taking of a hopelessly sick person’s life?” Those who have suffered of seem ingly incurable or terminal diseases, who anyway want to pass beyond this vale of tears. Let me come to the an swer very quickly and that is an em phatic, a definite, and an assured, “No.” None of us have that prerogative whatso ever. My, I think of some of our most faithful prayer warriors and how they are the ones who have been called upon to suffer; many of them on beds of pain for ten, twenty, sometimes fiffy years. We have a dear friend in Santa Barbara, who has suffered virtually a quarter of a century, unable to move whatsoever. I think of dear Mother “Mac,” a woman who has written some of the most beautiful poems this world has ever known. She resides in Santa Ana, California, and has been on a bed of suffering since the twenties, I be lieve. Tragic, heartbreaking, and many of you listening have been similarly afflicted, sometimes perhaps to the point of despair. But God counts suffer ing a gift, even as is Salvation. In Phi- lippians 1:29 it says, “For it is given unto you, or it is a grace, a gift, to you on the behalf of Christ, not only to be lieve on Him but also to suffer for His sake.” Some may think this refers to the martyrdom of early Christian saints but is there any worse fate or mar-, tyrdom for anyone than to experience a day by day living death? But mercy killing is not the answer — it has no Scriptural basis whatsoever. “Our times are in God’s hands,” admonishes the Psalmist. We should be content to leave our existence there and thank God for this privilege. Adolph Hitler wrote, “Empires are made by the sword, by theft, by rob bery, and by brute force. I have no conscience. I shall shrink from noth ing. There is no such thing as truth. The Sermon on the Mount is for idiots. I am freeing man from the restraints of intelligence; from the dirty and de grading self-mortification called con science and morality.” God forbid that we might become a nation of Hitlers! (Continued on Page 33) 31
life. Of course, in dealing with the Children of Israel, God provided cities of refuge for any who may have com mitted murder not of a premeditated nature. In the New Testament, the sub ject of life for a life is clearly taught in Romans, chapter 13. Now, certainly no Christian is in favor of war — it is repulsive, and against everything within our nature. But Romans 13 indicates that it may sometimes be necessary to bear the sword to save us from consequences far worse than war. Had the Russians ever thought we might be willing to lay down our arms rather than our lives, they would have invaded our shores years ago. It is a part of Com munist conspiracy to overthrow the United States at any cost. One reason why they have been thwarted, thus far, is because we have shown our hand strong in the face of the enemy. Romans 13:4, tells how the civil law appoints one to serve the king or the ruler, punishing, by death, those who violate the law. And we see in this verse that sometimes it is necessary to kill, but that is judicial killing, it is not murder . . . this is but the follow ing of God’s command in Genesis 9:6, ‘Whoso sheddeth man’s blood by man shall his blood be shed.” I realize there are many facets to the problem. We need to keep in mind that this is more than a political con troversy. This is not a sentimental ap proach to draw votes at the poll. We should realize that some times a crimi nal receives more than his share of fair treatment. There may be a poor interpretation of our laws. What we are dealing with are the principles which God has set down. As man has perverted everything else God has giv en him, so he doubtless has perverted this law. Now, there is another question which has sometime^ been asked concerning the subject of Euthanasia. “Eu” means “well” or “good.” The rest of the word stands for death. So Euthanasia means “good death,” or as we know it today “mercy killing.” Some have asked, “Is there a place in God’s economy for the
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