John Piper, a noted pastor, author, chancellor of Bethlehem College & Seminary among other accomplishments, has noted that “Death, by God’s design, is the physical mirror of the moral outrage of human rebellion against God.”

Predictably, an effort is underway across the country and again here in Alaska to legalize assisted suicide. As Alaska Family Council has noted previously, regardless of intentions, this is a dangerous and wrong path to take.

This coming Monday, January 11th at 5:30pm, Alaskans will have an opportunity to hear both sides of this issue at the second “Arguing Alaska” Debate Series. As was the case last time when I served on the debate panel regarding another issue, the event takes place at the Beartooth Theatre Pub and is being put on as a fundraiser for the nationally ranked University of Alaska Anchorage Seawolf Debate Team. I can personally attest to the quality of the program. It’s not something you want to miss.

Tickets are $15 and can be purchased HERE at the Arguing Alaska website.

The resolution being debated is “Alaska should allow terminally ill patients to end their lives with the assistance of a physician”

Again, if you are in a position to attend, I’d highly recommend it.

In the end, quite literally, as Christians, it boils down to the following question that Piper notes in his piece.

How Then Shall We Die?

“How then should we think about our rights with regard to death? Should life be in our control? Does it belong to us, to create or eliminate?

The apostle Paul did not leave us without help on this question. Whose are we? To whom do we belong? Who owns our body? He answers: “Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body” (1 Corinthians 6:19–20).

These words were spoken to guide us in relation to our sexuality. But the principle holds for death. The more serious the consequences in regard to body and soul, the more firmly the principle holds. And death brings the greatest consequences to soul and body. It is the moment that sets the final destiny of both (Luke 16:26; Hebrews 9:27). Therefore, the principle holds at death: We are not our own.

Our bodies — their life, their death — belong to Christ. He bought them. They are not ours to dispose of as we will. They are his. And they exist for his will, and his glory.”

This life brings tremendous hardships at every stage of the journey but “The sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us.” (Romans 8:18)

For those of us who have loved ones who have departed, there is no greater truth.

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A bill to legalize doctor-prescribed suicide in Alaska has been scheduled for public testimony, via teleconference, on Thursday, April 9 at 3 p.m. House Bill 99, sponsored by Anchorage Democrats Rep. Harriet Drummond, Rep. Andy Josephson and Rep. Max Gruenberg, would permit doctors to prescribe lethal drugs to patients for the purpose of suicide.

Opponents of the practice believe that patients – including those with terminal illness – need proper care, not destruction.

Anchorage Archbishop Roger Schwietz, who leads 30,000 Catholics across Southcentral Alaska, strongly opposes the bill, saying it is not about granting people a so-called “right to die,” but pushing “doctors to prescribe lethal drugs to kill people.”

“In a state with a suicide rate twice the national average, we are now proposing that it should be legal in some instances,” Archbishop Schwietz told the Catholic Anchor. “What kind of message does this send to our youth? In their young minds, they look at life without the practical experience that comes from age. They may view their situation as equally depressing or as terminal as someone with an illness. They see no way out. ‘If it’s okay for those who have no hope of regaining their health to kill themselves, why can’t I?’”

The proposed Alaska bill is part of a national drive by an outside group called Compassion & Choices, formerly the Hemlock Society. To date, doctor-prescribed suicide is legal in Oregon, Washington, Vermont and Montana.

In a press release on her HB 99, Drummond lauded the Oregon law in particular, which has resulted in over 300 deaths since 1998.

Access Alaska, a disability advocacy group in Anchorage, posted a strongly worded rebuttal to doctor-prescribed suicide shortly after Drummond introduced HB 99.

“What looks to some like a choice to die begins to look more like a duty to die to many disability activists,” Access Alaska posted to its Facebook page. “If the values of liberty dictate that society legalizes assisted suicide, then legalize it for everyone who asks for it, not just the devalued old, ill and disabled. Otherwise, what looks like freedom is really only discrimination.”

The post was a quotation from Diane Coleman, president and CEO of Not Dead Yet¸ a national disability rights group that opposes doctor-prescribed suicide. (See “Bill to Legalize Assisted Suicide in Alaska Scheduled for Public Comment”, originally posted HERE)

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