From my new book, With Christ in the Voting Booth:
“If a terrorist threatened to blow up the city of Pittsburgh unless you killed all your family members, would God hold you responsible if you refused the terrorist’s demand and he followed through on his threat? Absolutely not. If on the other hand, you killed your family in order to save the city, would you be guiltless? No. You are to do the right thing, and trust that God will bring about justice. Pray that the terrorist is caught or dies of a heart attack. Perhaps it is a hoax. But you cannot do what is wrong, in order to bring about good (A damnable prospect, see Romans 3:1-8)”
I grant that something like this is more likely to happen to Jack Bauer on “24” than to any person in real life. But the choice is clear, you cannot bargain one life away to save others. In the above dilemma it would be the terrorists who would be held accountable for killing countless people, not you.
Nevertheless, government officials (and voters who vote them in) face dilemmas no less a matter of life or death than this one when they vote on laws dealing with abortion, euthanasia, warfare, vital organ removal or even healthcare legislation. Doctors, nurses, EMTS, firemen and family members with elderly or sick and dying loved ones also face life or death decisions that should be based on the Law of God, not the whims of society.
Former vice-president Dick Cheney received a heart from a living donor, and the only debate was whether he got special treatment and whether someone aged 71 should get a “prized” organ. Hardly any one questioned the practice of killing one person to save another.
May we do evil, that good may come? God Forbid