And if it is morally acceptable to allow someone to die naturally, without heroic intervention to prolong life, what about euthanasia​—a deliberate, positive act to end a patient’s suffering by actually shortening or ending his life?

Yet, the Bible teaches that life is sacred to Jehovah. “With you is the source of life,” the inspired psalmist wrote. (Psalm 36:9) Should, then, a true Christian agree to share in euthanasia?

Some feel that there is Scriptural reference to the subject when King Saul, severely wounded, begged his armor-bearer to kill him. They have viewed this as a type of euthanasia, a deliberate act to hasten death for someone who was already dying. An Amalekite later claimed to have complied with Saul’s request that he be put to death. But was that Amalekite thought of as having done good in ending Saul’s suffering? Far from it. David, the anointed of Jehovah, ordered that this Amalekite be slain for his bloodguilt. (1 Samuel 31:3, 4; 2 Samuel 1:2-16) This Biblical event, then, in no way justifies a Christian’s having any part in euthanasia.a