Suffering, Euthanasia, & the Gospel -an evangelistic word on Brittany Maynard’s Nov. 1st suicide date

Posted by Chuck O'Neal

I heard the tragic story of Brittany Maynard’s Nov. 1st suicide date on the local Christian radio station yesterday. Brittany moved to Portland, Oregon, my city and state, to take her own life by suicide. As the father of two adult children just a few years younger than her, my heart breaks for her circumstances. There is much I would like to compassionately say to Brittany regarding the value of her life and the fact that we don’t have the right to take life because we deem it valueless due to inconvenience (abortion) or suffering (euthanasia). However, what needs to be said MOST, and what was glaringly absent on the Christian radio station is this. The horrific reality of Brittany’s attempt to escape suffering is that without repentance and confession of Jesus Christ as her Lord, she will suffer the due penalty of her sins under God’s judgment in Hell. What Brittany needs to know more than anything else is that there is abundant life in Christ now and for all eternity if she will turn from her sin and confess Him as her Lord and risen Savior (Rom. 10:9). What Brittany needs to know is the incredible reality of 1 Cor. 15:54-55, that in Christ “Death is swallowed up in victory” and we can say victoriously “O Death, where is your sting? O Hades, where is your victory?” What Brittany desperately needs to be warned of is that outside of Christ there is only death, Hell, and eternal suffering. Suicide is NOT a savior from suffering. Jesus is the only Savior; “Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved” (Acts 4:12). He alone has conquered sin, death, and suffering. Look to Jesus Christ and live; “He who believes in the Son has everlasting life; and he who does not believe the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him” (John 3:36). Brittany don’t die in your sins. Look to Christ and live, now and forever, under the abundant grace, mercy, and love of God.