Paradox 1: Americans who typically have stronger beliefs about an afterlife (and presumably have stronger beliefs that they have something to look forward to) fight the hardest to stay alive.
No surprise there really- assisted suicide and anything moving in that direction has typically belonged to the domain of atheism. And there has long been a thought, perhaps stemming from the Catholic church, that suicide is an unpardonable sin (despite no Biblical evidence suggesting such a thing). But the presumption has been, and Biblically so, that humans created in the image of God are subject to his will in life and death. Self-murder is not terribly different than manslaughter.
But what about a "Do not resucitate" clause, ventilators, and "pulling the plug." In these difficult and greyish matters of life and death, made all the more difficult by hospitals, 21st century care, and the reality of "medical miracles"- what are we to think? The presumption of the believer, the study suggests, should be toward sovereignty. In there is to be error, let it be on the side of life.
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