- Hi Jeff,
-
- Forgive me for seemingly flooding you with comments on
Terri, I realize many others with crushed and broken hearts in this evil
case are trying to have their say. I just find it difficult to sit by and
read Michael Schiavo's obviously feigned statements of his undying love
for Terri when the overwhelming evidence dictates otherwise. I certainly
wouldn't want his brand of "love" dictating my life's circumstances
based on the following.
-
- I think it is time to clarify a few things and place
them in proper perspective. This seals any debate. Marriage is still a
holy institution for many of us, and though some of us aren't perfect in
marriage, it doesn't negate the fact that God has ordained this union between
man and woman. Please note, I said between "man and woman."
-
- Before I get into my point of concern which applies to
Terri, let me say that many marriages today, as we know, are based on lust,
not on love, this is why more than fifty percent of the marriages in America
fail, God has been left out of the union, or equation.
-
- Now, back to Mike's so called stated devotion to Terri.
Although, unlike Mike's lawyer, I cannot read minds as he seemed to be
able to do in Terri's case by assuring us all of how peaceful Terri felt
in starving to death, I can list some factual points concerning what I
believe Terri would have thought about marriage, Terri being a devout Catholic.
The question is, can we "really" believe Mike loved Terri in
the biblical sense of marriage, or in any sense for that matter?
-
- I am not of the Catholic persuasion, but having many
Catholic friends I do know that Catholics take their marriage vows very
seriously, at least most do. Below is what contradicts totally Mike's assertions
of devoted "love" for Terri.
-
- Definition of Vow:
- Main Entry: 1vow <javascript:popWin('/cgi-bin/audio.pl?vow00001.wav=vow')>
- Pronunciation: 'vau
- Function: noun
- Etymology: Middle English vowe, from Old French vou,
from Latin votum, from neuter of votus, past participle of vovEre to vow;
akin to Greek euchesthai to pray, vow, Sanskrit vAghat sacrificer
- : a solemn promise or assertion; specifically : one by
which a person is bound to an act, service, or condition
-
- Now the wedding vows. First, the accepted standard Christian
vows, followed by the accepted Catholic vows. Very significant parts underlined
by me. (JLG)
-
-
- TRADITIONAL MARRIAGE VOWS
-
-
-
- VOWS
-
- (You may selection other vows, pick for our different
denomination vows, or write your own)
-
- Would you please face each other and join hands.
-
- (Groom ) ___________________do you take _________________to
be your wife?
-
- Do you promise to love, honor, cherish and protect her,
forsaking all others and holding only to her forevermore? ("I do")
-
- (Bride ) ________________do you take_________________
to be your Husband?
-
- Do you promise to love, honor, cherish and protect him,
forsaking all others and holding only to him forevermore? ("I do")
-
- <http://www.dfwx.com/#trad%20christ> Reading from
Corinthians
-
- A marriage ceremony represents one of life's greatest
commitments, but also is a declaration of love. I wish to read to you what
Paul wrote of love in a letter to the Corinthians a long time ago. I believe
this is a true model of love, and it is a model of love I would hope you
both would pursue in your marriage:
-
- " Though I speak with the tongues of men and angels
- but do not have love, I am only sounding brass or tinkling cymbals. Though
I have the gift of prophecy and understanding all mysteries and all knowledge,
and though I have all faith so that I could remove mountains - but do not
have love, I am nothing. Though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor,
and though I give my body to be burned but do not have love, it profits
me nothing.
-
- Love endures and is kind. Love is not envious or jealous.
Love wants not itself, is not puffed up, does not behave itself unseemly,
seeks not its own, it is not easily provoked, and thinks no evil. Love
does not rejoice in unrighteousness - but in the truth.
-
- Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all
things, and endures all things. Love never fails.
-
- Where there are prophecies, they shall fail, where there
be tongues, they shall cease, where there be knowledge, it shall vanish
away. For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when that which
is perfect is come, that which is part shall be done away with.
-
- When I was a child I used to talk as a child, think as
a child, reason as a child. When I became an adult, I put aside childish
things. At present we see indistinctly - as in a mirror - but then we shall
see face to face. At present I know partially, then I shall know fully,
as I am fully known. So faith, hope, love remain- these three- but the
greatest of these is love.
-
- CATHOLIC VOWS:
-
- " _______, will you take _____ here present, for
your lawful wife/husband according to the rite of our Holy Mother, the
Catholic Church?" ("I will")
-
- (Repeat) "I, ________, take you ______, for my wife/husband,
to have an d to hold, from this day forward, for better, for worse, for
richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, until death do us part."
-
- (Rings) "With this ring I thee wed, and pledge thee
my troth.."
-
- Continued:
-
- A vow is a promise, a type of contract, but in marriage
it goes beyond the standard for it is a "holy vow" a vow before
God. It is usually sealed with, "Whomsoever God hath joined together,
let not (any) man put asunder."
-
- If mike and Terri exchanged religious vows, then Mike
promised Terri the following;
-
- to have and to hold, from this day forward, for better,
for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, (until death
do us part)."
-
- If I read correctly, the vow (promise) states that Mike
will honor these promises until "death." It would seem to me,
not being a lawyer, that by Mike moving into an adulterous affair, fathering
two children, and hastening Terri's demise, along with his unChristian
attitude in exhibiting any compassion towards Terri's family, Mike has
clearly broken every vow and promise and has separated himself from both
God and his wife. Would a business person who has severed a contractual
agreement with a partner be permitted to oversee his or her X partners
affairs, especially their financial affairs? If so, then what is the meaning
of "conflict of interest?" From a relationship view with God
and marriage, Mike divorced himself from Terri by betraying his vows and
entering into an adulterous relationship with another woman while Terri
still lived (until death do us part). Mike didn't have to "move in"
with the woman to commit adultery, according to God's laws, he simply had
to have an adulterous affair with her while Terri lived.
-
- These are my interpretations of the vows associated with
the holy state of matrimony, not the lustful state of cohabitation as most
are in today. Of course a good politician, or a crooked lawyer can easily
twist these truths like a pretzel. Only death could legally separate Mike
from Terri to remarry. Other than this (death), according to God's word,
adultery is the only thing God will recognize as a legitimate separation
of a married couple by law (courts).
-
- Matthew 5:32 But I say unto you, That whosoever shall
put away his wife, saving for the cause of fornication, causeth her to
commit adultery: and whosoever shall marry her that is divorced committeth
adultery.
-
- Mark 10:12 And if a woman shall put away her husband,
and be married to another, she committeth adultery.
-
- Luke 16:18 Whosoever putteth away his wife, and marrieth
another, committeth adultery: and whosoever marrieth her that is put away
from her husband committeth adultery.
-
- James 2:11 For he that said, Do not commit adultery,
said also, Do not kill. Now if thou commit no adultery, yet if thou kill,
thou art become a transgressor of the law.
-
- If Mike married Terri within the strictures of God's
commandments and laws, then he is bound, obligated, by those laws and will
be judged accordingly, however, if he entered into the marriage in a secular
fashion, simply by the world's standards, no intent of heart and spirit,
he obviously hasn't broken any vow to God because none was made, but, God
will still judge his actions at the final judgment. If state law had honored
God's laws, which they have abandoned in recent years, Terri's parents,
or a trustworthy party, would have been assigned as legal guardians because
Mike, from a spiritual (church) stand point and God's word, abdicated that
authority and right. We either make God the truth or we choose to make
God a liar. The secular world has it's own versions and problems. How easy
it would be if we could all enjoy the benefits of a young healthy spouse
and just toss them away when the become old and sick, as many do today,
of course animals do that, don't they?
-
- One final point on "holy matrimony." No where
in the bible does God refer to "him and him," and "her and
her," in the sanctioning of couples in a marriage under the specifics
of biblical authority. God did warn about "changing" His word
and called such same sex marriages and relationships "sinful, wrong,
unseemly." Man changed God's standards, God hasn't changed!
-
- Definition of unseemly: Main Entry: 1un·seem·ly
- Pronunciation: -'sEm-lE
- Function: adjective
- : not seemly: as a : not according with established standards
of good form or taste unseemly bickering b : not suitable for time or place
:
- INAPPROPRIATE,
- UNSEASONABLE
- synonym see
- INDECOROUS More complete definition
-
- Romans 1:27 And likewise also the men, leaving the natural
use of the woman, burned in their lust one toward another; men with men
working that which is unseemly, and receiving in themselves that recompence
of their error which was meet. 28 And even as they did not like to retain
God in their knowledge (kicked God out of government and society), God
gave them over to a reprobate mind (unable to distinguish right from wrong),
to do those things which are not convenient;
-
- Revelation 22:19 And if any man shall take away from
the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out
of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and from the things which
are written in this book.
-
- This was simply my attempt at setting the "love"
debate straight from a biblical standpoint, or, what does God say about
marriage? I believe it leaves little room for speculation or doubt.
-
- Let God be true and all men liars.
-
- Jerry L. Gardner
|
