When We Play God

There is a famous quote by  Friedrich Nietzsche about his philosophy that God is dead.  And that because there is no God, we have to become gods ourselves. It goes: “God is dead. God remains dead. And we have killed him. How shall we comfort ourselves, the murderers of all murderers? What was holiest and mightiest of all that the world has yet owned has bled to death under our knives: who will wipe this blood off us? What water is there for us to clean ourselves? What festivals of atonement, what sacred games shall we have to invent? Is not the greatness of this deed too great for us? Must we ourselves not become gods simply to appear worthy of it?” Some say this was where it all began; secularism. The absence of religion. The focus of the here and now. The inflating of the self. Moving man into the position of God. While we may not talk in these terms, the language is still spoken: “This is my life”, “I want to do what I feel like”, “If you don’t agree with me you don’t love me”, “My body, my choice”, “I want to do what makes me happy” etc. etc. And when we remove God from the equation, by natural consequence we will have to make choices that we were never intended to make.

Case in point is a recent article in the NY Times. The title of the article is  “How Dementia Derails Plans for Assisted Dying”. The article then lays out the “tough” decision that awaits Irene Mekel. She is a former nurse who is 82 years old and has Alzheimer’s disease. So what is the big decision? No, it is not funeral arrangements. No, it is not making up her will or how to divide up an inheritance she will be leaving behind. No, the hard decision is on choosing when to die. That is right. See Irene lives in Holland where it has been legal for quite some time for someone to be euthanized. But the big decision was not even about getting euthanized. The thing that is weighing on her mind right now is deciding when exactly to die! The article states, “Soon Irene Meckel will need to pick the day she dies. She’s not in any hurry, she quite likes her life. In a trim, airy house in Castricum, a Dutch village by the sea, she has flowers growing in her back garden and there is a street market nearby where vendors greet villagers by name. But if her life is going to end the way she wants, she will have to pick a date sooner than she might like. It’s a tragedy.”

Why is this such a tragedy if she is deciding this for herself? Because, by law, someone has to be in their right state of mind to choose this, and they have to make the decision for themself. Well someone who is in late stages of Alzheimers or dementia are not normally in their right state of mind. So people like Irene have to then choose the date to die while they are still mentally capable to do so! That is right. Even though no one knows when they will not be legally competent anymore, people in Holland still have to determine ahead of time when to die. But what if she chooses a day where her mind is still solid? What if the day comes, her disease hasn’t progressed as much as the doctors thought and she is still fine? Still healthy? Still have her wits about her? Can she change her mind? No. It won't matter. By law the doctors would still have to kill her, because that is what she told them to do!

In fact there was a public case in the Netherlands that took place in 2016. It was referred to as the coffee case. A lady predetermined to have herself euthanized. The day came and the doctor came to her home and put a sedative in her coffee. The woman had changed her mind and didn't want to die. The lady was fighting back (fighting to live!) and so the doctor had her family hold her down while they injected her with the chemicals that eventually killed her. Years later the doctor was taken to court as prosecutors thought the doctor did not follow the law as it was intended. But she was exonerated and found not guilty of any wrongdoing.

How crazy is this?! We desire the autonomy, freedom and god-like status so much that we are predetermining the day we die! But yet Irene, and so many others like her, are struggling with this decision for not the reasons they think. No, it's a hard decision for  a completely different reason. This is such a hard decision, not because she doesn't know what date to choose for her death. This is a hard decision because it's a decision that is not hers to make! This was never meant to be something human beings were to ever grapple with. We are not God! We have lost sight of what Job knew so well: “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return. The LORD gave, and the LORD has taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD.” (Job 1:21) God is the giver of life and the one who determines when it ends. This is a decision meant for the one who is all-knowing. Not for finite creatures. This is a decision for the Lord who is sovereign over all. Not for limited humans.

But this is what happens in secularist society. This is what happens when we try and remove God from our lives. When God is removed that void needs to be filled. The throne is then filled in by us. We want our freedom so badly, to play god so strongly, that we don’t even stop to think what that may lead to. We don’t play out the consequences of our beliefs and philosophies. We desire to be the god of our life no matter what it takes, even if it kills us. Which in these cases, it has.