Monday, March 21, 2005

Terri Schiavo and the Sanctity of Marriage

At the core of Michael Schiavo's legal arguments to have his wife forcibly starved to death is his assertion that he is entitled to make life or death decisions for her since he is her husband. While legally speaking he may be her husband (if only because Terri is currently unable to initiate divorce proceedings), he certainly has not behaved like a loving husband. In fact, it's fair to say that their marriage is a sham.

The Bible makes it clear that "husbands should love their wives as Christ loved the church and gave Himself up for her" (Ephesians 5:25). Anyone who needed to see a picture of what this type of sacrifical love looks like would simply need to see "The Passion of the Christ".

Unfortunately the biblical idea of sacrifical love has been lost in our culture. Marriage vows are no longer consider sacred. The media's preoccupation with celebrity marriages and divorces has served to further erode the sanctity of marriage. Marriage, like so many other things in our society, has become a disposable commodity because no one takes it seriously anymore. We would do well to heed the message of Hebrews 13:4: "Marriage should be honored by all, and the marriage bed kept pure, for God will judge the adulterer and all the sexually immoral."

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