Posted on 03/26/2005 10:22:59 AM PST by wto8585
When Life Becomes an Inconvenience--Jan Markell Olive Tree Ministries, Inc. www.olivetreeviews.org
Semi-Weekly Review of the News - March 21, 2005
I have a built-in radar system that registers a warning when it comes to "mercy killing." My Jewish grandparents fled a section of Russia about ten years before Hitler came to power as they sensed trouble was in the wind. This heritage actually caused me to research the Holocaust and write a best-selling book about it, "Trapped in Hitler's Hell" available through my Web site or print newsletter.
In October, 1939, Hitler ordered "mercy killing" of the sick and disabled, mainly children. The sentiment was to eliminate "life unworthy of life"--kids who would become an inconvenience if they lived. The deaths would soon include adults who were also inferior, feeble, or just too much trouble.
The Nazis made decisions without diagnoses or medical records. They were a part of a barbaric system, and yet when the death camps were finally liberated, many felt that such atrocities were finally thrown on the ash heap of history. They don't understand human nature or the Bible: Only when Satan is cast into the pit will evil end. In the meantime people who stand for righteousness are doing all we can to check it.
No, America isn't Nazi Germany! Yet what is happening here makes me very uncomfortable. Terri Schiavo wants to live. Her parents want to take care of her. But Terri is an inconvenience to her husband and "the system" has favored him thus far. But this battle isn't just for Terri. It's a battle to stop America from going further down a slippery slope that disregards human life. If America's leaders, doctors, lawyers, and judges, allow her to die in the terrible "prescribed manner"--by starvation and dehydration--have we sunk to the level of barbarians?
Terrorists have gotten better treatment and a greater outcry than Terri. Two terrorists killed over 240 people in Africa in 1998. They were brought to America for trial and after seven months of court pleading, their lives were spared in spite of the fact that they had been planning to destroy us indiscriminately.
Timothy McVeigh was a co-conspirator in the Oklahoma City bombing of 1995. He was given a quick, painless, lethal injection that brought almost instant, peaceful death.
Criminals and terrorists at Abu Grhaib prison were humiliated by a few bad apples in the U.S. military and the world collectively excoriated America at the inhumane abuse of these men.
Civil liberties' activists are characteristically set into hysteria the moment an al-Qaida terrorist is rumored to have been sent to bed without dinner.
Do you get the point?
If Terri Schiavo is executed--and yes, that is a proper word--next week or next year, how much better are we than the savages we are fighting in the war on terror? If America and the world have pity and mercy on thugs and terrorists and not on a defenseless woman who has not had a proper diagnosis or treatment (thanks to her husband), I shudder to think of the repercussions that could come upon our nation.
Also keep in mind that this could come upon you some day as well if "pro-death" activists speak more loudly than "pro-life" activists. Pro-life judges cannot even pass the confirmation process anymore. In America only half the states will impose the death penalty, but strangely, the kind of "progressive thinking" that brought about the near abolition of the death penalty now champions euthanasia and abortion. The Left claims to stand up for the underdogs in life, but I sense they follow the pattern of Ezekiel 33:31: "With their mouth they show much love, but their hearts pursue their own gain."
What is characteristic of a last day's culture is culture decline which the Bible predicts. Good will be called evil and evil good (Isaiah 5:20). Evil men will be "seducers, waxing worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived" (II Timothy 3:13). But who would ever have thought that such perilous times would have come to a simple hospice room?
In our evil generation God is also moving mightily because some people are remaining "salt and light." There is still time for good to trump certain aspects of evil. The end is not yet. God sees the heart of the righteous and is merciful.
To better understand this "slippery slope," visit my Web site, www.olivetreeviews.org, then visit the category of "Culture Decline."
Awaiting His return, Jan Markell You may pass along these items or have folks sign up on the "Home" page of my Web site, www.olivetreeviews.org. We update "Current Headlines" twice a day and you can access radio programming under "Radio Archives" for the last two years. Our March-April print newsletter, "Understanding the Times," is now out and is free for one year to U.S. residents. Please remember us prayerfully and financially. Contact: Olive Tree Ministries, Box 1452, Maple Grove, MN 55311.
Amen and Amen!
Youor words are chillingly reminiscent of Pontius Pilate.
"This kind of lunacy merely feeds the MSM's insatiable desire to discredit the right in any way it can."
The "right" is not one single constituency, but several sub-sets.
And when a sub-set is thrust into the news, you bet the magnifying glass will be put on them.
Great, now you may want to join the other thread where I am getting flamed for also believing that Terri Schiavo is not Jesus Christ.
No, the Nazis didn't give their victims a chance to litigate, this is true.
Again, though, I don't believe anyone is saying that this equates to what the Nazis did, merely that the reasoning is similar. The "they're better off dead", "they shouldn't live" argument.
Also, although there was a legal process in this case, it was completely shoddy in that the judge clearly is not interested in her actual condition, in that he disregards competent medical opinion to the contrary without having her re-tested. A life is in the balance, and he will not allow tests. The appellate courts defer to the trial judge in part because the standard of review is so high.
Exactly. There is a similarity in the arguments being offered to justify killing Terri (who is not terminally ill) as were used to kill the disabled in Germany.
You have made your wishes clear about your life and body and your wishes should be honored.
Your wishes should not apply to another human being, however.
Sorry, on reading your post again, I now realize you weren't saying others should be killed in these circumstances because you wouldn't want to live. Apologies.
Unfortunately, they are linking this with Nazism, and the reasoning is not similar in the slightest.
Also, although there was a legal process in this case, it was completely shoddy in that the judge clearly is not interested in her actual condition, in that he disregards competent medical opinion to the contrary without having her re-tested.
While I have serious doubts, obviously the judges did not. There was also substantial medical opinion to the effect that Schiavo was in a PVS, and that much of the brain was no longer present. But, to me the only issue is the weight of evidence supporting Terri's desires. On this, the judge accepted the statements of, I believe, 5 witnesses. Perhaps he should have considered more. But in any case, this hardly equates to comparisons with the Third Reich.
We ARE headed in this direction ... sad but true.
Right. If our analogy to Hitler won't fly let's try the crucifiction. The MSM must be having a field day with these threads.
A diagnosis of PVS means a doctor did not find any sign of cognition. Three doctors, hired by Michael, didn't find any because they didn't look very hard (looking seriously for signs of congition requires more than an hour exam, but none of Michael's "doctors" spent even that long). Two doctors hired by the Schindlers spent longer describing Terri, and were able to describe specific signs of cognition that they found.
The notion that 'majority rules' diagnosis makes any sense under such circumstances is absurd. It would be analagous to a drug smuggler arguing that since three of the cops searching his property didn't find any drugs, and only two of them found drugs, there weren't really any drugs.
But the Romans were nice enough to moisten Christ's tongue at least. King George forbids even that.
P.S. The Jesus comparison is a bit freaky though.
I believe there were 3 "witnesses" in total, M. Schiavo and two of his blood relatives.
Bump.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.