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Introduction

Different religions try to explain why people become ill and why suffering exists. Also, the religions have developed views about how people should respond to suffering. One of the issues addressed by different religions is how patients suffering from terminal illnesses should respond to the problem. The issue about whether or not euthanasia should be carried out on such patients has been a major topic of debate by different religions (Miller, 2012). The views of different religions towards diseases, suffering and euthanasia vary, but in some cases, they are similar. This paper presents a comparison of the religious views of Christianity and Hinduism towards disease, suffering and euthanasia. The views of the two religions are applied in ethical analysis of the case of George, a man who is developing terminal illness that will result into a lot of suffering and death.

Worldview of Christianity and Hinduism

            Christians have several views about the cause of suffering, whether or not the suffering is associated with illness. The first view of the Christians is that people suffer because they are sinful. Precisely, suffering is sometimes a punishment from God for the sins that people have. This view is based on the biblical teaching in Gal. 6:7-9, which states that people reap what they saw and they suffer because of their foolishness (Miller, 2012). According to Christianity, God sometimes inflicts suffering on the people that He loves as a way of disciplining them. God requires all people to follow His teachings, and whenever they fail to do so, He uses suffering to discipline them. The second view of Christianity is that suffering, just like joy and peace, is part of human existence. This view is based on the argument that even Jesus suffered. Another view is that suffering is used by God as a way of testing the faith of the Christians. During the time of suffering, the faith of Christians may be shaken. As such, Christians believe that God uses suffering to test the strength of their faith. The Christians believe that withstanding suffering strengthens their faith (Fitzpatrick et al., 2016).

Just like Christianity, Hinduism recognizes that suffering is part of human existence. However, Hinduism teaches that one of the causes of suffering is attachment to the earthly things, such as land and money. According to Hinduism, people also suffer due to sticking on desires for earthly things. In that case, suffering occurs due to the desire to change things that cannot change (Fitzpatrick et al., 2016). The concept of Karma is also used to explain the source of suffering among people in Hinduism. Hindus believe in reincarnation. In the perspective of Hinduism, the souls of human beings are attached to physical forms existing on earth. .......... Continue