Read: Galatians 2: 11-13
When does life begin? Is it when a person is born or can we assume that life
begins in the womb?. These are questions that are being raised by Jeremy
Stodghill to both the Catholic Church and also to Supreme Court of the State of
Colorado. A very strange case where a Catholic Health Care Company has argued
in the court that an embryo is not a person until it is born alive, is
being reported by the CNN news agency today. This tragic story is about a
couple Jeremy Stodghill and Lori Stodghill of Canon City, Colorado. On new
year eve of 2006, Lori Stodghill was rushed to the emergency room of the
St. Thomas More Hospital in Canon City. She was 28 weeks pregnant and as she
was rushed to the emergency, she collapsed in the lobby itself due to cardiac
arrest. Along with her death, her two unborn twins also died. Jeremy sued the
hospital and the Catholic Health Initiatives for the wrongful death of his wife
and his two unborn children. The litigation went on for two years and that is
when the defense attorneys for the hospital and doctors entered into an
argument about conception and inception of life. When does life starts?. Jeremy
Stodghill got a shock when he was told that according to state law, an embryo
is not a person until it is born alive and thus the twins of Jeremy Stodghill
was dead when they were removed from the mother's dead body. The court also
agreed on this line of defense and argument and thus Jeremy Stodghill
lost the case along with other cases that he had filed for his wife. That is
when more trouble arose for him. The hospital and doctors now sued him for more
than $118,000 in terms of legal fees. However, later they decided to compromise
with Jeremy with the claim that if he dropped his appeal against the hospital,
the defendants will offer to forget the fees. But Jeremy refused to buckle and
he filed for bankruptcy so as to avoid having to pay the claim, since he has a
nine year old daughter to be raised up. It is at this stage of the case that he
has decided to petition the Colorado Supreme Court to hear his case. He also
wanted the Catholic Church to respond whether the stand taken by the Catholic
Hospital on the inception of life is what the official stand of the Church. The
representative of the Church has declined to comment on the legal proceedings
but Jeremy Stodghill is hopeful that the both church and State will give him
justice not only in his legal case that he is fighting but also in his
perception about when life begins. When looking at this strange incident
we do not know the intricate details of this case nor the back door happening
but it is pertinent to note that at times to win certain legal cases, the
church and other institutions are sometimes forced to compromise the very
tenets of faith that need to uphold. This could be true not only in regards to huge
institution like Christian Hospitals or may be the Institutionalized
Church, but this could be the true in our cases also, because sometimes in our
desperate need for survival or for some monetary benefits we tend to throw into
the winds all the beliefs and commitment and our convictions that we have held
on for long. Faith often seen to be used as and when an opportune need arises
and when things are not conducive to the exercise and the expression of ones
faith, then the best way is to abandon our convictions and our faith.
In the early church, this sort of hypocrisy had happened. This is recorded the
Paul's epistle to Galatians 2. The context of this passage is the message of
freedom given by the Jesus Christ. The Church had taken a decision that when
Gentiles join the church, they need not go through the rite of circumcision
before getting baptized as was the case of Jewish believers or Jewish
Christians. This statement of faith can be found in Acts 15. It was Peter though
a Jew who espoused the case for the gentiles through the revelation that he had
got through a vision. [ Acts 10]. Thus the church preached about the message of
Jesus Christ and the freedom that Jesus Christ gives to each one of us to live
our Christian life without being bound by rules that inhibit us to exercise our
faith and our Christian life style. But in Galatians 2: 11-13, Paul is very
upset with Peter because he tend to be hypocrite. Paul rebukes Peter because of
his certain behavioral traits that was not in agreement with the line of
thought that he preached. What Peter did was though he argued for the gentiles
he would not stand for his beliefs in public especially among the company of
his Jewish believers. What Peter used to do was that he would mingle and eat
with Gentiles but the moment he saw his fellow Jewish believers he would
withdraw himself from the company of Gentile believers, trying to show
and please the Jewish believers, that he does not associate very
closely with the gentiles as he associates with them. Paul is upset at this
hypocrisy of Peter, because some of the Jews felt that this was the right thing
to do and they also showed the same behavior leading even Barnabas to a
hypocritical way of living. Here is Paul condemning Peter and asking him to
stand up for what he preached and be ready to pay a price for the convictions
and faith that he dearly stands for. Paul later speaks boldly about his
convictions and he tells the believers that everyone is justified by faith in
Jesus Christ and not by observing certain laws. I think Paul teaches us a
lesson on Christian living. Faith and our convictions are not moulded or
changed according to ones circumstances or according to the type of group
that we are in. I remember one of my friend in theological college, who
belonged to an independent church. He would be very daring when giving sermon.
He would very liberal while preaching in the chapel of the theological college,
often criticizing some of the faith practices and faith convictions espoused by
his church while on a Sunday, while preaching from the pulpit of his
church he would go back to so called lopsided understanding of the gospel
message. When confronted about this stark contradiction my friend smilingly
replied, I have to please both my professors during week days and my
congregation on Sunday's. I think we are also guilty along these lines. Let us
therefore consciously evaluate whether our convictions and our faith changes
according to circumstances or whether we are ready to affirm our faith no
matter who our audience is and or what circumstances we are in.