The state of Vermont is the 6th smallest state in the union with just 9,616 square miles. To give that some perspective, the city of Anchorage, Alaska is nearly twice as large as the state of Vermont. And, yet this state is home to some of the most beautiful American landscape available.
Vermont is known for its plush, rolling hills with farms and cattle grazing in massive pastureland. Many small towns fill the state and swell as tourists come to take in the beauty of fall foliage, over 100 covered bridges, and all the winter sports of skiing and snowmobiling. You can visit the Vermont Teddy Bear factory in Shelburne where over half a million bears are made every year. If you love maple syrup, you have come to the state that manufactures 3/5 of all the American syrup. If cheese is more to your liking, the Cabot Creamery plant can be toured, and you might be able to sample some of the fine cheddar cheese they make.
Now, Vermont can add one more thing to their list that they are known for. Less than a year ago, they became “the first state in the country to change its law to allow terminally ill people from out of state to take advantage of [the change of law] to end their lives.”1
Currently, ten states allow medically assisted suicide. Lynda Bluestein, a resident of Connecticut, a state that does not allow any form of assisted suicide, was dying of terminal cancer. With a desire to end her life on her own terms, she headed to Vermont, the closest state to her that would allow her to end her life. She ran into one major roadblock, though: she wasn’t a resident.
Not to be deterred in her efforts, she sued the state of Vermont. “Vermont settled the case by removing the non-resident requirement.”2 On January 4, 2024, she took the prescribed medication and died. Bluestein had said in an interview, “I wanted to have a death that was meaningful, but that it didn’t take forever … for me to die,” she said. “I want to live the way I always have, and I want my death to be in keeping with the way I wanted my life to be always,” Bluestein said. “I wanted to have agency over when cancer had taken so much for me that I could no longer bear it. That’s my choice.””3
While I sympathize with her or anyone going through the end stages of life, especially those who are suffering from some aggressive disease, there is absolutely no way to justify this. It is an issue that many states are currently wrestling with, including the state of Connecticut. Thankfully, there is no active legislation concerning this in the state of Ohio – yet. Given enough time, though, we will be facing this. While we may think that Ohio will stand strong against it, I’m not so sure about that, especially after the vote concerning abortion.
Euthanasia, mercy killing, medically assisted aid-in-dying, or physician assisted suicide are all terms to describe this culture of death that has filled our nation. Nobody wants to see someone else in agony and suffering from disease. However, ending one’s life isn’t something we have a right to do even if it is our own.
Life is a gift from God. Genesis 2:7 tells us about the original formation of man. “And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.” Each life that has been conceived is also precious to God. Psalms 127:3-5 reminds us, “Lo, children are an heritage of the LORD: and the fruit of the womb is his reward. (4) As arrows are in the hand of a mighty man; so are children of the youth. (5) Happy is the man that hath his quiver full of them: they shall not be ashamed, but they shall speak with the enemies in the gate.”
God is not only sovereign over our conception and birth, but He is also sovereign over the end of our lives. Job 30:23 says, “For I know that thou wilt bring me to death, and to the house appointed for all living.” And, Ecclesiastes 8:8 says, “There is no man that hath power over the spirit to retain the spirit; neither hath he power in the day of death: and there is no discharge in that war; neither shall wickedness deliver those that are given to it.” Any method of euthanasia is an attempt to circumvent God’s sovereignty.
Former Surgeon General C. Everett Koop warned that the practice of medicine “cannot be both our healer and our killer.”4 And man has no right to act as sovereign God over their life, using whatever means available to take their life.
While we sympathize with the person struggling in those final months, day, hours, or minutes of life, I have seen God grant His peace in those moments. Pain medication can ease the bodily discomfort and Jesus can “medicate” the soul, giving grace and mercy till the final breath.
As I close this devotional, take to heart the familiar words of comfort found in Psalms 23:4. “Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.”
1https://apnews.com/article/assisted-suicide-vermont-connecticut-lynda-bluestein-fa30db82d99e6cf223d8a5bf40b2d62f
2https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assisted_suicide_in_the_United_States
3https://www.sfgate.com/news/article/terminally-ill-connecticut-woman-ends-her-life-on-18589995.php
4KOOP, The Memoirs of America’s Family Doctor by C. Everett Koop, M.D., Random House, 1991
