Can A Man Starve His Wife To Death?

Is it right to deprive a person of food and water just because they can't talk and can't swallow? That is the real question in the Terri Shiavo case.

See: http://www.terrisfight.org/documents/talk.pdf

Is it good to feed someone who can't feed themselves? If it is good to preserve life, help the helpless, save the dying to not help Terri would be a sin. Taking a brain dead person off a life support is one thing but withholding food from a person who would otherwise life is murder. See http://www.jewishworldreview.com/0305/schiavo_spero.php3

If a baby was born and the parents said, "I am this child's legal guardian. The child can't talk, can't walk, can't feed it's self. It has a terrible quality of life. As it's parent I know it wouldn't want to live this way. In fact it cries all the time. Therefore I am going to withhold food and water from my baby so it can die with ease and dignity." And then the parent starved the child to death. What would we do? We would arrest them for neglect at least and murder at most.

When we passed laws to make neglect of babies illegal, congressmen were not then saying, "but this is a private family matter that the state should not be getting involved with." So why do we say that about poor Terri? Because too many today do not value human life created in God's image.

So what is Terri does have the mind of a child? So what if she can't speak? So what if she has to be helped to be feed? Does that make her non-human? Does that give us the right to starve her to death?

If starving a baby is wrong so is starving Terri Schiavo.

Or what about my wife's cousin, Eli. He was born with a multiple handicaps-caps. He has never been able to walk, talk, or do anything but smile and make noises. Yet, anyone who would spend some time with him would see he cares, he feels, and he loves. He can't feed himself, dress himself, or use the restroom on his own. Should my wife's uncle just starve him to death because he thinks maybe Eli wouldn't want to live that way. NO! It would be neglect and murder.

James 4:17 says, "Anyone, then, who knows the good he ought to do and doesn't do it, sins."

Terri is conscious (or was before they took her food & water away). Go here and see that she is not brain dead. http://www.blogsforterri.com/video/ConversationWithTerri.wmv She was awake. She would smile for loved ones. She may improve with therapy which her husband has denied her for years. One nurse even testified that she could swallow food and water if spoon fed but that her husband insists on a feeding tube.

Some say it's a matter of "choice." Ahh the same old stuff we here in the abortion debate. For those who think her husband has the "right to choose" I encourage you to read http://www.wnd.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=43398

Michael Schiavo says that if his wife, Terri could talk she would say "I want my feeding tube removed."

But considering that Michael has been cheating on Terri for years now, has had multiple children out of wedlock with his live-in lover and been living off the money won in a malpractice law suit that was supposed to be used to pay for Terri's rehabilitation, my guess is if she could talk right now she would say, "I want a divorce!"

For more information on her case go here: http://www.blogsforterri.com/

Captain's Log - The Triumph of Rest

It’s strange how the nights seem darker
Shadows more foreboding when the wind howls
Rather than caresses
When the clouds cover stars and veil
The sea of illumination in a mist of doubt
Like vaporous stresses

Its strange how ugly and empty
The night becomes when you stray from
Your conscience’s calling
When one moment eclipses all reason
And floods of emotion highjack you
Like autumn leaves falling

Come quickly you gathering light,
you hope of redemption
the purchase from death
come quickly you giver of gifts
ancient wisdom of life
the worker of rest

Its strange how perfect the misdeeds
And sins of indiscretion lead to demise
Like rust on steel
But when you turn to love’s purpose
Like the crash of a tide changing chorus
You see what is real

Its strange how the wheels spin slowly
So perfect and complete
by ancient design
When you look back at the chaos
Patterns develop in relation to choices
And grace makes them align

Come quickly you mounting messiah
You steed of protection
You conqueror of death
come quickly you army of angels
Trumpet of jubilation
The triumph of rest

Why Take Communion Every Sunday?

Question: Why does your church take the Lord’s Supper each week and not quarterly or semi-annually like other congregations?

Answer: This is a good question that I hear very often. We at the Christian church take the Lord’s Supper each week, while many congregations relegate communion to a semi-annual or quarterly event. The simplest answer to that question is that the apostles along with the very first Christians took it each Sunday and we are commanded to follow their example in Scripture.

We are to imitate the “traditions” of the early Christians. Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 11:1-2 “Be imitators of me, just as I also am of Christ. Now I praise you because you remember me in everything, and hold firmly to the traditions, just as I delivered them to you.” We should hold firmly to the traditions and teachings of the early church. It was their practice to take the Lord’s Supper every Sunday and only on Sunday.

There are literally hundreds of denominations of churches with various doctrines. How are we to know which is true? How are we to ever come to unity as Christians? Unity can only come by looking back to the New Testament and seeing what the early Christians did, and imitating it just as Paul commanded us to. We must look to the word of God. It is the truth.

Every kind of Church has traditions. We need to make sure our churches follow the New Testament Christians traditions as taught by the apostles and prophets, not the opinions of uninspired men. Ephesians 2:20 says the church is to be “built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone.” And Ephesians 3:5 says the mystery of the gospel was “…not made known to men in other generations as it has now been revealed by the Spirit to God’s holy apostles and prophets.” Let us build on the Apostles foundation laid in the New Testament.

Paul also wrote in 2 Thessalonians 2:15, “So then, brethren, stand firm and hold to the traditions which you were taught, whether by word of mouth or by letter from us.” The instructions Paul gave were for us to follow their written commands (The New Testament) and to follow what they taught by “word of mouth.” Now, how are we supposed to obey what Paul taught by “word of mouth” when we were not there? The answer is that what they taught by “word of mouth” is played out in their example. The example of their lives is recorded for us in the book of Acts. The birth and growth of the church is recorded for us in specific detail in the book of Acts. It lays for us a foundational example of what we should be like as churches. The book of Acts is not just a bunch of stories to help fill our Sunday school hour. It is a road map. It is the guidebook for the church. The book of Acts is not just a history book; it’s an example, which God commands us to follow.

So what does the book of Acts tell us about when to take the Lord’s Supper? Acts 20:7 says, “On the first day of the week we came together to break bread.” Why did they meet on Sunday? The whole reason they came together was “to break bread.” The verse that tells us when the early Christians met tells us why they met. Ask all most any preacher why we have church on Sunday and he will tell you that is the day Jesus rose from the dead and that’s when the early Christians met to have church. There are two ways he knows this. Number one, we have the writings of early Christians from the first and second century who say that is when they met. Number two we have the record in Acts 20:7 which says that is when they met. But remember, the only verse that tells us when they met tells us why they met. Early Christians met each Sunday to take the Lord’s Supper. And Paul commanded us to follow their example.

Some may suggest that this was not a pattern of behavior for all churches. But church history confirms early Christians met each week to take the Lord’s Supper. There was a pattern to their behavior. And we are commanded in Philippians 3:17, “Brethren, join in following my example, and observe those who walk according to the pattern you have in us.” Once again, Paul is commanded Christians to follow the “pattern” and “example” of himself and the early churches.

Some may suggest that what Paul did in Acts 20 at the church in Ephesus was different than what he did in other churches. However, that is just not true. Paul explains in 1 Corinthians 4:17 “For this reason I have sent to you Timothy, who is my beloved and faithful child in the Lord, and he will remind you of my ways which are in Christ, just as I teach everywhere in every church.” Paul’s teaching and example were consistent. He taught the same traditions everywhere.

Some argue that if we take the Lord’s Supper each week, it would become to commonplace and lose its freshness. I have noticed that preachers who say this do not apply that teaching to coming to church or singing praise to God and especially not to taking up an offering each week. Charles Spurgeon, after defending weekly communion, answered the objection that it would be to commonplace if observed to often by saying, “You may have more and more and more of everything Christ instituted and ordained, especially more and more of Himself, and the more you have the more freshness there will be.” Let us freshen our relationship with Christ by following the early Christians example of weekly communion.