THE debate over the legalisation of voluntary euthanasia or assisted suicide is one that often comes to the forefront of current affairs with the arrival of particular cases or personal stories. Such is the case with a story published recently in Australia, which detailed the story of one couple who, both of sound mind, had always intended to end their own lives before the burden of old age overtook them.
This particular story presented the couple’s actions in a positive way, demonstrating the common view of this issue.
According to the writer, the couple chose this themselves and they had every right to do so. They did not want to burden others nor themselves with the challenges of their old age.
The choice was their own – free to make, and theirs to carry out.
In approaching the case from this angle, the writer gives clear insight into what lies at the heart of this pro-death view of life.
At its core is the view that choice itself is one’s ultimate form of truth; that I have the right to make whatever choice I please, provided it affects primarily myself; that what I choose must be good and just, simply because I choose it.
A grave link is therefore unwittingly assumed between personal choice and what is truly right. Absolute truth is cast out; self-evident truth is pronounced the gold standard.
It is because of this that church teaching is often contrary to popular views – Christian teaching puts God’s will at the forefront.
As Archbishop Fulton Sheen said: “Truth is not determined by the majority vote.”
What I choose is only right insomuch as it aligns with the will of God – our loving Father who knows His plan for us and wishes to bring us to Him for eternity.
Our lives therefore do not belong to us; rather, we are stewards of the life given us by our Creator. Our lives are not our own to forfeit. (CCC Par.2280)
The common pro-euthanasia argument therefore stems from the subtle penetration of the atheistic ideology into the fabric of society.
When we disregard God, we disregard the transcendent – that which is above and greater than us.
In fact, we step further – we deny it completely, and place ourselves in its place.
Our choices become values with no scale on which to place them; we place them where we please.
With this, we put choice itself above the value of human life.
Does this sound familiar? Abortion debate perhaps?
People become patients.
The value of suffering with virtue, which the Christian tradition understands so well, is cast out entirely.
Assisted suicide becomes simply another treatment option – a cheaper, faster, less burdensome alternative.
In considering both sides of this ever-present debate, I urge you to consider – in our search for what is right and what is wrong, ought we trust each man’s opinion, or aim to align ourselves with the absolute goodness in whose image and likeness we are created?
André Le Feuvre is a student at James Cook University.
