Terri Shiavo

I have been thinking about this. My dh said something about her brain stem having been liquefied. Whether or not that is the case here, it made me think about where would I draw the line about euthanasia. Terry's husband claims that she wouldn't want to live (or not live) like this--well, is that a good enough reason? If I were brain damaged--not brain dead, just lost some mental capacity--would my quality of life suffer? Yes. Could God still have a purpose for my life? Yes. Even if no one could imagine what it could be? This opens a legal can of worms. And a moral one. (I don't know if this husband were abusive or if his starting a new family should be taken into consideration to remove his guardianship.) Just because you give someone permission to kill you, should they?? To abate suffering? I remember being both heartbroken and inspired by stories of mothers killing their young children to prevent them being captured and abused in WWII. And then, always the question. Where do you draw the line? Terminal cancer? Having the HIV virus? Having the genetic propensity toward diabetes? Suffering from borderline personality disorder? being cross-eyed? or criminally violent? AND THEN--if we are going to terminate someone's life. How best to do it? Remove artificial life support? Machines that animate a dead body? Remove sustenance? That seems slow and painful--even if your brain is the equivalent of a small animal or just running on instinct--we don't kill animals like that. It isn't 'humane'. So...lethal injections? A criminal's death isn't very dignified. I am not drawing any conclusions here in my thoughts. Just that the world is less than perfect--fallen, and we have to make the best decisions we can--relying on God's wisdom, and the Spirit's guidance, not our own understanding.