Terri Schiavo

As you've noticed, I've been silent on the Terri Schiavo case. I think there are a lot of Christian articles and blogs around that cover it pretty well so I did not have much to add until now.

This will not be earth shattering, but it gets back to basic biblical principles:

This past Sunday, I dropped into the middle of a conversation among some of the men in our church. The conversation covered many different topics, but revolved around one basic principle: do you believe in situational (relative) ethics or do you believe that morals are absolute? Being that all morals are a religious and based on one's view of law and ultimate authority, I of course am a moral absolutist. I do not believe that God and His laws are relative. There is absolute truth and it is found in God's Law/Word. God will never put us into a situation where we have no choice,but to sin. There is always an obedient way out. Because we are fallen sinners, we may not always see the righteous way out, but it is always there. The Holy Spirit, through our reading and studying God's Word and through prayer, will reveal the way of righteousness to us over time (I am not speaking of extra-biblical revelation).

When talking about Terri Schiavo and similar situations (I believe abortion falls into the same general category) one can not make arguments of the "quality of life" or " 'health' of the mother" (in the case of abortion) type. Once you do, you open the flood gates of relativism; it is a very slippery slope. These are the same types of arguments that the Natzi's used in justifying the mass murder of the mentally retarded, Blacks, and Jews. Who defines "quality of life? Who defines "health?" By what standard are these loose terms defined? Dan Horn, a good friend of mine, pointed out on Sunday that the only question one should ask in these situation is "is this person alive?" If the answer is "yes," then you have you answer to what should be done - everything possible!

One objection raised to this question is that, "Yes, someone in Terri's state is alive, but only because a machine is keeping her alive unnaturally." But what does one mean when they say "natural?" There is a underlying belief in this statement that science is somehow outside of and opposed to God, a thought that God and science are two mutually exclusive entities battling it out to see who will win. In truth, science is God's creation and therefore is under his sovereignty and rule. Just like everything else in life, man can choose to use God's creation for His glory by using His Law as our standard or man can choose to make himself his own standard, which always leads to using God's creation for evil. Terri is still alive because God has chosen to let her live. All the medicine and science and collective medical expertise in the world can not lengthen a life for even a second if God's appointed time has come.

Gary DeMarr, in this article, makes an appropriate connection between Terri Schiavo's case and King Solomon when he faced a similar dilemma as two harlots claimed to be the mother of a child (1 Kings 3:16–28).