Assisted Suicide and the Meaning of Life: A Christian Perspective
Editor’s Note: We recognize that suicide is an incredibly painful topic for many, but today’s cultural moment demands that we address it. We seek to do so carefully.
“For even behind a request for death, it is often the desire to live that is being expressed.”[1]
That claim was made earlier this year by The Permanent Council of the French Bishops’ Conference in a statement issued to French lawmakers considering national legislation on assisted suicide. While the whole statement is worth reading, that particular line caught my attention because it’s bold and counterintuitive. And if true, it highlights a unique opportunity for the Christian perspective to offer hope to people in desperate need.
So why do people choose to pursue assisted suicide? Many studies indicate that the primary reasons motivating people are loss of autonomy and the inability to participate in enjoyable activities.[2] I was somewhat surprised to learn that concern about pain from an illness or disease typically ranks near the lower end of reasons people choose death. Generally speaking, the sad conclusion people reach goes something like this: “If I can’t have autonomy or do the things I like, then life isn’t worth living.”
But when someone latches onto that statement, they are also implicitly affirming the inverse, namely, “If I could have autonomy and do the things I like, then life would be worth living.” That’s important, because it suggests people don’t pursue assisted suicide because of some good they want to get from death—they do so out of resignation to a loss in life. Therefore, what people really desire is life, but they’ve lost hope that meaningful life can still be experienced here on earth.
How the Christian Perspective Offers Hope
To many who pursue assisted suicide, loss of autonomy or the inability to enjoy certain activities feels like the real death, and assisted suicide is merely the formal end of the body. But why does it feel that way? And how might the Christian perspective differ?
Dr. Ewan Goligher, a Canadian critical-care physician, thinks the reason is that many people’s understandings of life’s meaning are too flimsy to bear the weight of true suffering. People need a why to pursue so they can endure life’s obstacles. Yet, according to Goligher, the predominant view is that life’s meaning is self-created; that is, “We set a goal for ourselves, and the journey to the fulfillment of this goal becomes a source of meaning in our life.”[3]
But self-created meaning—derived from things like work, relationships, or civic engagement—suffers from significant problems.
First, people’s perceptions of what is meaningful change, and
Second, sometimes the goals from which we derive meaning become unattainable to us through no fault of our own.
These problems reveal a devastating irony: self-created meaning is utterly incapable of sustaining us at the precise points of suffering when we need it most.
Drawing on Tim Keller, Goligher introduces the Christian perspective by proposing a second type of meaning: discovered meaning—“meaning that is simply given to us, apart from our choice.”[4] If such meaning exists, then it could help people avoid succumbing to the depths of despair by fueling individual purpose even when the pain feels pointless.
Of course, it would depend on the goodness of the Purpose-Giver. Would he require that I have autonomy to fulfill my purpose? Does my purpose depend upon my ability to do the things I once enjoyed? Is life only meaningful if I can cognitively grasp its meaningfulness?
The Christian Scripture speaks to each of these questions in the opening pages of the Bible. Genesis 1:27 says, “So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.” This means that man’s purpose is not fundamentally grounded in what he does, but in who he is—one who bears the image of God. Even if sickness or illness robs me of autonomy, abilities, or faculties, it cannot steal my identity as an Image-bearer. Therefore, human beings will always have purpose, because their mere existence is meaningful.
What a Compelling Christian Witness Looks Like
But a key question remains: how can Christians offer hope to the many who assume that meaningful life has been lost because suffering strips away their sense of purpose? I don’t offer an exhaustive list, but here are a few encouragements.
First, Christians must not minimize the despair felt by those who would consider assisted suicide. It’s real and painful. And just as our Savior wept with sufferers (John 11:35), so we should mourn with those experiencing this acute pain.
Second, Christians should help those in the depths of despair experience the simple joys of life again. Though deriving meaning from work, activities, or relationships may be ultimately insufficient, they are all good things that point beyond themselves to a more ultimate purpose. The Purpose-Giver has ordered life in such a way that when we live it according to his design, we derive real joy. And sometimes just a momentary taste of joy can rekindle hope.
Lastly, Christians must always be ready and willing to declare the gospel of salvation through faith in the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Anyone who receives this—whether young or old, able or disabled, healthy or ill—gains an eternal purpose that does not fade when their body begins to fail. Instead, they’ll realize what Christians have confessed for centuries: our hope in life and death is that “I am not my own, but belong with body and soul… to my faithful Savior Jesus Christ.”[5]
Works Cited:
[1] Permanent Council of the Conference of Bishops of France. “Tribune: Soigner la vie jusqu’au bout, ne pas donner la mort.” Église catholique en France, January 14, 2026. https://eglise.catholique.fr/sengager-dans-la-societe/eglise-et-bioethique/science-et-ethique/fin-de-vie-2/568749-tribune-eveques-france-soin-vie-mort-euthanasie/.
[2] Li M. Li et al., “Medical Assistance in Dying—Implementing a Hospital-Based Program in Canada,” New England Journal of Medicine 376, no. 21 (May 25, 2017): 2082–88; E. T. Loggers et al., “Implementing a Death with Dignity Program at a Comprehensive Cancer Center,” New England Journal of Medicine 368, no. 15 (April 11, 2013): 1417–24; Oregon Health Authority, Oregon Death with Dignity Act: 2017 Data Summary (Portland, OR: Oregon Health Authority, 2018), https://public.health.oregon.gov/ProviderPartnerResources/EvaluationResearch/DeathwithDignityAct/Documents/year17.pdf; Washington State Department of Health, Death with Dignity Act Report—2018 (Olympia, WA: Washington State Department of Health, 2019), https://doh.wa.gov/sites/default/files/legacy/Documents/Pubs//422-109-DeathWithDignityAct2018.pdf.
[3] Ewan C. Goligher, How Should We Then Die: A Christian Response to Physician-Assisted Death (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2024), 96.
[4] Ibid., 101.
[5]The Heidelberg Catechism, Q&A 1, PDF, accessed April 17, 2026, https://www.heidelberg-catechism.com/pdf/lords-days/Heidelberg-Catechism.pdf.
