Anne Lamott & Assisted Suicide

At Death's Window (L.A. Times Op-Ed). In this piece, Lamott casually recounts the story of helping a friend commit suicide. Not the happiest way to start a Monday.

He wanted to feel as well as he could for as long as he could, savor his family and friends and the beauty of life, on his own terms, in the strange basket of sickness.
[...]
Mel was sort of surprised that as a Christian I so staunchly agreed with him about assisted suicide: I believed that life was a kind of Earth school, so even though assisted suicide meant you were getting out early, before the term ended, you were going to be leaving anyway, so who said it wasn't OK to take an incomplete in the course?

What makes us feel like we have the right to do anything on our terms?

Comments

[James Fletcher Baxter]

Consider:
The missing element in every human 'solution' is
an accurate definition of the creature.
[EDITED BY ADMINISTRATOR]

[Kevin Cawley]

Thanks a million J.F-- but pasted manifestos disguised as comments get deleted here. All the best to you in your spamming campaign!

[Account Deleted]

because autonomy is the most blessed sacrament of the unGodly. failing to understand this is the basic flaw in the "pro-life" movement's attempts at discourse in the public arena. it matters not if the fetus is a human life because it's my body and no one (including God) can tell me what to do with it. thus if i want to end my life, no one can tell me that it's wrong.

[Josh S.]

Thanks for linking to this.

It is interesting that if an animal has "too much suffering," we put it to sleep. We see this as "relieving suffering"--but for humans it is "a horrible sin."

I'm not meaning to infer anything by what I just said. Only making a comparison that I find interesting.

[shawn]

@john rushing...

this is interesting because anne lamott is a christian. a bit liberal, but a christian.

[Pete]

chilling article. that said, having watched my father-in-law slowly waste away from prostate cancer I'm not going to say I can't sympathize with the thought-process that took place. as much as this reveals a weakness in Lamott's theology, I'd go further and say that Lamott's weakness also indicates the weakness within evangelicalism to deal meaningfully with the "hard issues" of human existence. I believe God's grace is great enough to address and comfort someone in this situation, but is that the God that we preach?

John, I loved your line "autonomy is the most blessed sacrament of the unGodly"

[Kevin Cawley]

For those that haven't seen it, Al Mohler's Commentary today addresses this issue.

[dawn]

I might be slightly off.... but can I just throw a question out there for discussion? How come when we use whatever resources available to us to extend human life, few people question it as "a rejection of God's sovereign prerogative and a denial of His providence as gracious, merciful, and righteous"?? (quoted from Mohler's article) It isn't playing God when we extend life, but it is when we end life? I guess I don't understand why that seems so obvious to people, cuz that seems kind of contradictory to me. I don't know... just throwing it out there...

[Account Deleted]

great can of worms you opened with this article, Kevin. but these life issues are the very sort of issues we must deal with as followers of Jesus Christ. Josh raises for consideration a seeming contradiction when an animal is put down to end needless suffering. for me there is no problem because i do not believe animals are made in the image and likeness of God. we are and we are called to trust in Him in the midst of suffering and pain.which leads me to Pete's comments: i've buried parents and a daughter but i cannot begin to imagine what it must be like to watch a loved one suffer through a painful and prolonged illness. i also believe that God's grace is great enough to comfort and sustain one through such. and i think that is the God we should be preaching. a God who is great to save and who may heal but a God who also may bring greater glory to Himself by helping us through trials and suffering. Dawn hits it spot on when she questions whether we "play God" when we extend life without considering the issues that arise from a technology divorced from biblical ethics and principles. sure do miss you down here, brother Kevin.