基督教真的反对安乐死吗？

随风而逝

  原文链接： （改写了一下题目，所以不影响下面的回复）

Assisted dying: a Christian argument	基督教真的反对协助自杀吗？
There is no justification for a claim that Christianity must oppose the assisted death of a person who has made their own decision to die, provided that such a person can convince others that their desire to die is fully considered.	没有理由认为基督教必然反对一个自己选择死亡的人在他人协助下自杀，只要当事人能够说服别人，让他们相信他的决定是经过充分考虑而作出的。
I will make this argument given two conditions: first that the person is capable of making an educated decision, and second that their end-of-life experience includes full access to both pastoral and medical care.	我将在两个前提条件下展开论述：一是当事人能够基于充足的信息作出决定，二是他们在临终的日子里有充分的机会得到宗教关怀和医学护理。
The most common faith-based complaint is that life must be preserved at all costs because it is sacred. However, not many would dispute a right to self defence which may sometimes require lethal force. Furthermore, our social structures are designed to allow for life to be lost as an unfortunate but unavoidable consequence. It is clear that no functional transport system, for example, could be made entirely safe. If life were irreducibly sacred, all of these points would be of great concern; that they are not seems to provide evidence that life fails to be sacred in the sense that would allow it to be used as an indefeasible trump against assisted dying.	最常见的基于信仰的控诉就是必须不惜一切代价保全生命，因为生命是神圣的。然而，很少有人会反对自我防御的权利，而这种权利有时要求靠外力走向死亡。而且，我们的社会结构旨在把生命的丧失看成不幸的却又是不可避免的结果。举例来说，显然没有哪种运输系统能够达到彻底的安全。如果生命神圣得不容丝毫损害，那么这一事实将令人高度担忧；这说明生命并非绝对神圣的，不能把生命的神圣性当作反对协助自杀的杀手锏。
More specifically, one familiar position from those with a faith-based opposition to assisted dying is that when a patient is undergoing medical treatment, even if such patients no longer want to live, they must be made to stay alive for as long as possible because God alone can decide when one may die.	更具体地说，我们很熟悉这样一种基于信仰而反对协助自杀的观点：当病人正在接受治疗时，即使他们本人不想继续活下去，他们也必须能活多久就活多久，因为只有上帝能够决定一个人什么时候死去。
I'll accept a claim that God's will is decisive. Having done so, I cannot then understand how God's decisive will can consistently approve of medical intervention to sustain life against a natural end, but not approve intervention so that a patient can find death when that patient no longer wants to be kept alive by medical intervention. The God in whom I believe is nothing if not consistent; a good God must be, by definition.	我接受这种说法——上帝的意志是决定性的。既然如此，我就不明白上帝决定性的意志何以始终赞成靠医学手段来维持生命，不让它自然地结束，但在病人不想依靠医学手段活下去时，却不赞成他们用其他手段来寻求死亡。如果上帝不是始终如一的，那他就不值得我信仰；从定义来看，一个好的上帝应该是始终如一的。
On the topic of God's nature, my next reason for believing that God is in favour of the possibility of assisted dying is based in God being both loving and perfect. I am unlikely to accept as "loving" the sort of god that demands that we suffer unnecessarily. I do not say that it is possible to always avoid all suffering. I do say that I find it incompatible with my conception of God that a patient be effectively tortured by being kept alive with no hope of anything but pain and deterioration. God would not want that to happen to me; he thinks more of me than that.	说到上帝的本性，我相信上帝赞成协助自杀的另一个理由是上帝既仁爱又完美。如果上帝要求我们承受不必要的痛苦，我想他就算不上“仁爱”。我并不是说有可能避免所有的痛苦。我的意思是，如果病人因为活着而受折磨，除了痛苦和衰弱没有其他希望，这就与我心目中上帝的概念不相称。上帝不会希望这样的事情发生在我身上，他会更多地考虑我本人的感受。
Having been created in God's image, my third reason here for supporting self-aware assisted death, is the most telling. My faith, based on my understanding of the life and works of Christ, tells me that I will have to account for the choices that I make. The teaching of Christ is all about refusing to accept conventional religious wisdom, which would be easy but thoughtless, and instead steadfastly making one's own moral choices. Jesus chose to die rather than compromise this point. The gift that God has given to me is not life, but choices. There are no reductivist solutions to human ethics. Each choice is hard, and I expect to work hard to fathom out what seems to me to be good. I expect to be personally responsible for my choices. I expect you to be responsible for yours too, even if I disagree with what you decide.	我们是上帝的造物，这是我支持自主选择协助自杀的第三个理由，也是最有说服力的理由。基于我对生命和基督造物的理解，我的信仰告诉我必须自己作出选择。基督教义的重要内容是拒绝接受简单而轻率的世俗宗教智慧，相反，应该坚定不移地作出自己的道德选择。耶稣选择了死亡，而不是妥协。上帝赐予我的礼物不是生命，而是选择权。在人类伦理道德方面，没有一个简化的、抽象的答案。每个选择都是艰难的，而我想努力弄清什么东西对我来说是最好的。我希望为自己的选择负责。我希望你也为你的选择负责，即使我不赞成你的决定。
So, the most reprehensible insult to God in my view is paternalism; the taking away of my God-given gift to make my own moral decisions and be responsible for them. No one else can decide the value of my life for me, when it has no further use, I will end it – with or without assistance. I will expect to have to explain myself to God. In my view, of course, those who do prevent moral choice are actually making moral choices for which they themselves will have to account.	所以在我看来，对上帝最大的侮辱就是家长作风——剥夺上帝赐予我的自己作出道德决策并为此负责的权利。除了我自己，别人不能替我决定生命的价值。当生命不再有意义时，我会结束它——自己完成或者依靠他人的协助。我期待着在上帝面前自我解释。当然，在我看来，那些避免作出道德选择的人实际上也在作出选择，他们自己也必须为这种选择负责。
There is no reason from Christianity why the law should prevent assisted dying, at least so far as those wanting to die are self-aware and sane. The presence of such law would allow a dignified end to those wanting to have one, without requiring others to die against their wishes.	根据基督教义，没有理由认为法律应该禁止协助自杀，至少对那些在清醒、理智的状态下希望结束生命的人而言。允许协助自杀的法律将使希望有尊严地结束生命的人能够如愿以偿，而不想选择死亡的人也可以按照自己的意愿继续活下去。

 

Assisted dying: a Christian argument

基督教真的反对协助自杀吗？

There is no justification for a claim that Christianity must oppose the assisted death of a person who has made their own decision to die, provided that such a person can convince others that their desire to die is fully considered.

没有理由认为基督教必然反对一个自己选择死亡的人在他人协助下自杀，只要当事人能够说服别人，让他们相信他的决定是经过充分考虑而作出的。

I will make this argument given two conditions: first that the person is capable of making an educated decision, and second that their end-of-life experience includes full access to both pastoral and medical care.

我将在两个前提条件下展开论述：一是当事人能够基于充足的信息作出决定，二是他们在临终的日子里有充分的机会得到宗教关怀和医学护理。

 The most common faith-based complaint is that life must be preserved at all costs because it is sacred. However, not many would dispute a right to self defence which may sometimes require lethal force. Furthermore, our social structures are designed to allow for life to be lost as an unfortunate but unavoidable consequence. It is clear that no functional transport system, for example, could be made entirely safe. If life were irreducibly sacred, all of these points would be of great concern; that they are not seems to provide evidence that life fails to be sacred in the sense that would allow it to be used as an indefeasible trump against assisted dying.

最常见的基于信仰的控诉就是必须不惜一切代价保全生命，因为生命是神圣的。然而，很少有人会反对自我防御的权利，而这种权利有时要求靠外力走向死亡。而且，我们的社会结构旨在把生命的丧失看成不幸的却又是不可避免的结果。举例来说，显然没有哪种运输系统能够达到彻底的安全。如果生命神圣得不容丝毫损害，那么这一事实将令人高度担忧；这说明生命并非绝对神圣的，不能把生命的神圣性当作反对协助自杀的杀手锏。

More specifically, one familiar position from those with a faith-based opposition to assisted dying is that when a patient is undergoing medical treatment, even if such patients no longer want to live, they must be made to stay alive for as long as possible because God alone can decide when one may die.

更具体地说，我们很熟悉这样一种基于信仰而反对协助自杀的观点：当病人正在接受治疗时，即使他们本人不想继续活下去，他们也必须能活多久就活多久，因为只有上帝能够决定一个人什么时候死去。

 I'll accept a claim that God's will is decisive. Having done so, I cannot then understand how God's decisive will can consistently approve of medical intervention to sustain life against a natural end, but not approve intervention so that a patient can find death when that patient no longer wants to be kept alive by medical intervention. The God in whom I believe is nothing if not consistent; a good God must be, by definition.

我接受这种说法——上帝的意志是决定性的。既然如此，我就不明白上帝决定性的意志何以始终赞成靠医学手段来维持生命，不让它自然地结束，但在病人不想依靠医学手段活下去时，却不赞成他们用其他手段来寻求死亡。如果上帝不是始终如一的，那他就不值得我信仰；从定义来看，一个好的上帝应该是始终如一的。

On the topic of God's nature, my next reason for believing that God is in favour of the possibility of assisted dying is based in God being both loving and perfect. I am unlikely to accept as "loving" the sort of god that demands that we suffer unnecessarily. I do not say that it is possible to always avoid all suffering. I do say that I find it incompatible with my conception of God that a patient be effectively tortured by being kept alive with no hope of anything but pain and deterioration. God would not want that to happen to me; he thinks more of me than that.

说到上帝的本性，我相信上帝赞成协助自杀的另一个理由是上帝既仁爱又完美。如果上帝要求我们承受不必要的痛苦，我想他就算不上“仁爱”。我并不是说有可能避免所有的痛苦。我的意思是，如果病人因为活着而受折磨，除了痛苦和衰弱没有其他希望，这就与我心目中上帝的概念不相称。上帝不会希望这样的事情发生在我身上，他会更多地考虑我本人的感受。

Having been created in God's image, my third reason here for supporting self-aware assisted death, is the most telling. My faith, based on my understanding of the life and works of Christ, tells me that I will have to account for the choices that I make. The teaching of Christ is all about refusing to accept conventional religious wisdom, which would be easy but thoughtless, and instead steadfastly making one's own moral choices. Jesus chose to die rather than compromise this point. The gift that God has given to me is not life, but choices. There are no reductivist solutions to human ethics. Each choice is hard, and I expect to work hard to fathom out what seems to me to be good. I expect to be personally responsible for my choices. I expect you to be responsible for yours too, even if I disagree with what you decide.

我们是上帝的造物，这是我支持自主选择协助自杀的第三个理由，也是最有说服力的理由。基于我对生命和基督造物的理解，我的信仰告诉我必须自己作出选择。基督教义的重要内容是拒绝接受简单而轻率的世俗宗教智慧，相反，应该坚定不移地作出自己的道德选择。耶稣选择了死亡，而不是妥协。上帝赐予我的礼物不是生命，而是选择权。在人类伦理道德方面，没有一个简化的、抽象的答案。每个选择都是艰难的，而我想努力弄清什么东西对我来说是最好的。我希望为自己的选择负责。我希望你也为你的选择负责，即使我不赞成你的决定。

So, the most reprehensible insult to God in my view is paternalism; the taking away of my God-given gift to make my own moral decisions and be responsible for them. No one else can decide the value of my life for me, when it has no further use, I will end it – with or without assistance. I will expect to have to explain myself to God. In my view, of course, those who do prevent moral choice are actually making moral choices for which they themselves will have to account.

所以在我看来，对上帝最大的侮辱就是家长作风——剥夺上帝赐予我的自己作出道德决策并为此负责的权利。除了我自己，别人不能替我决定生命的价值。当生命不再有意义时，我会结束它——自己完成或者依靠他人的协助。我期待着在上帝面前自我解释。当然，在我看来，那些避免作出道德选择的人实际上也在作出选择，他们自己也必须为这种选择负责。

There is no reason from Christianity why the law should prevent assisted dying, at least so far as those wanting to die are self-aware and sane. The presence of such law would allow a dignified end to those wanting to have one, without requiring others to die against their wishes.

根据基督教义，没有理由认为法律应该禁止协助自杀，至少对那些在清醒、理智的状态下希望结束生命的人而言。允许协助自杀的法律将使希望有尊严地结束生命的人能够如愿以偿，而不想选择死亡的人也可以按照自己的意愿继续活下去。

[此贴子已经被作者于2009-7-15 8:40:57编辑过]

小望

自杀就是犯杀人罪！

帮助别人自杀，就是在别人的罪上有份！

约拿

上帝不会把我们担不起的担子放在我们身上。

 

如果一个家庭有人患了癌症，而家里又没有钱治疗，家庭无力用金钱维持病人多活几个月或者几年，这种情况下停止治疗，让生命自然结束，并不算自杀，乃是顺服上帝对生命的自然安排。在这期间，家人陪伴患者度过他生命中最后一段时光，留下珍贵的记忆，这就够了。因为生命的价值不是用“活得久”来衡量的，而是在于是否认识神。特别是对于基督徒来说，离开这个充满罪恶和痛苦的世界，到天上与主同在，那是好得无比的。

 

倘若家里经济状况足以维持治疗，那么还是要尽力维持病人的生命。

 

关于这个问题必须平衡看待，不能一刀切。

随风而逝

其实，在这个问题上说的是安乐死吧。好像是这样。

瑞雪

安乐死——病人觉得继续生存是没必要的受罪，那么我个人不阻止病人选择以死亡的方式来结束痛苦。如果病人是位非信徒，我会传给他福音。如果是位信徒，我会问他是否祷告清楚。无论他是不是信徒，我都不阻止也不怂恿其自杀。

enter

我支持安乐死。

Gunner-ZAKU

人会比上帝更仁慈么　人会比上帝更智慧么　 人的选择权不是无限的　如果人无权决定自己什么时候出生　也就不应有权利决定自己什么时候死亡

fxh

肉体的痛苦那么难以忍受么？择安乐死算不算体贴肉体？想到了以扫为了红豆汤而出卖了长子的名分。

有信心的伟人（好像是劳伦斯）在病痛的时候并不求神移去这个十字架，反而很渴慕这个十字架，还希望更痛一点，因为背负这个十字架时，心中很喜乐。

saintluca

基督在十字架上受到那么大的痛苦，作为万王之王，尚且不去 安乐死。因为那痛苦乃是 神的安排。

「他就稍往前走,俯伏在地,祷告说:我父阿, 倘若可行,求祢叫这杯离开我.然而不要照我的 意思,只要照祢的意思.」(太26:39)

基督也完全顺服了 神的安排，受到了难以想象的痛苦，遭受死亡，为我们一次献了挽回祭，凭借此赐予我们救恩。

 

我一个卑微的罪人，有什么理由害怕痛苦去 安乐死？以至于悖逆 神自尽？

 

 

 

 

楼主发的这篇文章，作者完全不是一个基督徒的态度。他一切话都是在顺服世俗的意思、人的意思，而没有顺服 神的意思。

“从定义来看，一个好的上帝应该是始终如一的。”  神为什么要按照人的“定义”来“好”？人有什么资格在 神面前提这提那？

“耶稣选择了死亡，而不是妥协。”如前所述，耶稣正是没有选择安乐死，而选择了接受痛苦的死亡！安乐死才是妥协！这里作者是在故意歪曲事实，把妥协的安乐死说成与基督的受难死亡是一回事！

 

看看这句话

“如果上帝要求我们承受不必要的痛苦，我想他就算不上“仁爱”。”

这种态度很能说明问题，不断跟 神提各种要求。照这位作者的理论推论下去，因为神不显圣让战争不死一人、不显圣让所有病人都不死、不让所有人上天堂，所以，即使 神真的允许安乐死（这只是假设）， 神还是算不上“仁爱”。这就是目前中国那些敌基督者们最喜欢宣扬的论点。他们总是自己虚构一个人所认为完美的要求，然后拿去以此要求 神。

 

我的结论是，这人只是生活在一个基督文化氛围浓厚的社会中，根本就不理解真理，也没有信靠顺服 神，仅仅是随时拿自己的理性去塑造“理性神”的理神论者。他说的话，不符合圣经，也违背 神的心意，不能效仿他。

刘备

那不是个人的问题，一旦合法化的话，没有选择好的也可以安乐死。到了末后可能会愤愤不平，还告你一状，成了一尸二命，安乐死的和协助的都变成是没救的了。