Skip to playerSkip to main content
LftLD
ACTION IS REQUIRED THIS WEEK!

SEE WHAT STEPS TO TAKE IN OUR VIDEO

#assistedsuicidebill #churchleadership #faith #jesus #Messiah #salvation #SignsOfTheTimes

https://lightforthelastdays.co.uk/articles/current-issues/assisted-suicide-bill/
Transcript
00:00Okay, good morning. Before we pray, I want to bring to your attention a matter which is of concern to Christians, or should be.
00:09On Friday the 20th of June, the MPs are going to vote on what's called the Assisted Dying Bill.
00:17It was passed last year in its first vote, supported by 330 MPs, a majority of 55 in the vote.
00:27A number of MPs are actually reconsidering their position on this, and organizations like Christian Concern are asking us to mobilize some support to Christians, to write to their MPs, and to try to persuade them not to vote for this bill.
00:47Why would they want to do that?
00:48Well, like the abortion bill in 1967, which opened the door to the mass killing of babies in the womb, so this bill could open the door for the culling, or the mass killing, if you like, of people with disabilities, the elderly, and certain vulnerable groups.
01:05Among the dangers of legalizing medical aid is the potential to exploit the laws to kill vulnerable people, the elderly, the disabled, those with life-threatening conditions.
01:17Now, at the moment, they put things in motion to stop that happening, but it's like a slippery slope.
01:23Once you open the door, it can go from one thing to another.
01:27I'm going to just show a brief slideshow.
01:29I don't know if you can see that.
01:31Not terribly clear, is it?
01:32Never mind.
01:33Anyway, I'll read what it says to you there.
01:36What's happening?
01:37Labour MP Kim Ledbetter is introducing a bill to legalize assisted dying.
01:42This would make it legal to help someone to take their own life by assisted suicide.
01:47This kind of law has been rejected by Parliament several times in recent years, but this bill has very powerful support.
01:54If the bill passes, many lives will be taken.
01:57It will be even more difficult to overturn this decision in the future than to stop it now.
02:03So, what can we expect?
02:04The expected proposal is to legalize assisted suicide, or assisted dying, as they call it, for people expected to live six months or less.
02:14This is intended as a safeguard to limit the possibility of abuses.
02:18Other campaigners, including the humanists, UK, are already trying to remove this safeguard.
02:24In other countries where assisted suicide or euthanasia has been introduced, similar safeguards have been challenged, leading to more liberalization, fewer safeguards, and more abuses.
02:34If legalized assisted suicide will be expanded to many more groups, and safeguards will not work, vulnerable people will feel the pressure to die in this way, we must not cross this line.
02:47What's happened elsewhere?
02:50The Netherlands, one of the countries which is farther down the line in this matter.
02:55In Canada, 5.4% of all deaths are by euthanasia.
02:59One in five deaths by euthanasia are not reported.
03:03Belgium, 40% of assisted deaths are not reported.
03:07Euthanasia figures rise every year.
03:10Canada, 4% of all deaths are by assisted suicide or euthanasia.
03:15Many tragic examples of how the law has been used, we'll look at in a moment.
03:19In Oregon, in the United States, 54% of people who've died in Oregon felt they were a burden.
03:25Diabetes could be considered a terminal illness and reason for suicide.
03:31Assisted suicide and euthanasia in Canada.
03:35Paralympian army veteran Christine Gautier was offered medical-assisted dying when she asked for a wheelchair lift to be installed into her own home.
03:44Second one, after being denied requests for affordable housing that would ease her chronic health condition,
03:51a 51-year-old woman ended her life through assisted suicide.
03:55Alan Nichols, 61, was killed with only hearing loss being listed as a reason for his request to die.
04:03A 27-year-old woman with autism was approved for assisted dying despite father's pleas with no other publicly known conditions.
04:10Assisted suicide without family's knowledge.
04:162023, 47-year-old UK teacher Alistair Hamilton travelled to Switzerland and paid £10,000 to be killed at a clinic.
04:24He had no diagnosed illness and his family, including his mother, were not even informed.
04:29They believed he was going to Paris to meet a friend.
04:32This is an example of how irresponsible some clinics are and how tragic the consequences can be for the family.
04:38So finally, why should Christians care?
04:43Life is not ours to take.
04:45We're made in God's image, with value and dignity.
04:49Deliberately taking life, human life is condemned because we are God's image bearers.
04:56Genesis 9, 5-6.
04:58Although the law given to Moses includes mitigations for accidental killing and self-defence,
05:06no such exception is made for mercy killing.
05:10Assisted suicide is not compassionate.
05:12Proponents of assisted suicide claim it is compassionate.
05:16For Christians, suicide is wrong and is never condoned in the Bible.
05:21For non-Christian, suicide or euthanasia means an eternity without Christ.
05:25We are to protect the vulnerable.
05:30The law, would inevitably lead to pressure on vulnerable people to take their own lives,
05:34also sends a message, some lives are not worth living.
05:38Christians who love their neighbour must oppose assisted dying.
05:43And finally, some examples from Scripture.
05:48Jonah and Job.
05:49When Jonah despaired of life, he said,
05:52Therefore now, O Lord, please take my life from me.
05:54It's better for me to die than to live.
05:57And the Lord said, Do you do well to be angry?
06:00Jonah didn't contemplate committing suicide, but asked the Lord to end his life.
06:04The Lord criticised that attitude.
06:07Others in Scriptures, like Job, experience intense suffering,
06:10but are commended for perseverance.
06:12James 5, 11.
06:14Indeed, we count them blessed to endure.
06:16Remember, you've heard of the perseverance of Job
06:18and seen the end intended by the Lord,
06:20that the Lord is very compassionate and merciful.
06:24It occurs to me, actually, that when Job's sufferings began,
06:27his wife said to him, Curse God and die.
06:30If he'd done that, we wouldn't have had the rest of the book of Job,
06:33all the revelations Job had,
06:35and the fact that in the end, Job, God rewarded Job
06:38and gave him twice as much as he had in the beginning.
06:40So, basically, life's not ours to take.
06:44So, we're being asked to speak out on this subject,
06:49encourage the church to speak to your MP,
06:52and contact them by attending a surgery or requesting a meeting.
06:57And you can find resources to help with this at christianconcerned.com.
07:02In fact, I've printed out their advice on how to write to your MP,
07:07what to say to them,
07:09and encourage you to do that.
07:11As it's quite short notice,
07:15it's unlikely you'll get a meeting with them.
07:19If you live in this area,
07:20you may like to know that your MP, Sarah Sackman,
07:23is a strong supporter of assisted dying,
07:27also a Fabian socialist,
07:29and not really on our side.
07:32So, you can write to express your views
07:35if you live in this area.
07:37But wherever you live, you can write to them.
07:39And if you're listening online,
07:41if you're elsewhere in the country,
07:42please get involved and do the same.
07:44Approach your MP urgently this week
07:48and tell them,
07:51ask them to vote against the assisted suicide bill.
07:57There is going to be a rally of some kind
08:01on the 20th of June outside Parliament,
08:07which Christian Concern are organising during the day.
08:10That's a Friday.
08:11So, if you want to go to that,
08:12just have a word with me afterwards.
08:15We're also going to have a prayer meeting
08:16for this subject at our home next Friday.
08:21So, if you want to come on Friday,
08:23we'll have the meeting about 7.30.
08:24We'll also have soup and bread beforehand.
08:29So, if you want to come at about 6 o'clock,
08:31then let me know,
08:32and we'll do that for you.
08:36So, okay, that's the issue.
08:39We've got the papers here.
08:41If you want to take them to know what to write
08:42or to say to your MP,
08:44then please take one.
08:46Okay, let's just have a word of prayer.
08:47Father, we do bring before you
08:49this issue of the assisted dying bill.
08:52We recognise that the people behind it
08:54mostly have a humanist
08:57and a quite anti-Christian agenda.
09:00We're anti-life as well, Lord.
09:03We just pray, Lord, for your mercy.
09:04We pray that this country has gone so far
09:06down the slippery slope of opposing you
09:09with the abortion bill,
09:10with all the other anti-God,
09:13anti-Christ bills which have come in.
09:15Lord, we just recognise that we have sinned in your sight.
09:17We ask for your mercy.
09:18We ask that you have mercy upon this nation
09:20for its transgression,
09:22its opposition to your will,
09:23its opposition to your law
09:25and your righteousness.
09:27And we pray, Lord,
09:28that you will overrule in this matter
09:30of this assisted dying bill.
09:32God, that you'll change the minds
09:34of enough MPs to vote against it
09:36and that you'll have mercy upon our nation,
09:39upon our people.
09:40And Lord, we ask these things in Jesus' name.