I Feel for Him, But This Is NOT the Way to Go

The picture you see here is of a young man, Timothy J. (TJ) Atchison, of Chatom, Ala. He was paralyzed from the chest down in a car crash last September.

As I said, I feel for this 21 year old man & the suffering he is going through. But what is even sadder is that he has allowed himself to be used by the "culture of death" as the 1st test of a stem cell therapy using embryonic stem cells. & even sadder than that, both he & his pastor have allowed themselves into being duped into thinking that this is of God.

In an article in the Washington Post he justifies this by saying that “It’s not life. It’s not like they’re coming from an aborted fetus or anything like that. They were going to be thrown away.” Yes it is life, they are human beings that were being treated as trash. Just because they came about from IVF doesn't make them any less human.

As for how his pastor, Troy Bailey of the Reynolds Holiness Church, this is how he justifies his approval of it. He claims that embryonic stem cell research is immoral but thought that this treatment was acceptable because the cells were obtained from embryos that had never been implanted in a womb and so had no chance of developing into a fetus. So what he is saying is that they aren't human until they are implanted. & even if they are, because they won't be allowed to fully develop that makes it OK to kill them.

I hate to say this, & I know many people won't like it, but this reminds me of how the Nazi Angel of Death, Josef Mengele, justified what he did at Auschwitz by saying they were going to die in the gas chambers anyway.

Given the dangers from tumors that have usual resulted in animals when embryonic stem cells were used, there is no need for this line of research. Adult stem cells have already been used successfully to treat spinal cord injuries. If it is God's will that TJ be healed using stem cells, then this is the way to go, using a moral source of stem cells. It is not being used as a guinea pig for immoral experiments using embryonic stem cells.

Besides the possibilities of tumors, there is an even greater danger. By going along with what IS an immoral line of research TJ & his pastor have both put their souls at risk.

PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE, pray for TJ & his pastor that they will see the error of their ways before it is too late. & I don't merely mean that he will be spared from the harmful side effects of the tumors. I mean that they will repent & admit that this IS an immoral treatment.

Sadly, TJ's suffering could truly be used by God if he would let Him. In his Angelus address of 1 February 2009 Papa Benedetto talked about how this suffering could have meaning. "Jesus suffered and died on the Cross for love. On close consideration, it was in this way that he gave meaning to our suffering, a meaning that many men and women of every age have understood and made their own, experiencing profound tranquillity even in the bitterness of harsh physical and moral trials. And the theme that the Italian Bishops have chosen for their customary Message on the occasion of today's Pro-Life Day is precisely "The strength of life in suffering". I wholeheartedly make their words my own, in which is seen the love of Pastors for their people and their courage in proclaiming the truth the courage to say clearly, for example, that euthanasia is a false solution to the drama of suffering, a solution unworthy of man. Indeed, the true response cannot be to put someone to death, however "kindly", but rather to witness to the love that helps people to face their pain and agony in a human way. We can be certain that no tear, neither of those who are suffering nor of those who are close to them, is lost before God."

TJ is missing out on the redemptive suffering that St. Paul talked about in his letter to the Colossians. "Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I complete what is lacking in Christ's afflictions for the sake of his body, that is, the church." (1:24 RSV)

God does have a purpose in all that TJ is suffering. But, as I said, being experimented on with embryonic stem cells is not it.

H/T: Jill Stanek (Jivin J’s Life Links 4-18-11)