Just because something is “legal” does not mean it is right. Gambling is legal in most states, yet it is still condemned by the Bible (Col. 3:5). The sale and consumption of alcohol are legal but ungodly (1 Pet. 4:3-4). Prostitution is legal in Nevada, but God denounces all sexual immorality (Heb. 13:4). Murder is also legal.

Perhaps the most horrific example of legalized murder is abortion. Since the 1973 Supreme Court decision in Roe v. Wade, which legalized abortion, tens of millions of babies have been killed. It has come to the point that abortion protesters are legally barred from getting close to the slaughterhouses (medical clinics). Though it may be legal to kill babies, it is immoral. God condemns it (1 Pet. 4:15). The Bible declares all “murderers … shall have their part in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death” (Rev. 21:8). This includes those who murder innocent, helpless, defenseless babies in their mothers’ wombs.

There is another, pervasive, incipient trend in our society: the murder of the physically and/or mentally disabled. The case of Terri Schiavo in Florida highlights the point. She collapsed in 1990 from unknown causes. Since that time she has been in a coma, in need of a feeding tube, but not life support. Her husband, Michael Schiavo, has recently won the legal right to remove her feeding tube. The result will be a slow death-starvation over a two-week period. This is murder any way you look at it.

In an article on the Terri Schiavo case, the following shocking statements are made:

Not only are many routinely dehydrated to death — both the conscious and unconscious — but often the people making decisions to stop food and water, like Michael, have glaring conflicts of interest.

Some of the worst such conflicts come not from family members but from a medical establishment eager to remedy the chronic shortage of organ donors. The literature is brimming with advocacy that death be “redefined” to include a diagnosis of permanent unconsciousness. An article just published in Critical Care Medicine, the journal for doctors who specialize in treating the most seriously ill and injured patients, urges the adoption of an even more radical policy. Drs. Robert D. Troug and Walter M. Robinson, from Harvard Medical School and the Medical Intensive Care Unit at Children’s Hospital, Boston, want to discard the “dead donor rule” requiring that vital organ donors die before their organs can be procured, writing: “We propose that individuals who desire to donate their organs and who are either neurologically devastated or imminently dying should be allowed to donate their organs, without first being declared dead” (The Weekly Standard, Oct. 20, 2003).

Let that sink in a minute.

Evolution brought us the doctrine that all men are “created” equal to animals. This laid the groundwork for legalized abortion that gave us the idea murdering another human being was acceptable in some circumstances. This prepared us for assisted suicide that told us the value of a life is based on the health and/or happiness of the individual. These unholy thoughts and actions are taking their natural course. Now, if a person is physically and/or mentally disabled, others have the legal right to terminate his or her life. More and more voices are calling for such barbarity. All of this is the product of an “advanced” society, one that is “enlightened” and “educated.” “Professing to be wise, they became fools” (Rom. 1:22).

It is past time that God-fearing people spoke up about these abominable practices. We need to teach our friends, neighbors, and representatives what God says about the sanctity of life. Man, being created in God’s image, is not just another animal, but His special creation (Gen. 1:26-27). Suffering does not give the individual the right to take his own life; nor does it allow another to take his life from him (Job 1-2). If so, we suppose Job’s friends should have killed him the minute they saw him (Job 2:11-13).

People also need to be taught that the murder of God’s special creation is not to go unpunished (Gen. 9:5-6). The government should support good and suppress evil, including capital punishment for certain crimes (Rom. 13:14). Sadly, it is not doing its job these days. No, we are not to take vengeance, but rest assured that God will (Rom. 12:17-21). As noted above, God has a place in hell for murderers (Rev. 21:8).

Legalizing murder does not make it right. The helpless and defenseless deserve respect because they are God’s creatures — as much as anyone else. They deserve our help and defense (cp. Lk. 10:25-37). So, let us speak out!

Steven F. Deaton