My brother was put on life support in the hospital. My family then made the decision to disconnect the life support. Was this an act of murder? Also, if a person is in great pain and wants someone to help end his life, would this be murder?

The answer to your question has to first take into consideration three levels of medically recognized conditions which involve either life support or assisted suicide (euthanasia).

The first level is known as ACTIVE VOLUNTARY EUTHANASIA. As I understand the explanations, this deals with a person who is on life support of some type, but is mentally alert and able to make decisions for him or herself. This person could ask doctors to disconnect life support systems and allow them to die. While I am not a legal expert, research I have been able to obtain suggests that this is almost always viewed as illegal in the United States, though some courts have defended the right of a person to make that decision. The argument in many of these cases from the physician is to the effect, “I didn’t kill him, I just let him die.” By withholding life support systems, the patient is allowed to die “naturally” because his or her body will not support life unaided.

The second level is called PASSIVE VOLUNTARY EUTHANASIA. Again, as I understand the explanations, this is a person who is either in a mentally vegetative state or is otherwise unconscious and unlikely to regain consciousness to be able to decide for him or herself what course of treatment should be continued. Should this person be connected to life support systems at any time, a family will sometimes make a decision to discontinue life support when it becomes apparent that the person cannot continue living without the complete aid of the life support systems. I myself have been present bedside for a few of these decisions during my ministry. This level of euthanasia is commonplace, but still is not without controversy. As in the case of Terri Schiavo, for example, there can be hard feelings between family members on whether to continue life support and maintain what life is present in the patient.

The final level is known as PHYSICIAN ASSISTED EUTHANASIA, or PHYSICIAN ASSISTED SUICIDE. Essentially, this concerns a person who is terminally ill with little or no hope of survival, who wishes to be spared the pain and agony of impending death. They also are unable or unwilling to take their own life in suicide, and so ask for the help of a physician in ending their lives. Most infamous of this situation in the United States involved Dr. Kervorkian, who served time in prison for assisting in suicides. This practice is also illegal in the United States of America, but has been legalized in other countries.

While the terms and designations may vary from place to place and journal to journal, the underlying questions remain the same. 1) What is life? 2) What is our responsibility in preserving life? 3) What constitutes taking a life? 4) What does medical advancement contribute to this argument.

The first answer, from a Bible perspective is this: Life is a gift from God to be highly valued and protected. God breathed into man the breath of life. While the first man and first woman were perfect, without any deformity or shortcoming, life is not defined as perfection of existence. The Bible speaks of persons who are deformed or handicapped and shows godly people treating them with kindness. For an example, consider David’s treatment of Mephibosheth in 2 Samuel 9:13. The New Testament presents numerous examples of those who were maimed or seriously injured receiving aid and comfort from someone else. On the other hand, consider Saul in 1 Samuel 31:3-4. Critically wounded in battle, Saul asks his armor bearer to kill him with a sword to spare him humiliation at the hands of his enemies. The armor bearer refuses, and Saul commits suicide. Yet later, in 1 Samuel 31:6-10, a young man claims to have killed Saul to spare him the agony of the throes of death. David has him put to death for daring to take the life of the Lord’s anointed (though, of course, he did not do so). The implication is that death to spare suffering was not an acceptable solution for the righteous child of God.

Add to this the second question: What is our responsibility in preserving life. For this, consider the place of God in the life and death of a person. In Job 30:23, Job states, “I know you will bring me down to death, to the place appointed for all the living.” Job places responsibility for the decisions of life and death in the hands of God and His Sovereign will. Likewise, Psalm 68:20 says, “Our God is a God who saves; from the Sovereign LORD comes escape from death.” Stated in the positive, God can also spare a person from death. Finally, Hebrews 9:27 states, “Just as man is destined to die once, and after that to face judgment….” Who does the destining? It is the power of Almighty God.

As for what constitutes taking a life, we must consider that any action of ours – whether intentional or unintentional – which causes another person to lose his life, is essentially taking that person’s life. The Mosaical Law contained within it carefully worded penalties for those who took another person’s life, either intentionally or through neglect. The punishments varied according to severity, but any taking of another person’s life was punishable (an exception is if death was caused as an act of war). This matter is greatly complicated, however, when we enter the matter of modern medical science and the ability to keep a person alive with machines when that person would not otherwise be able to survive.

For the matter at hand, the question becomes: By my actions am I “causing” a person to die who otherwise would not die? Or, by my actions am I “allowing” a person to die who, without the support of machines, will not naturally continue to live. I do not see that the Bible ever commands of us or insists of us that we do everything humanly possible to keep a person alive. In a time before the invention of such machines, the person would either live or die according to the ability of his own body to function. That seems most in keeping with a biblical view of life. Leaving things up to the Sovereignty of God, God can keep a person alive, if that is His desire, without the help of machines or other man-made assistance. God is more than able to preserve life or to revive a person if that is within His will.

Because of these matters, I believe that it is important for us to have on record a living will spelling out our individual desires in these matters. If life support is never administered, there is not a problem of then having it removed. Without these means, the body remains in the hands of Almighty God to heal or claim. In the case of the person who is only being kept alive by the use of machinery, I cannot find reason in Scripture to say that it is taking that person’s life to remove the unnatural machinery which is keeping them bound to this world. In the case of assisted suicide for a person otherwise alive, even in the case of terminal illness, taking their life is murder. God will decide the when and the how for that person’s death and we are not to take the place of God in deciding these matters.