I saw an article the other day that said that the Netherlands has euthanized its first child, a one-year-old, under a new law. The country has allowed voluntary euthanasia since 2002, the first country to do so, but they recently expanded their law to allow for the euthanasia of suffering children. In the referenced article, the report said, “Every facet of ‘being human’ in terms of motor skills, behavior and personality was severely affected, and there would be no improvement.”
This report recognizes something interesting: human life is valuable. However, in their eyes, what makes human life uniquely valuable is determined by the function of the human. This qualification of the value of life allows the parents, doctors, and board of reviewers to conclude that a child from 1–12 years old can legally be euthanized if the child is terminally ill or suffering unbearably without hope of improvement.
The questions that I have been wrestling with are these: Who determines the value of life? Who determines when life can be taken acceptably? What is the threshold of suffering that allows for life to be taken?
The Bible provides guidance in these matters that sheds light on how the Christian should see ethical issues such as these.
- Our God is a God of life. In John 5:26, Jesus says that the Father “has life in himself.” God exists, and no life exists outside of the influence or provision of life from God. God is self-existent, and all that lives depends on his source of life.
- God assigns great value to human life. We were made in God’s image (Gen 1:26–27), which makes human life sacred. To redeem humanity from death, he granted life to Jesus, the Son (Jn 5:26), who gave his own life for the spiritual lives of humanity (Phil 2:6–8).
- Death is a consequence of sin. Death is introduced to when humanity exits in the garden (Gen 3:19). God hates physical death, even the death of the wicked (Ezek 18:23; 33:11). However, he hates the death of the spirit even more, as this has eternal consequences (something he recognizes in Matt 10:28).
- Murder is a sin. Adam and Eve showed a disregard for the sanctity and value of life by allowing sin to enter the world, but their firstborn son showed disregard for the sanctity and value of life by committing the first murder against Abel (Gen 4:8–16). Murder can be defined as “the unlawful killing of a human being without lawful justification or excuse.” Murder is condemned in the Bible in multiple places (Gen 9:6; Ex 20:13; Lev 24:17), not because ending life is inherently wrong (killing animals is frequently expected), but because human beings are uniquely valuable. Killing innocent people shows a disregard for what God deems extremely valuable.
God views human life as sacred. We are the only beings who have the capacity to have a relationship with him, and the only ones who are made to represent him to the world. One’s ability to have developed motor skills, mature behavior, or personality does not make one human. Rather, God assigns value to each person in that we each possess his own image.
Nate Kidwell
Dalraida church of Christ is a congregation of Christians that meet in the mid-town area of Montgomery, Alabama. Our goal and purpose is to seek and follow God and His Word in everything that we do in life.