Jakubczyk on Life

Fear

Is there any reason why certain people have failed to act in the Terri Schiavo matter? Do we find that the defenses for the failure of government to protect an innocent disabled woman all surround themselves in a cold and harsh reading of the law? Is it any wonder that people are more cynical when it comes to the purpose and function of government? As a nation, are we sick enough of the fact that we all have witnessed a court of law sanction the slow starvation and dehydration of a human being?

Or will we just move on?

So many questions - some point out the major weakness within all of us - fear.

Our lives have become too comfortable. Hence, anything we do will generally stop at the border of that comfort zone. The likelihood that we as a nation would be willing to address the difficult questions arising from the passion of Terri Schiavo is remote at best. People do not want to talk about such things. As one governor put it, this is all so "unseemly." So after the appropriate amount of "critical analysis" during which both liberals and conservatives will decide to blame Bush - regardless of his culpability = the mainstream press will pronounce the story dead, and move on to the next sensation.

But today is the day after Easter. For believers, the feast is the reminder that life conquers death, that love conquers all and that God is for real. There is the rub. The modern world isn't much different than the world at the time of Christ. Sin and death were every day events. People were afraid to get out of their comfort zones. Someone like Jesus Christ, who preached a challenging message of concern for the least of our brothers and sisters, might be a curiosity, but definitely not someone the worldly successful folks would follow. Life for them did not include God.

The same applies today - as one argues for the protection of human beings in law. One asks the serious question - what is the purpose of the law? Simply to keep order? Perhaps in its stripped down form, one may argue that it is about power. But in the American experiment, the pedigree is more profound. It involves a moral component that derives its explanation from some of most brilliant minds of the Middle ages. Drawing from Scripture, the notion that all are equal before God and therefore before Caesar, or the king or the Congress or the courts. This concept of rights inherent in the person is not some intellectual argument made in the vacuum of materialistic theory, but the natural consequence of applying Judeo-Christian ethics to the law.

No there is a very real effort to separate the moral from the law. And this effort will destroy the very law we need to protect us. When judges, courts of law, and political leaders ignore what is right in an effort to placate the law, then the law no longer exists for its proper purpose and must be corrected.

We discussed this last year in speaking of conscience. A right formed conscience is needed to guide a person to make correct moral decisions. Without the proper formation, there will be error and form that error, evil may result.

Such is the state of the nation as it watches the time go by for Terri Schiavo.

posted by Jakubczyk on Life @ 5:33 PM