C-407

Bill C-407, ever heard of it? Neither had I. Until today that is. It is a private members bill from a Bloc MP named Francine Lalonde. It is an amendment to the criminal code of Canada, with the explicit purpose of legalizing Euthanasia.

I stumbled across this article on CanadianChristianity.com. You would do well to read it. It is a short, and what appears to me, to the point analysis of what may happen politically with this bill.

Before I dive too deep into the particulars, I would like to relay a story that was instrumental in the development of my opinion in this matter.

When I was a teenager, a man that I had known all my life was struck with the debilitating disease of ALS. The man's name was Ike. Ike was much older than me, but we were, in a way friends. Ike was a leader in our church, and a teacher in the school system. He was respected in both, by both young and old.

Now one can never say exactly how much another influences another by means of measure. I can say however that Ike was a man that I looked to as wise. He was also a man that had an indescribable influence on who I was as a young man, and who I became as an adult. I think often of the times we had together and the discussions we had.

Even though Ike had ALS, it never slowed him down. He never let the disease get in the way of his Christianity. He never stopped doing whatever he could to keep up to what work needed to be done at home. I liked to go and help him. What might have been often for a youth, but probably not often enough to be a real help.

Ike ran a reindeer farm. Big farm. I recall Ike wearing insulated coveralls and dragging himself through the snow in what can only be described as a push-up position. He had no use of his legs, so he made fists and walked on his hands, dragging the rest of his body behind him. He then climbed on the skimmer, (a sled behind a snowmobile) and then as we went to the pen, he used everything he had to toss bales, off of the skimmer to feed the reindeer.

Ike had a will to live, fully.
Ike had a love for the Lord.

It was soon after watching the dignified way in which Ike had lived and died, that there was a very public case of ALS. There was a lady, who had ALS. She did not however, have the same inspiring attitude towards her remaining life. She was seriously advocating euthanasia. It was not the first time I had heard of euthanasia, but it might as well have been. I was disgusted. The picture that was painted in the media of ALS and her plight was vastly different than what I had seen with Ike.

Now ALS is a horrible affliction in which you slowly loose control and feeling in your body, but your mind is crystal clear, and I do not wish to belittle the plight of those who are suffering. I do however wish to contrast a Godly view through the disease, and a very worldly one. I never think of euthanasia without looking back over this time of my life.

Now that you understand how I feel, I would like to talk about the article from CanadianChristianity.com. (reading required)

The concept of 'the next big battle' for evangelicals is one that I am beginning to find strange. For sure I found the Gay Union debate and discussion in this country very definitely sparked a coming together of the minds, amongst evangelical Christians, and Catholics, and Anglicans...... (not saying that the latter 2 categories can't fit in the former one) I just come back to a statement from Bob. A friend.

Bob presents the concept: It is a pity that it is on a social issue that is so completely void of biblical ethics, that the church comes together. It is sad that this is what it takes to make us act. I am a bit more charitable on this point, in that I believe that it is the Lord that gives us the strength to fight these things.

Bob has a point though. Do we as Christians go from cause to cause while they are in season, and then move on? Are we after the 'next big battle'? Or did we learn from the last one that we need to be the Lord's Church. Salt and light to the world. It is depressing that some if not all of us look at the gay union debate as over. It is as abhorrent to the Lord now as it was then, and as abhorrent as abortion, euthanasia, and the next cause of the week that comes up.

I would hope that as a Church we can come together for more than the extraordinary, and through the extraordinary we may become stronger.

Lord help your church work in the world as a tool of your truth.