Should I stay or should I go?

Do people have the right to assisted suicide? article here

I would answer no, because firstly I leave the decision of life and death to God. The one time I can think of suicide in the bible is Judas Iscariot hanging himself after betraying Jesus.

Then when Judas, his betrayer, saw that Jesus was condemned, he changed his mind and brought back the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and the elders, saying, “I have sinned by betraying innocent blood.” They said, “What is that to us? See to it yourself." And throwing down the pieces of silver into the temple, he departed, and he went and hanged himself. (Matthew 27:3-4)

Now the issue in the article is about assisted suicide, which is even worse since the sin and immorality is spread. Now I realize that watching a loved one suffer in their last days and months or even years can be tough, I myself watched a close family member go through terrible pain in his last days. But in such suffering I also saw the true depths of devotion, a man whose body had withered away to almost nothing, yet his faith and trust in the Lord, even in the grips of death and horrendous agony, moves me deeply to this day. As I looked upon him on his deathbed I saw a man who even as he yearned for the pain to end keep his trust that the Lord was watching over him and that the Lord would never abandon him. I had known for a long time that he had been a true disciple of Christ, but in the last time I saw him I became acutely aware that I should be as well.

This was according to the eternal purpose that he has realized in Christ Jesus our Lord, in whom we have boldness and access with confidence through our faith in him. So I ask you not to lose heart over what I am suffering for you, which is your glory. (Ephesians 3:11-13)

That said, my goal is not to exploit one man's suffering to prove my point, but to caution against the argument that life has no meaning if we cannot "experience" it, in whatever subjective way people mean. For if you really believe in God then your life never ceases to be meaningful, even when things seem horrible and hopeless and bleak. Surely even the people in Somalia as i write, under terrible and seemingly hopeless duress  find meaning even as death surrounds them? Additionally, no one wants suffering, but it is a part of life and can in fact be as important to the collective and individual human experience as any other feeling or sensation. Certainly if suffering was so wrong then why would Christ allow himself to be crucified?

And at the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, “Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?” which means, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” (Mark 15: 34)

Therefore, the decision by one person, directly or indirectly, to decide on the life of any other is one where more restrictions should be considered then less. The dangers of a morally ambiguous society losing its way of the issue seem too great to allow for the issue to be opened up. Consider financial issues of both cost of end of life care and possible inheritances to be gained, both issues which are very real even now sometimes, and probably exacerbated by allowing assisted suicide. As well, the state would be required to regulate this heavy to prevent what I stated from the sentence before and to ensure that people are actually incurable and likely to suffer greatly, which removed true freedom from the individual to a variety of stakeholders, all with likely different aims and objectives that may or may not align for the person's actual best interest.

To conclude, I do not doubt that this is a tough issue and if faced personally with the issue, it would be very hard to not entertain such thoughts. However, if life has meaning intrinsic to itself and my own understanding of God's plans for us is incomplete, I cannot act in such a way that condemns myself or others to throw away the precious gift that is life. Therefore, I must put faith that through all circumstances the Lord is with me and shall not forsaken me, just as he did not forsake those before me.