The Creeping Tide of Euthanasia.
Two recent cases in the Courts give cause for serious concern. In both cases persons admitted that they had put to death seriously ill close relatives, one a wife, the other a mother, yet they were not sent to jail. In one case the Judge gave a two-year suspended sentence and in the other the Judge in that case gave a conditional discharge. In the first case the Judge is reported as saying: “I accept entirely that there was no malice in what you did. What you did, though clearly very wrong, was out of love to your wife.” In the second case, the Judge in that case is reported as saying that he was sure “that the distress of seeing your mother’s suffering was overwhelming for each of you. I accept that she pleaded with you to end her suffering. I also accept that you debated long before you decided to embark on the course you did.”
It would appear from these cases that to all intents and purposes legal sanction is being given to euthanasia. There does not appear to be anything in the treatment of these cases by the Judges involved which would act as any deterrent to others placed in similar circumstances from taking the life of a loved one. Obviously this type of killing has come to be regarded very sympathetically though it is still murder and violates the divine command: “Thou shalt not kill.” It is to be hoped that such lenient sentencing of such serious crimes will be reviewed.
Another case which also gives cause for serious concern is that of a seriously handicapped baby in which the Judge ruled that if the child fell critically ill again doctors need not carry out life-saving treatment. The Court of Appeal upheld this decision but stressed that the Courts could never let doctors deliberately terminate a life, yet there were extreme cases where painful treatment to prolong the life of the child would be “so cruel as to be intolerable.” The great danger in such cases as these is that the door will be opened for allowing seriously handicapped children to have their lives terminated soon after birth. Legal authority has already been given to terminate the lives of such children up to the moment of birth. The path to euthanasia or “mercy” killing is a slippery slope.
High suicide rate in Scotland
Scotland’s suicide rate is 30 per cent higher among men and 20 per cent higher among women than in England and Wales. The reason for this is not known. However we may be sure that disbelief in a lost eternity is a very potent factor in persons taking their own lives. If men and women realised the consequences of self murder they would not be so ready to hurl themselves into a lost eternity.
Irish R.C. Church Leader
Bishop Cahal Daly has become the new Archbishop of Armagh and R.C. Primate of Ireland in succession to Cardinal Tomas O’Fiaich who died, ironically, on a pilgrimage to Lourdes. The new Archbishop is reputed to be opposed to I.R.A. terrorism. If this is so, then it would be a welcome sign if he would continue to denounce the murderous tactics of the I.R.A. Without the support of the R.C. Church in Ireland over the years, it is difficult to see how the I.R.A. could have operated as it has done during that time.
A New Prime Minister
At the end of November Mr John Major, the former Chancellor of the Exchequer, succeeded Mrs Margaret Thatcher as Britain’s Prime Minister. Though little known when she became Prime Minister, Mrs Thatcher proved a strong Prime Minister, steadfast in seeking to maintain Britain’s interests and sovereignty, a firm upholder of the freedom of the individual, and a resolute opposer of systems of oppression and terror. Like many Prime Ministers before her, a solution to the Northern Ireland situation evaded her, her Anglo-Irish Agreement only exacerbating rather than alleviating the situation.
Mr John Major has formidable tasks confronting him, not least the threat of war with Iraq, the likelihood of which increases week by week. We would desire for the new Prime Minister the Lord’s guidance and blessing in order that he may lead the nation in a way that would be glorifying to God. We ask the praying people of the Church to remember him and his Government at a Throne of grace.
Infallibility of the Bible
Dr James Matheson, a former Moderator of the Church of Scotland, writes in their magazine, (Life and Work Nov. 1990), that there are two things which contribute to the little response to the presentation of the Faith, “One of the serious barriers to faith is the idea, still prevalent, that to be a Christian one has to accept the infallibility of the Scriptures.” Secondly, “I wonder if in our teaching we have given anything like enough emphasis to the Holy Spirit.”
It seems that Dr Matheson has not given anything like enough emphasis to the Holy Spirit in the inspiration of the Holy Scriptures. “All scripture is given by inspiration of God . . .” (2 Tim. 3: 16); “Holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost” (2 Peter 1: 21); “The scripture cannot be broken” (John 10: 35); “Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth” (John 17: 17).
The Spirit of Truth was promised by Christ to His apostles, “When he, the Spirit of Truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth” (John 16: 13). This truth was recorded in writing by the supernatural influence of the Holy Spirit so that we have an infallible Bible. When the Spirit of Truth convinces sinners of their sins, He shows them the truth using the Word of Truth, so that when they are born again of incorruptible seed, by the Word of God which liveth and abideth for ever, (1 Peter 1: 23), it is said, “of his own will begat he us with the word of truth” (James 1: 18). The godly are born again with the Word of Truth, by the Spirit of Truth and they become the children of Truth. “For this cause also thank we God without ceasing, because, when ye received the word of God which ye heard of us, ye received it not as the word of men, but as it is in truth, the word of God, which effectually worketh also in you that believe” (1 Thess. 2: 13).
D.M.B.