USA (MNN) — A bill that legalizes physician assisted
suicide is set to go before a state legislature in the United States, and
Christians are coming out in opposition to it. However, they're not just
opposing it. They're also using it as a platform.
Joni Eareckson Tada is the Founder and Chief Executive
Officer of Joni and Friends . Joni says this isn't the first time a bill like
this has been introduced. "Similar bills — three others — have gone
before the assembly or gone before the voters of California and have always
been opposed and voted down. But, the opposition has been doing its homework.
They've tweaked the language and it looks like it may sail through the
judiciary committee and go before a full assembly for a vote later this
spring."
While there are many who support physician assisted suicide,
Joni says so does Satan. "Our adversary the Devil would love nothing more
than to make it easier for despairing people to end their lives without the
knowledge of Jesus Christ."
Joni, who has been a quadriplegic since a diving accident in
1969, has been a disability advocate for many years. She says this bill and
others like it are giving her opportunities to talk about her faith on national
television. "I always like to extol that Jesus Christ is the one who has
gained victory over death. So, the whole subject of physician assisted suicide,
in some strange and convoluted way, has given me many more opportunities to
talk about my faith in Jesus Christ, which I'm extremely grateful."
While physician assisted suicide is a priority right now,
the ministry is getting ready to move into their new International Disability
Center in California, which will allow the ministry to do even more advocacy.
"We're purporting a biblical world view on very challenging questions such
as stem cell research, also on the euthanasia of persons who are elderly,
pulling the plugs on persons in comas, and even the infanticide of new born
disabled children."
She says there's an assault on life and this new center will
help them reach out to the disabled all over the world.
