“I wouldn’t want to live as a human vegetable because I wouldn’t want to become a burden on my family.” “I don’t want to be kept alive by machines. If I’m ever in that condition, just let me go.” People make such statements more and more these days, especially senior adults. There is a genuine fear of overtreatment, loss of control over decisions at the end of life, of life being stripped of dignity and meaning, and being victimized by a ruthless disease. People fear becoming the pawn of an impersonal medical bureaucracy, nervous physicians or guilt-ridden family members.

The line between living and dying vanishes as we rely more on technology to resist death. Before the advent of resuscitation techniques, life support equipment and organ replacement surgery, most people experienced sudden, quick deaths. Today, medical technology is able to extend the experience of dying. 

Everyone knows by now that the rewards of modern medicine are mixed. The routine use of organ transplants, artificial body parts, mechanical life support and other life extension technologies might cause one think death itself is on the endangered species list. Each day, the media report new cures for the physical problems that plague us and the biological catastrophes that kill us. It is as if death itself can be eliminated, that every cause of death is only a contingency. Just as smallpox, diphtheria, typhoid and typhus have been virtually eliminated, might cancer, heart disease and Alzheimer’s disease be done away with as well someday? Overall, society has a stubborn, optimistic faith in modern medicine. 

But our technology does not always work as good as we hope. Some people are left by life extension technology in a state of being not quite dead but not quite alive, at least in terms of what many consider a “quality of life.” This is what people fear most, and out of this fear has sprung a vocal “death with dignity” movement, claiming we must respond to the problem by expanding personal control over death, including the use of assisted suicide and euthanasia. In this context, assisted suicide and euthanasia are made to appear benevolent, morally appropriate responses to pain and suffering.

Most Christians sense that euthanasia and assisted suicide are wrong, but they are ill-equipped to express why. They are familiar with situations where loved ones experienced great pain and suffering prior to death, where medical intervention seemed to bring more harm than benefit. They have seen others struggle with the difficulty of medical decision making, the difficulty of dealing with geographic distances between family members, the strains of limited or fixed incomes, inadequate insurance coverage and the complexity of providing extended care. Any one of these factors can challenge the strongest of family bonds and cherished values. Together, they can be a formidable challenge to the sanctity of human life principle.

Does this mean that we should accept assisted suicide or euthanasia as one of the tragic choices we must make? Are we left to choose either a death by technological attenuation or one of human instrumentation? Must we use all of our technology to extend life lest we stand accused of killing someone by not using it? In other words, just because we can do something (technologically) to extend life, does this mean we must do it?

The simple answer is no. Just because a technology exists does not mean it is moral to use it. There are very sound reasons for resisting technological brinkmanship, and this can be done without compromising the conviction that human life is sacred.

1.      Recognize that death is a certainty.

Despite our best efforts, the death rate is still one per capita. The writer to the Hebrews affirms this when he says, “It is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment (Hebrews 9:27). Paul warned the Romans, “For the wages of sin is death . . . (Romans 6:23). In this respect, all medical care is merely an exchange of one disease process for another.

2.     Earthly bodily existence must not be made into an idol.

Christians are called to radical monotheism (Exodus 20:3). Just as we are not to worship any other God, we are not to worship God’s gifts to us. In this sense, we need to be careful not to make an idol out of earthly bodily existence. The sanctity of life principle does not require us to resist death at all cost. When a person is faced with an overwhelming illness (where death is expected in a short period of time), and where efforts to cure the underlying condition fail, our orientation toward this patient should be one of providing comfort care.

3.     Recognize the difference between killing and letting die

Christians know intuitively that eliminating suffering by eliminating the sufferer cannot be biblically justified. The Sixth Commandment prohibits such killing (Exodus 20:13). However, withdrawing or withholding non-beneficial medical treatment from an imminently dying person is not euthanasia. Any treatment that is ineffective or overly burdensome may be withheld or withdrawn. In such cases, the cause of death is the patient’s underlying condition, not the removal of non-beneficial medical technologies.

There is a significant difference between what nature does to us (i.e., natural death) and what we do to others. Allowing a person to die is only possible if there is an underlying condition causing death. If a healthy person is placed on a ventilator, he or she will not die if the ventilator is turned off because his or her lungs are healthy. It is quite a different matter, however, for a physician to inject this person with a drug that paralyzes his or her lungs.

Allowing death to occur is mainly a recognition that technology has its limits. If one gives up shoveling a driveway during a heavy snowstorm it does not mean that he or she intends to have the driveway filled with snow. It simply means that he or she recognizes limitations in the face of overwhelming, uncontrollable circumstances. For the most part, nature kills us with events, illnesses and diseases that are not completely controllable by human interventions. Since death is biologically inevitable sooner or later, we can hardly be said to “intend” death by admitting that we can no longer stop it. At some point in everyone’s life medical treatment will be incapable of holding death at bay.

4.  Acceptance of Death is not the same as claiming a “Right to Die.”

Accepting death when it can no longer be resisted is not the same as choosing death, and controlling the means by which it occurs. Advocates of assisted suicide are too quick to embrace death as a “friend,” losing sight of its role as an “enemy.”[1] Ultimately, the  calling for the Christian patient is neither self-preservation nor self-destruction, but to trust and obey God, knowing that his grace will be sufficient (2 Corinthians 12:9). Death is not some glorious event to be sought for and embraced. It remains an evil, therefore, we must not cause or hasten death. John Kilner writes, “The desire to control death becomes even more suspicious when we recall that death is the means God used to keep in check the rebellious attempt to become God.”[2] Theologically speaking, even if we construct the broadest possible notion of Christian stewardship, it is impossible to find a right to fashion death to one’s own specifications.

5.  Believers have victory over death through Christ.

According to the Bible, Heaven is a wonderful place. Yet many Christians appear very reluctant to go there, clinging to earthly existence with all their might. In one sense we should not easily release our grip on life. It is here that we reach the lost with the message of salvation and minister to one another in the Body of Christ. Yet, this is not the believer’s home (Philippians 3:20).

For this reason, we live with the paradox of not wanting to live longer than God wills for us, but not wanting to leave behind loved ones. Paul expressed this dilemma when he wrote, “For me to live is Christ, but to die is gain . . . for I am in a strait betwixt two, having a desire to depart, and to be with Christ; which is far better: nevertheless to abide in the flesh is more needful for you” (Philippians 1:21,23). Although death is an enemy, Christians have victory over death through the resurrection of Jesus Christ (1 Corinthians 15:54-56). Rather than being called to resist death at every turn, Christians are called to live a life of submission to the will of God, including his will concerning how long earthly life will be (Psalm 34:9; 1 Samuel 2:6). While treating death as a “friend” may overstate the case somewhat, the Bible does say, “Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints” (Psalm 116:115).