SILENCING OF THE LAMBS

From My Perspective - - - 

In 1991, a horror film was released with the title: The Silence of the Lambs. The film dealt with the fictional life of a Hannibal Lecter who was both a Psychiatrist and a Cannibalistic serial killer. The gist of the story (Wikipedia) is that "...a Federal Bureau of Investigation trainee seeks the advice of the imprisoned Dr. Lecter to apprehend another serial killer known only as Buffalo Bill." The film is both weird and gruesome. It is marked by the schemes and sadism of Dr. Lecter and the things he does to gain personal satisfaction. 

There are many sobering events that occur during a lifetime. The more one is actively engaged in inter-personal relationships, the greater the potential for one to encounter sobering and stressful experiences. The more caring and empathetic one is, the more disappointment and sorrow one may know. This is true in the broad considerations of Abortion, Infanticide, Foster Care, Adoption, Child Abuse and myriads of other variants within and amid the cultural chaos of our day. Next week will mark the 41st anniversary of the Roe v. Wade Supreme Court decision that legalized Abortion in this country. One Sunday a year used to be observed as a Sanctity of Life Sunday. It was designed to remind the “church” of the continuing reality of Abortion and the millions of lives that were ended as choices were made to end a pregnancy. At that time, Francis Schaeffer had warned that if Abortion prevailed, both Infanticide and Euthanasia would not be too far behind. A Judge has ruled that lethal drugs for the terminally-ill are legal. Sadly, we have arrived.

A state judge in New Mexico has ruled that mentally-competent-terminally ill patients have a constitutional right to obtain lethal drugs to end their life. Second Judicial District Judge Nan Nash issued the ruling on Monday in a decision that some believe may open the doors to full-fledged physician-assisted suicide in the state. The rationale of the Judge is: “This Court cannot envision a right more fundamental, more private or more integral to the liberty, safety and happiness of a New Mexican than the right of a competent, terminally ill patient to choose aid in dying. If decisions made in the shadow of one’s imminent death regarding how they and their loved ones will face that death are not fundamental and at the core of these constitutional guarantees, than what decisions are?” The ruling is the result of a lawsuit filed by two doctors in the state, and a cancer patient who is now in remission. The challenge was supported by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and the right-to-die advocacy organization Compassion & Choices. While New Mexican law criminalizes assisted suicide, the organizations argued before the court that the restrictions did not apply to the terminally ill. The state disagreed, asserting that the law included physicians’ “aiding in dying.” The ACLU of New Mexico Legal Director Laura Schauer Ives wrote in a statement following the decision: “New Mexicans, both healthy and sick, now enjoy the comfort and peace of mind that come with knowing they can prevent a prolonged, agonized dying process at the end of life,”.

Let us be reminded of the words of Scripture regarding life from conception to natural death. First: Psalm 139:13-16, “For you (Jehovah God) formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother's womb. I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well. My frame was not hidden from you, when I was being made in secret, intricately woven in the depths of the earth. Your eyes saw my unformed substance; in your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there was none of them.” Second: Jeremiah 1:4-5, “Now the word of the LORD came to me, saying: Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you; I appointed you a prophet to the nations." Lastly: Proverbs 24:8-12, “Whoever plans to do evil will be called a schemer. The devising of folly is sin, and the scoffer is an abomination to mankind. If you faint in the day of adversity, your strength is small. Rescue those who are being taken away to death; hold back those who are stumbling to the slaughter. If you say, "Behold, we did not know this," does not he who weighs the heart perceive it? Does not he who keeps watch over your soul know it, and will he not repay man according to his work?" Do you care? Will you try to both be and make a difference amid the cultural chaos? Consider these things with me.