Living Wills

Genesis1315

Genesis1315

Ladies
The issues surrounding Terri Schiavo have made me consider my final wishes or pre-final as the case may be. I have been pondering the following questions and how, as believers, should they be answered

1. Given our faith, can we (again, as Christians) really ask anyone to withhold nutrition or hydration on our behalf?
(Note: How many of us would ask another to shoot us in the head and kill us? Withholding nutrition and hydration would kill as well)
2. By asking someone to "pull the plug" and stating that this is our wish, would this be equivalent to committing suicide?
3. As Christians should we even consider having a living will or should we only establish a power of attorney to address medical issues in the event we cannot?

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Wrong, wrong, wrong.....

1. I don't think that Terri herself asked to with hold nutrition or hydration, it was a choice made for her. So she wasn't asking for that....

2. "Pulling the Plug"....I think it depends on the circumstances. Again, Terri didn't ask to have the plug pulled, it was pulled based on what somebody else wanted. In the big scheme of things, somebody is considered alive who has full activity, or in my opinion has fully funtioning organs and brain waves. If my brain isn't functioning, but all my organs are, why not donate them to somebody who has a fully functioning brain and an organ that isn't working right? Basically I'm saying, I don't think that one should pull the plug until every last resort has been tried, and until there are no brain waves at all.

3. As Christians, I think we should have a living will, only if we feel strongly about the decisons we are making in that will....what if terri had said that her husband served as her power of attorney, then the plug would have been pulled long before now.

I think what they are doing to Terri is aweful. If they won't deprive a murderer of nutrition and hydration, why deprive an innocent soul. Furthermore, she has brainwaves, which leads me to believe she has feelings, which leads me on to say that she can feel pain.....what an aweful way to die - starvation..........to me this is a cae of neglect by the court system.........I wonder how it will be written on her death certificate, murder, starvation, hmmm????
 
I hear what you are saying, but separate Terri from the questions for a minute and look at it from a theological point of view. I believed as you do until talking about these issues on Sunday. Now, I have expressed my desires (In Writing) to my husband and for the record, when in doubt choose life, but I am still left to ponder the questions above

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Well, we have machines that fill our lungs with air, machines that pump our heart, machines that put nutrients into our bodies. We can keep people living artificially forever, until their skin rots off their bodies.

I watched my father in law die in bed with a rare, extremely aggressive brain cancer. Doing the biopsy is what doomed him, once the air interacted with the tumor, the spread and growth of the tumor went wild. From biopsy to death was less then 3 months. I was with him while he was in a coma during the last week and I struggled with the death issue. We cared for him at home, no food tubes, no oxygen, no heart monitors.

I had to come to grips with a reality during that final week, while he was in a coma, that unless you actually experience it, you will never understand it. We don't know at what point our father in heaven has called us home and what is left is simply the normal winding down of the body.

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Another thread turns to dust

Thinking of Ms Schiavo, we don't know if the Father has already called her home and the family is simply trying to keep the shell of her body functioning...trying to keep it from shutting down as it well should.

I'm not afraid of death (at least not at this moment) and I hope my family is also not afraid to let me die. The reason why I want a will, is to ensure that those I care and love about now don't have a plateful of additional burdens because of my death. That is simply good stewardship.
 
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But how can we as Christians ask another family member to kill us? And by doing that, are we only finding a socially acceptable way to commit suicide?

Again...with all due respect to everyone. These are just some questions I have pondered recently
 
I guess I'm not christian, but personally I wouldn't want to be hooked up to a machine. I was watching them talk about terri with my mom and she being christian is against taking the tube out. She thinks its murder, but whats worst death or being stuck on a bed not being able to move.
 
You know it is pretty bad that you even have to have a "living will". As a Christian we should not murder, that is one of the commandments. Ok so we have machines that can feed us, but you can say that God gave us the abilities to build machines that sustain live. Like the feeding tube.
Live is precious. No matter if you need a feeding tube or if a woman is 2 weeks pregnant it is live and we have no right to take LIVE. Remember God can perform miracles.
 
Well we already went through abortion in another thread, so I'm not going to start that one again.
But But it really depends on your definition of "living", I don't think being stuck in a bed for 15 years, not being able to move as living.
And I could say god gave us the ability to build nukes, maybe we should go around using them.
God gave us the fredom of choice, good or evil.
Just because god gave us the ability to build these wonderfull machines, does that really mean we have to use them.
 
I don't think we are asking another family member to kill us, I think we are asking that God's will for our life not be affected by somebody else, or what they want or think is best for us. In my opinion, life support/feeding tubes, interfere with God's plan for our life. He calls us home at certain times, because that is when he wants us to come home. He doesn't call us home so that man can interfere and hook us up to a man made wish, not a God made will. Does that make sense?
 
Gandhi said:
Well we already went through abortion in another thread, so I'm not going to start that one again.
But But it really depends on your definition of "living", I don't think being stuck in a bed for 15 years, not being able to move as living.
And I could say god gave us the ability to build nukes, maybe we should go around using them.
God gave us the fredom of choice, good or evil.
Just because god gave us the ability to build these wonderfull machines, does that really mean we have to use them.
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Very good points Gandhi. I agree, God gave us the freedom of choice, good or evil. We were given the ability to create a feeding machine, more generally, we have the ability to create great wonders that can be used for our good or for our detriment. We have enough machines to keep a body functioning without a brain, without heart, without lungs, without food without blood. So, as Ghandi asked, how do you define life? How does God define life? What is death? When does death happen?

And a question nobody has yet to tackle: When does God call us home? At the moment of our death, before our death, after death? Just because we can keep a body function does not mean that body is alive. It doesn't mean that we have not already been called home.

Red, you said God performs miracles. In Terri's case, maybe the miracle is that our Father called her home months ago so she wouldn't have to endure the pettiness of her family over the last few weeks? That is within the realm of the possible miracles that could have happened. Miracles aren't just a brain dead person coming to life, that limits God, don't you think?
 
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Genesis1315 said:
The issues surrounding Terri Schiavo have made me consider my final wishes or pre-final as the case may be. I have been pondering the following questions and how, as believers, should they be answered

1. Given our faith, can we (again, as Christians) really ask anyone to withhold nutrition or hydration on our behalf?
(Note: How many of us would ask another to shoot us in the head and kill us? Withholding nutrition and hydration would kill as well)
2. By asking someone to "pull the plug" and stating that this is our wish, would this be equivalent to committing suicide?
3. As Christians should we even consider having a living will or should we only establish a power of attorney to address medical issues in the event we cannot?

Gen
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1. YES, yes, yes, If I am a brain damaged sea monkey, end it, I have had this talk long and hard with God, it took him all of two seconds, to create adam, part the red sea, and smoke the tower of Babel. He (God) has ten days to bring me back if not, I am coming home! End of discussion. He can scold me when I get there. If he wants me to stay of life support, he needs to tell me before I come home.


2. Sampson committed suicide and I do not read where he went to hell!

3. Yes, your wishes if you feel they will not be carried out should be recorded so you know that when you're a brain dead living corpse, your hubby will not pull the plug so he can feel good about his life. My wife would not respect my wishes, so I had to make sure they were listed. Just like hers to stay on life support for ever. I told her write it down and make a living will. Because Well, I might need prompting to respect her wishes.
 
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I don't think that any Christian who commits suicide will go to hell. I just don't understand how a Christian who is to support a culture of life can reconcile a choice that would promote death. Ultimately, we do not know why God would allow anyone to exist in a vegetative state. There could a higher purpose that we are not even aware of.

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Most people on life support will continue indefinatly on life support until somebody makes a decision that promotes death, and turns the machine off. God doesn't necessarily allow people to live in a vegetative state, machines do. Maybe death for them is the release they are looking for. Maybe for them, God has called them home and the machines are keeping alive a "lifeless" body.
 
Well this morning I was thinking about life support and the pope. If they decide to put the pope on life support, will they ever be able to pull the plug. And if that happens they can't pick a new pope until john paul actually dies.
That would be a interesting thing to watch if it happens.
 
The topic of euthanasia, 'pulling the plug,' or whatever you want to call it is a very debatable issue. But I don't think it is anything that can be resolved in a general debate. The issue is very specific to each case. If the person's brain is not functioning properly, then is that person really alive? With the case of Terri Schiavo, the part of her brain that controls her thoughts was mostly liquid (from deteriorating so much). Yes, her brain was still functioning (thus her having brain waves), but the part that was still functioning properly was the one that controlled her involuntary functions. The question then comes up...was Terri really living?

The other thing I brought up to my friends and family during this who ordeal was the fact that religious groups were getting in on this. I know murder is wrong, but is this really a case of murder? I looked at it as a case of letting someone who was suffering finally go home to the Lord. Wouldn't she be better off in heaven than suffering in a hospital bed? Therefore, why would a religious organization want to step in? Now, if the person had a hope of getting through the circumstance (which Terri Schiavo obviously did not), that is a different case. My mother even said...'what if she's already home?' Now there is always debate (of course for another topic other than this) about whether or not a person goes directly to Heaven or is dormant or something until the resurrection. But (and this is only a theory, and not one I really believe in...but am open-minded to) what if a person's soul can be taken away before they die? Like I said, it's not something I totally believe in, but just something to think about. God taking away a person's soul so that they wouldn't have to lie suffering in a vegetable state. I mean, who's to say that once that part of her brain that controlled her thoughts died out, she didn't go with it. Maybe that's why it did eventually deteriorate...she wasn't there to use it.

Anyway, this is all a bunch of debates that can be brought up for other discussions. I wanted to put my two cents in (or two dimes, considering my lengthy post) and just say that I hope and pray that all will work out with her family. I am glad that they have accepted it as God's will, and I hope and pray that they will reconcile their differences with Terri's husband (who, I'm sure, made a tough decision) so that they can support each other through this time. May Terri rest in peace.
 
But shouldn't we as the body of Christ be on the same page regarding this issue?

It would be like everone taking a different side on abortion. Just as an example, by saying that everyone should be left to decide for themselves would not support a mentality of promoting life. The body of Christ though has come together to state that abortion is not consistent with the teachings in the Bible. So, would not the same conditions apply to those in a vegetative state.

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