Comments on: The Right to Die in Massachusetts

By: Daniel Eason

Daniel Eason — Sat, 03 Nov 2012 21:32:14 +0000

the danger of using the word murder in translating to various peoples and cultures. A killing of one type might well be legal in one culture while illegal (murder) in another. So, the use of the word kill is more an avoidance of legal verbiage that might be used to attach untrue limits on the application of the Law.

By: Brian

Brian — Sat, 03 Nov 2012 21:18:00 +0000

“States can do what they like if is there is no federal law that supersedes.”

I don’t understand when this became something that any conservative could say. Rights belong to ME. The individual. The feds can’t take away my rights, or order me around unjustly, and neither can the states, and neither can my local authority. Rights are MINE.

By: Daniel Eason

Daniel Eason — Sat, 03 Nov 2012 21:15:28 +0000

The difference between the words kill and murder is merely legal. Murder is the unlawful killing of a person, usually involving forethought and malice.

Were a state to pass legislation legalizing certain ways of or reasons to kill, arguing that such were murder would not be valid. Of course, arguing that constitutional restrictions supersede would be arguable.

The difference is important both in legislation and in scriptural interpretation.

The Law of Moses was given to a homogeneous people. Likely as not the early translators of the Scriptures realized

By: Robert Cheeks

Robert Cheeks — Sat, 03 Nov 2012 13:13:09 +0000

“I’ve read that the “kill” would be better translated “murder” in the original.”

I dunno, but can’t we define suicide as ‘self-murder?’

By: Kate Pitrone

Kate Pitrone — Sat, 03 Nov 2012 12:15:55 +0000

CJ Wolfe, States can do what they like if is there is no federal law that supersedes. Until that time, which I hope never comes, states are on their own, as they once were with abortion. The Uhlmann piece is good. Thank you.

By: Kate Pitrone

Kate Pitrone — Sat, 03 Nov 2012 12:07:56 +0000

I’ve read that the “kill” would be better translated “murder” in the original.

By: Robert Cheeks

Robert Cheeks — Sat, 03 Nov 2012 11:27:48 +0000

“Show me the scriptures prohibiting suicide.”

It seems to me that “Thou shall not kill” would cover that nicely?

By: CJ Wolfe

CJ Wolfe — Sat, 03 Nov 2012 03:54:23 +0000

Kate, my point in mentioning slavery was to show that states can’t just choose to do whatever they want anymore. And a state legalizing certain actions by doctors that until very recently was considered murder is an example of a state doing whatever it wants. Doctors used to follow the principle of the Hippocratic oath (“do no harm”), and that was reflected in state health laws.

P.S. For a good refresher on the “legal logic of Euthenasia” and its connection to “Roe,” see this article by my old mentor, Michael Uhlmann. It’s different than my take: http://www.firstthings.com/article/2007/10/004-the-legal-logic-of-euthanasia-46

By: Kate Pitrone

Kate Pitrone — Sat, 03 Nov 2012 01:56:05 +0000

Yes, pain and death are part of life. Death is inevitable and I know people see or appreciate that transition differently. I think of heaven as the greatest of our adventures and truly look forward to it. I know very few other people who think that way.

The difference between murder and suicide is that one is one is an offense against both God and the person murdered. I mean, where does anyone get the nerve to take another person’s life, save in the most violently extreme circumstances, like war or any other variety of self-defense? Suicide, as in the taking of the life, is at most an offense against God and I am not even sure about that. However, the offense against man, in the case of suicide, is about how it leaves the people who are left behind. I don’t just mean family and friends who would be wounded, but the person or persons who had to find and deal with the body that remained. Surely, that is an imposition.

I am not a proponent of suicide, assisted or otherwise. I merely say, as an aside to the real argument in my post, that I see no specific Biblical proscription; though I understand the argument that it could be assumed, roughly as the Trinity must be assumed. We read and reason it in by context. God gives us life as a gift and we do not toss God’s gifts away.

By: Bill Nelson

Bill Nelson — Fri, 02 Nov 2012 21:25:23 +0000

I am reminded of the death of Pope John Paul II. His doctors asked if he wanted pain medication and he refused. Pain, and death, are a necessary part of life. A part of our transition to the next life.

I expect that the sainted Pontiff would not agree with assisted suicide.