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It seems like the majority of Christian denominations oppose euthanasia, although I can't imagine it's universal.

What is the biblical basis against euthanizing terminally ill and those who are diagnosed as brain dead?

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  • What about the depressed?
    – Mr. Bultitude
    Apr 13, 2015 at 23:52

2 Answers 2

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The biblical argument, I believe, is that as Christians we all must have faith, and just as Christ was able to wake the "dead girl who was sleeping" (Mat. 9) so we should have faith that Christ can heal. Things get a little bit more ambiguous when you're talking about brain death, though — we are able to keep body parts alive long after the original owner has clearly passed on (a transplanted heart will often out-survive its original owner for years), but committing suicide, in any circumstance, has been considered a profound lack of hope.

A non-biblical argument (put forth by Augustine) was that, more or less, "dying" had no substantive meaning — I could have cancer and be told that i have two weeks to live. Clearly I would be "dying" in that case, but I could then make a full recovery tomorrow. On the other hand, I could be perfectly healthy and then decide to go for a walk and get hit by a bus. In this case, the person who seemed healthy was the one who was really dying and the person who seemed sick was not dying at all!

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  • Interesting point about "being dying". I have two different friends who have had cancer and gone into full remission multiple times each.
    – Mason Wheeler ♦
    Dec 13, 2011 at 0:56
  • Interesting thought in the second paragraph (although more philosophical than religious). I think the logical end, then, is that everyone is "dying". That is the curse of sin, right?
    – user3961
    Jun 19, 2013 at 23:59
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This may be overly simplistic, but I think it gets straight to the point:

Thou shalt not kill. - Exodus 20:13 (King James Version)

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  • Even if you look at the majority of translations, they use the word "murder", which would still directly apply to euthanasia. +1 Perfect answer.
    – Richard
    Dec 13, 2011 at 16:06
  • Yet, there are certain conditions that permit us to "murder" surely. Defending your own country for example. Self defence. I don't condone Euthanasia at all... I'm just sayin! :-) Also, the word "kill" should be "murder"...otherwise I'm very very guilty. So I'm not allowed to hunt?
    – Maltrap
    Dec 14, 2011 at 7:28
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    @Maltrap War is not murder. Capital punishment is not murder. Euthanasia may or may not be. However, the doctrinal interpretation is that this passage covers euthanasia. If you disagree, that means you disagree with the doctrine. Regarding hunting... this only covers humans. (If you're hunting humans, then yes, that would be wrong, per the doctrine.)
    – Richard
    Dec 15, 2011 at 14:35

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