Death with dignity

A human life is equally valuable regardless of self-sufficiency or the need for care.

Theologian Stanley Hauerwas responded to a 2020 interview question about how Christians could live and die well in a modern society. In response, he identified a troubling trend gaining traction in the West. Our culture, he argued, increasingly values technological advancement over human wisdom, efficiency over human presence, productivity over personhood, and autonomy above all else.

When those values become foundational, the most vulnerable members of society inevitably suffer. Those who are not technologically literate, efficient, economically productive, or independent can often be overlooked as neighbors to be cared for and instead seen as burdens to be managed. That is why the elderly, especially those who require daily assistance, are often pushed to the margins, leading to a lack of support and resources that can further isolate them from society. And it is why practices like medical aid in dying have gained widespread acceptance.

Hauerwas captured the issue starkly: “If in a hundred years, Christians are identified as the people who don’t kill their elders, we will have done well.”

That statement forces us to ask an important question: how should Christians think about medical aid in dying, especially when it is often framed as an act of compassion and dignity?

What Makes a Human Life Valuable?

Public conversations about medical aid in dying rarely begin with Scripture. Instead, they are usually grounded in cultural values that feel self-evident—autonomy, efficiency, and freedom from suffering. The argument is often framed this way: if someone is facing terminal illness, increasing dependence, or the loss of independence, shouldn’t they have the right to choose the timing and manner of their death?

But values function like lenses. They shape not only our answers but also the questions we think to ask. If autonomy is the highest good, then dependence becomes a problem to solve. If efficiency is central, then prolonged care appears wasteful. And if dignity is defined by independence, then the loss of bodily control is interpreted as the loss of personhood itself.

Christians must pause and ask whether these are the right lenses to use when making moral judgments about life and death.

Scripture grounds human dignity somewhere very different. In Genesis 1:27, we are told that every human being is made in the image of God. Human worth is not earned through productivity, cognitive ability, or independence. It is given by God.

That means a person’s value does not diminish when their body weakens, when memory fades, or when dependence increases. A human life is equally valuable whether self-sufficient or requiring care.

Jesus reinforces this vision in Luke 12:7 when he says that even the hairs on our heads are numbered. God’s care is intimate and personal, extending especially to those the world overlooks. Scripture says human life is sacred not for what a person can do, but for who they are before God.

Dependence Is Not a Defect and Suffering Does Not Erase Dignity

One of the strongest assumptions driving medical aid in dying is that dependence is undignified. We hear this language often: “I don’t want to be a burden.” Beneath that statement is the belief that needing others somehow diminishes one’s humanity.

But the Bible tells a very different story. From the beginning, God declares, “It is not good that man should be alone.” Human beings were created for mutual dependence. Children depend on parents. Friends depend on one another. Members of the church bear one another’s burdens. Dependence is not a flaw—it is part of God’s design.

Most strikingly, Jesus himself entered the world as a dependent infant. He needed to be fed, clothed, protected, and taught. Later, in his suffering, he allowed others to care for him, weep with him, and even carry his body to the grave. If dependence were undignified, the incarnation would be unintelligible.

The Christian vision of dignity is not autonomy without limits, but love expressed through costly presence.

Advocates of medical aid in dying often appeal to compassion, especially in cases of intense suffering. Christians should be honest here: suffering is real, and it can be devastating. We must never minimize the pain of terminal illness, chronic decline, or the exhaustion of long-term care.

But compassion does not require ending a life. Scripture never presents death as a solution to suffering. Instead, it calls God’s people to enter suffering—to mourn with those who mourn, to bear one another’s burdens, and to remain present when care becomes costly.

Ending a life may remove suffering, but it also removes the sufferer. Christian compassion seeks to relieve pain without denying the dignity of the person who suffers.

Medical aid in dying rests on the assumption that there is a point at which life is no longer worth living. Christianity rejects that premise outright. Suffering, however severe, does not erase a person’s worth.

In fact, moments of vulnerability provide the church with an opportunity to bear witness to a different story—one where love persists even when usefulness fades, where care is given without calculation, and where dignity is affirmed precisely when the world is tempted to withdraw it.

Holding Truth and Mercy Together (Death with dignity)

Christians often fear that moral clarity will come at the expense of mercy. But Scripture never treats truth and compassion as opposites. Jesus embodied both perfectly—full of grace and full of truth (John 1:14).

To oppose medical aid in dying is not to lack empathy. It insists that dignity is measured by dependence, that care is always valuable, and that every human life is precious regardless of cost.

If Christians are remembered as a people who stayed when others walked away, who cared when care was difficult, and who refused to redefine dignity in ways that exclude the vulnerable, we will have lived—and died—faithfully. (Death with dignity)

Article by: Daniel Nealon

Image by Unsplash.com

Daniel Nealon is pastor of Deer Creek Church, a congregation in the Presbyterian Church in America (PCA). He is also the author of the Deer Creek Catechism. He and his wife, Hannah, live in Littleton, CO, with their four children.