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Apples of Gold
Radio Script for January 16, 2009
“Mandatory Organ Donation”
Hello, I’m Doug Apple…with Apples of Gold.
Why don’t we have mandatory organ donation?
People need organs. Good organs are being buried everyday. What’s the hang-up?
Is it because people should have the right to say what happens to their bodies?
Not when you’re dead. Dead people have no rights.
Or maybe the family should choose.
That’s nice, but not when people die because they make the wrong choice.
Why would someone choose not to donate organs?
Maybe they are just uncomfortable with the idea.
That’s not enough to override the needs of others.
Maybe they want to maintain the dignity of the body of their loved one.
Organ harvesting can be as dignified as any other surgery. And what’s undignified about giving what you don’t need to someone who desperately does?
It’s creepy.
Yeah, and so is most everything else that happens in surgery, and, for that matter, everything that happens behind the curtain at the funeral home.
Well what about religious objections?
First of all, no major religion objects to donating organs.
What about the sacredness of the body or something like that?
Okay, let’s quickly look at what the Bible says about our bodies. Let’s start with James 2:26 which says, “…the body without the spirit is dead…”
2 Peter 1:13 says we live “…in the tent of this body…”
In 2 Corinthians 5, Paul writes about either being at home in the body – or at home with the Lord and away from the body.
This body is a dwelling place for our spirit, as long as the body is alive. But when the body dies, our spirit leaves.
See, the real us is actually our spirit. For now they are together, but one day they will separate.
When Jesus died, Matthew 27:50 says, “…He gave up his spirit.”
When Stephen was stoned to death in Acts 7:59 he prayed, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.”
Now let me ask you this. My uncle lost his hand in a farming accident. Was he suddenly less of himself? No, he was still 100% himself because his spirit was intact. People lose all sorts of parts and survive. And they are still 100% themselves because their spirit, not their body, is the real them.
First Corinthians 15:44 talks about a natural body and a spiritual body.
The point is, the Bible presents no good reason for not donating your organs after you are dead. At that time it’s no longer even you. The real you, your spirit, has departed. The body will simply go into the grave and decay. If certain parts could have been saved and used for someone else, then it’s nothing but a waste and a shame to bury them.
God tells us to love people. I think mandatory organ donation shows great love for the people who need organs, and honestly, I see no down side.
“But Doug, we can’t have the government telling us what to do.”
Oh good grief. The government tells us what to do all the time. We let them take tons of our money while we are alive, surely we can give up our organs after we are dead.
And government in this case is simply the organizing mechanism for saving lives.
What if you were the one in line desperately needing an organ donation? Do want to just hope and pray that enough kind souls put that little check mark on their driver’s license? I sure don’t. People don’t pay attention to that stuff until it hits them.
So I vote for mandatory organ donation.
I think it’s the loving, Christian thing to do.
And until then, please, please, please make sure that you are a registered organ donor.
Comments?
E-mail me: dougapple@wave94.com.
May God bless you today! With Apples of Gold…I’m Doug Apple.
© 2009 The Arrow’s Tip
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(Proverbs 25:11 – “A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in settings of silver.”)
Why “The Arrow’s Tip”? Each morning, after diligently seeking the Lord, I write Apples of Gold. Then before I release it to the public I pray one final prayer, “Lord, send forth your arrows.” I envision Apples of Gold as arrows, tips dipped in the river of the water of life that flows from the throne of God (Rev. 22:1), sailing toward the hearts and minds of men and women around the world.
Doug Apple
General Manager - Wave 94
Christian Radio for Tallahassee
PO Box 4105
Tallahassee, FL 32315
(850) 926-8000
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