Vol.5 No.2

Q. What does the Bible say about euthanasia (medically assisted suicide in case of an incurable, painful disease)? Doesn't the individual have the right to decide about his own life?

A. God is the Giver of life (Genesis 2:7), and He is the only that can take it away. His command is clean" Thou shalt not kill" (Exodus 20:13), no matter how tragic or traumatic the circumstances. Whether it is your own life or somebody else's, life is the most precious gift ever given to man by God, and nobody but God has the right to take the life. "'And surely your blood of your lives will I require; at the hand of every beast will I require it, and at the hand of man; at the hand of every man's brother will I require the life of man. Whoso sheddeth man"s blood, by man shall his blood be shed: for in the image of God made He man"(Genesis 9:5,-6).

God has a plan for every life. He allows trials that we are able to bear 0 Corinthians 10:13) to come upon us for a specific purpose: to bring us back to Him, to test our characters (think of Job's experience), or to perfect our characters.