During last night's debating over the life of Terri Schiavo, I heard a culture-of-death apologist on TV make the argument about letting "nature take its course." In other words, let's not try to save and rehabilitate Ms. Schiavo.
I don't remember the name of the congresswoman who made that remark, but I just found a comment on the Democrats.com Blog that restated the argument:
Would you want to live for years if you were in Terry's condition? andMiffed about the comment I heard on TV, I told the person next to me that the same argument could be made about newborn babies. They will starve to death if you don't feed them. Oftentimes we use factory-made formulas in "unnatural" plastic bottles to feed them, but we consider it our responsibility.
Would you want to be the husband or wife for years of someone in Terry's condition?
Has anyone here set up a living will, and if you have, have you instructed that if you end up in a similar condition as Terry that you want to keep the tubes in for years or have them removed and let nature take its course??
We feed babies the way babies have to be fed. We must also feed brain-damaged people the way brain-damaged people have to be fed.
Neither action is "unnatural" in the sense of tampering with God's natural order for mankind. I wonder if those same people who are concerned with "nature" also condone homosexual acts, contraceptive sex, abortion, human cloning, and fetal stem-cell research.
To answer the other questions posed in the above-quoted comment: No, I would NOT want to live for years in Terri's condition; and no, I would NOT want my spouse to live for years in that condition.
And yes, taking away Ms. Schiavo's supply of nutrition is murder. Many people would dehumanize her by saying she's in a "persistant vegetative state." I'm no farmer, but I've never seen vegetation that could see, hear, sit up in a chair, smile, and express itself in grunts. Terri Schiavo is not a mere piece of meat, a soul-less lump of tissue prevented from seeing corruption because of pumps, machines, and gadgets. All she needs is food and water. That sounds natural to me.
I hope everyone is familiar Jesus' fitting parable about the sheep and the goats:
“When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his throne in heavenly glory. All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left.
“Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in,I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’
“Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’
“The King will reply, ‘I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.’
“Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.’
“They also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?’
“He will reply, ‘I tell you the truth, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.’
“Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life.” (Matthew 25:31-46)
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