Praise God as MPs reject dangerous Assisted Suicide Bill

I feel such overwhelming relief. Hours ago, MPs voted 286 to 270 against the assisted suicide Bill. It means that this dangerous and deceptive legislation now falls and we are unlikely to see another such Bill, at least for the remainder of this parliament.

What else can we say but this: all glory to God!

No doubt the media will be full of opinions about why MPs ultimately rejected the Bill. From the human perspective, I think the prime minister’s argument that we need to fix palliative and social care provision first carried a lot of weight. Other MPs were appalled, rightly, at the prospect of the Parliament Acts being used to block the House of Lords from properly standing against the Bill.

But we know the truth.

Hidden from our earthly eyes there is an unseen world where God dwells. And from there, he exercises his good, wise and perfect, sovereign reign over the entire cosmos. The hearts of all people are in his hands, and the scriptures say he turns them as he pleases. Well, God, in his infinite goodness and grace, has turned the hearts of enough MPs to vote this dangerous Bill down.

He has heard the prayers of his people. This is such an encouragement! If you prayed with us at CARE, for the very outcome we’re enjoying today, let me say a huge thanks. As a team, we depend upon the prayers of our amazing supporters and your partnership with us in this way is utterly and incalculably precious and valuable.

But as even as we rejoice together in the power of God and the outcome of the vote, can I issue you with a challenge as well?

The challenge is very simple. We know that in time, another assisted suicide Bill will come. There could be steps beforehand. For example, some MPs clearly like the idea of a Royal Commission to examine the whole idea of assisted suicide. But the day will come when our MPs are asked to vote on a fresh assisted suicide Bill.

We must therefore remain vigilant.

And this work must start with the church. It pains me to write this because I long that every believer in Jesus would agree with me that assisted suicide is dangerous and wrong. But I know this is not the case. Polling suggests that some 60% of the Church of England are in favour of assisted suicide.

Now I imagine that if you are reading this, you are most likely to be opposed to assisted suicide as I am. So, my plea and challenge to you is this: what can you do to win over brothers and sisters who think assisted suicide might be okay?

However we do it, we must make sure we are kind and gracious. We must not impugn wrong motives onto fellow church members who think assisted suicide might be okay.

At every seminar and conference where I’ve talked and taught about assisted suicide, the objection from some Christians is always, without fail, connected to a personal story of seeing a loved one suffer in terrible circumstances.

My heart goes out to anyone who has endured the agony of watching a precious member of their family in pain. How brutal! How hard! How sad! Again and again, though, in scripture, we are called to show true compassion.

And this must never involve a lethal drug that would end our loved one’s life. For life is utterly sacred. The Creator of all things, we are told, holds the power of life and death. We do not.

So, then the objection comes: how could God allow this?

Honestly, which of us have not asked this very question? My response often is to say: I don’t know. But what I do know is that our God is too wise to make a mistake and too good to be unkind. He has his purposes of grace in every storm and every trial that we go through.

Most helpful of all is the incredible and astonishing reality that in Christ, God himself suffered. Our Lord came into this world, experiencing the darkness of the womb on his way to the darkness of the tomb. He saw suffering and sin all around him. It was in the very air he breathed. According to his human nature, he experienced the full gambit of emotions and trials we all go through. Yet he was without sin. He raged against death outside the tomb of his friend Lazarus and ultimately died on the Cross, in part, to rob the power of the Evil One and to deliver a fatal blow to death itself.

In other words, no believer travels through sickness and sorrow alone. Every one of us, whether in the sick bed, or at the sick bed, has a Saviour who utterly and totally gets it and whose very power is made perfect in our weakness (2 Corinthians 12:9). And it is this power of Christ’s that also means we do not need to be afraid about the future. We can trust in his future grace to sustain us whatever that future may bring.

So, again, I plead with you and gently challenge you: what can you do to help believers who struggle with this issue? Are there younger Christians who need discipling? Older saints who need encouragement?

My other counsel concerns the debate around assisted suicide that will carry on going in the public square. What can we do there? How can we be a faithful witness to God’s better story on assisted suicide?

The answer is this. We must focus our efforts on removing as much suffering as we can, whilst resisting efforts to remove the sufferer. As Prof John Wyatt has said: “Biblical thought always draws a distinction between removing suffering and removing the sufferer. In biblical thinking, human life is sacrosanct. We are not at liberty to destroy innocent human life, however noble may be the motive.”

One keyway we can practically do this is by advocating for greater investment in palliative and social care services.

Palliative care was pioneered by the Christian Dame Cicely Saunders. She trained to be a nurse, then a doctor, at a time when medicine placed very little value or regard on caring for the dying. In 1967, se founded St Christopher’s Hospice and combined the latest research on pain killing medicine with forensic attention to detail. All patients were given access to human contact and encouraged to enjoy hobbies and keep pursuing their own interests.

This is the way to give real dignity and honour to people across society when they reach the end of their days.

So, what would advocacy and Christlike action in this area look like? It could be by financially supporting a local hospice in your area, or it might mean praying in your church for palliative care nurses and doctors. When the time is right, you could take political action by writing to your MP to urge them to support proposals to expand access to palliative care and end the postcode lottery on its availability.

As I sit here and write, it is honestly with a real range of emotions. I am so amazed that this current Parliament has rejected two assisted suicide bills in just a few years. Amazed and utterly delighted!

But I am also realistic. The fight goes on. New Bills will come. And sadly, much of our work must be church-facing, as well as speaking into the public square.

A colleague of mine highlighted the example of King Hezekiah as one to learn from as we think about the vote and the days ahead.

When faced with the threat from Assyria and when his city was under siege, he prayed to God. And the Lord delivered Jerusalem in answer to his prayers.

Likewise, we prayed and sought God’s mercy in the face of assisted suicide being legalised and the Lord has heard and answered.

But Hezekiah failed to learn the lesson. Soon after, he happily welcomed envoys from Babylon into his palace and showed them all the treasures in the Temple.

In other words, he grew complacent and forgot the posture that was really needed.

In Isaiah 62:6-7 we read:

I have posted watchmen on your walls, Jerusalem;
they will never be silent day or night.
You who call on the Lord,
give yourselves no rest,
⁷ and give him no rest till he establishes Jerusalem
and makes her the praise of the earth.

This is our calling, our joy and our privilege. To stand on the watchtower and to keep an eye out for laws that would undermine our God-given dignity.