Not as a philosophical exercise. Not as a political position. As something real, calculated, costed, and prepared.
In 2019, a spinal cord injury left me paralysed, and I became a full-time wheelchair user. In a moment, I lost my career, my independence, and the identity that had once shaped my life. I became dependent on my husband, my children, and others. My world turned upside down.
And then, something more dangerous happened, I decided that I was a burden, and had no value.
That belief did not feel irrational. It felt responsible. Even loving. I concluded that the best thing I could do for my family was to remove myself.
I was wrong.
Scripture reveals the truth behind this pervasive struggle.
The Lie at the Heart of Assisted Suicide
Modern arguments for assisted suicide centre on autonomy – on the supposed right of the individual to determine the timing and manner of their death.
But the Bible does not ground human life in autonomy. It grounds it in God. In the “imago dei”:
“So God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them” (Genesis 1:27 LSB).
Human life is not self-owned. It is God-given, God-defined, and God-governed.
To claim ultimate authority over one’s own death is to assume a prerogative Scripture reserves for God, who gives life and determines its end: “See now that I, I am He, and there is no god besides Me; it is I who put to death and give life” (Deuteronomy 32:39 LSB).
Therefore, the question to be asked is not, “Do I have the right to die?” but it is, “Who has authority over life and over death?”
Scripture’s answer is definitive, and it is not us. Human dignity is not contingent on autonomy or capacity – it is not dependent on voluntariness or independence, but it rests on God’s creative act and it is reaffirmed in the redemption, provided in Christ, that restores the image of God that was marred by sin.
Despair Disguised as Virtue
When I planned my death, I believed I was acting nobly.
No one coerced me or pressured me. My decision was voluntary, rational, and understood. I would have passed every assessment or safeguard measure.
But inwardly, I was enslaved to a lie: that my worth had diminished.
This is where assisted suicide legislation fails most catastrophically – it assumes that internal judgement is reliable and correct.
It is not.
Scripture teaches that the human heart is unreliable in its moral self-assessment, particularly under conditions of suffering and despair, and under immense pressure: “The heart is more deceitful than all else and is desperately sick; who can know it?” (Jeremiah 17:9 LSB).
What appears to be autonomy can, in reality, be despair and desperation.
What appears to be dignity can, in reality, be self-rejection.
Assisted suicide does not protect people from this lie. It risks affirming that distorted judgement rather than correcting it.
“You Shall Not Murder” – A Fixed Moral Boundary
A clear universal prohibition is firmly established in Scripture:
“You shall not murder” (Exodus 20:13 LSB).
This command is not suspended by suffering, disability, or loss of independence.
While the command explicitly forbids the unlawful taking of another’s life, the wider biblical witness affirms that human life is not ours to dispose of, but a gift entrusted to us by God. The intentional taking of one’s own life stands in tension with this command and the broader theology of life as God’s possession. Life is not a possession we can discard or reject. Rather, life is a gift from God that we are instructed to steward.
Moreover, suffering does not nullify God’s purposes:
“And 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 LSB).
Suffering, pain, loss, and disability do not place a life outside of God's purpose or will. God is sovereign over life and death.
The Role of Law: Restraining Evil, Protecting the Vulnerable
When I was at my lowest and could not protect myself, the law protected me.
The law, as it stands in Scotland at present, did not affirm my desire to die. It restrained it. And in doing so, it fulfilled a God-ordained function of civil authority: “for it is a minister of God to you for good” (Romans 13:4 LSB).
Law is not morally neutral. While its primary role is to restrain evil (Romans 13:4), it also carries a formative effect, signalling what a society recognises as permissible and good. It does not merely regulate behaviour, but influences how actions are morally perceived within a society.
A law that permits assisted suicide does the opposite – it removes restraint and legitimises self-destruction.
It tells the vulnerable that their conclusion of being burdensome may, in fact, be correct.
The Cultural Consequence: From Permission to Expectation
The Assisted Dying Bill associated with Liam McArthur has now been rejected by Holyrood (the Scottish parliament), but the underlying pressure and discussion has not disappeared. It is anticipated that another bill will be raised in time.
Wherever assisted suicide is legalised, it does not remain a rare exception. There is a tendency for its use to expand far beyond the initial expectation, and it becomes normalised. It is offered, and when it is offered it is accepted. Not always freely, not always without pressure, but regularly.
What begins as a “right to die” gradually evolves to become an expectation, and makes the vulnerable feel that they have a duty to die for the good of society and family.
Scripture offers a sobering principle: “Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil” (Isaiah 5:20 LSB).
When death is reframed as care or treatment, and killing is reframed as compassion, moral clarity has totally collapsed.
Those who are most at risk are not the strong, but the vulnerable – the elderly, the disabled, the dependent – those already tempted to believe their lives have less value than the lives of others.
The Gospel Answer to Suffering
The Christian response to suffering is not the elimination of the sufferer, but redemption through Christ. Our worth is not measured by productivity, independence, or physical ability – but by God’s declaration and Christ’s work: “But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8 LSB). The Son of God did not come to end suffering by ending lives. He entered suffering, bore it, and conquered it by His death and resurrection.
Even in profound weakness, life still has purpose: “My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness” (2 Corinthians 12:9 LSB).
A Personal Testimony Against a Cultural Lie
My life today is not what it once was. There is a real loss. Real limitation. Real pain. Real daily suffering. Real financial loss. But my life is not worthless. I have seen my children grow. I have rebuilt meaning. I have lived in ways that would have been impossible had I acted on my despair. And this, not through my own strength, but by the sustaining grace of God.
If the state had affirmed my decision, I would not be here. What was presented as compassion would have been my death. What would have been presented and spoken of as compassion would, in reality, have been an act I carried out contrary to the Lord’s authority over my life.
Conclusion: What Society Must Say to the Despairing
When I believed I was a burden, I did not need the state to affirm me. What I needed was contradiction. That is what both Scripture and just law must provide. “You are not your own . . . For you were bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body” (1 Corinthians 6:19,20 LSB).
To legalise assisted suicide is to abandon the truth Paul communicates to us. It is to tell the vulnerable that death is a reasonable solution to dependency. It absolutely disregards and undermines the truth that man is made in the image of God, and therefore possesses inherent, and non-negotiable dignity.
It redefines compassion as permission to die. Christians must say clearly: this is not mercy. It reflects a failure to uphold the biblical command to love and to protect and steward life.
True compassion does not eliminate the suffering by terminating the sufferer.
True compassion bears burdens. Let us bear one another's burdens as Paul writes in Romans, “Now we who are strong ought to bear the weaknesses of those without strength and not just please ourselves” (Romans 15:1 LSB). We must boldly uphold the truth, and champion life at every point. It is God who gives and sustains life, calls us not to abandon those who are suffering but to love them courageously and self-sacrificially. In the face of despair, may we stand for life, for truth, and for the enduring worth bestowed upon us by our Creator. Even when doing so contradicts the spirit of this age.
