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1995-01-16
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ESSAY 44
THE "EUTHANASIA" MYTH
The word EUTHANASIA is a transliteration of a compound
Greek word EU "well" + THANATOS "death" which means "dying
well." Euthanasia or "Mercy Killing" as it is commonly call-
ed can be either passive or active. Active euthanasia in-
volves murder. Passive euthanasia involves allowing someone
to die.
When King Saul was critically wounded in his final
battle, he asked his armor-bearer to kill him. When the
armor-bearer would not, King Saul fell on his own sword and
killed himself. A young Amalekite runner brought the news to
David and took credit for killing King Saul. The runner
thought that this would place him in good stead with David.
However, David had the runner executed, and declared a time
of mourning for King Saul. (1 Samuel 31 and 2 Samuel 1). So
much for active euthanasia in the Old Testament!
When Jesus was approached by someone needing healing,
he never said, "Kill this man--he's terminal!" Neither did
he say, "Withhold food and water and all extraordinary means
and let him die with dignity!" Just what did Jesus do? He
simply healed the person! There is no record in the New
Testament that Jesus ever rejected anyone for healing who
asked.
A phrase used by the United States death movement is
DEATH WITH DIGNITY. It was probably used first in a book
published in Germany in 1920 by Karl Binding and Alfred
Hoche, THE RELEASE OF THE DESTRUCTION OF LIFE DEVOID OF
VALUE. In Germany, FIRST CAME THE EUTHANASIA MOVEMENT,
FOLLOWED BY THE GENOCIDE MOVEMENT. (Francis A. Schaeffer
and C. Everett Koop, M.D., WHATEVER HAPPENED TO THE HUMAN
RACE?, p. 90).
Passive euthanasia is deliberately allowing someone to
die without taking action to save that person's life. If one
is perceived as being "terminally ill," family and doctor may
want to withhold EXTRAORDINARY MEANS in order not to "delay
the death process." How does one define "terminally ill?"
Some say that occurs when the EEG goes flat. But I know an
Army Chaplain whose son was in an accident and there was
no perceptible brainwave--then it returned!
Everyone is "terminally ill." Everyone goes through a
process of developing, then degeneration--a process of dying.
What is "extraordinary means?" In the past, it was intrave-
nous fluids and oxygen. Then, it became "respirators, pace-
makers and heart-lung machines." Then it became surgery for
newborns with severe birth defects. (Schaeffer and Koop,
WHATEVER HAPPENED TO THE HUMAN RACE?, pp. 90-91).
Active euthanasia is the deliberate taking of human
life. The Hemlock Society, established by Derek Humphry in
1980, is pushing for the taking of human life. [Derek
Humphry, FINAL EXIT: THE PRACTICALITIES OF SELF-DELIVERANCE
AND ASSISTED SUICIDE FOR THE DYING (Eugene, OR: Hemlock
Society, 1991)]. Humphry's book is a manual on how to commit
suicide.
"Suicide is the beginning, not the end!" insists Pastor
E. V. Hill, and he is right!
And still Dr. Jack Kevorkian continues to take the lives
of his "patients." It appears that this retired pathologist
is pathological himself.
These leaders in the death movement are immoral and may
be breaking laws. Dr. J. Engelburt Dunphy cites the dynamics
of this kind of movement:
History shows clearly the frighteningly short
steps from "the living will" to "death control" to
"thought control" and finally to the systematic
elimination of all but those selected for slavery
or to make up the master race. (Schaeffer and Koop,
WHATEVER HAPPENED TO THE HUMAN RACE?, p. 57).
Important Note: For a comprehensive treatment of euthanasia,
see the following resource:
Rita Marker, DEADLY COMPASSION. New York: William Morrow
and Company, Inc., 1993.
It comes down to the simple choice of life or death. Choose
God. Choose life.
END