Euthanasia: Life Is Not Disposable
A story from the Netherlands is shocking the world: a two-year-old child was euthanized at the end of 2025. What happened? This young child was born prematurely with a long list of health issues, such as: premature birth leading to sepsis infections, brain damage, periventricular leukomalacia—which itself caused spastic cerebral palsy—and the child also suffered from cerebral visual impairment and epilepsy.
According to the doctors overseeing this child, over the two years there was a lack of development and an increase in suffering with no hope for improvement. Due to this, the doctors, along with the parents, decided the best thing to do was to end this child’s life. So then the child was put into a medically induced coma and sedated to such a state that he died.[1]
It is a horrifying story from start to finish. It is tragic to hear what this child went through, along with their parents. I can only imagine, as a father myself, what it would be like to see one of my children go through such suffering. But it is even more tragic; it is devastating to hear then that this child was killed. It is horrible to hear that this child’s life was discarded.
I am not without sympathy, as I said, for the parents to see their child go through this, and I pity the child who had to experience such pain. But we must ask ourselves whether this is okay. Is it okay to end someone’s life due to physical suffering? As Christians, should we support such an action? Let us even ignore the fact that some physicians consulted in this case did not think euthanasia was necessary. Let us look at the extreme. If we have a child such as this, and the child cannot be cured, and his suffering cannot be mitigated, is it acceptable to end his life? It would end his suffering, wouldn’t it? It would end the suffering of the parents, right? Doesn’t that make it worth it?
Perhaps in the secular worldview, where we are only matter and there is no inherent or objective value to human life other than propagating our own species. Why wouldn’t we want to end our pain or suffering? This is not to say that all atheists support euthanasia, as I am sure some do not. God bless them. However, the materialistic and naturalistic worldview ultimately leads to a life without purpose, at least no purpose beyond one’s own pleasure—though even the goodness of pleasure cannot be grounded in anything. On that worldview, it would be more than just okay; it would be reasonable to euthanize someone who is experiencing pain.
But what about Christians? Can we support this? Should we? The answer is no. As Christians, we ought to know that life is not about pain and pleasure. It is not about escaping suffering. That is a hard truth, especially when applied to a child, but that does not change what the purpose of life is. Our purpose is to be image bearers of the divine creator of the universe, our father, God. And wrapped in that purpose is our value. We are valuable because we were created IN the image of God. God wanted us to be in his image.
That makes the life of every human incredibly valuable. It is the reason we are horrified by those who murder the innocent. Murderers do not value the lives of their victims; they see their victims as expendable. The taking of an innocent life devalues it. Euthanasia devalues the lives of its victims. This is perhaps more perverse, because euthanasia is shrouded in the guise of “healthcare” or a “medical treatment”.
What then do we do with those who are experiencing extreme suffering? Do we just let them suffer and one day die a horrible death? No. That would surely be abhorrent. But the solution is not necessarily physical.
But let us first look at the physical. If you have a terminally ill patient who is experiencing unbearable pain, we surely ought to alleviate as much as possible while still sustaining their life. Whether that be pain medication, procedures, or whatever might be necessary. But what if that doesn’t work? That does not mean we should jump to ending their life. Is their life any less valuable because they are suffering? Even if it is to a point where they can no longer care for themselves? We must be careful lest we fall down a slope. For if caring for oneself is considered one of the markers of living a valuable human life, many elderly, children, and people with disabilities cannot care for themselves, but nonetheless live full lives. Should they be killed because they experience suffering and cannot care for themselves?
The problem I see with those supporting euthanasia is the complete focus on the physical. It is not that we should not care about the physical suffering; in fact, as a church, we need to be physically caring for those who do have great physical suffering. But the physical is not all there is. We are not merely physical beings, but we are also spiritual. That means there are some spiritual remedies to this suffering. Please take care to note I am not arguing that people’s bodies are going to be healed through spiritual means. Rather, through the gospel and work of our glorious Lord, there can be dramatic spiritual healing and strengthening.
There are many stories of Christians, of whom I know some, who have terminal illnesses or unbearable suffering. But even though they had no hope of healing in this lifetime, they nonetheless faced their suffering with Christ sustaining them. It is not that they never struggled with doubt, fears, and hopelessness, but that despite that they clung to Christ, knowing he was their redeemer, ultimate healer, and comfort. Though they experienced terrible pain, many, I think, would say their life was valuable and worth living.
Like the child, they did not ask for this suffering or do anything to bring it about. But rather than being forced to end their lives, they clung to Christ and were surrounded by a loving church community that cared for and ministered to them.
The solution to terrible suffering is not escape, for truly none of us can escape suffering. The solution, the cure, is Christ. And our Lord’s means are often through us, the church, the body.
Euthanasia, medically assisted dying, whatever other name it has, is a great evil in our world. It devalues the lives of those who are suffering, and instead of pointing us to our great creator and comfort, Jesus Christ, it drags us down into despair.
Paul tells us to “Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ” (Galatians 6:2). As the Church, we must not merely say that those who suffer must continue on living. We must help make continued life more bearable. We need to visit the lonely, help the caregivers, support the families facing devastating illnesses, advocate for better care, and most importantly, actually support the very people who are suffering. We need to remind them that they are valuable, that they are not a burden, that there will be healing—someday in the future. We need to be the light of Christ in this dark age.
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