Dying well - Euthanasia

I have just read the Medical Treatment (Physician Assisted Dying) Bill 2008. I was very impressed with it. It certainly does not open the floodgates for Euthanasia, but it does allow Doctor assisted dying in particular circumstances. The Title for the Bill is: :"A Bill for an Act to enable a mentally competent adult person suffering intolerably from a terminal or advanced incurable illness to exercise their right to end their life by requesting medical assistance from their doctors, to protect doctors who assist, to prevent misuse of their ability to assist, and for other purposes."
I commend the Bill to your reading - it is easy to find - just Google the title as italisised above.

I don't think we can be black and white on this issue. There are just too many shades of grey. We do need to move very carefully. As Christians our consideration should be done with a good theological undergirding of our responses.

I would be interested in your comments

Love one another.

There is a lot of talk in the press amd elsewhere about the Anglican Communion and a split - that being between the Conservatives and Liberals - what ever those distinctions finally mean. Me, I am happy to be called a Prayer Book Anglican and hope that we can all live with a sense of harmony and accept the differences we have with both grace and humour. It worries me when anyone claims to posses the "truth" and then tag everyone else as wrong. The variations and even contradictions of the scriptures show that even those authors understood what is "true" in different ways. Let's face it, there are 2 distinct Creation narratives within the first 2 chapters of Genesis.

We do well to have a true humility. We should read the Scriptures carefully, look carefully to our traditions, and use common sense and work prayerfully, seeking a consensus.

We should look at Jesus: listening to his words, and also observing how he acted in relationship to others.

And then, we should take to heart Jesus' words: "love one another, even as I have loved you."

I was fascinated to read in the paper today oif the discovery of what is believed to be the oldest Christian church - dating back to the time of the First generatyion of Christians. It has been discovered in northern Jordan where early Christians fled to escape persecutions in Jerusalem - possibly those referred to by the Acts of the Apostles and led by Saul who was to become the great Missionary Apostle of the Church.

These discoveries are historically interesting because they point to the fact that the Christian faith is a faith bound up in human history. It is not a faith based on myth or legend - buty in the very reakl encounter with the divine - in the person of Jesus.

"and the Word became Flesh and dwelt amonst us - full fo grace and truth."