Latest revision as of 14:44, 28 November 2018

Objectives

Main Objective

• Students will evaluate abortion using a biblical lens.
• Students will evaluate euthanasia using a biblical lens.

Materials

• Note: In most groups, this material really represents two days worth of material.

Euthanasia Handout

Abortion Handout

Introduction

In Groups

• Break students into small groups and give them five minutes to draw something that answers the question: "What is the meaning of life?"

Discussion

• Suppose you have an uncle who has been comatose for 3 weeks. The uncle is hooked up to a machine that is breathing for him and there are no signs of life in his brain. Is it okay to unplug the machine?
• Suppose you have an uncle who is at home, lays in bead all day, eats almost nothing and drinks almost nothing, is it okay to inject a high dose of drugs to stop his heart?
• Imagine your aunt is pregnant. Genetic tests and ultrasounds on the baby have revealed that the baby has a severe deformity and will never be able to walk on her own. Additionally, the genetic tests reveal that there could be some significant mental handicap. It is clear that this child will always be dependent on someone for care. Would it be better to let the child be born and suffer or should the pregnancy be terminated?
• Imagine your 15 year old cousin just learned she was pregnant. This is going to ruin her life, she was destined to be a professional Volley Ball player but now will need to spend all her free time caring for the new child. Would it be better to let the child be born and the mother's life ruined or should the pregnancy be terminated?

• What is the difference between these scenarios? when do these differences impact they way you think about these issues?
  • Answers to these questions will vary a lot, this is okay, the point is not to immediately get a right or wrong answer but to start conversation. We don't want to settle on an answer until we have looked at scripture.

Main Body

Euthanasia

Death Culture

We live in a culture where death is not understood but also almost worshipped. Almost in the same breath we can see people celebrate death and fear death.

• What do 1 Corinthians 15:26 and Genesis 2:7 teach us about life and death?
  • Death is the enemy, we should not worship death, rather we should recognize life as a gift from God. We do not need to fear death because of Christ, but we must recognize that death is not a good thing, death is the consequence of sin.
• What did God call Israel to choose in Deuteronomy 30:19?
  • God called upon Israel to choose life.

Power

• According to Ecclesiastes 8:8, who is supposed to have power to determine when someone dies?
  • God

• According to Hebrews 9:27, "it is ___________________ for men to die once," What is the meaning of that word?
  • The word for appointed caries the meaning of reserved. The idea here is that God is in complete control. The greek word is αποκειται which has root αποκειμαι which, according to TDNT, "expresses the certainty of man's future as this is established in the will of God. Whether for good or evil, this is already fixed and cannot be changed (3.655)."

Suffering

• What does Romans 5:3 have to say about someone who argues "euthanasia is a good thing because it relieves suffering."
  • Suffering in and of itself is not the ultimate problem. In fact, suffering can produce characteristics within us that are desirable.

A Case Study

• What events take place in 1 Samuel 31:1-6?
  • Saul recognizes imminent defeat and asks his armor bearer to kill him. The armor bearer does not and Saul is forced to stab himself in an effort to commit suicide.
• What further clarification is offered in 2 Samuel 1:4-10?
  • We see that while Saul had stabbed himself, he had not managed to do enough damage to immediately kill himself. Instead, Saul stood, suffering, waiting for the enemy to find him. Saul asked a bystander to finish him off and the bystander acquiesced.
• How did David respond to the news in 2 Samuel 1:14-16?
  • David judged the man guilty of murder, even though the man had followed Saul's wishes, relieved the suffering, and prevented abuse, he was still guilty of murder.

Some Case Studies

These scenarios are presented as possible discussion points. The key to these scenarios is to apply biblical principles to the decision making process. In fact, there may even be differences of opinion within a single congregation on some of these issues. Our goal in this section is not to necessarily give definitive answers to a leader but rather to give the leader the opportunity to help teens in the Biblical decision making process.

The Case of Karen

• Karen is a 63 year old women who was diagnosed with stomach cancer 6 months ago. Unfortunately, Karen's diagnosis came late and the cancer had metastasized (spread to other parts of the body). In particular, the cancer has ben found in intestines and is inoperable. Doctor's have given Karen six months to live. Karen has accepted the fact that she is going to die and has peace regarding death. However, the pain is unbearable. Karen regularly experiences excruciating bowel obstructions and has even required surgery to remove the obstructions. Karen requires near constant care and is miserable. This weekend while your family was visiting Karen she mentioned wishing she could just take a pill and wake-up in heaven. How do you respond?

The Case of George

• George is a 5 year old boy. Last Wednesday George's parents noticed he was missing from the dinner table and went looking for him. They found George face down in the swimming pool, not breathing, cold, and blue. George's father immediately started CPR while his mother called 911. The EMT's arrived, detected a very faint heart beat, inserted a ventilator, and called for the helicopter. George was airlifted to Children's hospital and has been in the ICU for the last 6 days. The neurologist told his parents that there was significant brain damage because the brain had gone too long without oxygen. Yesterday the neurologist let the parents know that there was no brain activity. The parents are in a really tough position, they can see their son lying in the bed, his heart is beating, but a machine is breathing for him. They ask you "do you think it would be wrong for us to turn off the machine?" What do you say?

The Case of Steve

• Steve is a 40 year old man who, by all appearances, had the perfect life. Steve had a job as a stock broker, traveled the world, had a beautiful wife, and made really good money. Two weeks ago Steve's life turned upside down. Steve lost his job, when he went to the bank to pull out some savings he found that all the money was gone. It turns out his wife had been spending their savings on drugs and alcohol while Steve was on his business trips. Moreover, Steve's wife had run up their credit cards and they owed nearly $85,000. Steve confronted his wife and she told him that he was gone with work so much he didn't even realize the mess they were in, she has been having an affair and was planning to run off with the guy when Steve left on his next trip instead, she was leaving now. After spending the last week thinking through life Steve has decided that there is no point in continuing. Do you think it would be okay for Steve to end his life?

What if I don't know what to do?

• Maybe you are thinking to yourself, "All of these ethical decisions are really hard, what if I don't know what to do." What does James 1:5 call upon us to do if we don't know what to do?
  • Each of the above mentioned situations are tough situations, but situations that might really happen (at least one of them did for this author). However, we have the word of God as our guide and we have God himself to whom we can ask for wisdom.

Abortion

Sproul, states that “No teaching in the Old Testament or New Testament explicitly condemns or condones abortion.” ^[1]. However, this does not mean the Bible is silent on the issue. The key to a biblical ethic or morality is to carefully weigh what the biblical text actually states.

An Old Testament Passage

• One passage that appears to at least be related to abortion is Exodus 21:22-24. How might this passage be interpreted?
  • there are two basic approaches to interpreting this passage, a minimalist and a maximalist approach.

    The Old Testament scholar C. F. Keil adopts the maximum view, arguing that the “there is no harm” clause refers to both mother and child. The idea is that if the premature baby survives, recompense is limited to damages paid for the inconvenience and mental anguish suffered by the mother, as claimed by the husband and awarded by the judge. But if the child is harmed or dies, the full measure of the lex talonis (eye for eye) is to apply. In this reading, the unborn fetus is so highly valued by Scripture that the life-for-life principle is applied, and the unintentional causing of abortion in the midst of an unrelated violent act warrants the death penalty. If this interpretation is correct, we would have decisive evidence that Scripture considers the unborn fetus as “life” in the fullest legal sense.^[2]

    The minimal view of the text argues that the “there is no harm” clause refers exclusively to the mother. Under this schema, the abortion of the fetus would not invoke the lex talonis or legally be considered murder or loss of life. Only if further complications affect the mother does the “eye for eye, life for life” equation apply. The inference then would be that Scripture does not regard the fetus as “life.” The fetus would be protected by the law, however, and its value could be established via a lawsuit. Some push this position further by arguing that though legal indemnities may be imposed, they are initiated by the claims of the husband. The unspoken presumption is that the “value” of the fetus is determined to some degree by the subjective values attached by the parents. In this “case,” the Scriptures deal with an abortion or miscarriage imposed from without, apart from the design of the parents, who presumably desire the pregnancy to reach its full term. The passage is then made of no consequence to the question of an intentional abortion performed according to the will and design of the parents. The minimal view thus protects the parents and not the fetus.^[3]

• • What does all of this mean? In effect what we need is to apply the entire Bible to the debate instead of looking at a single passage. I am convinced that once we look at the rest of scripture we see that a consistent perspective from scripture is that of a maximum interpretation of the passage.

A Biblical Principle

• What does Genesis 9:4-7 teach ?
  • The passage sets a standard, namely, God considers murder as a capital offense.

• According Genesis 9:4-7, why does God have such a strong position on the taking of human life? How does this compare with

Genesis 1:26-27?

What Is Human?

• What do the following Old Testament passages say about life? Psalm 22:9-10, Jeremiah 1:5
  • The passages teach us that God has been working even in the womb.

• How can you respond to someone who states that a fetus is merely a parasite, or a blob of protoplasm, something like cancer, a foreign body growing within the mother?
  • Parasites have a course of life that moves from birth to reproduction all while living within the host, this is not the case for a fetus. Protoplasm does not develop the complex structures that mark development of a fetus. The development of cancer results in more cancer not the complex organism that is a human. All of the arguments are reductionist and frankly ignorant attempts to beg the question.

• When does a fetus become a human?
  • I have purposely worded the question a little more liberally, the statement should rally be when does life begin but I want the point of emphasis to be that asking the question when does a fetus become human presupposes the position that a fetus is not initially human. We need to be prepared to point out this presupposition. The only one who could know when personhood begins is God and the best answer we have is probably coming from Jeremiah 1:5.

The Selfishness of Abortion

• What condition is necessary for someone to have an abortion?
  • The ultimate answer we are looking for in this question is that a women must be pregnant.

1. The following questions should be adjusted depending on the age and maturity of the group.

• What must happen for a women to be pregnant?
  • The woman must have had a relationship with a man that God has reserved exclusively for marriage. Such actions are not absolutely necessary and have natural consequences. If a women is completely unwilling to have a child or is not ready to have a child then abstinence is the only fool-proof approach. As a note, this is not an argument for or against preventative birth control. The simple fact is that the only guaranteed method of birth control is abstinence.

• What about cases of incest or rape?
  • According to Ezekiel 18:20, a child should not suffer because of the sin of a parent. One who rapes a women has sinned, but that does not give us the right to judge the child based upon the sin of the parent.

Some Arguments For Abortion

• How would you respond to someone who told you that legalizing abortion is a good thing because it prevents women from performing illegal abortions on themselves.
  • First, we cannot dismiss this argument without addressing the argument. Many believe this argument is largely the argument the Supreme Court accepted when abortion was legalized. There are certainly reductio ad absurdism arguments that we can make “armed robbery is dangerous therefore we should remove security guards so that robbers do not need to be armed.” Besides reducing the argument to the absurd (a dangerous approach to any argument), we can also look at the effect that legalizing abortion has on human physiology. By legalizing abortion we have moved perceived responsibility from the mother to a physician. A mother can have an abortion believing she will not be the one who has to commit the act. Never the less, the act will have a lasting effect on the mother.

• How would you argue against someone who states that “there are cases where not aborting the fetus presents a significant health risk to the mother?”
  • Even if the mother only has a 1 in 100 chance of surviving, the fetus has a 100% chance of dying if aborted. This approach also seems to ignore the roll that God plays in determining life. There is also an argument that in the case of rape abortion should be allowed. We should not in any way minimize the psychological effects of rape. However, we don’t actually execute the rapist, why is it right to execute the baby? We should not pretend that allowing abortion is going to provide even a small amount of healing to the victim, instead it falls on society to provide meaningful counseling to help the victim deal with the atrocity that committed.

The Ultimate Issue

• When it comes down to it, what does Exodus 20:13 say?

Forgiveness

• What does Psalm 103:11-13 teach?
  • God grants forgiveness to all who ask. In fact, we are all sinners and all deserve hell. Yet God provides forgiveness through the death of Jesus Christ on the cross to all those who place their faith in Christ for their forgiveness. We should take a stand against sin, and abortion is sin, but in so doing we also must be declare the mercy of God available to those who have had an abortion, have performed an abortion, who support abortion.