On Friday we had a meeting with our local member of Parliament regarding the forthcoming vote on what amounts to being an Assisted Suicide Bill. (Voting in parliament takes place on 11th September.) We had three people from our congregation speak: a medical doctor, a nurse who specialises in palliative care, and a person who gave a personal political view. There was time for questions from the floor. I ended the meeting with the following statement.  

“In 1648, your predecessors in Parliament passed this document, The Westminster Confession of Faith. It is a summary of the Bible’s teaching and is what our church believes. It has a chapter on ‘The Civil Magistrate’ which is what you are, ‘the government or civil authorities’. It says:

‘God, the Supreme Lord and King of all the world, hath ordained civil magistrates to be under him, over the people, for his own glory and the public good, and to this end hath armed them with the power of the sword, for the defence and encouragement of them that are good, and for the punishment of evil-doers.’

The Bible is very clear that every human being has been made in the image of God which means every human being matters and has dignity no matter how vulnerable. The Bible is equally clear that God is the one who gives life and God is the one who takes it away. Life and death are in his hands. It is not for us to determine our own death, nor is it in the government’s purview to legislate in allowing people to end their own life.

God is not only the giver of life but he determines our times and seasons and what we should do and where we should live.

He has given to you this responsibility and authority as a Member of Parliament, a ‘Civil Magistrate’ and it is a responsibility for which one day you will have to give an account to him.

It is one of the reasons we are thankful for you and respect you and pray for you as a Member of Parliament.  We appreciate the hard work that you do on behalf of our constituency. The authority that you have been given has been given to you by God for the good of others and to the glory of God, and so we want to encourage you and urge you not to vote against what God clearly say in his word. 


We want you to vote against this ‘Assisted Suicide’ Bill. It is a vote for which you will have to give an account to God.

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There is a National Day of Prayer this Thursday – more info here

Pray that this Friday our MP’s would choose Life