Ending Suffering by Ending the Person Suffering?

The prevention of suffering is Aleksandr Nikonov's main argument in his article, "Finish Them Off, So They Don't Suffer" for a Russian tabloid magazine. Using a most derogative Russian term 'debil' to describe people with developmental disabilities, he makes a case for what he calls 'postnatal abortion', and what everyone else calls infanticide, for children born with them.

From the article:

"Let me introduce myself: I am Adolf Hitler. This is the way people want to portray me," Nikonov says. "But the real bastards are those who tell me, 'Yes, it is good and fair that people are in pain. We'll look on and say people can suffer, as long as our scholarly conception of humaneness is not affected.' To hell with you. People shouldn't suffer. This is my opinion, and you won't shut me up."

Wow. "People shouldn't suffer." What a humanitarian. As if those who would prefer the murder of children remain illegal are in favor of human suffering?

No parent watching the torment caused by Hunter syndrome rack her child with pain is in favor of suffering. No fellow church member of a child born with NKH whose heart breaks with her parents' at hearing the news that the little girl is having multiple daily seizures is in favor of suffering. And no friend of a man with Down syndrome who hears him being called 'retard' within ear shot at the mall or reads that a Russian journalist chooses the most offensive word possible to describe those whom he deems suffering, causing hurt and suffering, while decrying they shouldn't suffer is in favor of suffering.

We all want to end suffering. That's why scientists work on cures for diseases. That's why people become doctors and nurses. That's why ABC banks on the tv series Extreme Home Makeover. No human with any kind of sympathy or empathy can bear to watch another suffer. We have an instinct about us, we humans, to react to ease another's suffering and to end it when we can. But to end the person suffering?

Wouldn't, Mr. Nikonov, instead of jumping on the killing bandwagon, your time be better spent advocating for disability rights, better health care for people with disabilities and chronic illnesses, and better support systems for those with disabilities and their caregivers, as these things are of very poor quality in your country? Surely the suffering you deem of those with developmental disabilities would be greatly reduced. (Suffering both real and imagined, I might add, as many people with developmental disabilities do not necessarily see themselves as suffering anymore than anyone else.)

But, no, of course it wouldn't end. Human suffering will have no complete end until Christ returns, and oh, how we groan inwardly waiting for the redemption of our bodies waiting for that time. (Romans 8:23)

And, my how we suffer. We all suffer. People with and without disabilities suffer.

Oh, but what is our answer? Who shall free us from a lifetime of pain, from the entire human history of struggle, strife, and sorrow?

My friend, the answer is always Christ and His cross. It was there that this holy God-man, this One of whom no one suffered more, bore our sorrows and carried our griefs, this man, this God, took upon Himself our sin, absorbing the wrath of God that was upon us, this Jesus, this son of God who agonized in the garden over His Father's will to crush Him, suffered and died an atoning death for our sin.

We look at the Cross of Christ and we understand love: "This is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and gave his son as atoning sacrifice for our sin." (1 John 4:10) We look to the Cross and we find our salvation, our forgiveness, our reconciliation with our Creator. We look to His suffering and know that by His stripes we are healed. The hope we have in Christ and His empty tomb give us more hope than we can ever comprehend.

In Christ we have love. In His death we have forgiveness of sin. In His resurrection, we have the promise of our resurrection from pain, suffering, and death into life and freedom from sin and struggle.

Finishing 1 John 4:10, 1 John 4:11 says, "Beloved if God so loved us, we ought to love one another." 1 John 4:19 says, "We love because he [God] first loved us."

We are not to do harm to those suffering. But because God loved us, because Christ became poor so that we could become rich, because Christ humbled Himself and made Himself a servant, because we who are His are new creations enabled by the Holy Spirit to do so, we are to care for those suffering! To grieve with those grieving and to rejoice with those rejoicing. To clothe the naked, feed the hungry, shelter the homeless, visit the sick, and to visit those in jail.

So, we respect human life. Nay, we revere it, for humans reflect the very image of our Creator. Because we revere human life, we strive to end the suffering of it we are able to end, to ease what we can ease. And we give the world our fellow human beings, our fellow sufferers, the hope of the Gospel- the forgiveness of sins in Jesus' name and the promise of a new life and an end to suffering at God's appointed time.

Meanwhile, "we know that for those who love God, all things work for good who have been called according to his purposes. For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his son, that he might be the firstborn of many brothers. And those he predestined, he also called; those he called he also justified; those he justified he also glorified." (Romans 8:28-30) And we "consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us." (Romans 8:18)

How Do People With Profound Cognitive Disabilities Get Saved?

A friend and I had a conversation about people with severe and profound cognitive disabilities, such as those in the latter stages of Alzheimer's, and their salvation. The question arose, how do those who do not understand, who cannot seek God, get saved?

I must answer, who can seek God? Romans 3:10-12, Psalm 14:1-3, and Psalm 53:1-3 says that no one seeks God and that no one understands (emphasis mine). If indeed, we are enemies of God (Romans 5:10), children of wrath by nature (Ephesians 2:3), and sinners at our very conception (Psalm 51:5) how could we seek God? Salvation, you see, is not about us seeking after God- but God seeking after us!

Jesus says that no one can come to Him unless the Father draws Him (John 6:44). Jesus says that those who are taught by the Father come to Him (John 6:45). We do not lean on our own understanding.

I worked with a man once, 'Kevin', who was born with a profound developmental disability. He had the lowest IQ of anyone I've ever known. He had no mobility, no bowel and bladder control, and received nutrients from a feeding tube; the man couldn't even eat. He responded with a smile to soft vocalizations spoken closely in his ear; whether or not he understood what was being said to him, I'll never know, though it was obvious he enjoyed that human interaction. But that smile is all he had to give to the caregivers around him who provided him his every need. This man was utterly helpless and completely dependent.

This is how we ALL are regarding our salvation. Utterly helpless and completely dependent on someone else to save us. We try and we strive under the Law of God to meet His demands and to prove ourselves righteous, but it is to no avail. We all fall short of the glory of God. We all sin. (Romans 3:23) And none can save ourselves.

Even for Kevin, though no outward sign of him sinning was ever seen by me, his heart is what God searches to judge his deeds, and his heart is deceitful and desperately sick. (Jeremiah 17:9-10)

But this is what God did for the hearts of Israel in Ezekiel 36:25-27- He gave them a new heart and a new spirit. He took their heart of stone and gave them a heart of flesh. He put His Spirit in them and caused them to walk in His statutes and obey His rules.

This is how God works. "While we were still helpless, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly... God demonstrated His own love toward us in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us." (Romans 5:6, 8) Weak and helpless all of us, God saves us. "In this is love, not that we loved God but that He loved us and sent His son to be the propitiation for our sins." (1 John 4:10, emphasis mine)

This propitiation, Christ absorbing the wrath of God that was upon us, is what saves us. This is what our salvation is dependent upon. Not on us seeking God or understanding Him on with our own deceitful minds and sick hearts.

God calls us to repentance and faith in this work. By grace we're saved through faith (Ephesians 2:8). Faith- "the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen" (Hebrews 11:1), being sure and convinced of the promises of God regarding the Cross and the Gospel, comes to us by hearing and hearing by the Word of Christ (Romans 10:17). It is given to us in a measure (Romans 12:3). His kindness leads us to repentance (Romans 2:4) which He grants (Acts 5:31, Acts 11:18, 2 Timothy 2:25).

For Kevin and for us, Christ is our Savior, our Seeker Who came to seek and save the lost (Luke 19:10). God has mercy on whom He wills and hardens whom He wills (Romans 9:18). Should He will, the God Who sent His Son to die for the sins of Kevin will have mercy on him, as He has me, and grant him faith, repentance, understanding, salvation, and a heart of flesh. That is how Kevin, a man with a profound cognitive disability will get saved.

Kevin may never be able to stand on a street corner and proclaim the Gospel. He may never in his earthly body be able to give words to his faith. But the fruits of Kevin's salvation would certainly be evident in ways that would point those around Him to His Savior. Maybe that's what his smile was all about... Speculation. Sorry.

Now, for those of us who are in Christ, including men, women, and children like Kevin, because we have been loved, pursued, given mercy, saved, and regenerated with new hearts, now we are free to seek God. Now we can understand Him. Because He loves us, we can now love Him.

Genetic Testing and Family Planning

A video on genetic testing.

Listen carefully to what Devin's mother says.  Had she known she were a carrier for Fragile X Syndrome, she would have had her eggs fertilized outside of her womb, tested, and implanted only healthy eggs.  This son whom she obviously loves and adores would not have been born.  She would rather have his just forming life destroyed than let him be born with a disability.

This is what we are doing with the gift of genetic testing?  Reverting to eugenics- from which the science of genetics evolved?  What kind of people can reason like this?

Oh, that's right.  All of us.

The human heart is deceitful and desperately sick.  (Jeremiah 17:9)  We live in sin and obey the devil, the one at work in the sons of disobedience.  We've all lived that way, following the inclinations of our sinful nature.  By our very nature, we are subject to God's wrath.  (Ephesians 2:1-3)

God says to take tender care of the weak.  (1 Thessalonias 5:14)  He commands we learn to do good, seek justice, correct oppression, and plead the widow's cause. (Isaiah 1:17)

But we don't do it, and so God's justice demands consequences.  The wages of sin is death.  (Romans 6:23)  But, God in His great mercy, sent His Son as a propitiation, to absorb the wrath of God and to suffer our consequences.  The good news is that, God showed His love for us in that while we were still sinning Christ died for us.  And now all who repent and believe in Christ and his work on the cross will be saved.  (Romans 3:21-26, Mark 1:15)

We're then given a new nature.  No longer children of wrath, we are children of God.  (Romans 8:15, Titus 3:7), heirs with Christ (Romans 8:17), given His righteousness (1 Corinthinas 1:30).  And, now, we're told to renew our minds (Ephesians 2:23).

So, we don't reason like Devin's mom anymore.  With our renewed minds, we know that as God knit Devin in his mother's womb, Devin's form was not hidden from God.  God knew Devin had Fragile X Syndrome.  And, yet, Devin was fearfully and wonderfully made, a wonderful work.  How precious are God's thoughts toward Devin!  And Devin's mother.  (Psalm 139:13-16)

And also with our renewed minds, as we now seek God and His ways, we do as He commands.  We stand up for the weak, needy, poor, oppressed, and the very, very tiny.  We love justice.  We show the hope of God to Devin's mom and to Devin.

We don't let murder in the name of genetic testing just happen.  We do something about it.  

There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way to death.  (Proverbs 14:12)

Thouhts on Seven Pounds

Spoiler Warning!

I just saw the movie Seven Pounds, and I found it disturbing. In an age where support for euthanasia and assisted suicide is on the rise, any movie that portrays suicide as a good thing raises my suspicion. But as a Christian, I found the reasoning behind main character choosing death, as denying the hope we have from the sacrificial death of Christ.

Superbly acted, Will Smith plays a man named Ben Thomas who seeks to right the terrible wrong of accidentally killing seven people. He does so by donating some of his own organs to people he judges to be 'good people' in need of transplants.

Some organs he is able to give as a 'live donor', such as a kidney, a lung, part of a liver. But in order to donate other organs, such as his heart, he must die. And so, he commits suicide, enabling him to give away those organs.

When Jesus said, "Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends" (John 15:13), I think He was talking about Himself, foreshadowing the redemption that would come when He would give His life at the cross.

Ben Thomas will find no redemption in his own death.

Ben Thomas was a terribly depressed man, filled with guilt and grief- one of those people he killed was his own wife. Ben was a man desperately in need of the Truth- that there is a God and He is willing to forgive (Romans 3:30, 1 John 1:9). He needed to know that by giving away his organs, sacrificing his own life so that others may live, he would NOT make up for the terrible tragedy for which he was responsible. No one can pay for his own sins. (Romans 3:23). We need a Savior. Thankfully, Jesus died for the sins of Ben Thomas'- so that Ben wouldn't have to.

There is only one sacrifice for the forgiveness of sins (Hebrews 10:10). There is only one justification (God can justify Ben Thomas), one way of redemption (God can redeem Ben Thomas), one propitiation (the wrath of God that was on Ben was placed onto Christ)- it is the death and the resurrection of the Perfect One (Hebrews 4:15)- the only 'good man' to ever live, by the way (Romans 3:10)- the only begotten Son of God, the God Man Christ Jesus. (Roman 3:21-26).

It is He Who makes all things new (Revelation 21:5). It is the Father, in Whom "we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose." (Romans 8:28) All things will work together for good- even a tragedy such as the one Ben faced.

Ben Thomas needed to be told of the new life found in Christ. He needed to be told of the LOVE of GOD and that "God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us." (Romans 5:8) Ben needed to be given this hope from his friends- the hope we have from Christ's death- not help in causing his own death.

John Piper On Pain and Suffering

Another thought on suffering

The Grace of God

"My grace is sufficient. My power is made perfect in weakness." (2 Corinthians 12:9)

It's so painful to watch my mother suffer. She is constant physical pain. Her mobility is limited, and she has lost some of her independence. In addition, her husband of 34 years past away a year ago. Her grief is great. Sometimes I wonder why God continues to allow her to be beaten down again and again.

Not often, but sometimes, I also look at my own sufferings and wonder why and how much longer I have to struggle with all of the addictions and temptations and 'issues' in my life.
John, in this first video, makes this statement, "He determines what time we would be born, what age, what year, what geographical location, and works all things together in order for us to have a circumstance which we might cry out to Him." I am not saying this is the answer to all suffering. But it's an answer that makes sense to me.

This past year I have been living in the sufficiency of God's grace. Before this year I didn't really understand what God meant by the idea of His grace being sufficient. But I've learned that, for me, it's crying out to God in my weakest moments of addiction and temptation and, in turn, God walking with me through them. He grants me power to get through each moment of struggle. And in spending so much time with Him in vulnerable honesty, I'm beginning to know Him intimately, to recognize His voice, His Truth, His Character, and His presence. So, maybe, that a reason He lets me suffer.

Maybe something like this is happening with my mother and God, too. Either way, I have to learn to trust in the grace of God.