then we are going to take up the pastoral point of what happens to those who do kill themselves. Also, the question, could any, quote-unquote, real Christian do such a thing? And, if so, do such Christians, quote-unquote, go to heaven? Questions that are very relevant and very necessary, and, sadly, have been answered in any number of ways, many of them foolish and reactionary. So, let's pray. Now, we thank you for this time, and we thank you for minds to be able to think through these issues. We know that there are so many around us, known and unknown, that wrestle with contemplating suicide, some very rarely and some on a daily basis. We do pray that you would give us a good understanding of why such a thing is wrong and how it is distinct from other kinds of things, that you would give us a real heart not to just condemn those who seek to pursue the avenue of suicide, but that we would understand it well, in order that we would be helpful. That we would understand that, as we saw on our, as we were going through the section on depression, that this is a very sad world that we live in, and it is very easy to see how suicide, and things like it, are sometimes the most rational of all possibilities. We pray all these things in Jesus' name. Amen.