My Thoughts On Brittany Maynard

If you haven’t read about it yet, there was a 29 year girl with terminal brain cancer who publicly said she would choose to die with dignity by taking a pill on November 1.  On November 1 she went through with it.

When I read the article recently, saying that she went through it, I got mad.  Not so much that she did it, but that so many people were applauding her and calling her a hero.

A friend posted this article by Benjamin L. Corey on facebook.   I don’t know him but I disagree with his points of view.

My question is: What would Jesus think of this situation?  Would he communicate what Benjamin is communicating?

Here is an expansion of the comment that I posted on my friends facebook post of this article.

Since this article is aimed at Christians I will respond as a Christian to other Christians. 

This article leaves no room for the last minute miracles of God. I think of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego who, when faced with being thrown into the furnace, said God will deliver us and if He doesn’t then we will still not bow down and worship your Gods.  (Daniel 3)

God still does heal today.  I’ve heard testimonies of miracles of cancer completely leaving peoples bodies.  Do miracles happen to everyone with cancer?  No. That’s why I hate cancer.  

I have friends that have been persecuted in the Middle East for their faith with jail time and bombings. I know of someone that is in prison in Asia right now who has been forced to do hard labor.  Where do we draw the line of when life is over?  I believe life is over, when the Author of Life says it’s over.

It’s a slippery slope.  Is an undefined prison sentence in Iran’s worst prison and being tortured daily, a life that is over?  My friend will tell that the darkest hour of his life was when he tried to take his life in that prison, but TODAY he speaks and inspires so many with the testimony from that time.

Or how about deep dark depressions.  I’ve struggled with depression.  There are days when you feel like life is over, but it isn’t.

What about the awkward teenager who literally thinks his life is over because he did something embarrassing?

When we end our lives early we rob God of redeeming our situation.

What if all of the Apostles who died horrible deaths took their lives prematurely because a painful suffering death was eminent?  What if Jesus Himself, who suffered the greatest of any man, took His life before He went to the cross.  Jesus knew what level of suffering was coming, He asked the Father that the cup be taken from Him with such passion that He sweat blood.

Brittany was created in God’s image.  She had God given gifts.  Obviously she was an influencer.  What if God wanted to use her life even more?  What if her life was filled with beautiful hope until her dying day, how many more people could she have inspired?

The author writes in the article “It’s not a choice to die (suicide). It’s just a choice to pick the most painless way to die.  Christians should be the people who are the least judgmental and the most compassionate– the ones who recognize the truth that while the 9-11 jumpers didn’t commit suicide, Brittany Maynard didn’t, either.  She died because of terminal cancer, and that is very, very sad.”

We can’t obscure what is really happening here.  We can’t call taking your life something other than it is.  That would be like someone who killed someone in self defense saying “I had no other choice, it was my life or theirs, and so I didn’t really kill them”.  Yes they were acting in self defense, but at the end of the day they still killed another person.  All of these situations are horrible, and I pray that we are never faced with them.

I’m not being unsympathetic. I hate cancer. I hate terrorism. God hates cancer and terrorism too. I don’t know what it’s like to suffer great pain and fear of death, but I pray that I will hold on to the end with faith that God will do a miracle and if He does not, then I will be excited to join a cloud of witnesses that did not shrink back from death.

The scariest thing to me is that so many people consider Brittany a hero.  That scares me because we now only value life based on it’s quality.  And quality is very subjective.

The sanctity of life.  This rolls into the abortion issue as well.  Should we terminate a child’s life in the womb when he or she is 6 months old because they have Downs Syndrome?  Because their quality of life, or your quality of life will be changed?  I was honored to work with a student with downs syndrome and his family was so blessed by their son, and my life was greatly enriched by working with him as well.

Do the elderly have no value anymore because they cannot produce?  Are they taking up space and resources?  Should they be euthanized?

This is a slippery slope.  All people have value, which means life has value because we were created in God’s image.  God is a God that takes ashes and turns them into beauty.  I want to live out my life knowing that I lived to the full length that He had for me so that His beauty can be fully revealed.  God is amazing because He can take horrible situations, things that the devil throws at us for evil, and turn it into good.

I don’t usually post on controversial subjects, but I couldn’t keep quiet on this one.

Thoughts?