Thou Shalt Not Kill!
It's the Ten Commandments, Judge Greer, not the Ten Suggestions or the Ten Recommendations.
Catholic Ping - Please freepmail me if you want on/off this list
Posted on 03/28/2005 11:46:30 PM PST by gr8eman
I am convinced God uses trials like the Terri Schiavo case to test men.
Pinellas County Circuit Court Judge George Greer was tested – and found wanting.
He had seven years to consider this case and got it wrong every time.
I don't know Greer personally, but I know many people like him. They go to church on Sunday and then between Monday and Friday lead lives with no seeming connection to what they hear preached in the pulpit, what they read in the Bible, what they claim to believe of the Christian faith.
This may be the biggest single problem we have in America today – this disconnect between the spiritual lives of Christians and how they practice their faith in the world.
Greer, until recently, was a member of the Calvary Baptist Church in Clearwater, Fla. He left at the urging of Pastor William Rice, who counseled him wisely: "You must know that in all likelihood it is this case which will define your career and this case that you will remember in the waning days of life. I hope you can find a way to side with the angels and become an answer to the prayers of thousands."
Rice has my highest regard for that decision. Too many pastors in this country don't require obedience to God as a prerequisite for church membership. They seem to believe in a kind of "cheap" grace that comes with regular attendance or tithing rather than a Christian walk. They seem to have no minimal standards for fellowship and communion with the saints.
There are few heroes in the Terri Schiavo scandal. Her parents and siblings qualify. Terri herself qualifies. Those who braved arrest to bring her cups of water qualify. And, in my book, so does Rev. William Rice.
Do you want to know why the church doesn't have influence and impact in our increasingly secular world today?
Because there are too many so-called Christians like Judge George Greer and not enough like Pastor William Rice.
Greer's friends have attacked the church and defended the judge, saying he was interpreting the law to the best of his ability. However, if that is true, then Greer, as a Christian, had a duty to obey God's laws rather than man's laws. That would require him to leave the bench if he truly saw a conflict. Instead, Greer opted to leave his church – and, presumably, his weak faith.
"Like evangelicals across the world, we are horrified at the thought that a handicapped woman could be, in effect, starved to death before a watching world," Rice wrote. Admitting he was not a legal or medical expert, Rice asserted: "I know right from wrong. I know what God thinks about human life. I know there is only one way to describe the prospect of starving a woman to death because she cannot feed herself. It is wrong."
Rice continued: "Morality and truth must serve as our guide. Terri Schiavo is not on life support. She is not dying. Good evidence exists to suggest that she is responsive. All she receives is food and water, the same as you and me. Are we to conclude that she is less than human because she cannot feed herself? Can a month-old child feed himself? Is an elderly patient stricken with some debilitating disease and unable to feed herself suddenly less human? Do we now use an IQ test to determine if someone possesses the right to live? Isn't that God's choice? Only God can give life, and only He should take it away."
"Tread carefully if you think this is simply about a dying woman being allowed to die peacefully," Rice wrote. "Remember when we were told that Roe v. Wade was simply about helping women who had been raped or whose lives were imminently threatened? Today, few abortions fall into that category, but millions of human lives have been sacrificed upon the altar of selfishness. And the slide down the slippery slope continues."
In case Greer was still confused, his pastor gave him more to think about.
"This case seems complex, but it is as simple as four words: 'Thou shalt not kill.' If you need a compass for this complex case, you'll find it there," he wrote. "As we all know, the Sixth Commandment means it is wrong to murder – to take the life of an innocent person without just cause. If I were the nurse in that hospice center and the directive were given to me to discontinue feeding a living human being and watch as he or she starved to death, I couldn't do it. I'd rather get fired, resign or do something else."
Christians can go on blaming others for the problems we face in this country. Or we can go into the churches and start cleaning up the messes we have in our own houses of worship. It's time to take back the churches. It's time to renew the idea of standards. It's time to make church membership mean something again.
Judge George Greer did the wrong thing. Pastor William Rice did the right thing. If we had more pastors like Rice, we'd have fewer judges like Greer.
I will never, ever, come to grips with the fact that a purported Christian cannot sort out the meaning and context of Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness, espcially if he/she is a judge sworn to uphold the Constitution. Nor can I fathom being a cop and keeping well-wishers from feeding an innocent starving woman. Satan lives!
2 Corinthians 6
14 Do not be bound together with unbelievers; for what partnership have righteousness and lawlessness, or what fellowship has light with darkness?
15 Or what harmony has Christ with Belial, or what has a believer in common with an unbeliever?
16 Or what agreement has the temple of God with idols? For we are the temple of the living God; just as God said,
"I WILL (AS)DWELL IN THEM AND WALK AMONG THEM; AND I WILL BE THEIR GOD, AND THEY SHALL BE MY PEOPLE.
17 "Therefore, COME OUT FROM THEIR MIDST AND BE SEPARATE," says the Lord. "AND DO NOT TOUCH WHAT IS UNCLEAN; And I will welcome you.
18 "And I will be a father to you, And you shall be sons and daughters to Me," Says the Lord Almighty.
"Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?’ Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’"- Matthew 7:21-23
Apparently Moses forgot to put in the footnote "[unless the victim asked for it]" /sarc
Greer was "found wanting"???
He's a bloody murderer!! He had options, he chose the worst possible action for the sake of spite and political ego.
Greer has judged himself on this one.
When his time comes he will face the wrath of God and he will be told "YOU JUDGED YOURSELF on what you did on the Schiavo case and YOU FOUND YOURSELF UNWORTHY TO INTER WITHIN THE PEARLY GATES OF HEAVEN!"
He will find hell on earth. He will be ostracized, even by the local GOP itself. He will always be looking over his shoulder. When he's recognized in public, people will shout "murderer." He may commit suicide, or lose the will to live and die of a heart failure.
GloriaJane wrote: "When his time comes he will face the wrath of God and he will be told "YOU JUDGED YOURSELF on what you did on the Schiavo case and YOU FOUND YOURSELF UNWORTHY TO INTER WITHIN THE PEARLY GATES OF HEAVEN!""
If his church first tried to convince Greer to do the right thing, they are justified in cutting him off from membership in the hopes he will repent. As for the correct approach to Greer, we should wish him no harm and only hope and pray he repents. Remember, we will all be judged by the same standard we use to judge others.
May all make peace with the Lord! I would not want anyone, not ANYONE, to end up in Hell.
I'd like to see some group plaster Greer's face on a billboard here in Tampa, along with Michael Schiavo's, just so these guys are not allowed to fade from the public eye.
Let's hope so.
No, sadly enough, I suspect that Greer will be a hero to the media and the Dems (partly for his pro-death position, partly for humiliating the Bush brothers), will probably - like Michael Schiavo - start his book and movie career after Terri quits being selfish and dies, and no harm at all will come to him on this earth. Satan protects his own.
Over and over again.
Power Corrupts
Thou Shalt Not Kill!
It's the Ten Commandments, Judge Greer, not the Ten Suggestions or the Ten Recommendations.
Catholic Ping - Please freepmail me if you want on/off this list
It's as simple as that.
Bump for the good pastor.
Nope. NO Democrat is going to want to appear together with Greer. Think Hillary will want Greer on a stage with her when she runs in '08? Not a chance!
yup....
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