 This is one of the most pressing issues of our day, and yet nobody's really talking about it. I've talked about a lot of controversial issues on this channel, LGBT issues, gender identity, abortion, but something happened recently in my city of Winnipeg that woke me up to the reality of what is going on, and I need to touch on it. Let's talk about assisted suicide or medical assistance in dying, because I wanna break it down from a biblical perspective and address the critics that say it's loving and compassionate to allow people to do this. I do wanna give a sensitivity warning because we will be talking about suicide, so if you struggle with suicidal ideation, this might be a video that you want to skip, but I'll leave that up to you. Two stories absolutely broke me. The first one is that Canada will soon be providing doctor-assisted death to those who are mentally ill. I can't even wrap my mind around how sick this is, but let me explain. This is from The National Post. In March of 2023, Canada will become one of the few nations in the world allowing medical aid in dying or made for people whose sole underlying condition is depression, bipolar disorder, personality disorders, schizophrenia, PTSD, or any other mental affliction. As some of you know, I live in Canada. I'm Canadian, and also my dad works in the mental health field, so this topic, this whole story hits very, very close to home. I have a lot of thoughts on this, and I'm sure you do too, but let's begin here. This new legislation targets the most vulnerable of our society. Those who already believe there's no way out of their suffering, the pain is too much, they're looking for an escape is now, they're now being affirmed by the government saying, hey, you know what? If you feel that way, go for it. But often people are struggling with thoughts like, I'm a burden, or things will never get better, or no one needs me, or I'm useless. Listen, if you've had these thoughts, I wanna tell you, and look at me now, they are a lie. In Genesis, the first book of the Bible, The Origin Story of Humanity, we learned that we were created in the image of God, and that though we have rebelled against God, we are still loved by him and valuable. Not because of what we have done, and because we're that awesome, but because God has created us, and he attributes that value onto us. You are wanted, you were created with a purpose. Now, I admit, I definitely have struggled with some of these thoughts from time to time, but it's not something that I'm ashamed of, or I wanna hide, because ultimately, that's what the evil one wants us to do. He wants us to stay in shame, to feel like, oh my goodness, I could never verbalize that I experienced these thoughts, or this internal suffering, because we gotta be exposing it to the light. When we look at the scriptures, it's really cool to see these beams of hope and of light pierce this dark reality. But at the same time, we recognize our pain is great, and the world's suffering is great. Now, we should empathize with people that are experiencing tremendous pain and suffering, and even their desire to be free from that suffering. Even if you haven't experienced debilitating pain or suffering, you still know what it's like to put your hand on something hot, and as quickly as possible, try to pull it away, or experience pain, and want desperately to be free from it, whether through medication or distraction. But what happens when that pain is multiplied by 10? You see no end in sight, and yet you're given a way out. That is the deal that people are being given in assisted suicide. Over 20,000 people have already taken that deadly deal since the birth of medical assisted death in Canada in 2016. I'll share with you the second story that hit even closer to home, and broke my heart in a second. But first, let's get to the heart of this issue. Pain, suffering, if it is all pointless, then it's legitimate responses to avoid it at all cost. The prevailing worldview in our Western culture today is that we are evolved stardust bumping into stardust, where primordial ooze that's evolved over billions of billions of years to get to where we are today. We are evolved animals with no intrinsic purpose. In that worldview, pain avoidance makes perfect sense. Of course, I'd want to avoid the pain if it serves no purpose, and if the pain becomes too much, then why not put an end to this scientific anomaly? But here's the thing, suffering does have a purpose, and here are just three of them. Suffering can strengthen our faith in God. Before I was afflicted, I went astray, but now I obey your word. Suffering grows us in maturity. Therefore, since Christ suffered in his body, arm yourself also with the same attitudes, because whoever suffers in the body is done with sin. As a result, they do not live the rest of their earthly lives for evil human desires, but rather for the will of God. Suffering prepares us for our earthly home, for this light momentary affliction is preparing us for the eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen, but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal. Now, I readily admit, it's really easy for me to say these things, and say these verses, and say, okay, it's all for a purpose, and pain is not pointless. When I feel good, I don't feel in pain. I don't have debilitating suffering. I'm doing all right. But let me introduce you to someone who speaks from a place of authority on suffering, Jesus. He suffered tortures, beatings, and crucifixion. He knows what it's like to suffer. And further, if Jesus were to stay in the grave, our suffering would be meaningless. After all, if the God of the universe couldn't defeat suffering and death and pain, then we would be done for, but he did. And through his victory, our pain is not purposeless. I've said these things to you that you may have peace. In this world, you will have tribulation, but take heart, I have overcome the world. We can forget God's sovereignty sometimes, but we need to remember that God is working through the suffering. He has a bigger plan that we can't even see. He's working beneath the surface. And we know that for those who love God, all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. The second story is related, and it hits even closer to home, literally. So I mentioned that I live in Canada, and more specifically, I live in Winnipeg. Don't come try to find me. I don't need any more stalkers. It's okay. I came across a story a couple of weeks ago about a church that had a celebration ceremony for somebody that was going to have medically assisted death. This is via the Christian Post. The member had been suffering from ALS, which is a terrible and painful disease. I posted a video on TikTok and Instagram talking about this, and a lot of people were really hyper-focused on, wow, she was suffering quite a bit, so you can understand why she wanted to end it. And I'm like, okay, yeah, you can. Like, in some ways, it's like you can have sympathy for somebody that's experiencing great pain, but at the same time, you can recognize that this isn't a proper response to that pain. Here's the thing. Our response to this all comes back to our worldview. What do you believe about life and death? As a Christian, I believe that life is a gift from God. Then the Lord God formed the man of the dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature. We don't deserve to be alive. It's not like God needed us, but he wanted to create us to display his glory, and for us to image his glory on this earth, that's a gift that we do not deserve. Death came about because of our rebellion. Everything was perfect. There was no death. Then Adam and Eve rebelled against God, and the consequence of that was death. But death on God's timing, life and death are not up to us to control. That's God. My big question, and what I think might be most important in all of this, is how do we care for those in pain? That's a big question. So we can intellectually believe, oh man, you know, assisted suicide, that's not good. Don't do that. God is in control. You shouldn't take that into your own hands, and suffering has a purpose, and all that stuff is great. But from a practical perspective, how do we help the people in our lives that are going through suffering and pain, whether physical or mental? And that's a big question that I feel like I'm not totally equipped to answer, but here are some of the things that I've learned. In Galatians 6-2, it says carry each other's burdens, and in this way, you will fulfill the law of Christ. That is the goal, to carry each other's burdens. We all have burdens, whether those be physical or mental, we all encounter those things that weigh us down, that weigh heavy on our hearts. So how do we actually bear each other's burdens? Well, we need to know each other's burdens. How do we do that? Well, we need to talk to each other. That means we need to be present with one another, asking good questions. Not being aggressive and prying in places that they don't want us to be prying, but saying, hey, look, you mentioned this a couple of weeks ago, I wanted to check up on you on this. How are you doing on this? A lot of people that are going through internal battles, they're not gonna wanna open up as much because they don't wanna be a burden to you. They don't wanna feel like they're ranting to you or feel like they're making you feel uncomfortable, but you wanna allow those people and be open to them, say, hey, I'm receptive. Like, what are you going through? And be curious and compassionate in the mix. Those are two things that have been really helpful for me to think about. Is this curiosity? You're asking questions, and as you're getting those answers and you're hearing from them, you wanna be compassionate. You don't wanna be judgy. You're not trying to solve them or fix them. You're saying, hey, look, I wanna just display the grace that God has for you. We all wanna be that perfect friend, the friend that knows what to say that is perfectly loving and compassionate and can ask those right questions and is never insensitive, especially in a tricky situation, but yet we can't be. We can't be. We have this idealistic mentality that we're gonna be perfect. We're just never gonna actually encounter and engage with them. We're just gonna be drawn back into isolation because we're too scared of messing up. But I want you to think presence over perfection. Your presence is way better than you just trying to be perfect. And if you can't be perfect, then just give up. It's like, no, no, your friend needs you. They don't need a perfect friend because that doesn't exist. And ultimately, we want God to be working through us. We wanna be receptive to say, hey, God, I want you to work in me to help this person, to be there for this person, help me be compassionate and loving. Give me the words to say because we don't have the wisdom in our self to know exactly what we're supposed to do. But the Bible says that if we ask for wisdom, we will receive it. So that's what we're called to do and that's what I'm gonna be doing. This video is brought to you by my patrons on Patreon. The only reason that I can continue to make this Christ-centered content is because of the wonderful people supporting me on a monthly basis on Patreon. If you wanna support my mission of helping people follow Jesus daily, head to the link in my description and sign up today. If you enjoyed this video and want more content on apologetics, honest conversations about Christ, and cultural issues from a biblical perspective, feel free to subscribe because I'm putting out new videos all the time. Thanks so much for watching guys and I'll see you next time. God bless.