Alan responds to the question: If going to Heaven is so great, why do Christians want to prolong unhappy life on Earth?
Transcript
The challenge question I was asked recently is this: If going to Heaven is so great, why do Christians fight against euthanasia laws? And I would say that’s because it’s wrong to use an evil means to secure a good end. You see, although going to Heaven is certainly a good thing, killing an innocent human being in order to get them there is morally wrong.
So for example, it’s wrong to kill an innocent human being in order to harvest their heart and to put it into someone who needs a new heart to live. In that case, an evil means is used to achieve a good end, and that’s not right to do. Now of course, my answer to this question presumes a certain definition of euthanasia. In this case, I’m defining it as the intentional killing of an innocent human being without their consent because it is believed to end their suffering from a disease or injury.
Now the key point is that the cause of their death is not from the disease or the injury but by the hand of the doctor or whoever takes their life. In other words, I’m making a distinction from terminating life support where we take a person who is brain dead off the machines that keep their body alive. Based on this definition, euthanasia would be a sin because it entails killing an innocent human being. And that’s one main reason why Christians fight against euthanasia laws.