From The Pastor's Desk...April, 2005.
By Hal Polk, BraceBeagling 
April 04, 2005

From The Pastor's Desk...April, 2005.

For most of us the name Terri Shiavo meant nothing prior to the prolonged debate about the continuation of her life appeared in the news. As I write these words there remains a remote chance that the decision will be made to insert her feeding tube. Without that step, you will have by now read of her death.

The issues are complicated and made more so by the fact that many of them have been filtered to us by a media biased by its own values and the desire to sell its services.

This entire matter raises the most important question bout the definition and nature of human life. And the more I think about this the harder I find it to define exactly those conditions or circumstances in which I could disconnect a feeding tube without a twinge of conscience.

But beyond all of this I am thankful to live in a nation in which such questions are not easy to answer! There are many lands in which the plug would have been pulled on whatever machines were keeping her alive a long time ago.

The reason such issues are difficult for us as Americans is the thorough-going influence of the Christian religion on our history. In the Bible loved and studied by many of those whose dreams and courage established this nation we find the words of God, "Let Us make man in Our image".

These words set man aside from every other created thing, living or not. And they elevate questions about the termination of human life far above the levels of personal convenience and cost.

I'm not sure what the right decision is about Terri Shiavo, but I am certain that it's a decision with moral and eternal implications.