A few months ago, “test balloons” appeared in our national media, suggesting it is time for Singapore to “have a conversation” about euthanasia or assisted dying. These discussions are often framed as an organic evolution of a mature society.
The truth is that this is a misguided answer to a real cry for help, an affront to the ethic of filial piety, and a direct challenge to the biblical command not to kill. Further, by framing death as a “solution” to suffering, we risk eroding the very foundation of the family: The sacred duty to care for those who once cared for us.
Yet, in the quiet corners of our First World hospital wards and the hushed conversations within our HDB flats, a profound fear often lingers. It is not just the fear of pain, but the fear of becoming a “burden.” It is an ironic indictment that – in our highly-developed society, supposedly optimised for human flourishing – many of our elders look at their waning strength and wonder if their presence has become a liability to the children they raised.
As Christians, we must meet this fear with an immense, unconditional warmth. We believe that every grey hair is a crown of glory; and every life, no matter how frail, is a masterpiece of the Creator. Christians cannot take their cues from a secular culture that measures humans in utils (units of satisfaction or happiness). We have standards from a higher Source and we are the stewards of lives that don’t belong to us.
Establishing the boundaries
As Singapore engages in this conversation, Christians must define our terms to prevent confusion. Active euthanasia is the intentional termination of a patient’s life, a direct violation of the commandment not to murder. In the Christian worldview, no medical service can ever justify the deliberate destruction of the Imago Dei.
This is different from Singapore’s Advance Medical Directive (AMD). An AMD only applies when a patient is terminally ill and death is imminent; it is an instruction to refuse “heroic” or futile medical interventions that merely delay the inevitable process of dying, when recovery is no longer possible. It is an acceptance of our mortality, allowing a natural death to occur in its own time.
The call to discernment
Christians must be a people of profound discernment. We cannot be ignorant or naive about how moral boundaries, once crossed, tend to slide in increasingly permissive directions that complete the project of the desacralisation of human life.
1. Language and euphemism
We must first discern the manipulation of language. Euthanasia is rarely presented in honest terms; it is cloaked in euphemisms like “dignified dying”, “medical assistance in dying” (MAID), “deliverance”, “mercy killing” or “prevention of suffering”. These terms are designed to mask a sinister reality: We are essentially killing in the name of compassion.
By rebranding the intentional ending of life as a “medical service”, we introduce structural societal dynamics that send a subtle but clear signal to the vulnerable: When your “use” is up and you require significant care, you should “exit stage left”.
Euthanasia is rarely presented in honest terms; it is cloaked in euphemisms like “dignified dying”, while in truth it is the intentional termination of a patient’s life which directly defies the Sixth Commandment.
This is how a claimed “right to die”, which is itself a theological and ontological falsehood, becomes a “duty to die”. The social temperature shifts over time, even if it is not discernible at the start. When the healer also becomes the one who administers the lethal dose, the patient who feels like a burden begins to view their continued existence as a selfish act of theft from the next generation.
2. The desacralisation of life
Christians must be discerning about the historical trajectory of such “allowances”. We have seen this pattern before in Singapore. Abortion was initially presented as a highly restricted measure for extreme cases, only to be liberalised until we became one of the most liberal abortion regimes in the world.
Similarly, the decriminalisation of attempted suicide removed yet another moral marker that life is precious and not to be toyed with.
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