Standing for Life
A Biblical Response to Illinois SB1950 and Medically Assisted Suicide
By Pastor Duncan Smith, Illinois Baptist for Biblical Values
“Thou shalt not kill.” —Exodus 20:13
As Illinois considers SB1950, a bill to legalize medically assisted suicide, we find ourselves at a critical spiritual and moral crossroads. Under the banner of “compassion” and “choice,” the legislature is preparing to authorize something that God’s Word clearly condemns: the intentional ending of human life. While the language of the bill might be softened to appeal to public sentiment, we must not allow culture to redefine what God has made plain.
From a biblical worldview, medically assisted suicide is not an act of mercy—it is a violation of God’s sovereign authority over life and death. It reflects a culture that has forgotten its Maker and now seeks to place man in the place of God.
1. God Alone Has the Right to Give and Take Life
The Scriptures are clear: life is sacred because it is given by God. Genesis 2:7 tells us that God “breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.” Life is not ours to own, alter, or extinguish. It is a divine gift.
Job, in the midst of terrible suffering, declared, “The LORD gave, and the LORD hath taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD” (Job 1:21). Job didn’t view his life as his own possession to end at will. Even when tempted by his wife to “curse God, and die” (Job 2:9), he refused. Why? Because he feared God more than pain, and he trusted God’s timing more than his own anguish.
To support SB1950 is to open the door for fallen man to claim God’s authority as his own—and that is nothing short of rebellion against the Creator.
2. Suffering Does Not Justify Sin
There is no doubt that suffering is real. Pain is part of the human condition in a fallen world. But the Bible never permits sin as a remedy for suffering. Romans 3:8 warns against the notion of doing evil that good may come, and Isaiah 5:20 pronounces woe on those who “call evil good, and good evil.”
The proponents of assisted suicide speak of “dignity in dying,” but the true dignity of life is found in trusting God even in our lowest valleys. The Apostle Paul wrote that though “our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day” (2 Corinthians 4:16). Our hope as believers is not found in an escape from suffering, but in the presence of Christ through it (Psalm 23:4). When suffering people are offered death instead of care, companionship, and Christ, we are not helping them—we are forsaking them.
3. Assisted Suicide Endangers the Weak and Devalues Life
Legalizing physician-assisted suicide sends a dangerous message: some lives are not worth living. This is a direct contradiction of the truth found in Psalm 139:14— “I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.”
If life is only worth preserving when it’s free from pain or limitation, where will we draw the line? Today, it may be for the terminally ill; tomorrow, it could be for the disabled, the depressed, or the elderly. Romans 14:7-8 reminds us: “For none of us liveth to himself, and no man dieth to himself…whether we live therefore, or die, we are the Lord’s.”
Every human life bears the image of God (Genesis 1:27). SB1950 stands in direct opposition to that truth and puts our most vulnerable citizens at risk. The aged, the infirm, and the voiceless are not burdens to eliminate but people to love and honor (Leviticus 19:32).
4. The Gospel Offers Real Hope, Not False Escape
The message of Christianity is not that God removes all pain, but that He redeems it. Romans 8:18 reminds us: “For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.” Jesus Christ entered our suffering world, bore our griefs, and conquered death itself (Isaiah 53:4–5; Revelation 1:18). To those considering ending their life, the church must extend more than opposition—we must extend the compassion of Christ and the hope of eternal life.
Assisted suicide offers a temporal escape, but Jesus offers eternal healing. Let us point people to the Savior, not to the syringe.
A Call to Action: Illinois Must Choose Life
As Christians, we must not be silent. Proverbs 31:8–9 calls us to “open thy mouth for the dumb in the cause of all such as are appointed to destruction.” SB1950 is not compassionate—it is capitulation to a culture of death.
We urge every believer in Illinois to:
● Pray for our legislators and our state.
● Contact your representatives and urge them to vote NO on SB1950.
● Support ministries that care for the suffering, the dying, and the discouraged.
● Stand publicly for the sanctity of life—from the womb to the final breath.
Let it be known: Illinois Baptists are not ashamed to stand with God’s Word. We believe in life, because our Savior is the Resurrection and the Life (John 11:25). Let us love the suffering, but let us never endorse sin as the solution. The cross of Christ gives hope far greater than any law man can write.
Pastor Duncan Smith
Illinois Baptist for Biblical Values
“Shewing to the generation to come the praises of the LORD, and his strength, and his wonderful works that he hath done.” —Psalm 78:4