Sufficient Evidence Archive

The last fifty years have brought many advances in healthcare, but they have also brought challenging moral dilemmas. On one end of life, its beginning, people are pressed by American culture to accept what is described as “a woman’s right to choose” when for many Christians that seems an inappropriate response to life in the womb. At the other end of life people are offered the benefits of medical science that can resuscitate and sustain bodily functions through extraordinary means, even when there seems no hope of recovery. In between, people struggle with illness and disease needing someone to help. In this article I consider how Christians can and should help, whether they work in healthcare themselves or simply understand and support others who have such careers.

In the first article in this series, I surveyed biblical materials and identified three important principles relevant to Christians confronting contemporary biomedical issues: (1) Human life is good and a great blessing from Him who created us in His image; however, life is not an absolute value to be preserved at all costs. (2) Though He is our Healer, God does not always immediately heal people of all diseases or injuries. (3) People created in the image of God should show His mercy to others (Pack 3-15).

My first memorable encounter with bioethics came when I was barely eighteen. As a student visiting a display area at a Christian college lectureship, I met a preacher who had developed a slide presentation for a sermon on abortion. He was circulating among the churches preaching this lesson trying to rally Christians to react to what he believed to be societal degradation associated with an increasing number of abortions and the ease with which abortions could be pursued. The presentation was an emotional appeal illustrated with traumatizing pictures of fetal remains— babies torn apart in abortion procedures. Such choices are emotional, and any illustrations one might use for such a lesson would be unavoidably so.

Even though I was young and immature, it still seemed obvious to me that only those who already agreed with this preacher would be convinced by his presentation. Those considering abortion seemed unlikely to be dissuaded, and those who previously had abortions might be driven into guilt and despair. Struggling women would probably find him unsympathetic and unpersuasive. The real issues involved in abortion would not be addressed with provocative slides and emotive language. Those inclined to think of abortion as a woman’s personal choice, a right that ought not be denied, might think this preacher’s approach was uninformed and judgmental. Those who disagreed with him would likely have other objections if they even bothered to listen to his presentation.

The approach this preacher proposed was more emotional and political than biblical. I found it to be poorly thought out and unlikely to reach people who really needed to consider the matter seriously. I was convinced that his presentation of the Christian position on abortion failed to adequately represent the Christian heart or a Christian worldview. It seemed to me that his approach would be ineffective with abortion proponents and any who needed compassionate guidance.

The superiority of the Christian ethical system is best recognized in the exemplary life of Jesus of Nazareth. Properly described and explicated, this system includes duties and goals set in an absolutist context sensitive to individual cases and personal choice with a foundation in human nature created in the image of God and in a reasoned account of general and special revelation. I will introduce some of the biblical Christian concepts that are important constituent elements of such an ethical system and argue that these demonstrate its superiority per se, not requiring comparison to other systems as a part of the superiority claim.