Have an aspirin and some baby Jesus
An organization called the American Life League was passing this around in 2014.
Suffering is a grace-filled opportunity to participate in the passion of Jesus Christ. Euthanasia selfishly steals that opportunity.
But no. The point of laws allowing help in dying is to help people who ask for it. You can’t call suffering any kind of “opportunity” when it’s imposed on people against their will. That’s like saying we’re giving the people of Puerto Rico an “opportunity” to die of dehydration or disease by failing to respond to the hurricane damage promptly. People who want to avail themselves of the grace-filled opportunity to participate in the passion of Jesus Christ by suffering will still be able to do that even when euthanasia is an available option. It’s that simple. It’s not “selfishly” stealing anything to let people decide how much suffering they want to put up with.
I think they’re confusing the terms “selfish” and “disobedient.”
Second, from whom is the opportunity for suffering stolen? The person making the choice? These people are stealing from themselves by forgoing an opportunity they don’t want? Refusing to hand over all your wealth is selfishly stealing the opportunity to make me rich. Dodging my fists is selfishly stealing the opportunity to get a black eye. Jesus, Catholicism turns a lot of people’s brains into mush.
“Stealing” from whom, exactly? Experiencing (i.e. if and when my time comes) the agonies of crucifixion isn’t something I ever really want, so anyone who offers to “steal” that away from me is more than welcome to. Or is it that it’s “selfish” of me to deprive God of the pleasure of watching me suffer?
Or how about: it’s fucking selfish of fanatics to steal my independence and dignity in the name of a god I don’t believe in?
Bunch of ghouls.
Maximized suffering. As for Puerto Rico, I ask you, Do you choose Mother Theresa or John Rawls after this is all over?
I wonder how many members of the ALL organisation take a paracetamol for a headache, or have had broken bones re-set, or even wear comfortable shoes rather than too-tight toe pinchers?
I think that I’m on safe ground when I say that there’s no way on Earth they embrace every opportunity to suffer. They’re obviously working hard to stay in the celestial tyrant’s good books and earn a place in paradise when they should, if they have the courage of their convictions, be doing all they can to be sent to Hell, thus maximising their opportunities.
For those that want to suffer, there is always flagellation.
They would argue that God sends us as much suffering as is good for us, so there’s no need to seek more.
Of course if God micro-manages that much he is responsible for all the evil in the world, but we don’t talk about that.
David Evans:
You are plainly misunderstanding. That is not evil. It is a chance to get closer to God.
I actually had someone tell me one time that child abuse happened because that meant the abused child could grow up to help other people suffering from child abuse, and relate to them. That sort of leads to the obvious question – why does there need to be child abuse in the first place? And what about those who go from being abused to become an abuser?
Indeed, like all those “God saved us by sending that rescue worker in the nick of time” stories that just make you wonder why God didn’t simply prevent the whole disaster.
Something something The Fall something Free Will something something
I think that opponents like to play a little equivocation game. They want to pretend that assisted suicide laws are “let’s kill sick people without their consent” laws, and conjure up scenarios of grandma being bumped off because the grandkids want their inheritance, or the socialist health care system wants to free up the bed or think she’s become too expensive, or nobody liked her to begin with.
If confronted on this, they’ll pull out some slippery slope arguments to attempt to justify the lie, but then they’ll go right back to pretending the argument is about something it isn’t. Because while they’re also opposed to letting grandma choose, of her own free will, to end her own suffering, they know that doesn’t play as well. Sort of like how Republicans have learned that they have to shut up about pregnancies from rape — most of the politicians are opposed to abortion in that situation, too, but they know it polls badly. Or how they like to pretend that most abortions are third trimester, with fetuses that look more babylike.
Of course our lives belong to ‘God’, they’re not ours. The religiots are reluctant to openly confess that doctrine these days. That’s what they really mean by ‘stealing’.
Seth @ 10
Yes, that’s the ‘explanation’, particularly ‘free will’, whatever that is. Theodicy is the insurmountable obstacle.