Christian Worldview on Euthanasia

Death, Dying, and Grief
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Death, Dying, and Grief
One of life’s most difficult experiences revolves around death. The death of a loved one leaves one contemplating the meaning of life and realizing the inevitability of death as a process. To this end, people interpret death and the suffering that comes with it from different perspectives depending on aspects such as religion, culture, and science. According to McMartin and Hall (2022), religions play a central role in providing ways of understanding suffering as well as helping people identify growth areas in their lives. As the most widely practiced religion, Christianity offers a way of understanding death and related suffering. In this sense, the Christian worldview can be used to analyze and interpret George's suffering and contemplation of voluntary euthanasia.
Suffering and Falleness of the World
In the light of the Christian narrative, George's interpretation of his suffering would be influenced significantly by the concept of the fallenness of the world. According to Shannonhouse et al. (2020), Christianity teaches that fallenness has damaged the harmony of creation. As people deliberately turn away from God, they are prevented from cultivating healthy relationships with nature, others, and even themselves (Shannonhouse et al., 2020). Given that God did not bring evil to the world when he created it, Shannonhouse et al. (2020) point out that He is not the author suffering, and thus many Christians believe that evil is alien to creation. Nonetheless, sin is perceived as a consequence of sin by Christians. As informed by McMartin and Hall (2022), all causes of sin are perceived in Christianity as a consequence of the fall of the world into sin. In essence, therefore, George would interpret his suffering as a consequence of the fall into sin by man. George would thus believe that his suffering is not in God's plan for his life but a result of human beings sinning against Him.
Although George would consider his suffering a result of the fall into sin, he would seek Jesus, who is described by McMartin and Hall (2022) as the solution to suffering for Christians. The authors noted that from a Christian perspective, suffering can be converted to something positive (McMartin & Hall, 2022). In this case, George can use the experience of suffering to accomplish positing things in the world before he dies. While he would believe his suffering to be a consequence of sin, he would use the experience to reconcile with God and seek redemption.
Suffering and Hope of Ressurection
One of the key beliefs of Christianity is life after death, where followers believe that they will rise again after death. As Shannonhouse et al. (2020) informed, the Christian narrative provides a future state where resurrected believers will enjoy a new earth and heaven free of sin. In this future state, there will be no evil nor corruption, and nature will be restored to its original state (Shannonhouse et al., 2020). Furthermore, in the future, satan and his demons will not have the ability to affect human life. Therefore, from the Christian narrative, a future devoid of evil and suffering is something to look forward to. The hope of resurrection would influence to a great extent how George would interpret his suffering. Just like Jesus beat death and was resurrected, George would believe that even though he is experiencing suffering, he would resurrect after death and join up with God. He would believe that he would no longer suffer in the afterlife. As put forth by Shannonhouse et al. (2020), there is a close tie between suffering and glorification in the Christian narrative. George would thus accept to experience the suffering of the condition, believing that it is temporary and that he would receive glory after death.
It is important to recognize that apart from believing in a future state free of sin, Christians also believe that sinners will go to hell. As such, in the remaining days before his death, George would seek to live a life free of sin while espousing goodness and Christ-like values. As asserted by Shannonhouse et al. (2020), the response of God to fallenness was to make reconciliation with Him possible through Jesus Christ. George would thus espouse Christian values as he prepares for resurrection in the afterlife.
Christian Worldview and Value of Life
As George contemplates living life with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), a degenerative disease, a Christian worldview would be integral in informing his view of the value of his life. As a condition that would lead to loss of the ability to breathe, eat, speak, and move, it can be deduced that George would have long reflections about his life. One of the key tenets of Christianity is the sacredness of life. Human life is considered to be sacred because humans reflect God's own spirit since they were created in His own image (Anthony & Sterkens, 2019). With God's creative action, a forever relationship is maintained between Him and human beings (Anthony & Sterkens, 2019). In essence, given the sacredness associated with human life from the Christian worldview, it is deducible that George...