Bram, I for one am not offended by what you said. I don't want to bring my religious beliefs into this either so as not offend anyone, but even though I am religious, it doesn't mean I agree with all of their beliefs either. I actually don't. I do believe there is some higher power because we had to come from somewhere. Even in Darwin's theory, someone had to make the monkeys. I think sometimes the rules of the Church are very black and white and life has an awful lot of gray areas in it which makes it hard to abide by all of those rules. I am no Saint and have tried to be a good person, but can't say I have abided by all of those rules. I don't think it's fair to keep someone alive if they are suffering from an incurable disease and want to end the pain. We put animals to sleep when they are suffering from incurable diseases, so why is it so wrong to do the same with people. I have a living will which states that I do not want any extra measures taken to keep me alive when I'm at the end of my life and suffering.
I have a family member that is near the end of her life and she had alzheimers and is like a vegetable. We unfortunately had to put her in a nursing home for her own protection, and they take good care of her. We visit her every week. She is very religious, and she doesn't want extra measures taken either to keep her alive, like feeding tubes, when she can't remember how to eat anymore. My husbands father had alzheimers and when he got to that point he didn't want extra measures taken either and he was also very religious. They both had living wills too. I feel the same way.
And I don't want to offend pro-lifers. I think life is precious, but I believe in pro-choice. Sorry if that offends anyone again, but like I said before, life is not always black and white. I think sparing someone pain from an incurable disease when they are at nearing the end of their life is one of those examples. Anyway, thanks for your opinions. I hope none of us ever get to that point. That is my biggest fear. I want to live, but hope I never get to the point where I'm in so much pain and they can't do anything to stop it. That's where my faith helps me, because it gives me hope that this won't happen. I hope there is a higher power that is merciful enough to keep this from happening. Hope is all I have right now to cling to, since this disease is so rare and incurable and so little is known about it.