DYING TO KILL: A Christian Perspective on Euthanasia and Assisted Suicide

Front Cover
Christian Publishing House, Nov 26, 2014 - Religion - 420 pages

This is a comprehensive study of euthanasia and assisted suicide. It traces the historical debate, examines the legal status of such activity in different countries and explores the political, medical and moral matters surrounding these emotive and controversial subjects in various cultural contexts. The key advocates and pioneers of this agenda-driven movement (such as the late Jack Kevorkian, popularly known as “Dr. Death” and Philip Nitschke, founder of Exit International) are profiled. Not only are the elderly and disabled becoming increasingly vulnerable but children, psychiatric patients, the depressed and those who are simply tired of life are now on a slippery slope into a dystopian nightmare. The spotlight is brought to bear on the Netherlands, in particular, where palliative care and the hospice movement are greatly underdeveloped as a result of legalization. These dubious “services” are now offered as part of “normal” medical care in Holland where it is deemed more cost-effective to be given a lethal injection.


The vital role of physicians as healers in society must be preserved and the important but neglected spiritual dimension of death must be explored. Thus a biblical view of human life is presented. Death and bereavement are universal phenomena and people of all faiths and those of none have a legitimate right to comment. However, the historic Christian tradition is struggling to be heard in the clamor for personal autonomy and civil liberties in a multi-cultural society that is becoming increasingly secular. This work provides an ethical framework in which euthanasia and assisted suicide can be evaluated. These issues are on the radar indicating a collision course with Christian values. It is time for Christians to be alert and to present the case that these are not satisfactory solutions to legitimate end-of-life concerns. 

 

Contents

Acknowledgements
15
Introduction
21
You shall not Kill
52
Background to Euthanasia in
66
Society at Deaths Door
86
Brave New World
98
The Pied Piper of Hamelin
111
Suicide
121
Debate
188
Classification of Euthanasia 195 Voluntary Euthanasia 195 NonVoluntary Euthanasia 196 Involuntary Euthanasia 196 Passive and Active Euthanasia
196
Dignity in Dying
226
Exit International
243
Doctor Death
262
Palliative Care or Slippery Slope
285
A Biblical View of Life and Death
310
APPENDIX A The Sixth Commandment in the 21st
353

Sick Society
140
Politics of Death
156
Follow the Leader 172 Dying to Kill 172 Maine Referendum 173 The Oregon Experience 173 Opposition Coalition Formed 174 Polls Tell the Story ...
178
APPENDIX B Religious Views
369
Select Bibliography
417
Copyright

Common terms and phrases

About the author (2014)

 Pastor Kieran Beville (D.Litt, Ph.D, BA, PGDE) is Pastor of Lee Valley Bible Church (Baptist), Ballincollig, Co. Cork, Ireland and Visiting Professor of Intercultural Studies and Practical Ministry at Tyndale Theological Seminary, Badhoevedorp, Netherlands. He has written several books and numerous articles and he has taught intensive courses in Theology and Biblical Studies on leadership training programs in Eastern Europe, the Middle-East and India. He has spoken at conferences on the themes of “Mission”, “Preaching” and “Postmodernism.”