As both a Christian and a caregiver for the elderly and those with disabilities, I'm struck with this Biblical view point- sin obstructs our decision making process. In our fallen state, we often make choices, including medical choices, for the wrong reasons- often for motives that appeal to the flesh or mere human reasoning. While paitents should remain a crucial part of the decision making process regarding their medical treatment and doctors should have the freedome to discern the best care for his/her patient, both patients and doctors would be wise to remember that human reasoning does not always lead us to the right choices.
Bioethics is attempting to set standards for the conduct of medicine and healthcare in an age of new knowledge and changing science. However, bioethicists are setting these standards from a fallen state of mind. Truth is subjective to them, as are ethics, dependent on such things as a person’s worldview, religion, and philosophy. “There is a way that seems right to a man, but in the end it leads to death.” (Proverbs 14:12, 16:25) If this proverb has ever been relevant, it is so with bioethics.
When we, as Christians, set standards for how we care for the sick and needy, we must remember that truth is not relative. The truth- the Biblical truth- about who God is and who man is plays a critical role in regard to medical decisions that affect the lives of the weak and the needy. All of those we care for in the hospital bed, teach life skills to in the group home, or 'produce' in the laboratory are deserving of dignity and respect for the sole reason that "In the image of God, made He man." (Genesis 9:6) So, while scientists can manipulate genes and clone embryos, we can never engineer the image of God out of a human being. This truth alone could set the tone for any medical ethic.
However, likewise, in our attempts to manipulate genes and clone embryos to eradicate diseases and eliminate disabilities, we can never create a person who will not inherit the struggle with sin. As much as we are created in the image of God, we are also sons of Adam; therefore, there will never be a perfect person. Our only hope remains, as it always has, in Christ and Him crucified. In His work on the cross- the great exchange, the righteous for the unrighteous, the suffering for our sins so He could save us from them and bring us to God. This is incredible mercy and incredible love.
Despite the uniqueness of each created person, in these two things- our common created image and our common depravity- man can be considered virtually identical to one another. Our worth could not be contingent upon any work or ability. To say that a person is too weak or does not contribute enough is laughable compared to the greatness and splendor and perfection that is in God! All men fall short of that Glory. We are all too weak and no one ‘contributes’ enough! For all of us, our worth is dependent only on who we are through the work of Christ at the cross.
With new life in Christ through the cross, we are given new nature and the told to renew our minds. In both this new nature and in our renewed minds, we view suffering, ethics, and caring for the weak and the vulnerable differently. We now consider those weaker than we are, and we realize that it is a sin to not show them the same grace and mercy we were given, even if one is so weak that he or she is not even cognitively aware of it.
Suffering is horrible. It is no light thing. We are better off dead and at peace with our Maker than alive on this dead earth! But in our renewed minds, we know, also, that we cannot take suffering into our own hands, as those in bioethics seem to do. We can never consider breaking God’s commandment to not murder, for instance, through abortion and euthanasia because we deem someone to be suffering too much. We cooperate with nature and conform to the way God created it. For when we attempt to manipulate nature (think of the undignified 'Ashley Treatment') and destroy that which we judge undesirable- destroy whom we judge undesirable because of the sufferings they are given- we question God’s goodness and wisdom leaving us rebuked as Job was- “Where was man when God laid the foundation of the earth?”
As we painfully watch those around us suffer, doing all we can to ease their suffering, we are to suffer with those suffering. We are not to cooperate with the hopelessness that suffering brings by manipulating the death one suffering or who we assume will suffer after birth. Instead we offer them and their loved ones the hope of Christ found in His Gospel, that those who call upon His name will be saved from their sin soaked hearts, from the wrath of God, and from hell. And that those who call upon His name will be saved to new life in Christ, to a perfect and holy body in eternity, and the unimaginable joy of eternity in the presence of the Creator.
Because of the unity we have with Christ (because of the great love and mercy shown to us at the cross), we, in humility, count others more significant than ourselves. We look not only to our own interests, but also to the interests of others. We have this mind among ourselves, which is ours in Christ Jesus Who, though He was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but made Himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. (Philippians 2:1-8)
And so we humble ourselves to one another, using our freedom to serve one another in love (Galatians 5:13), taking tender care of the weak (1 Thessalonians 5:14), seeking justice and encouraging the oppressed (Isaiah 1:17), and becoming disabled to the disabled (1 Corinthians 9:22) in order to share the Gospel to all people, in hopes that all people will be saved from, among other things, their fallen states of minds, having their minds aligned with Christ and His purposes for all things- including suffering and caring for those suffering.
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