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Current Events & Trends: Assisted suicide gains legal traction

article by Darris McNeely, Milan Bizic, Peter Eddington, Rudy Rangel

Long considered to be on the darker edge of the moral grey area, euthanasia or assisted suicide is gaining legal ground in many Western nations.

The United Kingdom seems to be the next to take steps to make euthanasia more widely available.

Acceptance of euthanasia has been a fringe progressive belief for many decades, but public opinion is quickly swaying in its favor. Even Britain's Economist magazine, which has typically leaned conservative, has expressed support for the legalization of assisted suicide ("Easeful Death," July 19, 2014). A number of European nations and several American states have already either outright legalized the practice or have substantially loosened laws relating to euthanasia.

As with the Western world's increasing acceptance of abortion, the trend of legalizing assisted suicide reflects a society that increasingly has forgotten that life is a gift that comes solely from God. The Economist argues that "in a pluralistic society, the views of one religion should not be imposed on everybody." But the sanctity of life is not a religious view or a moral option-it is an absolute, universal truth embedded in the creation by God.

The Bible is quite clear that human life is sacred-for we are made in the very image of God as His children. God views the taking of life very seriously and holds all humanity to very high standards when it comes to how we work to preserve the lives of others.

All humanity is continually in the process of making choices, and those choices have real, lasting consequences. As noted in another story in this edition of Current Events and Trends, God instructed His people to make the right choice and to always choose the way that leads to life: "I call heaven and earth as witnesses today against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing; therefore choose life, that both you and your descendants may live" (Deuteronomy 30:19).

As we continue on the godless path of determining for ourselves what is right and wrong, we can't expect God to continue to bless our nations. Life is sacred. Choose it and preserve it! (Source: The Economist. )

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