ASSISTED SUICIDE
A Talking Points Book
By Vaughan Roberts
The Good Book Company. 71 pages. £2.99
ISBN 978 1 784 981 938
A dear Christian friend accompanied her terminally ill daughter to Dignitas in Switzerland and wrote about it in the parish magazine.
I still feel sad remembering the fear and frustration that led them to such a place, but the article was full of words like ‘freedom’, ‘love’ and ‘choice’ which made the death sound almost cosy.
Rescue from shipwreck
Many Christians have been unwittingly influenced by secular humanism, especially on tricky topics like this. The excellent Talking Points series distils relevant biblical truth which should save many from spiritual shipwreck.
Vaughan Roberts has produced a fabulous little book which is very like the Tardis (bigger on the inside than the outside). He looks squarely at agonising cases, listing arguments for and against assisted suicide. He contrasts the bleak ‘naked ape’ worldview with biblical hope, meaning and value, even in desperate circumstances. He speaks of seeing others differently – made in the image of God – and not writing off the lonely, the elderly, the disabled. He speaks of the dignity of interdependence and how this is pleasing to God (1Timothy 5.4).
It was great to see Cicely Saunders getting a mention as the Christian founder of the modern hospice movement, plus many telling stories which illustrate the difficult territory involved.
The (non-religious) practical arguments (pages 49-52) are worth committing to memory and would be useful if a friend or colleague glazes over when you mention the Bible. Compact, constructive and compassionate, there is also a flexible and detailed discussion guide at the end. Best of all, the book is Christocentric – his suffering was not meaningless and neither is ours.
