Saying No to the Culture of Death

During the discourse at Capernaeum Jesus said "I am the Bread of Life", and "whoever eats this Bread will have Life". Unfortunately few people understand the Life-giving message of Jesus Christ. That is why people who profess themselves as devoted Christians claim that it is ok to kill someone in the name of compassion.

The Schindler vs. Schiavo case has served as a catalyst for understanding what it means to be a member of the culture of life, rather than of the culture of death. When George Felos, Michael Schiavo and all of their co-conspirators pushed to have Terri starve and dehydrate to death, they used a number of techniques that on the surface appear to be successful, in that they have convinced an ignorant mass of people that if someone has brain damage then it is ok to abuse that person in the psychological sense, by deprivation of the presence of family and friends; physically abuse the person by refusing to allow therapy that would bring about an improvement in the quality of life; and indulge in the ultimate form of abuse - the starvation and dehydration of that person until death occurs.

Terri's death was not natural because she was not dying. She needed the feeding tube because Michael refused to allow her to receive therapy so that she could relearn how to feed herself. She was able to communicate with her family, yet the dark forces claimed that there was no communication. Well I say that what they claimed was absolute poppycock. The videos that I saw showed a level of communication, including the communication of pain by Terri. This was a death that was brought about because someone had made a deal to use Terri's case in order to force a situation where euthanasia on demand became more acceptable.

However, euthanasia can never be morally acceptable to those who fear God. The killing of another human being on the grounds that there is no quality of life has nothing to do with the teachings of Jesus Christ. It was Jesus who taught us to love thy neighbour. There is no love attached when someone is forced to dehydrate to death, and not even allowed to be offered an icechip to cool her thirst. Terri's death was extremely cruel. People try to hide from the issues by pretending that she could feel nothing. However, that is not true, because Terri Schindler-Schiavo could feel pain, and she was capable of communicating that she felt pain. She was administered pain killers when she had her monthly menses, and she was able to tell her carers that she had pain.

There is further evidence that Terri Schindler-Schiavo felt pain and that evidence is the very existence of the bone scan. This scan was performed because Terri was reacting to physiotherapy that she was receiving. In other words her reaction was due to pain in her knee because of some inflammation that had been stirred up. Terri felt the pain of that inflammation and she told the staff to stop when she was being hurt. Yet, members of the culture of death continue to deny the visible facts of this case, and they do this because they do not want to admit to their own complicity in the murder of an innocent woman.

This is only one side of the issue relating to following the culture of life instead of the culture of death. Christians who are followers of Jesus Christ must always choose life over death, including in circumstances where abortion is being pushed as the only alternative for a difficult pregnancy. What good are these tests if the ultimate end is to terminate a pregnancy because of the "fear" that the child to be born might not be perfect? It is the acceptance of that less than perfect child that makes one pleasing in God's eyes. The rejection of an imperfect child is not pleasing to God, because all are made in the likeness and image of God. Men and women who claim to be Christian, but at the same time claim to be pro-choice are deceiving themselves. Being pro-choice is not following God's commands, for he said "thou shalt not kill", and that includes the infant in the womb.

Look for a moment at how the culture of death tries desparately to dehumanize the unborn infant. This is surely the clue as to how they have convinced so many that they do indeed have the right to kill that which is within the womb, as if that child simply has no life of its own. The ultimate deception is the description of the unborn child as a zygote, a fetus, and nothing more than a blob of cells. By dehumanizing the child in this way they seem to say that one has an automatic right to flush from one's system the product of the sins of the flesh. Ultimately these women have to stand before God and they have to account for the children that they have killed in this way.

Even if the child is allowed to be born, there are alleged doctors who see it as a mission to destroy the life of an infant that is seen to be imperfect. They base this destruction upon the value judgement known as "quality of life". However, who are these doctors that they think that they can determine whether or not a defective child has a quality of life, even if it lives for a very short time. In that short time that has been granted to the parents the child is still capable of giving off a lot of love, and in such a way that the parents are able to also share the love that they continue to have for the child. Infanticide interferes with this natural process between the imperfect child and its parents. Doctors and nurses do not have the right to administer medication that will in fact take away that preceious little life.

The most difficult aspect of this whole debate is trying to wrestle with some of the advances in medicine. Where do we draw the line? Why should doctors start hanging around like birds of prey when someone is dying as a result of say injuries due to an accident, just because they want to harvest that person's organs? Perhaps organ donation has its place, but at the present time the organs that are implanted inside of another human being have a high percentage of rejection rates. Ultimately it means that the people who undergo these transplants are being treated as guinea pigs. Even if there is consent to be treated in this way, it is certainly not moral to try and force people into agreeing to the donation of the organs of their loved one. If anything the pressure upon the family at such a time is highly immoral. Along with organ transplants there is the issue of IVF and the product of the IVF program, because not every fertilised egg is needed by the parents of the frozen embryos. Is it right therefore to use these embryos for research? What about allowing them to be born by being placed into the womb of a woman who is capable of having children but something has happened to her ovaries so that she cannot conceive naturally? This would give this embryo a chance to live as a normal human being. What is happening is that the scientists want these embryos treated as though they are nothing more than a blob of tissue.

Stem cell research via the use of embryos has not been successful, yet one would think that the opposite of this statement is true. The scientists who want embryonic stem cell research to go ahead have been constantly pushing the issue, without regard for the ethical consequences of their actions. There has been no reported benefits from this type of research. All beneficial discoveries and treatments have come as a result of adult stem cell research, as well as stem cell research from umbilical cord blood. It would seem that there is no reason to believe that the countless millions should be spent upon research that has ended up with tumors, rather than something that is therapeutic.

On the more political side, one has to look at the ultimate rejection of Jesus Christ - murder suicide bombings that are now occurring on a daily basis at a given point in time all around the world. The proponents of murder-suicide have convinced their followers that such actions will be rewarded, but they and their followers are sadly deluded. There is no reward for the wicked, for, as Scripture says: "The wicked will perish" for they are like winnowed chaff that will be thrown to the wind. The act of murder and then the killing of self does not lead to Eternal Life. It can only lead to eternal damnation of the soul.