Today the Scottish Parliament will debate an Assisted Dying Bill promoted by Liam McArthur, a Lib Dem MSP. It is the first of several parliamentary stages, which can be viewed here. The debate can be viewed live and retrospectively.

The death culture – from birthdays to manmade deathdays.

Why are people so ready to rush into the eternal world to meet their God?

“Prepare to meet thy God.”

Amos 4:12.

Augustine of Hippo wrote against those who sought death in order to meet Christ in heaven; islamic suicide bombers want to reach their heaven where they expect to be rewarded with 72 virgins and more. However, these do not explain what is happening in Britain today. Many reasons will be given in today’s debate. These are proximate reasons but the underlying reason is because many of these political activists do not believe in the eternal world nor that they are accountable to God. They do not believe that they will spend eternity re-considering their opinions, their behaviour in this world 2Cor 5:10 and its consequences.

With the rising number of abortions, Britain is progressing rapidly down a death-culture pathway. When a population fails to realise that man is created in the image of God, this influences their attitude towards the human body, seen in the aborting of young life hidden in the womb, the burning of dead bodies in cremation, and now the killing of living human bodies.

A race to the bottom

There seems to be a competition between Westminster, the Isle of Man and the SNP Scottish Parliament to be the first to allow legalised killing of consenting elderly adults, adding to the “legalised” killing of infants in the womb. Rather like Alex Salmond’s rushing to get the homosexual partnership Bill through the Scottish Parliament before UK Prime Minister David Cameron could get it through the UK Westminster Parliament, so suicide-activists are hoping to get a Bill through the Scottish Parliament as quickly as possible. It is a race to the bottom and they do not know where the bottom is. Euthanasia literally means “good death” but Assisted Dying is not the pathway to a good death. It is Jesus Christ Who gives anyone a “good death”.

The price or cost of secularism

This is the price our society pays for failing to follow the teaching of the Lord Jesus Christ.

It is a steep price and it will get worse. Legislation and Government money will now be diverted and allocated into killing the ill and elderly, with a legal right to do so, supported by Government coffers, instead of paying for adequate pain relief and terminal care. This is the priority of secularism. It shows how dangerous it is. How few people understand what secularism does to a nation.

Shame or pain? 

Two common arguments for voluntary killing or suicide are 1. the indignity of relying upon others to manage one’s personal care and 2. intractable pain.

The first one is about personal shame. Truly, shame is the most powerful motivator of human behaviour. It is stronger than the fear of death as this Assisted Dying campaign demonstrates. Therefore one can understand the determination of such suicide-activists. They may complain that religious people will not change their views, but most secular activists do not change their views either. Shame ensured that Roman soldiers, Vikings and multitudes of other warriors would commit suicide sooner than face the shame of defeat. Koreans committed suicide rather than face the shame of cutting their hair during “the modernising movement” at the turn of the 19th to 20th century. Such shame arises from false religion influencing the thinking of whole communities, populations and even nations. So one needs to examine why anyone should feel shame, especially when it is such a powerful motivator. They are driven by their submission to peer-group pressure. The Gospel of Jesus Christ can alone address this question properly. There are those who “glory in their shame” Php 3:19 and act in a shameless manner. They have different standards of shame. Shame among muslims leads to their miscalled “honour killings”. Even the mafia and gang members have their standards; what shames them is quite different from what shames civilized society. This shows how relevant is the topic. It is rarely discussed but it rides on the back of “proof by assertion” – asserting that they feel shame, and others are expected to accept it without discussion. I draw attention to it and others can think about it and discuss its folly and its baneful consequences. Personal shame is no standard for determining public policy. Let them discuss whether shame at losing one’s autonomy is sufficient to legalise state-killing, with its unintended consequences. The UK thought nothing of taking away autonomy from Julian Assange, Tommy Robinson, and today we have learned about possibly the longest miscarriage of justice in UK imprisonment history. This is shame indeed, but the UK and its politicians have felt no shame for almost killing these three individuals in its prison system. The Bible tells us about Israel being ashamed of his own counsel Hos 10:6.  Israel was not the only nation that has learned or will learn to be ashamed at its own counsel and conduct. Be it Japan or Germany in the 20th century, but Britain’s shame in the 21st century is manifest.

Britain’s shame

The argument that terminal illness is unbearable because of pain is a legitimate concern, but it should shame politicians into better terminal care. McArthur’s years of examining the question have surely demonstrated to him the need for improvement in terminal care but his solution is not to legalise funding to provide for better terminal care, which would be costly, but to terminate this inadequate care abruptly by killing those who ask to be delivered from this inadequate care. He should be ashamed of himself. Others have calculated such killing would save the uncaring State much money, as well as having many other effects arising from premature death. How many Pain Clinics are there? Do you know one? A large percentage of patients in our hospitals do not have their pain properly controlled. When will the NHS address the problem properly? This argument for legalising state-sponsored killing is a shame upon our nation. Uncontrollable pain is testimony to political and medical failure to provide adequate care for pain relief.

It is time to vote in more Christian politicians in the UK. Today, this link gives yet another example of the calibre of UK politicians, causing more shame to our national politics and national life. However, some people are shameless about the wrong things as well as being ashamed about the right things.

Jesus said: “Whosoever therefore shall be ashamed of Me and of My words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him also shall the Son of man be ashamed, when He comes in the glory of His Father with the holy angels.”

Mark 8:38

Links:

30 Apr 2025: the Holyrood Committee responsible for considering the Bill reneged on its duty and made no recommendation about this Bill. It hid behind the vote being “a matter of conscience for each individual MSP”. We need politicians who know how to expose such folly, who know how to lead the nation, and how to apply the teaching of Jesus Christ to this death culture.

13 May 2025: Conservative MSP Jackson Carlaw acknowledged the direction of travel since 2005 and 2010 but he thought it was a good thing. The contrary view pointed out the “red flag” in the definition and intent of this Bill. Conscientious objection was raised only at the end of the four-and-a-half hour discussion, with an inadequate response. Liam McArthur said that it should not be conflated with suicide. Indeed, it is state-killing. In his concluding speech McArthur even quoted the distressing case of woman who asked: “just kill me now.” He told us she was in pain. Shame on our society’s inability to deal with pain. He also gave a list of those who acknowledged that things had changed. Somehow he ended his closing remarks by referring to “this most wicked of problems”. Wickedness indeed but it is not the problem that is wicked. It is people who are wicked. Does McArthur suggest that those who oppose his legislation are wicked? This type of language reminds me of Rupert Murdoch who spoke of the most humble day of his life; the day, not he, was humble: and of Harvey Weinstein blaming his behaviour on his demons rather than himself. The vote to process the Bill towards Stage 2 was carried by 70 votes to 56 with one abstention. The similar UK Westminster Parliamentary Bill is further ahead but it must pass through the House of Lords as well. It will be discussed at the Report stage in three days’ time.

13 May 2025: John Mason MSP’s contribution in today’s debate.

14 May 2025: at a lunch-time Prayer meeting today, I heard one participant pray about doctors who had taken “a hypocritical oath”. How close to the truth this slip of the tongue might be.

16 May 2025: today was the Report stage of the UK Westminster Bill. MPs ran out of time to debate all the issues raised, so further debate and voting will take place on 13 June. Esther Rantzen accused the Bill’s opponents of having “undeclared personal religious beliefs which mean no precautions would satisfy” their concerns. She has herself come under attack for saying so. It would be good if MPs did declare their beliefs. I have often said so, and secularists are as guilty as others of hiding their real beliefs from the electorate. Many MPs who tabled amendments did not get the chance to speak, and in the end only two amendments were put to the vote. There appears to have been more rigour in the Westminster debate than in the Holyrood debate, the latter being described by several speakers as “Parliament at its (very) best”. If so, we desperately need better MSPs.

9 Jun 2025: the death-wish continues in politics and in “things spiritual”. Not only is the UK handing over the Chagos Island but we are allowing China to spy on us in the heart of London. Meanwhile, not to be outdone by the Church of England’s failures, the Church of Scotland is selling the family silver. “Future generations will struggle to understand how these perfectly humane, liberal views ever became unsayable” has written one columnist in another context.

17 Jun 2025: today the Westminster Parliament debated two amendments to the Crime and Policing Bill that would decriminalise abortion. The Culture of Death continues in our legislative chambers. The Labour Party supports killing children in the womb until birth. After 46 minutes of backbench debate with no evidence session, no Committee Stage scrutinity and with a Government Minister winding-up the debate without taking any intervention, the House of Commons made the largest change to abortion law since 1967. When this procedure for such an important change was questioned, the DeputySpeaker asserted that it was not a point of order but added her prejudicial opinion that the questioner’s point of order arose from frustration, abusing her position to put-down an MP making a serious point. I am afraid to think about the eternal experience awaiting such cavalier voters.