Early in America’s argument over Roe v. Wade, a group of pro-life supporters sat down with abortion supporters to see if they could find some common ground.
A day or two earlier, pro-life feminists had examined the contents of a dumpster behind an abortion clinic and retrieved a dead child–the victim of a late term abortion–a little girl.
During the meeting as both sides chatted amiably, a woman stepped forward cradling the infant’s body. She explained that the child she held in her hands had died by abortion. She gave everyone in the room clarity about the issue. There could be no middle ground.
The meeting abruptly adjourned. The incident made network evening newscasts.
Notably absent from network newscasts today is an ongoing dispute between the Vatican and The Belgian Brothers of Charity, who oversee care for elderly and mentally ill people in their region.
The Vatican, standing on Christian principle and Catholic doctrine, has demanded that the facilities stop permitting euthanasia in their hospitals.
The governing board of the hospitals refuses to comply, saying their group ““continues to stand by its vision statement on euthanasia for mental suffering in a non-terminal situation” and that they “emphatically believe” the practice is compatible with Catholic teaching.
To be clear, that’s a claim that actively and willfully killing someone who is not even terminally ill lines up with Catholic teaching. You don’t have to be Catholic to see that statement as ridiculous.
Aside from “Thou shalt not kill,” Catholic doctrine explicitly teaches that euthanasia is “morally unacceptable.” Where is the confusion?
This policy puts a church entity in the killing business. And it’s the killing of depressed people. People with no physical ills, certainly not terminal ailments. People who could get better and find joy in life.
To be clear once more, the head of the order–the general superior–Br. Rene Stockman appealed to the Vatican when the board recently determined to begin practicing euthanasia according to Belgian law–which is to say liberally and often.
According to the Catholic News Agency, the board will have to comply or the hospitals will no longer be allowed to call themselves Catholic. The brothers will have to sign their faithfulness to Catholic doctrine on the issue or face dismissal.
Oil and water. Faith and death.
Life is sacred. Intentional killing of the weak or wounded is wrong.
There is no middle ground.
Photo Credit: Pixabay
There is right and wrong in God’s eyes. Right and wrong in man’s eyes. The middle ground is always that which man moves from his position toward God’s position; in other words, always stopping short of God’s moral standard. The middle ground between right and wrong is still wrong!
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While there is a lot of human justification in favor of allowing for people who are suffering from a terminal medical condition to medically terminate their life, it is only the godless whom I believe would seek such relief — just as it is only the godless that chose to terminate the life of the child growing inside their womb.
That said, we forget that both the faithful and the godless have justified (and continue to justify) the termination (murder) of select individuals and groups of people. The greatest tragedy is when those who profess to be “in Christ” selectively (hypocritically) denote when the taking of life is okay and when it isn’t — because it is never “okay” if you abide in Christ and He abides in you.
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