Judges 16Samson was on the brink of death (I'm sure after the Philistines had some fun with him, they were going to eliminate him). In other words, his case was terminal. He prayed for permission to (among other things) commit suicide. And God granted his request. This is what seperates this case from Saul's. When we're told Saul's story, we read nothing of divine approval of his action (in fact, David rebukes the man who says he euthanized Saul), but here God seemingly approves Samson's request to speed his death by giving him the strength to accomplish the task.
28 Then Samson prayed to the LORD, "O Sovereign LORD, remember me. O God, please strengthen me just once more, and let me with one blow get revenge on the Philistines for my two eyes." 29 Then Samson reached toward the two central pillars on which the temple stood. Bracing himself against them, his right hand on the one and his left hand on the other, 30 Samson said, "Let me die with the Philistines!" Then he pushed with all his might, and down came the temple on the rulers and all the people in it. Thus he killed many more when he died than while he lived.
So what? Well, I don't think this case supports an individual taking his/her life in their own hands (or even requesting that another human assist them in such), but it does seem to support the idea of praying for a quicker death in a terminal case. Of course, if the revenge is the focus of the passage (and suicide merely an effect), then perhaps no strong case is being made at all.
What do you think?
3 comments:
Interesting thoughts. I don't think this would qualify as euthanasia--Samson is returning his life to God. God being in charge of life is the issue, for me, and Samson affirms God's power here.
So, I think you hit the nail on the head with praying for God to take someone. I think that's ok. I remember hearing Burrell Dinkins, former counseling prof at Asbury say that someone he knew "needed to die;" they were elderly, done with life and needed to die.
Matthew, we already discussed this, but I was talking with a few people today, and they asked me these questions: 1) Is it alright to pray that God would use someone else (accidentally) to end my life? For example, those people who wish that they would die quickly--perhaps the cause of their death is someone else swerving on the road and accidentally being used as an instrument of death. 2) Is it alright for a patient in long-term care to pray that the doctors or nurses will make a terminal mistake?
I told them that they can be honest with God, but that he might not deem it fit to allow their requests to happen.
Anyway, the couple I was talking to knew people who asked these case-specific questions. If the above requests happened, God would still be the one who 'allows' the human mistakes--road swerving, wrong medication, etc....so God's power is still involved somehow. I just thought they were interesting comments.
Yeah, I agree with you that it's alright to pray anything :)
I think it seems a little strange to pray for an 'accident'. That, to me, seems like a contradiction in terms. I'd be much more likely to understand someone to just pray for the end result they are looking for (an earlier death than expected)
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