Ethical Dilema (A new take on an old question)

[biggandyy]

The Set Up:

You and your new wife (or husband if you are of the female persuasion) have just returned from a church mission trip to Ooga-Booga, a small tribal country on another continent.

A few days home your wife develops a high fever and all sorts of other bad symptoms. Upon visiting the doctor it is discovered she has been bitten by the rare and deadly Nik-Tik Fly. There is only one cure and it must be administered within the next 48 hours or it will be too late. The doctor writes the prescription and off to the druggist you go.

The apothacary is very sympathetic to your situation but the cure is quite costly and the mission trip really diminished your financial resources. You can not afford the medicine. Begging does not help, nor does pleading or your insurance carrier or even the government.

You make the easy choice, you decide to give up some of your freedom (jail time) so your new bride may live.

However...

You break into the druggist's store easily enough and find the last remaining dose of the medicine on the shelf with a sticky note attached that reads, "For Delivery to Agatha Collier Immediately. Paid in Full."

Agatha Collier is a kindly great-grandmother of 75 years who also went on the trip and apparently was also stricken ill by the same insect's bite.

One dose left. It is paid for by some one else who needs it. Agatha is elderly, your wife is young and you two have no children yet. Less than 24 hours remain till the death of your darling wife.

Do you leave the medicine and allow your young wife to expire but save the rightful owner of the mediciine?
Do you steal the medicine, lose your freedom and save your wife but condemn another to sure death?

 

[Hollyrock]

I would want the medicine very badly, but I would'nt deprive the real owner of it the chance to live. If I stole it and the elderly woman died, I would feel guilty for the rest of my life. So no, instead I would believe God to heal my spouse. When you do the wrong thing to get something, it usually back fires on you. God is big enough to heal both the woman and the spouse, so why compound things by risking jail time and a guilty conscience.

 

[biggandyy]

For the sake of this argument, God is out playing tennis with Ernest Angely that afternoon. No healing, no last minute miracles. This is life or death. I want people to THINK with their faith with this question, not just sit there and hope for the best like a spiritual bump on the log.

 

[Hollyrock]

For the sake of this argument, God is out playing tennis with Ernest Angely that afternoon. No healing, no last minute miracles. This is life or death. I want people to THINK with their faith with this question, not just sit there and hope for the best like a spiritual bump on the log.

But bigganddy I am thinking with my faith, thats why I would trust God and not have an unreal notion that He is unavailable.

 

[biggandyy]

If that is your answer then that is a good one. If that is the measure given to you then that is the measure you use.

 

[Hollyrock]

If that is your answer then that is a good one. If that is the measure given to you then that is the measure you use.

Thanks bigganddy and the best of health to you...always

 

[Rach1370]

I would be heartbroken. Sick with it, But I would not steal, and especially not steal if the medication was for someone else...that would mean that I was playing God. I would know I would see my loved one again, some day, and that in the mean time he would be in a wonderful place.
But as far as it all goes, if God doesn't choose to heal my significant other, then I need to be satisfied with the level of care everyone else has. It's no okay to sin to do something 'right'. Look at the examples in the Bible...Eve wanted to the fruit because she thought it would bring wisdom. Wisdom itself is not bad, but in seeking it she disobeyed God. Abraham didn't want anything to happen to Sarah in Egypt, he didn't want to be killed and leave her alone...not a bad thing, but in seeking that outcome, he told her to lie, and to not trust God.
We must always trust God, even in the hard, sad things. Especially in them! Everything is allowed and controlled by God. If my husband becomes ill, God doesn't heal him and the medicine is not available, them I must conclude that God has called him home.

 

[aspen]

It would not occur to me to steal. If the opportunity presented itself and the idea did occur to me, I would probably think that it would end up working against me in the long run and decide to move on. For instance, if I stole the medicine and got caught, I would have to go to prison and who would be there during my wife's recovery?

So I would probably end up cutting corners somewhere else.

In a weird way, it is almost an indulgence to retain your moral integrity over the health of a loved one.

 

[WhiteKnuckle]

I would steal it. I've thought about stuff like this alot. Maybe it shows where my spirituality is, or maybe it shows that I'm willing to do whatever it takes for my loved ones. Maybe it's my protective drive and has nothing to do with my faith. Maybe I feel it's my job to be the hero.

I've decided in my mind, that I would even murder a thousand people to save one of my kids life or my wife's life..

However, I do know that fantasy (Fantasy, as in a thought or idea in ones mind, not something they want to happen, so don't jump all over me on this.) is different than reality. What we think we would do given a certain circumstance is very often times different than the way we would act in reality.

So, I vote yes, with concession that it's closer to a maybe. I honestly don't know exactly what I would do. It's unfair to put ourselves through the emotions and ideas of situations that most likely will never happen or haven't happened.