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What hath we become?
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Is hope found in death? Let's plunge into the Deeper Waters and find out.
Her name is Zoraya Ter Beek. She's a beautiful woman at a young age of 28. She has a boyfriend who is forty years old. She has a pair of cats.
She's also due to die in May of this year.
She has Autism, Borderline Personality Disorder, and depression. Her psychiatrist has told her that it will never get better. She doesn't want to bear with it anymore, so she's going to be "Euthanized" in May.
I am on the spectrum as readers know. Since my divorce, I also take medication for anxiety and depression. So how do I approach this story?
First off, let's say that I and many others understand being in a place where you are under the impression you'd be better off dead. I don't care if you think it or feel it or both. I've been there, There were times of temptation after my divorce. It's a pain that still hurts to this day, but I have also known if I did that, it would hurt everyone around me, and she would win.
I have been there because life is hard. We have never been promised a rose garden. There are times of suffering that we must all go through. Some times are worse than others. Some people have lives that are overall harder than others do. At least, that's how it can look to us.
That being said, we live in a culture now that devalues life thinking that death is the answer. Rather than do the hard work of treating and/or curing a patient, it can be easier to just send them to their demise.
Easier does not mean right.
Suicide is automatically a way of saying that absolutely nothing in this world is worth it. Not her boyfriend. Not her family. Not her cats. Not beautiful sunsets or cool breezes in the afternoon or a favorite food. Nothing. It is an insult to all creation.
Also, I would love to know how this psychiatrist knows the future since I know several people who have thought their lives would never get better and lo and behold, they did. I also wonder about a boyfriend who is just fine apparently with letting a girlfriend kill herself. Warning women. Don't date a guy who can tell you he let his last girlfriend kill herself knowingly.
Everyone involved in this story is guilty of a form of murder to some extent. You can say it is legal so it's okay, but legal doesn't mean right. This girl's life is worth it. I'm not saying it's easy. I'm just saying it is worth it. It is worth it because she is in the image of God and Jesus loves her and died for her.
Can someone introduce this girl to Jesus before it's too late?
We live in a culture that seems to worship death and if a life becomes inconvenient to us, we snuff it out and call it compassion. "That child will grow up with a disability! That child will grow up in poverty! Better to have an abortion!" "That person is going through such sorrow! They're better off dead!" Is it really thought that the person who is being murdered is helped or is it more that we are trying to lighten our burden by removing those that remind us of suffering and having to fight and struggle to succeed in life?
It doesn't help that we have a one-size-fits-all approach to eschatology. Either everyone just becomes worm food, or everyone goes to Heaven because a God of grace would never do otherwise! Unfortunately, what if He does? What if the moment this girl dies, she dies without Jesus and is in a position where she would give anything to not have made this decision?
It's a scary thought.
We can try to be nice with it and call it "Euthanasia" meaning a good death, but this is not a good death. This is murder. It is the wrongful taking of life when we have no business taking it. We are telling this woman she is a hopeless case and society will be better off. She has nothing to contribute then.
How much do you have to hate someone to tell them that?
It's also strange that conservatives like myself are told we are responsible for the deaths of so many people who kill themselves, but when someone else like this kills themselves, well that's met by cheers and shouts of bravery. It's been said that people become what they worship. What happens if we treat death as the greatest good that there is? What will we become?
We will become a culture of death.
Or maybe we already have.
In Christ,
Nick Peters
(And I affirm the virgin birth)
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Is hope found in death? Let's plunge into the Deeper Waters and find out.
Her name is Zoraya Ter Beek. She's a beautiful woman at a young age of 28. She has a boyfriend who is forty years old. She has a pair of cats.
She's also due to die in May of this year.
She has Autism, Borderline Personality Disorder, and depression. Her psychiatrist has told her that it will never get better. She doesn't want to bear with it anymore, so she's going to be "Euthanized" in May.
I am on the spectrum as readers know. Since my divorce, I also take medication for anxiety and depression. So how do I approach this story?
First off, let's say that I and many others understand being in a place where you are under the impression you'd be better off dead. I don't care if you think it or feel it or both. I've been there, There were times of temptation after my divorce. It's a pain that still hurts to this day, but I have also known if I did that, it would hurt everyone around me, and she would win.
I have been there because life is hard. We have never been promised a rose garden. There are times of suffering that we must all go through. Some times are worse than others. Some people have lives that are overall harder than others do. At least, that's how it can look to us.
That being said, we live in a culture now that devalues life thinking that death is the answer. Rather than do the hard work of treating and/or curing a patient, it can be easier to just send them to their demise.
Easier does not mean right.
Suicide is automatically a way of saying that absolutely nothing in this world is worth it. Not her boyfriend. Not her family. Not her cats. Not beautiful sunsets or cool breezes in the afternoon or a favorite food. Nothing. It is an insult to all creation.
Also, I would love to know how this psychiatrist knows the future since I know several people who have thought their lives would never get better and lo and behold, they did. I also wonder about a boyfriend who is just fine apparently with letting a girlfriend kill herself. Warning women. Don't date a guy who can tell you he let his last girlfriend kill herself knowingly.
Everyone involved in this story is guilty of a form of murder to some extent. You can say it is legal so it's okay, but legal doesn't mean right. This girl's life is worth it. I'm not saying it's easy. I'm just saying it is worth it. It is worth it because she is in the image of God and Jesus loves her and died for her.
Can someone introduce this girl to Jesus before it's too late?
We live in a culture that seems to worship death and if a life becomes inconvenient to us, we snuff it out and call it compassion. "That child will grow up with a disability! That child will grow up in poverty! Better to have an abortion!" "That person is going through such sorrow! They're better off dead!" Is it really thought that the person who is being murdered is helped or is it more that we are trying to lighten our burden by removing those that remind us of suffering and having to fight and struggle to succeed in life?
It doesn't help that we have a one-size-fits-all approach to eschatology. Either everyone just becomes worm food, or everyone goes to Heaven because a God of grace would never do otherwise! Unfortunately, what if He does? What if the moment this girl dies, she dies without Jesus and is in a position where she would give anything to not have made this decision?
It's a scary thought.
We can try to be nice with it and call it "Euthanasia" meaning a good death, but this is not a good death. This is murder. It is the wrongful taking of life when we have no business taking it. We are telling this woman she is a hopeless case and society will be better off. She has nothing to contribute then.
How much do you have to hate someone to tell them that?
It's also strange that conservatives like myself are told we are responsible for the deaths of so many people who kill themselves, but when someone else like this kills themselves, well that's met by cheers and shouts of bravery. It's been said that people become what they worship. What happens if we treat death as the greatest good that there is? What will we become?
We will become a culture of death.
Or maybe we already have.
In Christ,
Nick Peters
(And I affirm the virgin birth)
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