To the Remnant

Euthanasia Extremism

In my most recent post, I wrote about my daughter, who has autism. Shortly before that, a headline about how the Netherlands is euthanizing autistic and intellectually handicapped people naturally caught my attention.

I would guess that many, if not most, people understandably have an immediate visceral reaction to the term “euthanasia;” I am one of them. That’s why it’s good to clearly define some terms at the outset. There are differences, for example, between euthanasia, assisted suicide, and assisted dying; the third term is an umbrella term for the first two. Additionally, there is a difference between passive and active euthanasia. In a post a couple of years ago, I wrote that a Biblical case can be made for passive euthanasia, which refers to the intentional withdrawing or withholding of treatment in the case of someone who is dying, meaning someone who has a short estimated time remaining as determined by medical professionals. You can read more about that here: https://keithpetersenblog.com/2020/10/22/when-is-it-right-to-die/

In the article that I mentioned in the first paragraph, it is very clear that what is being referred to in the Netherlands is assisted suicide; in other words, the autistic (including five under the age of 30!) and intellectually handicapped people being referred to have wanted to die and have been assisted in doing so. Reasons for this expressed desire included:

social isolation and loneliness (77%)
lack of resilience or coping strategies (56%)
lack of flexibility (rigid thinking or difficulty adapting to change) (44%)
oversensitivity to stimuli (26%)

These and other related reasons were the sole cause of suffering described in 21% of cases and a major contributing factor in an additional 42% of cases. (I should add that I have seen all four of these to varying degrees and at varying times in relation to my daughter.) In one-third of cases, physicians had noted there was “no prospect of improvement” as autism and intellectual disability are not treatable. (This is patently untrue; even though autism, for example, cannot be cured, there is most definitely “prospect for improvement!”) Here is a link to the article: https://www.foxnews.com/world/netherlands-euthanizing-autistic-intellectually-handicapped-people-researcher-finds

Irene Tuffrey-Wijne, a palliative-care specialist and one of the lead authors of the Kingston University report cited in the article, found that Dutch doctors were legally killing patients who wanted to die because their disability prevented them from leading a “normal life,” including difficulty in making social connections. She said, “There’s no doubt in my mind these people were suffering. But is society really OK with sending this message, that there’s no other way to help them, and it’s just better to be dead?”

Tuffrey-Wijne’s quote gets at the heart of the matter; yes, people with autism and other intellectual disabilities suffer in ways that the rest of us don’t. However, do we want to tell them that assisted suicide is a viable option–especially if the government makes such an option legal? Shouldn’t we instead be seeking to provide them with the help they need, including explicit training?

Taking it a step further: don’t all of us suffer in various ways? When people are diagnosed with clinical depression, for example, do we want to tell them that assisted suicide is an option? Don’t we instead want to give them plenty of opportunity to express themselves, as difficult as it may be for us to enter their darkness?

When I first read about euthanasia in the 1970s, it was proposed as a “solution” for those who were undergoing severe physical suffering, almost always near the end of life. Although I didn’t agree with it, I could at least understand it. Now we have a country (the Netherlands) that allows it to be used in cases of people with autism and intellectual handicaps. Lest you think that it can never happen in the U.S., ten states plus the District of Columbia have so-called Death with Dignity laws. Thankfully, provisions in those laws do not apply to those with various mental disabilities. However, our neighbor immediately to the north is on the verge of adopting a law very similar to what the Netherlands has, so don’t think it can’t happen here.

Ultimately, autists and intellectually handicapped people, along with the rest of us, need the hope that only Jesus Christ can offer. In addition, we need to have a Biblical understanding of suffering. The vast majority of us believers are probably not going to be martyred for our faith, but here are two verses that directly link suffering and hope: “Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope.” (Romans 5:3,4) Here’s another verse about suffering, which is part of a passage about the hope for all of creation: “I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us.” (Romans 8:18)

On a personal note, my wife, daughter, and I are part of the same very loving church, and that love is most definitely extended by our brothers and sisters to our autistic daughter. May all of us who profess the name of Christ live out our love for Him, including to those with various intellectual disabilities.

Adventures in Autism

My introduction to autism was through the movie Rain Man (1988), a great movie in many ways. It is both humorous and poignant in its portrayal of Raymond, who is rather severely autistic, and his brother Charlie. My wife and I were newlyweds when we saw it; little did we know at the time that a few years down the road, we would start experiencing autism, up close and personal.

Our daughter was somewhat colicky, but was otherwise a very cheerful baby. One thing I had noticed was at the age of three, she didn’t know her colors. I really didn’t think much of it at the time, but the solution was very simple: we got a board book about colors from the library, and I used it to explicitly teach her the colors. Then when our daughter was in first grade, my wife noticed that while she was standing in line with the other kids, there was a definite gap between her and the next child in line. My wife instructed her explicitly to move up to “close the gap;” she needed this instruction multiple times.

During her first three years in school, our daughter had a close friend, but at the beginning of third grade, this friend moved to a different school. Around that time, her teacher noticed that during recess, our daughter usually played in the sand by herself; however, she was perfectly content in doing so. Both our son and our daughter had previously enjoyed using magnet wands to “pick up” iron filings in the sand at our local park, so my wife worked with the teacher to buy a class set for our daughter to take to school and share. Several other kids quickly joined her in the sand during recess from that day forward.

Another thing we noticed at that time was that our cheerful, talkative daughter had a hard time “reading” facial expressions. As a family, we had started watching Little House on the Prairie, and we realized that the various characters showed a wide variety of emotions; that show became very instrumental in helping our daughter understand facial expressions. We would pause the episode now and then to ask her, for example, “How do you think Laura is feeling now?” or “Why do you think Mrs. Oleson did that?”

By this time, it seemed obvious that there was something “different” about our daughter; however, none of her teachers noticed much out of the ordinary. I guess when you have a cheerful, diligent student, you’re less likely to notice! Around that time, my wife started reading about Asperger’s Syndrome, and many of its descriptors sounded like our daughter.

The summer before our daughter started high school, my wife took her to a specialist, who diagnosed her as having high-functioning autism. (Now, Asperger’s Syndrome is included under ASD, or Autism Spectrum Disorder.) This gave us clarity and further help, including accommodations at school, moving forward; a pediatric neurologist had diagnosed her at age 7 as having “weak muscles,” but nothing more.

In high school, our daughter became much more social; she had two close friends who were both godly young girls, like her. She was also part of a “lunch bunch” (four to six girls). When she went off to a small Christian college far away from home, she developed a romantic relationship with a guy who was also on “The Spectrum.” One thing unique about their relationship was that when they were apart, they could go as much as six weeks without much of any communication with each other; hard to believe, particularly in today’s world! The college was in a small town, and word spread about our daughter. There were other parents in the area with kids on The Spectrum, and they organized a speaking opportunity for her in which she shared her experiences and took questions from them. It seemed that she gave them hope that perhaps at least in some cases, their kids could also grow up, go to college, and lead a relatively “normal” life. By that time, she had become much more adept at reading facial expressions as well as having improved spatial awareness.

One thing our daughter came to realize was that at her Christian college, not all of the students behaved in Christian ways. We explained to her that not everyone there was a Christian, just as in other contexts, including church; autists often see things in “black and white.” After graduating from college, she got a job back in our community as a paraprofessional (a kind of teacher’s aide). However, she found that the demands of the job, including her difficulty with such “basics” as finding her way around new schools within the district, were too much to manage. In addition, not too long after that, COVID hit. Now she has a job working with an eight-year-old autistic girl (barely verbal) as well as a couple hours a week at an ice cream shop; she also volunteers in various ways through our church, including helping with meal preparation for the homeless in our community. She is living with us, but we are moving her towards greater independence, which she wants; after all, as we often remind her, we will not be here forever!

I should add that I got my daughter’s permission to write this post about her; in fact, she was rather excited about it and wanted me to use her name! Special thanks also to my wife, who has read it for accuracy. Maybe you know someone who is on The Spectrum; because it is a spectrum, there is a very wide variety of people on it. My daughter is toward the high-functioning end, but regardless of where an autist falls on it, each has his or her own special and specific challenges.

Is the Trans Community under Attack?

A couple of headlines about the LGBTQ community recently caught my eye; one of them had the word “attack” in it, while the other one used the phrase “anti-LGBTQ.” As I skimmed the articles, it quickly became apparent that the authors were referring primarily to bills and laws that are seen as restrictions on the rights of the trans community.

So far in 2023, 33% of such legislation are school restrictions, such as limiting classroom discussions of sexuality and gender; another 27% are health-care restrictions, such as prohibiting trans kids from receiving “gender-affirming care.” Other such legislation includes prohibiting trans-identifying individuals from using restrooms of their choice and playing on sports teams aligned with their gender identity.

There is much that could be (and has been) said about each of these types of legislation. I would like to focus briefly on trans women in sports because of the issue of fairness. Last year, Lia Thomas became a household name because of the fact that he won several NCAA swimming events against women; I use the pronoun “he” in reference to Lia Thomas because Riley Gaines and other female swimmers have seen him naked in the locker room, and he is most definitely a man, not a woman. The vast majority of people understand that it’s patently unfair to allow a biological man to compete against biological women. I think the only solution to this unfairness is to have a third category of athletes, perhaps called “other,” for those who identify as transgender.

One of the aforementioned articles also mentioned corporations such as Anheuser-Busch (the parent of Bud Light) and Target as having “caved” to criticism from conservative groups over their partnerships with members of the LGBTQ+ community. As of June 20, Bud Light has seen its revenue drop ~25% since the beginning of the boycott in early April; the boycott was spurred by Bud Light’s decision to feature transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney in its advertising. One strange thing about supposed “caving,” though; last weekend, Bud Light was one of the sponsors of the Toronto Pride parade, which featured naked men standing around and riding bicycles in clear view of children attending the event. That is not what I would call “caving,” to put it mildly.

In a similar vein, Target doesn’t seem to have learned its lesson from 2016, when it adopted an “inclusive” restroom policy which caused its revenue to plummet. Last month, because of its “pride”-themed clothing, Target also faced a boycott which caused its revenue to drop ~20% and its stock price to plummet to a three-year low. Customers were especially infuriated by “tuck-friendly” women’s swimsuits and “pride”-themed clothing for children being featured front and center at some of its stores. As a result, some Target stores moved their “pride” section to the back, but that has not been enough to satisfy some Target shoppers.

Bud Light’s very recent sponsorship of the naked-featuring Toronto Pride parade, on the heels of the boycott, and Target’s “pride”-themed clothing, even after its restroom fiasco a few years back, has prompted me to wonder whether those in charge at these two companies are primarily focused on sales; it doesn’t seem so. While I usually admire companies that don’t seem to be overly focused on their bottom line, my admiration does not extend to Bud Light and Target.

While researching all of this, I came across some revealing (no pun intended) statistics in regard to Americans’ perceptions of gender. 61% of Americans now think that “defining gender as the sex listed on a person’s original birth certificate is the only way to define male and female in society.” This is a huge increase from 51% just a year ago. In a similar vein, only 36% of Americans now believe that “the definition of gender is antiquated and needs to be updated to include identity.” This number is down significantly from 42% a year ago. These numbers indicate a growing backlash against the push by trans community activists to expand their rights. In a similar vein, I came across an article by a gay man named Ben Appel about his perceptions of what the White House called LGBTQ Pride Month. I was struck by this quote: “Though I’m gay, I feel something besides pride on the occasion. The socially compulsory celebration now is something to dread. It means that for the entire month of June, you’ll get to hear about the plight of transgender people, just like you do the other 11 months of the year.” So, even within the LGBTQ community, there is resentment against the focus on the rights of the transgender community.

Putting it all together, there are three ways in which the transgender community appears to be experiencing a backlash: legislation that limits their rights; boycotts of companies that overreach in their support of trans people; and beliefs of Americans in relation to the definition of gender. You could also add negative feelings, which are often unspoken, at least in public. As for myself: last year I wrote that although I don’t have compassion for transgender activists, I do have compassion for the transgendered, who are often not the same people as the activists. My compassion in this regard is especially strong for those kids who are confused about their identity, plus those who have detransitioned back to their original biological gender. You can read more about that here: https://keithpetersenblog.com/2022/02/23/clarity-and-compassion-for-the-transgendered/

May the Lord continue to use His people to show and tell His truth and love to those in the transgender community. May some in that community come to understand that the Creator God made them in the first place, and that He doesn’t make mistakes; may this lead them to repentance.

Theological Implications of Intelligent Extraterrestrial Life

Since the federal government released its long-awaited UFO report in January, there have been plenty of headlines related to UFOs. (Technically, the government refers to them as UAPs, or Unidentified Aerial Phenomena; I have no doubt a good number of taxpayer dollars were used to pay someone to come up with that acronym.) Two months ago, the Pentagon said it is in the process of reviewing more than 650 UFO (oops, UAP) incidents. So far, it says none of them can be attributed to alien (extraterrestrial) origin.

This report has prompted me to revisit something I hadn’t thought much about for 40+ years: how does the possibility of intelligent extraterrestrial life relate to Christian beliefs? Let’s go back to 1976. This is when the two Viking landers on Mars performed several experiments to determine whether Mars had any microbial life. Although initially there was plenty of excitement about the results, ultimately, they were inconclusive because they could be explained by unusual chemistry rather than biology (life); in other words, there was something in the soil mimicking life, but it wasn’t life itself. And of course, even if the Viking experiments had shown evidence of such life, it wouldn’t have been evidence of intelligent life. A few years later, I read a book by German astrophysicist Reinhard Breuer called Contact with the Stars. Breuer came to the conclusion that, at least within our galaxy, we are the only technological civilization. (Among other things, the Drake Equation is fascinating, although it relies almost purely on various kinds of speculation; you can research it if you’re interested.) Breuer left open the possibility that there was intelligent life out there, but perhaps we just didn’t know it yet because their technology had not yet developed enough for them to send out messages, for example.

The idea of intelligent life elsewhere in the universe is a very intriguing idea, to say the least. For naturalistic scientists who believe in evolution, it seems illogical that our planet is the only one in the universe where intelligent life exists. However, it is not so easy, to put it mildly, for life of any kind to develop by chance; click here if you want to read more: https://keithpetersenblog.com/2023/02/09/the-intelligent-designer/ In addition, however, it seems that some people have an understandable desire to find life elsewhere because they think, among other things, that intelligent beings from another world would help us Earthlings solve some of the problems we have here. This presupposes that these beings from another planet would not be hostile, but is that realistic?

I have enjoyed good science-fiction novels, short stories, movies, and TV shows since I was a boy. Many of these have to do with encounters with intelligent extraterrestrial life, very occasionally friendly (the blockbuster 1977 movie Close Encounters of the Third Kind), but almost always hostile. Admittedly, this is all fiction, but it seems to me that the hostile portrayals of extraterrestrials are more likely than the friendly ones.

If you’re a Christian, then you know that sin entered our world through Satan, who tempted Adam and Eve into sinning; this is commonly referred to as the Fall. I believe that if there are planets with intelligent life elsewhere in the universe, then the Lord created it, just as He created Adam and Eve, the parents of the human race, here. I also believe that Satan would visit such planets and try to do what he successfully did here. Would intelligent life elsewhere be able to resist the temptations of Satan? C.S. Lewis wrote a space trilogy, the second book of which is Perelandra. On Perelandra (which is the planet Venus), there exist two beings, a king and a queen. A visitor to the planet who is possessed by Satan tries to tempt the queen into doing the one thing she had been commanded not to do. However, there is also another visitor (a Christ-like figure) who ultimately battles, and defeats, the demon-possessed man. Thus, sin does not enter Venus, so the Fall never happens.

I enjoyed Perelandra, and it is truly wonderful to imagine a world where Satan does not succeed in his temptations of the first people there. However, if Satan succeeded in tempting intelligent beings on another planet (which I think is likely), then sin would enter that world as well. Taking it a step further: would the Lord enact His plan of salvation on that world? I believe the answer is yes. However, wouldn’t that mean that Jesus, God’s Son, would have to die for that race of intelligent beings as well? Based on everything I read in the Bible, I believe the answer is yes. Hebrews 9:22 says, “In fact, the law requires that nearly everything be cleansed with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness.”

I can’t imagine the Lord Jesus, Who is my Lord, having to die again and again for sinful intelligent beings on other worlds. This has become the most fundamental reason why I don’t believe there is intelligent life elsewhere in the universe. Perhaps I will be proven wrong someday, but so far, the scientific evidence doesn’t suggest that there is life of any kind elsewhere in the universe, let alone intelligent life.

I should add that I’m aware of Christians who have said that angels (and demons, for that matter) are examples of extraterrestrial intelligence. However, even though angels can take corporeal (bodily) form, they are spirit beings. In addition, demons cannot be saved from sin; they will spend eternity in hell.

Are we alone in the universe, as some like to say? I believe that in a sense, we are. However, it is a universe created by the Lord God, and He chose to create this life-sustaining planet for all life, including intelligent human beings, to live on. And then, after the parents of the human race sinned, He enacted His plan of salvation for all who believe and trust in Jesus. How amazing is that?!

Making Your Mark

People may not articulate it or even be aware of it, but deep down, everyone wants to make their mark in life. Some ways are very negative, while others are positive, even God-glorifying.

In my city, as in many others, there are two very obvious negative ways I have noticed that people try to make their mark, quite literally, in fact. One way is graffiti, sometimes done by gang members as a way of marking their territory. In my neighborhood, there is only one time that I have seen graffiti, many years ago on what was essentially a faceplate over electrical wiring. However, in a couple other parts of the city, graffiti is much more prevalent, some of it gang-related. The other obvious negative way that some have tried to make their mark is by “burning donuts” on the street or in a parking lot, most often with a pickup. Many years ago, we had a young neighbor and his friends who used to enjoy making their mark in this way, in our neighborhood as well as in other areas.

On the one hand, graffiti tends to be more permanent than “donuts,” although thankfully, the former can be painted over. “Donuts” fade over time; the worst ones that we had in our neighborhood had faded in a matter of months. Every several years, the city also paves over streets with fresh blacktop. As far as dealing with the people who perpetrate their graffiti: according to the National Gang Center Bulletin, gangs have been around in various parts of the United States since the early 19th century, but in the West only since the early 20th century. The Bulletin attributes the emergence of many of the street gangs to immigration and poverty. However, on a more fundamental level, especially in today’s world, much has been written elsewhere about how gang membership provides a way of belonging, especially for those from broken and dysfunctional families.

As for those who enjoy making their mark with donuts: that seems to be less a function of gangs and more of a function of young single guys with pickups and too much time on their hands. (My wife had also mused, “Who pays for the tires that these guys are quickly wearing down on our streets?”) Regarding the young ex-neighbor that I mentioned in a previous paragraph: I contacted the owner of the house that he was renting, and she came up with the wonderful idea of gradually raising the rent over a period of a few months until the guy was priced out. Thankfully, he ended up living in our neighborhood less than a year.

On a related note: there was another neighbor around that time who sometimes enjoyed speeding around in his pickup. One afternoon I heard him speeding around the block, so I went outside with a clipboard and pen. When he came careening around the corner, only somewhat in control of his vehicle, he ended up stopping in front of my house, breathing hard and clearly relieved that he hadn’t had an accident. While he sat there, I wrote down some info, like the color and make of his pickup, and frankly just some scribbling, before I went back in the house. He slowly drove away, and the next time we saw each other, we nodded; I didn’t notice him speeding around again. On yet another related note, and also around that time: one evening a friend stopped by to pick up my son for an event at church, and while we were chatting for a few minutes out front, I noticed three young guys I had never seen before sitting on the curb several feet away. Every time I looked their way, they were staring at me, so I eventually stared back. A few minutes after my friend left, I went back outside, and the three guys were gone; I never saw them again. Maybe it was nothing, but maybe it could have been. Only the Lord knows. Thankfully, my neighborhood is now much more peaceful than it had been for a couple years back then.

The examples of graffiti and donuts have struck me as pathetic attempts by young guys who are trying to make their mark. On the other hand, I understand that a lot of these guys didn’t grow up with a father in the home. Thankfully, there are positive ways to leave your mark. In almost any kind of work that people do, they have the opportunity to leave their mark. One obvious example is construction. I have never worked in construction, but I have a lot of respect for people who do. Several years ago, we hired a guy and his crew to replace our roof; about twenty years later, you can still see the quality of the job that they did. My plumber is another man I admire for several reasons; one is the quality of his work. His father (now in heaven) used to be our plumber, and his son has taken over the business. A couple months ago, he replaced a couple of fixtures for us, and he commented on a related fixture by saying, “I see my dad’s handiwork here; he and I replaced this for you.” He talked about how he had learned so much as an apprentice from his dad, and now he is following in his dad’s footsteps, in faith as well as in work.

I’m retired now, but I used to be an ESL teacher in my city. A former student of mine used to work at our local pharmacy, and every time I went in, I took great pleasure in watching her at work and in talking with her. She was always (overly!) complimentary of me and my teaching as well. I have another former student who works at a restaurant that my family and I frequent; I also take pleasure in watching her at work and in talking to her. (She also sometimes gives us a free dessert!) I periodically run into other former students whose names I usually don’t remember but whose faces I do; somehow, they always seem to remember my name.

Speaking for myself as a Christian: the most important way that I can leave my mark is in the lives of others. I have mentioned some of my former students who are still here in my city. I also have other former students that I taught in a Third World country many years ago; I have had the incredible joy of seeing some of them come to saving faith in Jesus Christ. For some, I have been there at the moment when they prayed to accept Christ; for others, I have found out later that they became Christians and that the Lord allowed me to play a part in that. If you’re interested, you can read more about that here under the theme of planting, watering, and harvesting: https://keithpetersenblog.com/2021/02/24/planting-watering-harvesting/

There’s an excellent old movie from 1938 called You Can’t Take It with You. The message of the movie is that no matter how much money and “success” you have, you can’t take it with you. For those of us who are Christians, I have heard it said that the only “thing” we can take with us to heaven is people. Amen to that.