Terri Schiavo: Signpost on our Road to Self-Destruction

As of this writing, the feeding tube sustaining Terri Schiavo's life has been removed and the process of death by deprivation of food and water has begun. Admittedly this whole process has been infuriating to watch unfold as godless judges assuming absolute knowledge about the nature of life act with such amazing arrogance.

It boggles the mind to watch our society move toward such practices as euthanasia without the slightest regard for historical precedent and the inevitable implications for the future of our society. We are traveling the road that every other civilization in history has traveled on the way to their own destruction and yet we seem oblivious to the signposts. We blindly and somewhat arrogantly plunge headlong into the same direction as if we will this time somehow avoid the same consequences which befell every other such civilization.

The longest lasting civilizations in all of human history were also the most moralistic; the Confucian lasted 2100 years, the Islamic - almost 1400 years, and the Roman - about 700 years, albeit each did vary at points from Biblical moral truth. Nonetheless these cultures held to a strict moral code throughout their most prosperous eras. The longest lasting moral order in history is that of Mosaic Law: which structured Jewish life and then Christian life for more than 3500 years.

The unique distinction is this - in each of these cultures their source of moral authority was transcendent - it existed outside and above themselves. This is what maintained the authority of the moral order by means of the conscience. The moral order could also be recognized as an objective standard confirmed in nature and the reality of human experience. It was therefore not subject to the whims of men but rather men were subject to it. In essence, it could be argued that their longevity was directly related to their cultural commitment to a higher moral order.

Now, contrast that with those societies where the source of moral authority was not transcendent but originated within man or more specifically a man or a group of men within that society. These were the shortest-lived societies in history. The Third Reich lasted only 11 years, the Soviet Union, the first formally atheistic society and the longest surviving such society lasted only 72 years.

In every previous civilization they came to rebel against the universal moral order which in turn altered their view of human life. They abandoned the "intrinsic" value view of human life opting instead for a more utilitarian view, what we now call "quality of life." Once that door was opened and the cultural consensus shifted in its view of morality and life they began their decline. Of course there are a multitude of factors that contributed to each culture's demise but it always began with a cultural shift in the area of morality and ethics. In every instance, once a civilization began to embrace a basis for moral truth that was redirected away from a transcendent and universal source to men themselves what followed was the inevitable moral degeneration and ultimate collapse of that society.

America has already experienced moral degeneration in almost every category; what the Terri Schiavo case demonstrates is that our decline is indeed continuing. The tragedy is that we as a nation seem to ignore the warning signs or signposts along the path to our own destruction. (Abortion on demand could be considered a flashing billboard!) Instead we foolishly trust in our own "wisdom," a consequence of the Enlightenment which has convinced the majority of citizens that we can accomplish or resolve anything with enough human reason including the ultimate human dilemma: death and separation from our Creator. As the Bible says, 'there is a way that seems right to a man but in the end it leads to death.' Proverbs 16:25 But again, history demonstrates that this is pure folly and we too will follow the path of every defunct civilization if we do not awaken to our peril, repent and acknowledge the Judge of the universe as the Author of all life and the only one able to give it and take it away!