A Christian response to war, Euthanasia and abortion
Channel: andrew schmidt
Date: 10/06/2014

This week I wanted to address the question of euthanasia, abortion and war.
The first thing to say is that like many of the questions that are asked of me as a chaplain and R.E. teacher this one is complicated, and I hope that what I have to say may be helpful.
Firstly I want to start with why I group these very hot topics into one response. 
In my mind they all involve the ending, or potential ending, of a life path, and for every one there might be a large range of reasons why that choice would be made.
Secondly I wish to affirm that when I read the Bible I see signs that God views life as being good, something to be valued and nurtured;
I do not however see signs that life is the ultimate good, before which all other concerns become secondary or negligible.
Using war as an example I think it is easy to see that the ending of lives may be an outcome, and that that is bad. However the reasons for going into war may make that choice better than the alternative.

I think that a Christina response in our modern world should in fact be twofold.
The first is to proclaim to the world, secular and religious, our belief that life is valuable, and good, and should be treated as a thing of God, to be used wisely.
The second part of the response is built into our faith, we believe that Jesus surrendered his life for us, and I feel that action should have an impact. With that in mind we Christians should display a greater regard for life, ours and others, than we might require of the rest of the world.