I have witnessed this first hand in my life, and in fact at first I had no idea what I was seeing. Palliative care is passive euthanasia, by definition they remove all life giving and natural support from the dying person, so that they will die naturally. But my argument is, is this actually a natural death? To die naturally, nature must have it’s natural place in supporting the person’s body as much as nature intended it to. To remove food, or drink, does not mean that the soul is dying naturally! If the illness prevents that person from eating or drinking, to eliminate unnatural death, that soul must choose artificial means to stay alive in order to truly die a natural death.
Keeping a person alive, so that they can truly die with dignity doesn’t mean passive euthanasia. I remember a time when this was forbidden. Why does this matter? It matters because all life is sacred, and in my faith the body is sacred. It should be treated with respect, even though it is dying. To make passive euthanasia a common place practice in society is cruel and barbaric, and takes away from the dignity of life, and the joys of Heaven.
We really don’t know when we will die, so speeding that time up would be the wrong thing. Throughout the centuries cultures have been defined by the way they perceive death, their views of the afterlife and their treatment of the dying. What is happening in our culture now, is a sad reflection on how we view these things. While on earth man has an opportunity to prepare for death. The living know they will die, (Ecclesiastes 9:5) the bible says, and even though we cannot fully prepare, our beliefs shape our practices. If our practices are deemed cruel by outside observers then we will be seen in history as a cruel people.
Time shapes our destiny, and what we reap we sow. This is Mike.
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