Wis. parents who prayed as diabetic daughter died charged

[Glycem]

Wis. parents who prayed as diabetic daughter died charged - Yahoo! News (http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080429/ap_on_re_us/prayer_death)

I couldn't believe this could happen in this day and age...

[morrisma]

Yes, saw this on the web yesterday. Very sad. Such a waste.

[MJB]

There was a thread somewhere here on DF when this happened.

It is a small consolation but I'm glad to see the irresponsible parents charged as criminals for this indeed was a criminal act.

[fgummett]

You know it's a good book... and the New Testament especially, is full of suggestions on how to live a good, meaningful and even a spiritual life... but it was written a long time ago... before TVs and mass media... it was written for another age when most people were poorly educated and few could read... so it relied on parables, metaphors and analogies to get its message across... it was never meant to be taken literally :(

I would also be shocked that this could happen in this day and age were it not for the fact that the leader of the largest, most powerful country in our current World, seems to think that the Earth was created 4,800 years ago...

[fgummett]

It reminds me of the story of a man who's house is in the path of a flooding river:

The police arrive and advise everyone to evacuate, but this man decides to stay saying, "the Lord will save me!"

As the water starts rising an army truck comes by and offers the man a lift but again he declines as, "the Lord will save me!"

More water, and now a boat approaches the man who has moved up to the second floor... the man chooses to stay, "the Lord will save me!"

Finally as the man takes refuge on the roof, a helicopter hovers overhead and offers him salvation... but no, "the Lord will save me!"

Next we see the man in heaven were he confronts God by saying, "Lord, why didn't save me?" to which God replies, "well... what about the police I sent along, and the truck, the boat and even the helicopter..?"

----

The story of this young girl's life being wasted by her own parents is tragic but I can't help thinking there is nothing to be gained by imprisoning these people... I would be more concerned that they not have responsibility for any more children.

[MarcS]

Read that yesturday. Very sad, especially this day and age.

[JediSkipdogg]

I'll definitely be interested in what happens here as this is probably the best case of spiritual belief vs. physical world belief. The physical world already doesn't follow the Bible anymore.

[Janlaton]

I am a strong believer and to you who say the New Testament is not revelant for today I will pray. No where does it say we should not see doctors or take care of our bodies. Nor does it say that illness is a test of faith. Jesus said on several occasions when asked "who sinned this man or his parents that he has this condion" "Neither but that God might be glorified."

I also am horrified that the parents did not take care of their child's health. I pray they will be punished. They were the ignorant ones to believe God would not want then to take the child he blessed them with to a doctor for treatment.:(

Janlaton
type2 40 years

[fgummett]

Not sure if this is the right place to get into a debate on religion but I do notice that you say, "I pray they will be punished". The words of Christ that I read (I had a strict Catholic upbringing) speak to healing wounds, reconciling peoples, forgiveness, understanding and acceptance of others. Similar to the message from Buddha, and Muhammad. It seem to me that the vengeful side of religion is a man-made construct that has come about in the years since Christ.

[Harold]

There are people that are challenged by everyday living through no choice of their own and need help. Then there are those that choose to be stupid and fall into the Darwin category. They have now been charged and it will be up to the court to decide which group these people fall into.

[xMenace]

Then there are those that choose to be stupid and fall into the Darwin category.

Unfortunately (in the Darwinian sense) they've already had their children.

[camjen1]

I watched Nancy Grace last night and boy was she upset.

My feelings are...sure, if one wants to pray for healing then fine. You can pray for healing for maybe a cold or the flu but you can't pray for something that the body lacks and needs medically to survive.

The parents had insurance. Also the father sent out a email the night before their daughter died asking for extra prayers as daughter was weak and frail. Common sense should have kicked the parents in the *** and said prayer isn't working. Nope, they let this young beautiful promising little girl die in a very torturous way.

[princesslinda]

Personally, I believe in God and in the power of prayer....I also believe that God has given us doctors and medicines to help bring about the miracles we so desperately pray for.

Most importantly, He also gives us a brain and the ability to reason...and these two parents obviously weren't using either ability or they would have been able to see what was going on and taken corrective action. This is heartbreaking.

If someone in my family was ill and hurting, i'd try ANYTHING, even something that I might not necessarily believe in, to help them...I can't understand how they could watch and do nothing.

[xMenace]

I watched Nancy Grace last night and boy was she upset.

Is she ever not? :eek:

http://bp2.blogger.com/_T8Kwz9ax2Ew/RjNnbbJcV-I/AAAAAAAAAYE/nIsr1tuedK4/s400/nose.jpg

[RobiJo]

I can't even imagine how that girl was feeling!!! How very sad. :(

[Alice]

I really don't even see this as a "religious" matter...it's simply crimininal. Criminals can't hide behind a religion...not in the U.S. anyway. I hope they get a fair trial and that justice will be brought to this poor girl. Since I was diagnosed in second grade, this is a complete horror in my view. Again, I find the education about diabetes is horrible in the U.S. Of course, this couple are the extreme, but an example. I'm more angry at the people who were living on the fringes of this family...relatives, neighbors, so called "church" people...where were they?

[JediSkipdogg]

I really don't even see this as a "religious" matter...it's simply crimininal.

I do see this as a religious matter. It's one person's faith vs human physical world. Which is right? At what point do you put the physical world above faith (which happens to be the 1st Amendment)?

Heck, look at abortion. Another person killing an unborn child is murder. That same unborn child's mother may kill the child legally though. Which is right?

[Alice]

I was so ticked I couldn't spell...meant to type "criminal"!!!

Yes, we all have different opinions...that is what is great about the U.S...but, this is just a disturbing story for a young girl.

I've heard different versions of this...same story, different disease.

[JediSkipdogg]

Another spin on this is wouldn't it be criminal if one doesn't seek the best care for their child if they have say cancer? It's been proven recently that most cancers actually have cures out there. It's just the cures are either experimental, cost prohibitive, or too hard to find. I saw on one of the news networks about a gentleman that had cancer and was given one year max to live. His cancer was untreatable and inoperable. However, he searched and searched not wanting to give up hope. Finally, he found an experimental treatment on the other side of the country. He is now cancer free however he had to pack up and move unless he wanted to fly all the time for it and insurance won't cover it due to the cost and experimental nature of it.

[Carwy]

(which happens to be the 1st Amendment)?

The 1st Amendment also states that there is a separation of church and state. So why in the h*&^ should any religion be able to write a law?
If the churches want to have a hand in politics and how this country is ran then they should pay taxes on all their assets. Heck then we could pay off the national debt and have some surplus cash flow for Bush's war.
And until they are willing to do that then they need to sit down shut up and stay of of my business.
These are my feelings.

[Dewey]

My feelings are this thread is getting WAYYYYY off topic & way out of hand...Abortion!? Cancer!? We're losing sight of the real issue & that is that an innocent child died because her parents did NOT treat her Diabetes in the way it needed to be treated. I'm all for prayer, but ONLY in addition to conventional meds & holistic therapies...not just prayer by itself.

This thread is now closed.