Goodbye Duke. You will be missed.

This week my family said goodbye to a dear, dear friend – our dog Duke. He was a beautiful thoroughbred Golden Retriever, who we’ve had since 1993 (yes, he was almost 16 years old!). I spoke to Dad on Thursday, the day after we’d had him put down, I had a conversation with Dad about Duke – his life, fun memories, how the Lord totally led us to the right dog, and how it went on Wednesday when we had him put down. He really was the best dog we could have asked for.

I wonder. Will our animals be in heaven? CS Lewis postulates that pets may have some eternal existence subject to the merits of their earthly owner. I’d like to think so – I was hoping that I’d get to be around for the day that Duke would die. Either way, God totally blessed us with a rad dog, and Duke will be sorely missed not just by my family, but by everyone who knew him!

Dad wrote an insightful pastoral letter this week about Duke and the moral justification for putting down an animal, vs. the debate about euthanasia. It was interesting. I’ve included it here. Let me know what you think! Blessings.

Dear Family in Christ,

The following Pastoral letter is a good bit longer than most,
and deals with a sensitive matter. I trust you will receive it
with a generous spirit.

JG

  

   

Meditations on Putting My Dog Down
And Wanting My Sick Mother to Live

As many will know, my family and I said goodbye this week to our long-time faithful
dog and friend Duke. Many of you will understand that the word “pet” is insufficient to
describe the relationship which can develop between a good dog and his master. Duke
will be warmly remembered, not only by me and my family, but by many of you who
knew and loved him. We together are most thankful for his 16 years of life.

As a family, we decided together that it was time to have Duke “put down”. In reaching
this decision, I had to do some Biblical thinking, basically grappling with the question:

“What gives me the right to decide that it is time for an animal, which
God created, to die?”

In the process, another question cast a shadow over me, and refused to let me ignore it:

“How can you be merciful in not wanting your dog to suffer, and then be
willing to have your own Mother, a person, suffer, refusing her a ‘dignified death’ ?”

In other words, why is it right to “put a dog down”, and wrong to perform euthanasia?
Should people be allowed to suffer pain and distress where we would, in mercy, not allow
an animal to suffer?

These two questions are joined at the hip, and it is really important that Christians be able
to give a clear answer to both. We regularly hear in the news of families flying overseas
to give their loved ones the opportunity to end their pain-filled lives in ways not
dissimilar to the way in which a vet ended my dear dog’s life. There is increasing
pressure upon our society to embrace the “merciful” killing of the aged and infirmed, and
to view those who oppose such actions as lacking compassion.

The first question is very easy to answer from a Biblical standpoint. At Creation God
ordained that man should have dominion over animals:

Then God said: “Let us make man in our image…and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the
birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the
ground.” (Genesis 1:26)

This Creation Ordinance means that God has delegated His rule over creatures to

mankind. As God’s vice-regents, we are finally accountable to God for the well-being of

every creature on earth. But we also have sovereignty over them. A good master is

responsible for his animal’s life. This implies a delegated authority to decide when it is

time for his animal’s life to end. Never forgetting his accountability to God, the Man,

made in God’s Image, has dominion over the animal. It is as simple and as profound as

that. When I decided that Duke was beginning to suffer in a way that would be

detrimental to his overall well-being, and beyond my finite ability to cope (God’s ability

to cope is infinite), then, with a thankful and reverent eye toward my Lord, I presided over

his death.

No-one has suggested that my family and I have been anything but prudent and merciful.

Why, then, can I not suggest the same course of action for my long-term ill, “invalid”

(horrible word!), pain-filled mother? Why do I, along with my family, applaud the

efforts of the doctors to give her every chance to live another day, as we wait for her life

to end naturally? Why have some of you chosen palliative care for a pain-racked relative

rather than succumb to the mounting pressure to “mercifully end their life”?

I want to give four reasons why it is wrong to perform euthanasia, and not unmerciful to

patiently endure with a suffering human who himself is patiently enduring as they await

their own death. The following is by no means an exhaustive treatment of the subject, and

I am well aware that there are many “what ifs” that arise in situations where tragic

suffering is found.

1) While God has bestowed upon us a delegated sovereignty over the animal kingdom,

He has retained sole sovereignty over those made in His Image. Euthanasia is an act of

insubordination on our part. The Bible makes it plain that “our times are in His hands”

(Psalm 31:15), and that God has “ordained our days” (Psalm 139:16). To stretch mercy

for animals which ends in “putting them down” to a justification for the “mercy killing”

of suffering humans is to confuse categories within the basic order of Creation and to

usurp our place as creatures under the Sovereign Lordship of God.

2) Suffering has a redemptive purpose for humans which it can never have in animals.

Animals have not bee created in God’s Image. They were not the immediate objects of

Christ’s Atonement. They are not rebels in need of salvation. The Bible never speaks of

them being justified by grace through faith, and they cannot grow in holiness. But for

people, it is a different matter. God wills our sanctification, our transformation, our

growth in holiness. As such, it is a plain fact both of Scripture and experience that

suffering often does a work in the soul of the sufferer that pleasure cannot. Peter boldly

writes:

“Therefore, since Christ suffered in his body, arm yourselves also with the

same attitude, because he who has suffered in his body is done with sin. As a

result, he does not live the rest of his earthly life for evil human desires

but rather for the will of God. (1Peter 4:1,2)

Euthanasia can cut off the sanctifying work of God in the child of God before God would

have it cut off. It is not hard to imagine that it could even prevent one coming to Christ

by cutting their life short before conversion.

3) Suffering Christians can be powerfully used of God as Gospel witnesses and workers.

David Brainard, Amy Charmichael, Joni Ericson-Tada…the list goes in and on. There

are many in our own fellowships who bear powerful witness to the grace of God through

their pain and suffering. The apostle Paul reminded the Galatians:

“As you know it was because of an illness that I first preached the Gospel to you” (Gal 4:13)

I know of very ill saints, suffering long-term illnesses, leading others, including sick and

dying unbelievers in hospital, to Christ. Jesus Christ uses saints, often in weakness and

infirmity, to manifest His manifold mercies.

Grace is also remarkably manifested through those who care for the infirm. Pain affords

a remarkable opportunity for the nature of God to be manifested in the hearts and lives of

those who love and support those who suffer. What an opportunity suffering affords to

prove that indeed he does “give strength to the weary” and “increase the power of the

weak”.

4) Because we are a sinful and fallen race, we can get it wrong with euthanasia.

Conceivably, I got it wrong with my dear dog. Perhaps he would have rallied next week

and gone on for a year or two. But where people are concerned, we cannot afford

ourselves the luxury of being right “most of the time”. I personally have been pastorally

present in tragic cases where there has been no glimmer of hope…only to see people defy

all odds and confound all expectations and recover. Moreover, we fallen ones cannot be

trusted with the power of life and death over the weak…It is too open to abuse in our

hands, and therefore best left in God’s. It is by no means beyond conception that any of

us could be tempted to “bump off Granny” because we could really use her flat. Sorry if

that offends, but I fear it is too true.

Authority over Duke was delegated to me by the Sovereign Lord. I exercised it in

determining that it was time for his days to end. Authority, in matters of life and death,

over my mother, and every human being, belongs to God alone. It is our place to humbly

wait, worship, alleviate, and care for the weakest in our midst. May God have mercy

upon us as a culture as we are increasingly challenging where He has placed us in His

Created Order.

Well, I warned you of a long and sensitive letter. I trust we see more clearly the
importance of understanding what it means to have dominion on the one hand, and to be
under Christ’s Lordship on the other, and how vital it is that we understand the
difference.

May the Lord lead us to live in these days as wise and effective disciples.

Yours, But Only For His Glory,

John Gillespie (Snr.)