Death To Valentina

            Valentina Maureira is 14 year Chilean girl with cystic fibrosis. For those of you who are unaware of this disease it is extremely painful, and usually ends in an early death. Due to medical advances, people have been known to live into their 40’s. Valentina Maureira is not one of those people. The physicians in Chile have told her if she is lucky, she will live to the ripe old age of 17. Because of this information Valentina petitioned the Chilean government, specifically President Michelle Bachelet, for the hospital to give her a shot that would end her life. “I am tired of living with this sickness,” Valentina says, “Please authorize an injection so I can sleep forever.” This has probed some to ask the question, should euthanasia (intentionally ending a life in order to relieve pain and suffering) be legal?

Whether it is legal or not, the real question is, what does the Bible say about it? Is there a verse that says, “Thou shalt not commit suicide”? Of course not. So what, as a person of God, are we supposed to do or say in this type of situation? Let us first look to the Old Testament. Job was a man that could arguably have suffered more than any person in the Bible. Satan stood before God and said “Skin for skin! Yes, all that a man has he will give for his life. However, put forth Your hand now, and touch his bone and his flesh; he will curse You to Your face.” (Job 2:4-5). Satan’s goal was to get Job to give up and curse God. God said that Satan could try anything he wanted, but he couldn’t kill him (Job 2:6). To boil it down, Satan would be allowed to do anything he wanted to Job to make him curse God short of death. I have to say that the description of what happened to Job would have made me pray for death. Job did just that (Job 3:20-26). Job wanted to die, his wife even told him, “curse God and die” (Job 2:9). She told him to do that so that his suffering would be relieved. Yet “in all of this Job did not sin” (Job 1:22, 2:10). Job lived through his suffering, and is considered the example resilience, and patience.

Finally let us consider the ultimate example, Jesus. How did Jesus approach pain and suffering? Let us pose the question this way. How did Jesus solve the problems of the blind, lame, and leper? He did not say to these very sick people, I will take your life so that you will feel no pain. He healed them, He even raised the dead. Jesus knew that life glorified God, and death did not. It was the resurrection of our Lord that glorified God, not the permanent death of one who was in agonizing pain.

So what of Valentina? Simply this, her life is the possession of God and she needs to let Him take care of when and where it ends. Further, she will be better served by living her life naturally. Suicide always has been, and always will be the coward’s way out. It takes courage to live in the face of danger. It takes courage to fight in the face of adversity. It takes courage to glorify God.

Luke D. Tribble

Is Jesus the one, or should we wait for another?

There were many times that Jesus told people that He was the Messiah. He said that Abraham joyously hoped for Him (John 8:56), Moses wrote of Him (John 5:46), David called him Lord (Matthew 22:41-45). Jesus never shied away from identifying Himself as the son of God. So why is it, that His own cousin John the baptizer, while he was in prison for rebuking Herod Antipas, and expecting to die, start to doubt that Jesus is who He says He is (Luke 7:19)? Let us back up to the baptism of Jesus. First, John administered it, second John said at that baptism “I have need to be baptized by You, and do You come to me” (Matthew 3:14)? John acknowledged that Jesus was the Christ at that time. If that was not enough after Jesus’ baptism, an audible voice from heaven said, “You are My beloved Son, in You I am well-pleased” (Luke 3:22). So why did John doubt?

There were two reasons that John may have started to doubt Jesus. John was going through a personal tragedy, and may have lost faith. Many of us have done that I our lives. Something awful happens and all of a sudden, we are thrown off our spiritual track. Another reason John may have doubted Jesus was the Messiah is that it was a popular view that the Messiah was going to be a military power that would overthrow the Roman government. Instead they get a man that preaches to “love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you” (Luke 6:27), the complete opposite of a great conqueror. We sometimes do this same thing. We have one view of Jesus until the scripture tells us that Jesus is not who we thought He was. The problem with us thinking that Jesus is one way or another is the part where we start thinking. We as the people of God need to let the text tell us who Jesus is and follow suit.

Jesus’ response was very interesting. When the disciples of John came to Jesus and asked Him if He was the Expected One or if they should expect another, Jesus said “Go and report to John what you have seen and heard” (Luke 7:22a). The time that Jesus is asked if He is the Messiah, He says neither yes nor no. Instead, He declares exactly what they had seen and heard. “The blind receive sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, the poor have the gospel preached to them” (Luke 7:22b). Jesus has shown us exactly who he is through the Word of God. It has been written down through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, and through what those men had seen and heard. The Bible is our authority, and it is the only book that can assure of our faith and give us hope.

Luke D. Tribble