Terri is Dead

Pray for the Schindler family.
Pray for the United States of America.
The darkness is here.

Process Reversal in the Resurrection

It took 930 years for Adam’s moral failure to result in physical death. It took only three days for Christ’s perfect obedience to result in the reversal of death, indicating that Christ’s impact on humanity is much more powerful than Adam’s was. The natural and moral processes that were let loose by Adam’s moral failure are still at work to this day, and will continue to work until their logical and natural conclusions are reached. Everyone is going to die, being descendants of Adam, and subject to those processes.

However, Christ’s perfect obedience has started another set of processes that are the opposite of those let loose by Adam. These processes are not for every descendant of Adam. It is for a new race of man. For this new race, the processes that started with the Resurrection of Jesus Christ are at work to make the perfect obedience of Christ a reality in its members. The result of perfect obedience is the reversal of death.

You become a member of this new race by being born again. It happens in the spiritual realm, where Adam’s legacy is nil because of his moral failure. They say Terri Schiavo is brain dead. This is only relative, because all descendants of Adam are dead. We have no more life than Terri does.

As it is in the spiritual, so it will be in the material. Christ’s legacy is in the spiritual and will be realized in the material world. His resurrection has impact in the here and now and in the future.

The Ultimate Destroyer of Meaning and Purpose

Death is not just the end of life. It's not just the cessation of biological and cellular functions in an organism. Death is the ultimate destroyer of meaning. It makes every human purpose and endeavor meaningless. Are you studying to be wise? What's the point if you're going to die just like the uneducated? Are you working to get wealth? Death won't let you take what you have accumulated with you. Are you being good? What's the point if your life will end just like the wicked's? Death even eliminates the distinction between man and beasts.

So, Judge Greer has condemned Terri Schiavo to death because Terri's life is devoid of meaning and purpose. This is only a matter of time. In a few years Judge Greer is going to die, and Terri Schiavo will be remembered as much as Judge Greer, and ultimately, in a few decades, both of them alike will be forgotten my most people. Death will render both their lives meaningless.

This is the point of the Book of Ecclesiastes. Along the way to death, there are things which will make the whole journey easier to bear. Read all about it.

Death destroys all meaning...until the Resurrection.

The Resurrection destroys the power of death, in every aspect of it...from supernatural to metaphysical to physical. Jesus Christ has overcome death.

The Meaning of the Resurrection

The greatest curse on mankind is death. Man was created immortal. His purpose was, and is, to be a living testimony to the Creator-God and to enjoy the Creator-God forever.

The true origin of death is moral, not physical. When man broke the moral rapport with the Creator-God through disobedience, the consequences shook the cosmos to the core. For Adam, the first man, it took 930 years for the ramifications of moral failure to be felt in the physical. Death as we know it, physical death, followed Adam’s moral failure.

What then is the meaning of the reversal of death, i.e., resurrection? The resurrection must mean moral perfection, perfect obedience. Such was the life lived by Jesus Christ.

The resurrected Man, Jesus Christ, died, but not due to his own moral failure. He tasted death because of the violence of men done upon Him. The greatest injustice was committed on Good Friday when He was executed by the state for political expediency instigated by the Jewish religious elite.

Just as the first man’s moral failure had cosmic ramifications, so Jesus Christ’s moral perfection, His death, and His resurrection all have not just equal, but greater cosmic ramifications.

A cosmic exchange took place when Jesus died. He died not for His personal sins, but for the sins of the world, including mine. That is the full meaning of his death. It was not just a mistake of Rome or the Pharisees. Otherwise, how could a just God allow such a gross injustice?

God allowed it because God wants the cosmic exchange to take place, because God wants to fulfill His original purpose for man - to be a living testimony and to enjoy the Creator-God forever. Jesus Christ's perfect obedience won Him His resurrection, but that’s not all.

What is the personal implication of Jesus Christ? Why do I need Him?

I need Him because without Him, I’m going to die for my sins just like Adam.
With him, Christ’s death will be mine. The cosmic exchange takes place. Christ’s perfect obedience will be mine. The result of perfect obedience, which became mine through Christ, will be my resurrection too.

Read all about it in the Book of Romans.

Begging For Life From The Courts

The judges are emboldened to kill Terri Schiavo because of her husband’s allegation that Terri does not want her life prolonged by artificial means. This is buttressed by medical opinions that Terri is in a “persistent vegetative state” and has no hope of recovery. They have decided that 15 years or so using a feeding tube is enough time to live. They see no purpose in her life, in a “vegetative state.”

Who has given those judges and medical experts infinite wisdom, so that they can determine the purpose of life? How did they determine that Terri’s life is useless? Did they not see the parents and brother and sister of Terri in their anguish? Perhaps Terri’s life is useless to her husband, but not to others. They have seen the quality of life Terri was living and judged it worthless, even a liability, measuring it by dollars of care and expenses of hospitalization.

We are poorer as a nation, and our worth as a people has been diminished when the best minds of the land, those sitting in the courts, have the arrogance to claim that they know the value and purpose of human existence, and by their own human wisdom have put a cap on life. “Thus far you shall go and no further,” they have pronounced.

I don’t blame the Schindlers for trying to exhaust every possibility, but haven’t they been demeaned enough by the Courts? They now beg the Courts, which have passed a value judgment on their beloved daughter, “You Vegetable! You’re not Fit To Live!” “Away With You!” They beg life from the executioner!

Coming to Terms With Injustice

Tomorrow is Good Friday. At this time, the nation is experiencing a great injustice. A brain injured woman is being brutally and mercilessly deprived of food and water at the behest of her husband with the blessing of the courts. She was not dying, but without food and water, she is going to die. She is under armed guard and nobody is even allowed to put some cold water on her lips. No visible power on earth seems to be able to deliver her from death or from this brutality.

Good Friday is a day when the greatest injustice in the world was committed. The courts were involved. A "friend" was involved in the betrayal. The head of the political body couldn’t save Him. The people wanted Him dead. It was a state-sponsored execution, a lynching.

It helps us come to grips with today’s injustice. It helps us accept that injustice of this magnitude can happen. It happened in Jerusalem, at the apex of its morality and legal system. It helps us get a glimpse into that unjust execution that happened two thousand five years ago in Jerusalem.

Good Friday: It's real. It happened. It's with us.

A Time Of Visitation

Last night at Hardball with Chris Matthews, Pat Buchanan expressed a sentiment that I wrote about yesterday. He believes that Michael Schiavo and Judge Greer have conspired to kill Terri. He strongly believes that either the president, George Bush, or the governor of Florida, Jeb Bush, should step in and uphold the Constitution of the United States of America and take into custody this woman who is being starved to death before the whole world. In this showcase of democracy, the land of the free and the home of the brave, this atrocity reminiscent of Hitler’s Nazi regime is going on unabated.

The time of visitation has come, and the leaders have been caught unprepared. They are caught up in the inertia of government, by the icy grip of Pragmatism. Meanwhile, Michael Schiavo's and Judge Greer’s cries echo throughout the republic, “DEATH TO TERRI!”

Terri's Prayer

1 Hasten, O God, to save me;
O LORD , come quickly to help me.

2 May those who seek my life

be put to shame and confusion;

may all who desire my ruin

be turned back in disgrace.

3 May those who say to me, "Aha! Aha!"

turn back because of their shame.

4 But may all who seek you

rejoice and be glad in you;

may those who love your salvation always say,

"Let God be exalted!"

5 Yet I am poor and needy;

come quickly to me, O God.

You are my help and my deliverer;

O LORD , do not delay.

Psalm 70 (New International Version)

Darwin Continues to Stumble Over DNA

Stephen Caesar desribes the evolutionist's pet theory of origins thus:

"For nearly a century, evolutionists have been claiming, with dogmatic certainty, that the first life on earth appeared in a 'primordial soup' consisting of water loaded with chemicals necessary for the start of life. This 'warm little pond' was believed to have been struck by an electrical discharge (most likely from lightning) which caused the chemicals to form complex protein molecules, which eventually brought forth life. From this first life, evolutionists postulate, all other life evolved."

As I discussed in a previous post, the complex structure of a single molecule of DNA could not possibly be formed through the process of Natural Selection. There is further evidence that contradicts Darwinism. Ralph O. Muncaster discusses further barriers to the Darwinian theory of origins:

"Every time a nucleotide is added in the construction of a molecule of DNA, a molecule of water is released. The process is reversible. In chemistry, a reaction will not naturally proceed in a direction that produces a product already in abundance. Because water is produced, it would be impossible for DNA to form in water (as proposed by 'ocean-vent' or primordial-soup theories)" (Creation Vs. Evolution, by Ralph O. Muncaster, p. 29)

Darwinism is foiled again by DNA.

Men In Black Aiding and Abetting a Murderer

A registered nurse who took care of Terri Schindler Schiavo for two years gave a sworn affidavit to the police that she heard Michael Schiavo speaking about his eagerness to see his wife dead and that she saw some evidence that Michael may have injected Terri with something to hasten her demise. After she reported this, the registered nurse was terminated by the facility where Terri was being “cared for.” Hannity and Colmes at Fox News interviewed the nurse last night. There were other witnesses who corroborated her affidavit, the nurse said.

The brutality of this husband is appalling, and the fact that the justice system has let him get away with it, even aiding and abetting him, is even more appalling.

Similarities Between Terri and the Fetus

The case of Terri Schindler is being mischaracterized as a right to die case. It is not a right to die case but a right to kill, similar to Abortion Rights.

1. It has not been established that Terri wishes to die. She never put her wishes in writing and her husband has a questionable interest in her death. He is her husband in name only. He has lived and is now living with another woman with whom he has two children. The judges ignore this reality.

2. The fetus and Terri are similar in their powerlessness.

3. Both the fetus and Terri are dependent on another for their survival.

4. Both the fetus and Terri are alive but mentally limited.

5. Both the fetus and Terri are being denied a chance to live. Abortion is legal and now murdering Terri is also legal.

6. Those who are supposed to love them are the ones who are out to kill them, the mother her unborn, and the husband his wife.

If this society can so callously tolerate the murder of innocent babies everyday, why should we expect Terri Schindler to be treated differently from a fetus?

Echoes of Columbine

April 20, 1999 – Fifteen students were killed in a school massacre at Columbine High School in Colorado perpetuated by Eric Harris (18) and Dylan Klebold (17), both students at the High School. This gruesome and brutal incident was repeated yesterday, March 21, 2005 at Red Lake High School, MN. At least nine people were killed and fourteen were wounded. The shooter, Jeff Wise was fifteen years old. He shot himself after the massacre.

The Justices of the U.S. Supreme Court have hacked into the culture, sending a message of tolerance for minors who commit murder, and we are reaping the bitter fruit of their so-called wisdom.

Pragmatism Prevails Over Schiavo Case

From Wikipedia:

"Pragmatism is a school of philosophy which originated in the United States in the late 1800s. Pragmatism is characterized by the insistence on consequences, utility and practicality as vital components of truth."

Terri Schiavo is in a "persistent vegetative state" say the judges and the doctors. Her life isn't worth saving, they say. The Federal Courts have upheld the State Courts and have refused to reinsert her feeding tube. The Federal Courts are now complicit with Michael Schiavo and the State Courts in the murder of Terri Schindler, depriving her of her right to life. Pragmatism wins the day and the judges have determined for us what is useful or practical, or how long a helpless individual should be allowed to live.

It's getting dark in the Fruited Plain.

Who is Under Trial?

The Congress of the United States has acted heroically in taking Terri Schiavo out of the hands of the murderous Florida judge, Judge Greer, and into the hands of the Federal Courts to give her due process. Judge Greer could have been both judge and executioner as he acted to prevent even the application of ice chips to the dying woman's mouth. He also acted to prevent the parents of Terry Schiavo from being at her bedside, barring them from even entering the hospital.

Of course, the fate of Terri Schiavo is not yet clear. It is now in the hands of the Federal judge, who could very well uphold the State of Florida's justice system's decisions.

The U.S. legal sysem is under trial here. Will it be tried and found wanting?

Execution Under Way

Terri Schiavo's feeding tube has been removed. She is now going to die a slow and painful death. A Florida judge has sanctioned the execution of an innocent woman. In this land of plenty, this land of prosperity, where the best medical care is found, and where the miracles of science and medical research are touted everyday, basic care is denied to a conscious woman. She is denied the right to live just because she can't perform like the rest of us. Cats and dogs are treated better.

The Shamrock, Dan Brown, and Islam

St. Patrick, the patron saint of Ireland is more relevant today than he ever was, and it’s not just because of the parades, the green, and the cultural observances of the day. His mission as an evangelist and apostle to Ireland is best remembered for his use of the shamrock as an illustration of one of the deepest truths of Christianity, that of the Trinity.

The Trinity sets apart Christianity from all other religions on earth. The Trinity completes the self-revelation that God began in the Old Testament. The Trinity is the foundation for the truth that “God is Love” for within the Trinity, there is personhood; there is unity; God was loving the Son and vice versa, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, even before the creation of the world. Thus, the creation is the outpouring of that love within the Godhead.

Dan Brown in his pseudo-historical novel called “The Da Vinci Code” attacks the Trinity when he recycles some ancient heresies that deny the divinity of Christ and that portray him as a fallen human. Dan Brown claims that the divinity of Jesus was established by decree at the Council of Nicaea, which is a historical distortion of what the Council of Nicaea was all about.

Islam vigorously denies the Trinity, treating it as a philosophical and intellectual quandary. If there is no Trinity, then before creation God had no one to love. Since love needs an object outside of itself, then God is dependent on the creation in order to love, if there is no Trinity.

The Trinity is the glorious truth that “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made.” (John 1:1-3)

Happy St. Patrick’s Day to all!

Darkness Over the Fruited Plain

San Francisco County Superior Court Judge Richard Kramer ruled Monday that

"The state's protracted denial of equal protection cannot be justified simply because such constitutional violation has become traditional," . . . "Simply put, same-sex marriage cannot be prohibited solely because California has always done so before."

Soon, polygamists will demand equal protection. Likewise, the National Association of Man-Boy Lovers will demand legitimacy for pedophilia. They will require equal protection too. The nudists and naturalists will cry out for equal protection for their free speech expressed in public nudity. The homeless will demand their "constitutional" right to sleep on the streets under equal protection.

The hour is late. It's getting dark over the fruited plain.

Slide Towards Illegitimacy

Via Citizen Link:

"A San Francisco Superior Court judge has ruled California's Proposition 22 unconstitutional, voiding the law passed by voter initiative in 2000 which restricts marriage to one man and one woman.

Judge Richard Kramer said the state had no legal basis to restrict the definition.

'It appears that no rational purpose exists," he wrote in his decision, "for limiting marriage in this state to opposite-sex partners.'

The judge calls traditional marriage irrational. He also has no right to invalidate the will of the California voters. The courts' slide towards illegitimacy continues.

Courts Spare Murderers and Kill the Innocent

The judges and justices of the U.S. Courts sure ally themselves with the strangest bedfellows.

In 1963 the Supreme Court allied itself with the noisy godless crowd who were offended when children were taught to pray in public schools, and outlawed praying in school. This action was soon followed by outlawing God in the schools as well.

Then the courts allied themselves with the minority men who wanted to have sex with fellow men, and women who wanted to have sex with fellow women. Now the courts want to marry men with men and women with women. Hey, if President Clinton could say that oral sex isn’t sex, who is to say what marriage should be? The courts agreed.

Then, the courts allied themselves with the European bleeding heart liberals who couldn’t believe that minors are just as capable of murderous instincts as adults, and abolished the death penalty for minors. This will soon result in more murders committed by those under 18.

Now a judge in the Florida Circuit Court, George W. Greer, has allied himself with an estranged husband now with another woman* and has two children with her, but who can’t seem to leave his disabled wife* alone, and wants her killed. Terri Schiavo, the wife*, has not committed any crime. She is not in a comma. She is not terminally ill. She is simply mentally incapacitated. She has a family who wants to care for her. She is not a burden to her husband*. Yet the court takes the husband’s side and has ordered to have her starved to death!

Where are the anti death penalty activists now? Why don’t they speak out against this impending murder of the innocent? The courts spare murderers because they are under 18 years old, yet order an innocent woman killed to please her husband*! This is not just an issue of euthanasia. We do not need to argue about the value of Terri Schiavo's life. This is an issue of justice, which the state has a moral duty to execute. Without justice, the state becomes illegitimate.

This perverted sense of justice has invited the judgment of Almighty God in the past upon men and nations, and will invite it again upon us. Can God really bless America when the guilty are unpunished and the blood of the innocent are spilled?

*CORRECTION: I wrote that Terry Schiavo and her husband are divorced. Terri Schiavo and her husband are in fact not divorced. Please see Comments.

No Privacy of Faith For A True Christian

An anonymous reader wrote a comment...

"I can accept that you feel very strongly about your beliefs. However, here are some questions to ponder: Perhaps there are true Christians that disagree with your interpretation of the Christian faith: how do you reconcile your theology with theirs?"

One of the outcomes of a secularized culture is what Dr. Ravi Zacharias calls “The Privatization of Faith.” People have come to accept the loss of absolutes, and even in matters of faith, hold to a loose interpretation of Scripture. Faith has become a private matter. Relativism has been applied to faith, and the Christian Church has not been immune to the secular culture. Churches have lost their unity over their abandonment of historic Christian truths, selling out to political correctness.

The anonymous asked how to reconcile one’s theology with other Christians. Theology is not a private matter. It has to do with God’s revelation. If Jesus Christ is the head of the Church, then Jesus Christ is the authority over the Church. He is the preserver of unity in belief and practice. There exists an unbroken thread of unity in the Church throughout the centuries. This unity is anchored in the historic events of the life of Christ and preserved in Scripture, and summarized in the great creeds such as The Apostle’s Creed.

The Reformation brought about the translation of the Holy Scriptures into every man’s common language and ensured that the authority of the Church could not reside in a sacred elite or in one man. The Scriptures alone are the final authority to bind one’s conscience. Faith alone is the means of salvation. Christ alone is the true head of the Church, the true object of the Church’s worship, the savior of mankind.

Faith is not private. It is a confession. It is not held individually in secret, but practiced corporately. A true Christian does not exist in isolation. Christianity is for a body of people proclaiming a common faith, and who are living out that faith in common. In essentials, there is unity of faith but diversity in non-essentials.

So, to the anonymous reader: the question of reconciling theology among true Christians is a not an issue at all because among true Christians, there is already a unity. My faith is not a theology concocted in my private library. It is the proclaimed truth of millions of believers throughout the centuries.

Reason Vs. Revelation

I would like to thank the anonymous readers who have left comments on this blog.

One comment states:

“Are you aware that there are atheists and agnostics who have strong moral convictions and are in no way relativistic?”

Yes, I am aware of this. It is a world view which draws from Immanuel Kant’s philosophy, which states that you can arrive at morality by use of pure reason and that reason alone can show you the basis for right and wrong and by knowing what is right, you can will to do what is right. You do not need God to reveal to you what is right or wrong. You can arrive at it from common sense alone.

Dr. Ravi Zacharias responded to a question like this on one of his campus visits (Georgia Tech), and I credit Dr. Zacharias for the following insights on Kant. Dr. Zacharias stated,

“I think it is very important to know what Kant said beyond that, and if we don’t understand that we run into problems…People in the Western World are very quick to tell us what Immanuel Kant said about right and wrong, that we could arrive at it unaided by reason without any revelation; they forget the second qualifier that he put. Kant said, 'my choice of right and wrong should not be determined by what makes me happy either…It has nothing to do with personal happiness…' But Kant himself, in the preface to his second volume ends up admitting this: he said, 'ultimately my ethical theory is best (formulated) after we have determined the purpose of human existence,' which means he has linked inextricably, purpose and morality. Purpose ultimately defines Morality.”

Do you think that an atheist is in the best position to determine the purpose of human existence, and thus determine morality using his reason alone? If there is no God, then the purpose of man is to live a narcissistic, hedonistic existence. Is this the basis for morality then? And if there is no God, then Darwinism is the key to providing purpose for humanity. Good luck with that!

Dr. Ravi Zacharias wrote a book called "Can Man Live Without God." I highly recommend it.

Revelation: God is Not Silent

He has not been silent. A nation exists today which should have been extinguished long ago. For thousands of years, strong and powerful nations have tried to annihilate the Jews. Their survival and the existence of the modern state of Israel is historical evidence that God has spoken and He is not silent. He is active in history and the Jewish nation is evidence of that. The Jews gave the world the Scriptures of the Old Testament. Through the Jews also came the Lord Jesus Christ. God spoke to mankind in history as recorded in the Old Testament Scriptures, and God spoke through Jesus Christ.

Jesus Christ interpreted the scriptures of the Old Testament. He founded the church which has safeguarded the historical meaning of the person and work of Jesus Christ and recorded the divine interpretation of events of Christ’s life and work in the books of the New Testament. The Scriptures of the Old Testament and the New Testament interpret all of human history.

As men come to read the scriptures, the meaning of the historical events concerning the Jews, and concerning Jesus Christ is made clear in the minds and hearts of sincere and honest searchers of God. The meaning and interpretation of Christ’s life is made clear. These are truths that cannot be deduced from argumentation and debate. That is why it is called revelation. Revealed truth can only be accepted. God is not silent. He speaks and rewards those who come to God and believe that He exists. He is the Interpreter of scripture and of history.

“There is one body and one Spirit…one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.” (Ephesians 4:4-6)

The Justice Who Rides on Coattails of Europe

Anthony Kennedy, the Supreme Court justice who wrote the majority opinion
on striking down the death penalty for those under 18 years old, took his
lead from European precedent, not from the American historical and
constitutional context. He must think that the U.S. is so primitive and
Europe so avant garde. That is progressive ideology at work. That is the
mentality of the ACLU. They are ashamed of the American cultural tradition
that values human life and human responsibility. They cannot place
individual responsibility but blame the environment, parents, the
government, and institutions for the actions of a minor. A person who
commits murder is not to be made responsible for his actions because
something in his upbringing must not have been right. Adults are to blame
because they have not created a paradise on earth which all children have a
right to have. When minors kill, the state must turn the other cheek.

This is the statist mentality at work, the mentality that makes a god out
of the state, the belief that the state is the absolute arbiter of life,
and that the individual is merely a creature of the state. This would not
be so if God were the source of life and absolute value.

Social Security Basics

Basic information on Social Security is found in this link: How Today's Social Security Works

Five Hackers of Culture

In one of my earliest posts, I commented that the Constitution has already
been amended. In the decisions rendered by Judges and Justices, rights have
been created where there were none. This scenario has played itself out
again when the U.S. Supreme Court recently ruled that the practice of
executing individuals for crimes committed below the age of 18 is a
violation of the Eighth Amendment. Justice Kennedy wrote the 5-4
majority decision. The Supreme Court has brought the nation another step
closer to the abolition of the death penalty.

As mentioned in Powerlineblog:

"Justice Kennedy relied on international law and practice to 'confirm' his
view that the juvenile death penalty constitutes cruel and unusual
punishment. He also cited the International Covenant on Civil and Political
Rights, which the U.S. signed only subject to the reservation of its right
to impose the death penalty for crimes committed by persons below eighteen
years of age. "

This is not the first time that the U.S. Supreme Court has deferred to
international law in decisions involving the nation. It did so when the
Supreme Court decided to declare unconstitutional State's laws
criminalizing sodomy, which was established law for decades, thereby
opening the door to legalizing homosexual marriage. In that decision,
Anthony Kennedy also cited international law, and not the U.S.
Constitution.

We have become a nation of consensus, and not of laws, with the Constitution
effectively neutralized by international public opinion. Anthony Kennedy
and his cohorts would have us go the way of Canada in that country's misguided
legitimization of homosexuality. Five unelected persons in the U.S. have
become the chief enablers of the wholesale deterioration of U.S. culture.