Earlier this week, lifenews.com published the story of an elderly woman in The Netherlands who died by assisted suicide, the primary reason being that she was going blind due to macular degeneration. She was also experiencing other age related problems. This hit a little close to home and made me both angry and sad.

I am saddened because I happen to know that blindness is not a fatal illness. It needn’t have prevented her from doing any of the things she liked to do provided she made appropriate accommodation. This woman was in her 80s, but where does it stop? Did the fact of her advanced age make her life less valuable than someone who is half her age? Some would say it does. If there is any life worth more than another I think they have it backwards. The wisdom and experience that should accumulate with age make the elderly a precious resource from whom we should be learning, not discarding with the trash!

It’s bad enough that this can happen anywhere in the world, but it could have just as easily been here. Oregon, Montana and Washington have assisted suicide laws. It should not surprise us. Once we decided that the life of the unborn could be forfeit in the name of our convenience, why not anyone who becomes in our estimation more trouble than their worth? It pains me to know that many of the precious members of our church might not be here if some had their way.

Life is precious! Life belongs to Yahweh, the giver of life (Gen 2:7; Deut 32:39; John 5:24.) We have no right to take it on our own initiative, whether it is the life of someone else or our own (Gen 9:6). I for one choose to agree with God and encourage those who are struggling to find the value that He places on their lives; I will not agree with Satan, who comes to kill, steal, and destroy.