REVISITING PHYSICIAN ASSISTED SUICIDE

I didn't think that I would be revisiting the subject of physician assisted suicide anytime soon, but after doing some internet research on the topic, I find that I'm a little overdue for my re-examination of what I'm calling the "Final Chapter in Human Devolution."

Presently, as I am preparing this posting there are a total of 9 pieces of legislation in 4 States advocating some form of physician assisted suicide. As I ponder the ramifications and implications to our society and culture, I have to ask quite bluntly: HAVE WE LEARNED NOTHING FROM OUR BRUTAL AND BLOODY HISTORY?

In their book for the series "Whatever Happened to the Human Race?" Dr. C. Everett Koop, and the late Dr. Francis A. Schaeffer said: "culture can be judged in many different ways, but eventually every nation in every age must be judged by this test: HOW DID IT TREAT PEOPLE?" Following this "test" to its obvious conclusion, it is therefore necessary to ask--How will the United States be judged with respect to how it treated their people? Given our track record, or should I say our body count over the last 34 years, I think we all know what the judgment of history will be!

Dr. Koop also delivered a somber warning when he said: "Let those who advocate death with dignity beware, least we lose life with dignity."

Koop and Schaeffer also believed, although I think in error, that Biblical Christians would not accept the advent of abortion-on-demand, infanticide and euthanasia without a struggle, because quite honestly there has been no struggle or even a whimper of opposition from the Christian community.

What is the most disturbing is how we can totally ignore the lessons of history. Hitler killed 6 million Jews in the Holocaust, and the world was outraged at this senseless taking of human life, but from January 22, 1973 to the present time 46 million lives have been snuffed out through abortion-on-demand, and society blindly and benignly accepts it as a woman's right to choose, thus opening the door to the other components of inhumanity discussed in "Whatever Happened to the Human Race?"--INFANTICIDE AND EUTHANASIA. The latter being the final domino of the moral and spiritual free-fall of our once great Nation.

Koop and Schaeffer believe that, as a society, we stand on the "edge of a great abyss." That choices are being made and thrust upon our culture, that will for years to come affect the way people are treated. To merely say that people are being treated badly and that things must change, just isn't enough. We must, as a society and a culture speak out in the strongest possible terms against these inhumanities.

While this posting sounds more like a book review, it was necessary, in my view because what Koop and Schaeffer said in 1979 is even more applicable and relevant today as we spiral head-long into the debate of physician assisted suicide, or more accurately "active euthanasia."

We find ourselves living, in what the late Dr. Schaeffer called a time of "arbitrary sociological law," which means that the law reflects the thinking of society at a specific time. With this kind of a radical mindset, almost anything is possible, especially in such a rapidly changing culture. What was unthinkable 30 or 40 years ago, is not only thinkable, but totally accepted by all aspects of society.

Euthanasia is not a new concept, it has been around for many years, although cloaked in seemingly harmless terms as "death with dignity" or "mercy killing." However, in our sanitized, politically correct culture, this monstrous evil now carries the term of "physician assisted suicide." How convenient!

As we discuss this "subject," it is necessary to go back to the 1973 decision of Roe v. Wade, which legalized abortion-on-demand in the United States, because once you can kill an unborn child without the threat of any legal consequences, it then becomes possible to kill the elderly, the handicapped or those deemed socially unacceptable. Does any of this sound familiar? So, I ask again: Have we learned nothing from history?

Physician assisted suicide represents the final assault on the sanctity of human life. Once we start down that path, there will be no turning back!