Will Terri's Daddy Kill Her Husband?

by

Neal Horsley

(Christian Gallery News Service, March 24, 2005)  If Terri Shiavo was the heroine in a daily soap opera, the whole nation would already be asking the question in the title of this article. But even though the Terri Shiavo story has all the earmarks of a soap opera--daily plot thickenings where well known characters do things that threaten the heroine, a long list of characters who the audience either love or loathe, a cast of thousands ever ready to make the plot even thicker--Terri's story is of course no soap opera: it is a real life story of life and death.  And with each moment that passes it looks simply like a story of death--Terri's death.  Under such circumstance, if it were a soap opera, the audience would have already seen the obvious solution that will save the life of the heroine: the father would have to kill the husband. It's as clear as the nose on your face.

But of course there has not ever been a whisper about this solution heard across the land.  That's because anybody who talked about that solution might be seen to be participating in a murder plot in the real world where terrorists can be found in every nook and cranny.  Under such circumstances Terri's daddy killing her husband becomes literally unthinkable.

Except of course to people like me.  I think the unthinkable. Not only that, I talk about the unthinkable when the unthinkable is also the obvious.  It's how I make a living.  My mind has an amazing grasp of the obvious; and I do not intend to give up that capacity even if everybody else on earth decides the obvious should become unthinkable.  God gave me the ability to see the obvious and it would be the epitome of ingratitude for me to surrender it.

So let me state the obvious.  It's obvious that Terri's daddy killing her husband would solve the problem of Terri's immediate death.  If the husband was no longer alive, the decision as to what to do with Terri would migrate to the next closest family members, who of course are Terri's father and mother and her siblings, all of whom are doing everything in their power to keep Terri alive.

Don't take my word for it.  Look up the facts for yourself.  Terri is on the verge of death because the Courts have ruled that Terri's husband is authorized to make the decision about whether to keep her on life support systems or not.  And her husband is absolutely determined--at least as of this writing--to let her die of thirst.

WHO IS DEAD WRONG?

But the plot really gets thick at that point.

The husband says Terri should die because she is utterly unconscious, unable to live without being artificially fed.  Her husband says she has no hope for being restored to consciousness so she can fend for herself.  He says Terri told him if she ever reached such a condition that she wanted her husband to refuse artificial life support.

Terri's father and mother say Terri is conscious, fighting mightily to stay alive and that if people would just continue feeding her, she would prove that they are right.

Obviously somebody is dead wrong.  But who?

TALK, TALK, TALK

The Courts have listened to a parade of doctors and have decided that Terri is in a "persistent vegetative state" and has no hope of recovering consciousness.  The Court has ruled that Terri's husband is correct and should have the right to order that Terri's feeding tubes be removed and she be allowed to die of thirst.

Terri's father and mother passionately, vehemently, indefatigably have pulled out all stops to try to convince the world that the husband, the doctors, and the Courts are dead wrong and that Terri would recover if she is just allowed to live a little while longer.

COWBOYS KNEW WHEN TO STOP TALKING

The younger generation really missed a lot by not getting acquainted with the characters John Wayne and all his Cowboy hero buddies played.  They had a way of cutting through all the male bovine excrement and making the obvious plain to all.

That's because the common theme in all those stories was the difference one man can make in the world.  Actually the theme was a little more complicated than that.  It was the difference one man under authority could make in the world.

The "under authority" part was usually not clearly stated but it was always there.  In some movies, like "High Noon", the role of authority was put front and center.  But usually it was not in the spotlight.  On the surface the Cowboy movies just focused on a guy put in a really hard place where the guy had to make life and death decisions.  But never, ever, was the Cowboy Hero making decisions based on the Law of the Jungle. There was always a higher Law somewhere in the background of the plot.

And the guy always had a gun.

And the guy always used the gun.

And when the smoke settled, the heroine was saved.

The guy might be dead.  But the bad guys would be too.

I had those movies to watch when I was growing up.  And even as I stealthily wiped the tears from my eleven year old eyes, I knew that if I had to go, that was about as good a way to go as any.

A FATHER AND A DAUGHTER

Which brings us to the subject of a father and a daughter.  I know something about this subject because I have a daughter that I raised to adulthood.

If my daughter came to me and said she had found the man God wanted her to marry and raise a family with, I would give my daughter away to that man.

But if that man ever acted like he was willing to use the bureaucracy of the government of the United States of America to get away with murdering my daughter, I would know that man was no husband; for a husband is, by definition, one who looks after and cares for his wife and family.

If I saw that my daughter had no husband, my daughter would migrate back to my authority.   As her father, if my daughter's life was threatened, there is no question in my mind that God Almighty authorizes me to defend my daughter's life even if I have to use lethal, deadly force to do so, even if the only way I could save my daughter's life required me to kill a man who wanted to murder her, even if it was a man who falsely claimed to be her husband.

THE SOURCE OF CONFUSION

It's right there that the Terri Shiavo story has become very confusing.  Terri's daddy says that he knows Terri is conscious, is fighting for her life even after the government has ordered her feeding tube to be removed.  And I know that fathers might well know things about their daughters that no doctor can know, that no Judge can know.  I know that fathers might know things about their daughters that only God can know.  That's because God put fathers in a very special relationship with their daughters.  God made fathers His stand in, His intermediary, to help the daughter find her way of life in God.

I'm confused because even though Terri's daddy says he is absolutely certain Terri is conscious and is fighting for her life, he has not already either killed Terri's husband or put the fear of death so clearly into her husband's consciousness that her husband would be, even at this very moment, petitioning the Court to reinsert Terri's feeding tube.

Since Terri's daddy has not done that, I am confused.  I have to wonder whether Terri's daddy might be lying to us about being certain that Terri is conscious. Either that or Terri not only has no husband, she has no father as well.