Eternal Perspectives

Whatever else might said about Michael Schiavo – and there is no lack of things to say about the man who insisted that his wife be starved and dehydrated to death – this much is certain: he cared about and was emotionally attached to Terri.

Hear me out: I am not necessarily saying that he cared for Terri. His commitment – to a premeditated plan to end Terri’s life – was unwavering and determined. He was relentlessly involved every step of the way, refusing to yield to pressure or transfer legal responsibility to her parents. He was a man on a mission.

Love . . .

There are at least two ways to be emotionally attached to another person: positively or negatively. When it is positive, we call it love; when negative, hate. Either way, there is an attachment. The opposite of love is not hate; the opposite of love is apathy.

Michael Schiavo was anything but apathetic when it came to his wife; thus, he cared about Terri. He was profoundly emotionally involved with her. The question, of course, is this: in what way did he care about her? The choices, it seems to me, come down to two.

First, he could have loved her so deeply that he committed himself to granting her what he believed to be her true desire. His love for Terri could have emboldened him to stand strong against the stiffest opposition: her parents. Perhaps torn by the love he felt for her and the love he knew her parents felt for their child, he chose to remain devoted to her. He pursued his quest without flinching.

He stayed on course even when it meant that he was to be vilified and have his name associated with cold, callous indifference to the suffering that his actions brought to her mother and father. He may have loved Terri so much that he wished to spend the last moments of his time alone with her, to privately suffer and anguish over his decision with her. Maybe he thought he was protecting them somehow. He may have seen himself not as an angel of death, but as an angel of mercy.

That’s the first option.

. . . or Hate

Secondly and conversely, he may have so despised and detested Terri that he was determined to end her life as cruelly as possible. He could have felt that she had somehow wronged and betrayed him, and that dying through starvation was somehow spitefully ironic and fitting for someone who had struggled with an eating disorder much of her lucid life.

Like a cruel child that tortures animals, he might have relished watching her deteriorate more and more over time. And when he could no longer derive sufficient satisfaction or enjoyment from her misery, he saw her as an inconvenience to be disposed of. Not able to kill her himself, he found a way to publically murder her with the blessing of a government that was pledged to protect her.

Motivated by hatred for Terri and her parents, he may have kept them away from her as the end approached, knowing that it would torment them and prevent her from feeling any comfort or love as her life slipped away. Perhaps he wanted to be able to enjoy her death privately, whispering hateful words to her, gloating over her as her breath fled from her at the very last. Sadistic to the end, Michael’s hatred had to be sated. Finally, it was.

It is unlikely that either of the scenarios is an accurate depiction of what happened between Michael and Terri Schiavo. But the motivation must be one or the other. There does not seem to be a middle ground that fits the facts and answers the haunting questions. Michael Schiavo is either one of the most loving and devoted husbands ever or one of the most psychopathic, narcissistic murders of our time.

The Mark of Christians

As Christians, we are not to judge. We can judge his actions, but we cannot presume to know his heart or his motivations. In the end – The End – judgment will be between Michael Schiavo and God; in The End, God will judge the actions of Michael Schiavo and grant him justice.

It is not our place to pass judgment on him. As much as we would like to know – and as much as we would like to think we do know – what is in his heart is unknown to us. We can interpret his actions, but we honestly don’t know why he did what he did.

Our disposition towards Michael Schiavo from this point forward will reveal how much or how little we understand about God’s love, forgiveness, mercy, and grace. If he were to ask any of us “What must I do to be saved?” we must be ready to tell him, pray for him, and welcome him into the Body of Christ. He is likely a lost soul, a person (depending on your theology) for whom Christ died. A sinner in need of grace. Someone who for all eternity will find himself in either heaven or hell. It is not our place to relegate him to one or the other at this time.

If Michael Schiavo was motivated by hate in his crusade to see his wife die, then he will be held responsible for it; if moved by love, he will be rewarded. It may be hard for us to imagine him being rewarded for such actions, but that’s why God makes eternal determinations, not us.

We don’t know Michael Schiavo’s heart. It may be evil or not. Either way, however, it is not our place to condemn him.