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Ballot Recommendations Summary Measure 51 Measure 52

Measure 51
Repeals Law Allowing Terminally Ill Adults To Obtain Lethal Prescription

Recommendation:
Yes

Womb to the tomb. First abortion, now euthanasia. The same folks that want to provide womb to the tomb state care for all of us convinced Oregon voters in 1994 to give the thumbs up to Measure 16. That measure “legalized” physician-assisted suicide: the deadly compliment to our “legalized” killing of babies in the womb.

In 1994, Oregon’s citizens, strongly lobbied by liberal political interests, narrowly approved a ballot measure which made Oregon the first state in the Union to legalize physician-assisted suicide. But thankfully, the 1997 Oregon Legislature has made it possible to revisit this issue before many take grisly advantage of this immoral opportunity.

Physician-assisted suicide should be an easy issue for Christians to reject. Central to orthodox Christianity is the notion that we are not our own - we are God’s creatures and we are to thank Him in all things. But suicide puts all of this on it’s head and says that we are our own - to live or to die as we see fit. Suicide, and all forms of self-destruction, are violations of the Sixth Commandment - “Thou shalt not kill” (Exodus 20:13).

One of the historic Christian church’s great documents is the Westminster Larger Catechism, written at the height of the Protestant Reformation in the seventeenth century. It explained some of the implications of the Sixth Commandment this way: “Question 136: What are the sins forbidden in the sixth commandment? Answer: The sins forbidden in the sixth commandment are, all taking away the life of ourselves, or of others, except in case of public justice, lawful war, or necessary defense; the neglecting or withdrawing the lawful and necessary means of preservation of life...”

Suicide is a violation of God’s law. Like all sins, it is first and foremost an offence against God. To argue for Measure 51 on the basis of the dignity of man, his well-being, or society’s well-being, may have its place. But to argue first and foremost or primarily on these grounds is to cede the field to our humanist opponents, and to fail to address the central issue of this Ballot Measure as well as the central issue of our day. That issue is not man’s rights, but the Crown Rights of King Jesus over every square inch of existence.

David committed adultery with Bathsheba, who was much younger than him, an impressionable girl whom he as King should have protected, not seduced. Further, he murdered her godly husband Uriah. After these sins, David declared to God in Psalm 51:4 “Against thee, thee only, have I sinned, and done this evil in thy sight.” Didn’t David sin against Bathsheba and Uriah? Certainly. But David knew what all too many today conveniently forget - our sins are always first and foremost rebellion against God. Second Tablet violations (the last five of the ten commandments - sins against men) always follow First Tablet violations (the first five of the ten commandments - sins against God.)

The plain and unavoidable fact is that God, in His Goodness and Providence, calls on some men and women, boys and girls, to suffer. To wish for an end to suffering, and to use all righteous means to seek relief from suffering is what image-bearers of God are to do. The historic Christian community has committed itself to assisting those in pain. Sadly, this is today a largely untapped area of potential ministry and witness. But men are creatures of God - we all belong to Him. He has ultimate “rights” over us. According to Romans 1, all men know this, and all men are culpable for how they respond to this knowledge. We are not to treat ourselves or others in ways that violate God’s word. He has an ultimate claim on each and every one of us.

To seek relief via suicide from pain, suffering, depression or whatever else, is to reenact the sin of Adam - determining for ourselves what is best for us, in opposition to the plain dictates of God’s Word as recorded in the Sixth Commandment.

For anyone to assist another in thus violating God’s Word by killing himself is to participate in murder. The Word of God is quite clear that the penalty for murder is to be death. Whether the citizens of Oregon attempt to declare physician-assisted suicide legal or not, it, like abortion, remains ultimately illegal and immoral. God’s fiat Word, His Standard, dictates reality. To declare the murder of abortion or suicide “legal” is a heinous and deceitful act which draws the physician into increasingly murderous activities.

We have turned those in our society who are to heal and cure, those who are to bring “life,” into killers through “legalizing” abortion. We are now asked to further degrade this growingly hypocritical profession via “legalizing” physician-assisted suicide.

Measure 51 seeks to reverse this ghastly trend. It seeks to restrain the evil outworking of a culture that has increasingly moved away from Christ and, as a result, from sanity. Murder from the womb to the tomb is the evil fruit of such a culture. Social suicide is the advanced symptoms of this sickness unto death, and is being worked out increasingly in Oregon. Such a state of affairs is no surprise to man’s Creator, Sustainer and Judge. He declared long ago in Proverbs 8:36 “But he that sinneth against me wrongeth his own soul: all they that hate me love death.”

The Westminster Catechism quoted above does more than simply condemn sins such as suicide. It positively spells out our obligations according to the Sixth Commandment. It asserts that this Commandment of our King also forbids “the neglecting or withdrawing the lawful and necessary means of preservation of life.”

Clearly the writers of the Catechism could not envision the technological advances which bring real and difficult moral decisions to those whose loved ones are being sustained on life-support systems. In this writer’s mind, it would be somewhat suspect to use the Catechism’s teachings to make such an application. However, a more obvious application is that the civil laws forbidding suicide and outlawing anyone from assisting in suicide are one of the “lawful and necessary means of preservation of life.” If the Westminster Catechism accurately reflects the truth contained in the Sixth Commandment, we have a positive moral obligation to preserve this lawful means of preserving life through our political action, through politically supporting measures such as Measure 51.

Praise God that Christian political activists were part of the means whereby this Ballot Measure has given Oregonians an opportunity to once more outlaw physician-assisted suicide in Oregon. We have the high privilege of testifying to the Crown Rights not of man, but of King Jesus over all creation and all creatures.

Please add your voice and your vote to the proclamation of our Creator’s rights over all mankind - womb to the tomb. Vote yes on Measure 51 and encourage your friends and neighbors to do the same.

This voters' guide produced by Parents Education Association, PAC.