The Good Samaritan didn’t offer lethal drugs to the dying. Neither should we

“Oh that I might have my request, that God would grant what I hope for, that God would be willing to crush me, to let loose his had and cut off my life! Then I would have this consolation, my joy in unrelenting pain, that I had not denied the words of the Holy One.” (Job 6:8-10)

So said Job, the righteous man who lost everything. God permitted Satan to attack him. He went from prosperity and health to poverty and the darkness of physical, mental, and spiritual pain almost overnight.

Job’s situation is one we all fear. Especially if we are older, or we’ve experienced a terminal diagnosis and have just months left to live. Those of us facing such a situation might be tempted by the offer of an assisted suicide. If we are living with dementia or Alzheimer’s or Parkinson’s, we face a highly uncertain future. Knowing we could end our life would allow us to miss the worst of the suffering.

For anyone in this situation, they may soon have the option of assisted suicide. Kim Leadbeater MP, the sister of the murdered MP Jo Cox, came top in the recent private members bill ballot. She has decided to bring forward an assisted suicide bill. This will be presented on 16 October and there could be a vote as soon as 25 October. Sir Keir Starmer is known to be supportive. This all means a law change could happen very quickly.

Over the next few weeks, we will have the opportunity to debate the merits of changing the current law. At the moment, assisting someone to commit suicide is illegal under section 2 of the 1961 Suicide Act. Assisted suicide campaigners want a law that says an adult with six months or less to live can have the option of obtaining lethal drugs from a doctor, which they can use to end their life.

This is a law change that some people in the Church seem to support as well. In the name of love, they argue, we should support this change. After all, what is loving about allowing someone to carry on suffering? I think this line of thinking is understandable, but I also think it is wholly wrong.

What God says

Christians are surely duty bound to turn to the Bible to discover what God’s word says. Has he revealed whether it is morally right or wrong? What principles should guide our thinking?  

Let’s think about the Parable of the Good Samaritan. Here is a social outcast. He’s been beaten up and left at the side of the road to suffer and die. The logic of assisted suicide would open the door to potentially offering this man lethal drugs. With him so close to death, and his wounds so severe, some may wonder, why prolong the suffering? Even if he was to recover with treatment and care, what are the chances of continued, valued living anyway? He might never be able to walk again.

As shocking as this reasoning is, it’s exactly what we hear in countries with permissive assisted suicide and euthanasia laws.

How could Christians support a law that teaches us some people’s value can expire?

Assisted suicide would have the biggest impact on those who are already on the margins of our society. It is the frail and those living with disabilities who would come under a subtle, but pernicious pressure to die in order not to be a burden on others, or the NHS. How many Brits facing a terminal diagnosis on top of poverty, loneliness, and lack of access to good care would see death as the ‘best option’ for them?

No number of safeguards could stop such outcomes. Safeguards cannot alter people’s perceptions. By changing the current law and introducing assisted suicide, you are sending a message to our society that some lives are less valuable than others. The law as a teacher is saying that someone’s value can run out if their life looks a certain way. You are saying that sometimes it is better for a person not to exist.

Love your neighbour

What is the lesson of the Good Samaritan? It is two-fold. We must be on the side of the outcast because they are our neighbour. And there is no limit to who our neighbour is! Jesus told us to love our neighbours as ourselves. How could we back a law that will bring huge pressure on those around us who are already struggling? How could we support a law that teaches us some people’s value can expire?

And with what God has given us, we must move towards them to love and help. In the Parable, a Samaritan moves towards his neighbour, not with lethal drugs, but with genuine compassion and support. He walks alongside the wounded man, he affirms his dignity, he says to the man: it is good you exist! And he sacrifices his own time, energy, and resources to ensure that his neighbour has the care he needs. Legalising assisted suicide sends a very different message: it suggests there are times where it is better that we do not exist.

Let’s go back to the story of Job. This man had reached the point where he wanted to die. He had lost so much. Proponents of assisted suicide would affirm this desire. But here is the thing - his desires changed! God’s response was not to grant his wish, but to meet him in his darkness with counsel, help and even rebuke and challenge. How valuable a lesson this is for us as we approach the issue of assisted suicide. Now is not the time, but the book of Job has so much to teach us about the redemptive power of suffering. Our society has wholly lost any such perspective.

In the Christian worldview, compassion goes hand in hand with love and it means suffering alongside another. It means carrying one another’s burdens. It means affirming intrinsic dignity. It means using all the means of palliative medicine and end of life care to help someone nearing the end. It means leaving space so that a dying man or women has time to mend broken relationships and set their affairs in order.

There are many, many powerful secular arguments against assisted suicide. I mighty humbly add that there are even more powerful Christian reasons to oppose it. My prayer is that the church engages in this debate with truth and grace, holding out the better story that says to our neighbour: ‘I am glad you exist. What can I do help you in this season?’