Here's part of what Al Mohler has to say about Lamott's essay:
The most revealing section of Lamott's essay is this: "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?"
In the economy of just a few words, Lamott effectively turns the Christian understanding of life and death on its head.
No wonder Mel was "sort of surprised" that Lamott, identifying herself as a Christian, would agree to participate in an assisted suicide with such enthusiasm. Christianity teaches a distinctive understanding of human life. At the onset, the Bible reveals that we are not the lords of our own lives in the first place. Life is a gift, and human life is a special gift given to the only creatures who are made in God's own image. We are, in effect, the only sentient beings able to ponder the meaning of our own lives and the reality of our own death. The Christian understanding of humanity insists that we are not autonomous creatures that have the right to determine when we shall live and when we shall die. To the contrary, our lives are in the disposition of the Creator, and human life is understood to posses inherent dignity from its natural beginning until its natural end. Any affirmation of assisted suicide or any form of euthanasia as a way of "releasing" persons by voluntary or involuntary intervention is a rejection of God's sovereign prerogative and a denial of His providence as gracious, merciful, and righteous.
Furthermore, Christianity does not teach that life is just "a kind of Earth school." To the contrary, Christianity affirms the inherent dignity and meaning of our earthly lives. Life is not a course we are taking, so much as it is a stewardship of a priceless gift. It is profoundly true that Christianity points to eternal life beyond this earthly life as the realm of our ultimate existence as believers, but we are not invited to "take an incomplete" in the course of life as we may choose.
(Hat tip: Amy).
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Preach on, FunInTheSun.
Between 1992 and 1994 I watched my circle of closest friends die off from the Big A. NINE friends in 2 years 2 months.
I watched most of them scream in pain from their hospital beds as disease after disease wracked their frail, lesion-ridden, 90-pound bodies.
I, too, see helping a loved one end his or her own life when that life is unbearable torure as one of the most compassionate things we as humans can ever do.
To the "Lamott is a killer" set:
Unless one has been in the same position as Lamott, or any of us who have watched our loved ones waste away in excruciating pain, one's comments about the "right" and the "wrong" of assisted suicide are nothing more than tea-cozy conversation - something to make us feel better about ourselves over scones.
I kind of have the same feeling about this topic that military must have about Iraq - that whole "if you haven't been through it, you're just a spectator and your opinion means jack" thing... I know it's not the best way to go about it, and I do apologize to anyone who was offended by my tone.
Doesn't change how I feel about it, though. Unless and until it's happened to you, your opining is nothing more than wind.>
Crunchy, I'll have to read all of Lamott's essay before I critique her. However I do get tired of this notion that CC submitted that God has this time line where we are born and die. I'm working with a patient at this moment who has advanced lung cancer. He refuses to die peacefully. He has requested to be placed on artifical life support and we will oblige, by law and respecting his choice. He will suffer greatly by making this choice. He will 'live' for a long time b/c the rest of him is healthy. What a time line! If we were to withhold artifical therapy he would get dizzy and die. Now, In God's name he will suffer with bed sores and infections. Lamott's doesn't seem so off to me when looking at this patient.>
He has requested to be placed on artifical life support and we will oblige, by law and respecting his choice. He will suffer greatly by making this choice. He will 'live' for a long time b/c the rest of him is healthy. What a time line! If we were to withhold artifical therapy he would get dizzy and die. Now, In God's name he will suffer with bed sores and infections. Lamott's doesn't seem so off to me when looking at this patient.
Re: God's Timeline...
I wonder if God intends for any poor folks without insurance to live beyond circumstances?
This fella Al spoke about will linger on as long as his insurance company decides it won't pay anymore.
Well, what if God wants him to come home? What if God wants the woman in the room next door whose insurance company won't pay for the experimental treatment to stick around? What if God has great plans for that homeless guy dying of TB right outside, but he can't get services because he doesn't exist as far as the money people are concerned?
I think taking the "what God wants..." road is pretty disingenuous when it comes to this issue.
How, for instance, do we know that God didn't put Anne Lamott into the life of this friend so that she could help him home when the time came?>
Several years ago, I watched my father, a man I greatly respect, choose to stop taking chemo that wasn't working. He then spent time at home, with family & hospice care, until his death. He died with mom by his bed, when the cancer had completed its course.
My opinion is informed by personal opinion, professional experience and my Christian worldview. Life and death are part of human experience, and are (in my opinion) part of a sacred cycle. Most religious groups oppose assisted suicide. Most states bar the practice. And, medical ethics (based upon the Hippocratic oath) preclude a physician from participating.
Some answers to the difficulties posed here are provided by pain management and hospice care. However, death is still a difficult topic for most of us to address with those we love.>
It doesn't matter...she could have been wrong, she could have been right...It doesn't matter. God loves her unconditionally, and to accept that is part of being a Christian.>
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