“It would not be impossible to prove with sufficient repetition and a psychological understanding of the people concerned, that a square is in fact a circle. They are mere words, and words can be molded until they clothe ideas and disguise.”

Who said this? Perhaps another quote from the same person will help.

“If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it.”

Both of these quotations come from Joseph Goebbels, the minister of propaganda for the Nazi regime under Adolph Hitler.

These thoughts help us understand how important words are — and the seriousness of abusing them.

They also point out important tactics of the culture of death: lie to disguise the truth, change the definition of words if necessary, manipulate people’s thoughts by manipulating language. Certainly there is more to it than this, but these are important tactics to be aware of if we wish to build a culture of life instead.

Any pro-life person can immediately draw parallels between Goebbels’ statements above and the language used by abortion advocates: “Interrupting a pregnancy,” “selective reduction,” “my body, my choice,” and on and on.

Abortion has claimed far more innocent human lives than the Holocaust, and we can see, at least in part, why. Obscuring reality with the right choice of words makes the wrong choice seem less wrong, if not the better choice.

Not surprisingly, the culture of death continues to use the same tactics. So we should not be surprised to see the same phenomenon with another of its works: assisted suicide. You won’t typically find the words “assisted suicide” describing its legalization. In the states of Oregon and Washington for example, “assisted suicide” became legal through “Death with Dignity” acts. In Vermont, it is known as the “Patient Choice and Control at the End of Life Act.” In California, it is the “End of Life Option Act.”

Who would be opposed to dying with “dignity”? Or having “choices” or “options”? Probably no one, and that’s the point. Our opposition to the reality is softened by our comfort with the words chosen to describe it.

Taking this one step further, “assisted suicide” is emphatically denied to be “suicide” in the laws allowing for it. For example, in California, section 443.18 of the law states: “Actions taken in accordance with this part shall not, for any purposes, constitute suicide, assisted suicide, homicide, or elder abuse under the law.”

Just to be clear, in California, when a person intentionally takes a lethal medication prescribed by a physician for the purpose of ending their own life it is not considered suicide nor even assisted suicide.

No doubt Goebbels would be very pleased with the audacity of such a lie.

But California is not alone. Other states do the same thing: claiming suicide is not suicide because the law says its not. This is just one example. These laws, and indeed the entire “right to die” movement seeking to legalize “assisted suicide” is replete with similar efforts to use language in this way.

As Christians, we must seek to oppose such logical and linguistic nonsense, not only because it furthers the culture of death, but because we, as defenders of God’s truth, must seek to defend the sanctity of life with the truth. Jesus, who is “The Way, the Truth and the Life” insists on it. Life and truth go together.

In John’s Gospel Jesus has this to say about the evil one: “He was a murderer from the beginning and does not stand in truth, because there is no truth in him. When he tells a lie, he speaks in character because he is a liar and the father of lies.” (Jn 8:44)

Being a part of the culture of life means that we must not only expose the lies that lead to death, but proclaim the truth which leads to life.