Current Events & Trends: Assisted suicide gains legal traction
Long considered to be on the darker edge of the moral grey area, euthanasia or assisted suicide is gaining legal ground in many Western nations.
The United Kingdom seems to be the next to take steps to make euthanasia more widely available.
Acceptance of euthanasia has been a fringe progressive belief for many decades, but public opinion is quickly swaying in its favor. Even Britain's Economist magazine, which has typically leaned conservative, has expressed support for the legalization of assisted suicide ("Easeful Death," July 19, 2014). A number of European nations and several American states have already either outright legalized the practice or have substantially loosened laws relating to euthanasia.
As with the Western world's increasing acceptance of abortion, the trend of legalizing assisted suicide reflects a society that increasingly has forgotten that life is a gift that comes solely from God. The Economist argues that "in a pluralistic society, the views of one religion should not be imposed on everybody." But the sanctity of life is not a religious view or a moral option—it is an absolute, universal truth embedded in the creation by God.
The Bible is quite clear that human life is sacred—for we are made in the very image of God as His children. God views the taking of life very seriously and holds all humanity to very high standards when it comes to how we work to preserve the lives of others.
All humanity is continually in the process of making choices, and those choices have real, lasting consequences. As noted in another story in this edition of Current Events and Trends, God instructed His people to make the right choice and to always choose the way that leads to life: "I call heaven and earth as witnesses today against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing; therefore choose life, that both you and your descendants may live" (Deuteronomy 30:19).
As we continue on the godless path of determining for ourselves what is right and wrong, we can't expect God to continue to bless our nations. Life is sacred. Choose it and preserve it! (Source: The Economist.)
An Article from:
Good News Magazine: September - October 2014
Course Content
Rudolph Rangel III
Rudy Rangel attends the Cincinnati East, Ohio congregation along with his wife Judy and two children.
Darris McNeely
Darris McNeely works at the United Church of God home office in Cincinnati, Ohio. He and his wife, Debbie, have served in the ministry for more than 43 years. They have two sons, who are both married, and four grandchildren. Darris is the Associate Media Producer for the Church. He also is a resident faculty member at the Ambassador Bible Center teaching Acts, Fundamentals of Belief and World News and Prophecy. He enjoys hunting, travel and reading and spending time with his grandchildren.
Peter Eddington
Peter serves at the home office as Interim Manager of Media and Communications Services.
He studied production engineering at the Swinburne Institute of Technology in Melbourne, Australia, and is a journeyman machinist. He moved to the United States to attend Ambassador College in 1980. He graduated from the Pasadena campus in 1983 with a Bachelor of Arts degree and married his college sweetheart, Terri. Peter was ordained an elder in 1992. He served as assistant pastor in the Los Angeles and San Luis Obispo, California, congregations from 1995 through 1998 and the Cincinnati, Ohio, congregations from 2010 through 2011.
