While each of these terms have their own nuances, MAID is sometimes called physician assisted suicide, physician assisted dying, or euthanasia.

MAID has been legal across Canada since 2016.

A Few Key Issues Regarding MAID

While I’ve addressed this topic in an Ethics course I’ve taught for a number of years, I did some teaching on the subject again this summer. Some key points that continue to stand out to me are that:

1. Many in our society make their ethical decisions (in general) based on what feels right to them, or what seems to give them their desired outcome, rather than taking into account what God might say.
2. From the perspective of the Scripture, we don’t have a right to do whatever we want with our bodies. Therefore, we don’t have a “right do die.”
3. Since every human being is made in the image of God, every human always has value and dignity. Therefore, controlling the timing or manner of our our death doesn’t give us any more dignity.

“ Controlling the timing or manner of our death doesn’t give us any more dignity.

If you would like to hear more of my thinking on the subject, I invite you to listen to the audio from the session here:

You can download the mp3 audio file by RIGHT clicking here.

Other Pentecostal Resources

You might also consider looking at these resources from Pentecostal organizations:

• “Sanctity of Human Life: Suicide, Physician-Assisted Suicide, and Euthanasia” (by the Assemblies of God, USA)
• “Dignity of Human Life” (by the Pentecostal Assemblies of Canada)

None of what you will find above is distinctly Pentecostal as such, but these sources do reflect how many Pentecostals are thinking about this topic.

While not reflecting exclusively Pentecostal organizations, you might also take a look at the “Declaration Against Euthanasia an Assisted Suicide” from The Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops and The Evangelical Fellowship of Canada (the latter group includes Pentecostal affiliates).

You might also be interested in these posts:

• Shouldn’t Faith Always Result in Healing?
• Why are Some People NOT Healed?

Andrew K. Gabriel, Ph.D., is the author of Simply Spirit-Filled: Experiencing God in the Presence and Power of the Holy Spirit as well as three academic books, including The Lord is the Spirit. He is a theology professor and VP of Academics at Horizon College and Seminary and serves on the Theological Study Commission for the Pentecostal Assemblies of Canada. You can follow him on Facebook or on Twitter.

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