In Brief... Dutch Approve Euthanasia
The Netherlands has become the world's first nation to approve mercy killing. For years the country tacitly approved the practice, but now allows it as a policy of the state.
The Netherlands has become the world's first nation to approve mercy killing. For years the country tacitly approved the practice, but now allows it as a policy of the state.
The bill's supporters, including many doctors, say it champions patients' rights and brings a long-standing practice into the open, but many religious and medical groups were swift to condemn it, claiming killing would replace caring.
"Again, we are faced with a law of the state which opposes the natural law of human conscience,'' Vatican spokesman Joaquin Navarro-Valls told Reuter....
Dutch Calvinist opposition parties fear the proposed law will be abused. Some drew parallels with Nazi Germany.
"The same line of reasoning is being used as in Germany in 1935.... In the Netherlands, your life is no longer safe,'' said Bert Dorenbos of the Scream for Life group. "If doctors are not hesitating to kill people then they will not hesitate to withdraw medical treatment from people they do not like,'' he added.
Some feel what is now termed one's "right to die" could someday translate into one's "duty to die." At issue is the sanctity of human life. A significant, and potentially terrifying, threshold has been crossed when the state presumes the right to sanction the termination of life in this manner.
An Article from:
World News and Prophecy: December 2000
Course Content
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.
John Ross Schroeder
John died on March 8, 2014, in Oxford, England, four days after suffering cardiac arrest while returning home from a press event in London. John was 77 and still going strong.
Some of John's work for The Good News appeared under his byline, but much didn't. He wrote more than a thousand articles over the years, but also wrote the Questions and Answers section of the magazine, compiled our Letters From Our Readers, and wrote many of the items in the Current Events and Trends section. He also contributed greatly to a number of our study guides and Bible Study Course lessons. His writing has touched the lives of literally millions of people over the years.
John traveled widely over the years as an accredited journalist, especially in Europe. His knowledge of European and Middle East history added a great deal to his articles on history and Bible prophecy.
In his later years he also pastored congregations in Northern Ireland and East Sussex, and that experience added another dimension to his writing. He and his wife Jan were an effective team in our British Isles office near their home.
John was a humble servant who dedicated his life to sharing the gospel—the good news—of Jesus Christ and the Kingdom of God to all the world, and his work was known to readers in nearly every country of the world.
