Pearls Before Swine

The headline story on CultureWarNotes.com today (September 4, 2010), is about an Australian couple whose newborn infant had been declared dead. The doctors worked on the baby for 20 minutes, could not revive him, and ended by giving the body to the mother so she could pay her last respects.

Now, the mother cradled the infant in her arms against her bare chest and this is what she observed:

1. After a few minutes, the baby's arms and legs began to move. The couple assumed it was reflex action.
2. A few minutes later, the baby's eyes opened and his arms and legs continued to move. The couple continued to assume it was reflect action.
3. A few minutes after that, the baby began to "root",
   
4. The mother gave the baby a dab of breast milk and the little man started suckling on her finger, at which point they decided that maybe this wasn't reflex action after all.
5. The couple tried several times to get a nurse or doctor, but were roundly ignored each time because "the baby is dead."
6. They only managed to convince medical personnel to come into the room and check the baby out by pretending to accept the idea that the baby was dead, but instead asking the medical personnel to explain the "reflex" reaction they were seeing. In their haste to show off their expertise, the doctor apparently was more than eager to demonstrate to the couple his superior knowledge and their complete ignorance.

Now, there are several disturbing parts to this story, but I am most disturbed by the fact the couple SAW their baby:

• move his arms and legs and
• open his eyes

yet STILL didn't believe the little one was alive.

Why?

Well, because the "experts" had said the baby was dead.

Think what they were looking at - a normal baby making normal movements - and they still thought the little one was dead because that's what they had been told.

As with Jesus, these two parent-apostles didn't believe the boy was alive until they saw him eat and drink. Only then did they suddenly realize the experts were wrong.

Terri Schiavo, call your office.

Michael knew what he was doing when he kept Terri from eating.
He wasn't just starving her to death - that was a bonus.

Michael knew his Scriptures.
The fact that no one watched her eat meant the experts could spin their yarns.
She was dead.
Dead people may walk through walls or talk with you, but they don't eat.

So, like the adulterous husband caught in the act by his wife, the choice is posed:

"Honey, who are you going to believe?
Me? ....... Or your lyin' eyes?"

This is a tremendous example of how "experts" can destroy one's own confidence in one's own observations.

Now, how many people will take home the lesson?
Yep - virtually no one.

You know, we all understand that the parables about sheep and shepherds are about us and Jesus, or us and the bishops.

But God allowed demons into the herd of swine, much to the consternation of the swineherds, and the pigs ended by throwing themselves off a cliff.

And, in a completely unrelated story, God warned against spreading pearls before swine.

This experience was a pearl.
What are we?