PARENTS ASK COURT TO NOT ALLOW
DAUGHTER TO CHOOSE DEATH

Of course, her name would be “Grace.”

She has had the grace to place before the human race, once again, the question of What God Wants.

SungEun Grace Lee, who is known by everyone as Grace, is 28 years old. She cannot move from the neck down, the result of an incurable tumor in her brain stem. She cannot even breathe on her own, and is hooked up to a machine to receive oxygen. She cannot eat on her own and is on a feeding tube.

In other words, Grace Lee, 28, is lying in a bed at North Shore University Hospital in Manhasset, N.Y., fully conscious and completely alert, with all of her cognitive skills, but with none of her bodily functions under her control. She is not even able to speak clearly. This, for a person who was a financial manager for Bank of America, and was in training for the New York City Marathon last year.

Grace Lee does not choose to live this way. And she knows, she has been told, that the tumor destroying her brain is going to kill her. There’s nothing anyone can do to stop it.

Should Grace be able to ask that all life support systems be turned off, so that she might end, if and when she wishes to, what she feels is a living hell?

Her parents feel that the answer should be no.

Grace asked the doctors at the hospital to turn off her life support. After determining that the woman was completely mentally competent, the medical staff prepared to do so.

They were stopped last week.

Her father, whose name is Man Ho Lee, is pastor of Antioch Missionary Church in Flushing, N.Y.  He and his wife, Jin Ah Lee, are devastated by Grace’s decision. And not just on a personal level, which would be understandable enough, but on a spiritual level as well—which to them may be equally, if not more, important.

The Lee’s believe that if their daughter ends her own life at will, she will be condemned by God to everlasting torture in hell.

They raced to court to halt the doctors at the hospital from removing Grace from life support. They begged the court to declare Grace incompetent and to appoint Rev. Lee as her guardian—with the authority to make all medical decisions for her. The court declined to do so. The Lee’s then rushed to an appeals court to ask for a reversal.

The story about all of this, first reported this week in the New York Daily News, then repeated on Internet blogs around the world, has captured the attention of thousands, many of whom grapple with the question: What does God want in cases such as this?

As a legal matter, the case has now been closed. The Daily News reported that a state appeals court ruled on Friday, Oct 6 that Grace’s parents cannot stop her from making her own decision about her life and death.

(To read more of the news report, click on these words: New York Daily News.)

The key theological point in this situation was clearly laid out in the court documents filed by Grace’s parents. “The removal of the respirator and/or the feeding tube is considered suicide,” the New York Daily News reported that their motion said. “A person who commits suicide is condemned in the next life to burn in Hell forever. Obviously, this could not be (Lee’s) intention.”

Yet while the legal matter has now apparently been settled, the theological question remains in the minds and hearts of many. The Lees are not the only ones who feel that suicide is against the will of God, punishable by unmitigated torment, agony, and suffering inflicted by Divine Mandate and administered in hell by Satan. But is this true?

Conversations with God says no. Its message is, in fact, just the opposite. It says that nothing could be further from the truth. God is, CWG says, the ultimate in Understanding, Compassion, and Love, and would never condemn or punish anyone—for anything.

First, God has no need to, because God cannot be hurt or damaged, angered or injured, in any way. Second, there is no such place as hell, so there is no “location” in the Afterlife where endless sadistic persecution and torture takes place. Third, God’s understanding of how and why a person would chose to terminate their own life is far too vast, too comprehensive, too completely “aware,” to allow God to determine that somehow a soul deserves an eternity of suffering in response to its simple wish to have interminable suffering end.

God has given every sentient being in the Multiverse (science is now telling us that there is more than one universe) the gift of Free Will. This is not the freedom to do what God says “or else” (which would, obviously, not be Free Will at all)—but is, in fact, a true Free Will…to do whatever one chooses—for whatever reasons one uses to justify one’s choice.

CWG offers the observation that “nobody does anything inappropriate, given their model of the world.” Even those people who have been judged to be mentally unstable (perhaps especially those human beings) fall within this parameter.

It is completely and compassionately understandable that Mr. and Mrs. Lee would or could feel their own fear that God will punish Grace mercilessly, ruthlessly, pitilessly, heartlessly, brutally, and unendingly if she tells her doctors to turn off life support and allow her to die naturally, the result of her own physical illness. This is, after all, what they have been taught. It is what they believe deep within their hearts. But God will not do this.

I would give anything to help Mr. and Mrs. Lee know that God will not do this.

When I appeared on The Today Show a number of years ago, Matt Lauer asked me, if I truly feel that I’ve talked to God, what God’s Message to the World is. He asked me if I could put it in one paragraph. “We’ve got just 30 seconds left” in the interview, he explained.

I told him that I didn’t need even one paragraph, that I could put it in five words. He blinked and said, “Okay, ladies and gentlemen, from Neale Donald Walsch…God’s message to the world in five words.” The red light on the camera trained on me lit. And I delivered that message…

You’ve got me all wrong.

Comments

28 responses to “PARENTS ASK COURT TO NOT ALLOW
DAUGHTER TO CHOOSE DEATH”

  1. Candice Avatar
    Candice

    Those words may be the most profound words EVER spoken. Thank you Neale for delivering that message!

  2. Candice Avatar
    Candice

    I think this “newspaper” is a fabulous ideas. I love it!

  3. Kym Baran Avatar
    Kym Baran

    Please know this is Not in any way, shape or form a judgment. I lost my only son to suicide. I DO NOT believe in hell & damnation & eternal suffering. I do feel for those parents for the loss of their child. But it seems to me they have already pretty much “lost” her as she has no quality of life. When my son left I grieved & still do sometimes to this very day 5 years later. However, it is my feeling that where he is now is a million times better than where he was here on earth. I respect all religions! Even the Jehovah’s Witnesses, who at one time believed suicide was the ultimate sin, now believe there is hope of resurrection(in whatever form they believe to be thier truth as they know it). The Catholic Church prays daily for those who have lost their life due to unnatural means(suicide, accidents, murder, etc.). A priest told me my son was still in God’s favor! He was a very good man. Loyal, kind, loving, forgiving, generous & a hard worker & so many other things too numerous to mention. Who is to say or judge what is “right” &/or “wrong” if they themselves don’t have to live the kind of life with reduced &/or diminished capacity. I would not have chosen for my Precious Son to leave. I would have remained selfish & kept him here even under the circumstances that diminished & reduced his life to be unbearable. I Believe we are all Eternal Beings. Spiritual Beings having a Human Experience. I Pray & send Angels to help Manifest whatever this Beautiful, Corageous Woman desires. Namaste!

  4. Mollie Avatar
    Mollie

    I totally agree with you on this issue. However, what about the young man that murdered his mother & sister this week? Is this totally acceptable in the sight of God?

    Jake Evans, 17, tells 911 he shot and killed mother, sister — charged with murder
    ‘I am pretty, I guess, evil … whatever,’ the homeschooled Texas teen says to the dispatcher when he calls.

    Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/crime/jake-evans-tells-911-shot-killed-mother-sister-article-1.1176304#ixzz28XXIu6vp

  5. Linda Ruocco Avatar
    Linda Ruocco

    Dear Neale,
    I so agree with you and I feel for those parents. When Grace chooses what Grace chooses, her parents, who have a belief system based on the story they were born, will suffer — and, for that, I have compassion. If they could only consider that God is only love, there is no Satan or hell, and that their daughter will be at peace with God…
    Yes, her name would be Grace… to live in God’s love eternally, as do we all.
    Love, Linda

  6. Candi Tomlinson Avatar
    Candi Tomlinson

    Wow! Powerful! Thank you

  7. Candi Tomlinson Avatar
    Candi Tomlinson

    Wow! Powerful! Thank you.

  8. helen harrison Avatar
    helen harrison

    If Grace had lived 100 yrs ago, this problem would not exist. A hundred years ago we didnot have the technology to keep Grace’s body functioning by artificial means, therefore she would die, as she wishes to do now.
    If she is disconnected and continues to thrive then it is God’s will that she lives in this state, however if they shut the machines off and she crosses over, this is not suicide, it is the natural order of things.
    Keeping her alive by artificial means is playing God. It is interfering in the natural order of the situation. Since God does not interfer in free will, as he promised, she has allowed the parents of Grace to determine that it is in her ( their) best interest to keep her body functioning when in the natural state it would have stopped long ago. To do this to a loved one, even with the best intentions, is not a loving thing to do, and usually done out of fear and to preserve ones own ideology. The loving thing to do is to honor Grace’s wishes and turn off the machines and leave the rest in God’s care.
    May each of these people find God’s peace!

  9. Susan Avatar
    Susan

    Truth resonates through CWG, if one listens without fear bias. Fear is an illusion and creates other illusions in our lives… I find that if I listen carefully and allow the spirit within to weigh the messages expressed throughout religions and spiritual organizations, I recognize Truth. Thank you Neale, for stepping up and sharing your experience of conversing with God.

    With regards to Grace, and the topic of this article, it seems that without the medical machines that extend lives in the manners spoken of, there would be no debate or question over whether Grace – or others in her circumstances – has the “right to end” her life. Could it be argued that human intervention has effectively denied the life force to progress as it was meant to, trapping a spirit meant to be set free…? My point is, if not for those machines for Grace, it would be a moot point.

    That said, I am not suggesting medical advances are a bad thing so please do not misunderstand that!

    As a parent, I certainly understand not wanting a child to die, (regardless of their age), but to see the anguish and suffering in her eyes – how to bear that? As a child of parents with similar fears taught by religion, I am familiar with the outlook of Grace’s parents. I do not share those views; even through years of religious teachings as a child, I was never able to fully accept the concept of a vengeful God, nor am I able to pass that teaching to my children. The One in my heart, recognized by my spirit, is Loving and Understanding, unconditionally, always.

    Blessings to Grace, her family, and to all who deal with this, or a similar, situation. May they all experience the peace, comfort, and love of God, who loves us all – unconditionally.

  10. Suzanne Avatar
    Suzanne

    I don’t believe Grace will go to hell for choosing to leave this life, I do believe her parents are creating a hell on earth for themselves with their beliefs. As others have said I choose not to believe in a vengeful God but instead to believe in a God who loves us all unconditionally and who does not judge our actions. Of course no parent wants to see their child die but I feel her parents need to honour Grace’s wishes and let her decide for herself what she wants. I hope Grace and her family will find peace.

  11. Savina Avatar
    Savina

    God bless you Neale for opening up and being personally (I so hope) involved in these matters, in this newsletter and with the general public. I admire you and your trajectory. Freely! This is what spirituality is about. Much has been voiced here already regarding this painful and sad situation. I have to agree with most, especially Suzanne’s comments.

  12. Tonatiuh Avatar
    Tonatiuh

    I guess we must thank Grace for giving so many people the chance to decide who they want to be. Lots of love, compassion and blessings to her and her family. When Grace finally decides to leave she will simply go on with or without the machines. It will always be her choice as was her sickness.

  13. mewabe Avatar
    mewabe

    Yes, people are still caught up in primitive beliefs about a judgmental “Father-God-King” who condemns people to eternal suffering in “hell” if they do not do what they imagine He wants…and also in primitive beliefs about a “devil” who “tempts” people to “perdition”.

    And the most amazing part is that humanity would still be believing these spiritually destructive myths, and discussing them in court in this 21th century….with a straight face…beliefs that are medieval…perhaps from the Neanderthal era (the ideas of a demanding, punishing deity, of a “hell” and of “demons” is very ancient and predate Christianity by perhaps thousands of years).

    As Joseph Campbell explained in his book “Myths To Live By”, there is perhaps more to it…these beliefs, being mostly universal, and so ancient and so strong, are perhaps an integral part of the (slow) development of our human psyche, of our collective unconscious, and born of primordial, very primitive fears.

  14. mewabe Avatar
    mewabe

    “Heaven” and “hell” are individual states of consciousness, not places…”heaven” could be simply translated as happiness or bliss, peace, etc, and “hell” as unhappiness, suffering, torment.
    There is no punishment, from anyone or anything, ever….no “karma” either…we create it all individually, through our own personal beliefs, thoughts and feelings (such as guilt), in this world and the next. As we believe, so do we experience, at all time, in the physical and the spiritual world.

    This is why it is so important to question all beliefs and reject those that make no sense to us…and to understand certain important feelings such as guilt that need resolution and to be released as soon as possible.

    People can suffer while in the spirit world, but only within their own consciousness, and only because of their own illusions and delusions, which they chose while in the physical and to which they may remain attached, just as people do in the physical.

    Just as in the physical, there are no places of suffering and no reasons to suffer in the non-physical, but for those which we invent and hold on to.

  15. Kevin Avatar
    Kevin

    There is another way to look at this. You could also say that the will of God has been thwarted by these artificial means to keep her alive. Remove the life support and if God wants her to live, he will keep her alive. If she dies, then THAT is God’s will.

  16. Lloyd Avatar
    Lloyd

    Grace, herself is God experiencing this unique physical situtation, and whatever choice or action she takes if perfect for her and Creator. It saddens me that humanity is still so blind to our connection to all existence. It isn’t just humans who are Creator Energy, but this whole physical realm of existence, and the next, and the next. Life existence and experience is a blessing to behold, and ALL Creator/God Energy is Unconditional Love flowing forth. Namaste’
    Butch

  17. Frank Avatar
    Frank

    Dear Neale, after reading Home with God I realized that nothing matters. There is no thing to worry about. What a great feeling. Everyone should read that book, even people who have sons and daughters who desire death as opposed to a life of continual suffering. We have more compassion for our pets than we do each other. “We’re going to put Fluffy down because we don’t want to see her suffer.” So sad we are.

  18. Melissa Shawn Avatar
    Melissa Shawn

    Amen and amen. The imaginary god of hell and fire continues to wreak unnecessary suffering on so many souls. I live for the day when those who try to wield this imaginary god over others wake up to the realization that their false belief is not benign–that it actively creates the hell they imagine right here on earth. As Grace would undeniably confirm. (I am using a little ‘g’ here when spelling god, since we are talking about a figment of the imagination).

  19. Alda Ines Avatar
    Alda Ines

    There is always the question on family ties of affection and love is understandable pain despair when you know the inevitable loss of loved we love so much. But on the other hand allow the continued suffering in prison physics and sheer lack of knowledge of the purpose of human existence. thank you

  20. thays alvarez Avatar
    thays alvarez

    if god gives us the free will ,why he will punish us for doing so?……. I have had read conversations with god I,II and III ….IT CHANGE MY LIFE .THANK YOU SO MUCH NEALE

  21. Nicole Avatar
    Nicole

    First of all, is a bit strange to even discuss a subject like this when this is somebody’s reality. We first of all owe her some love… Let’s all here in the conversation send her some love thruout the day! Just because we believe in its power, don’t we?

    Each moment in our lives matters! And that is because of the attitude we have towards it. I agree with the parents but not for their reason of condamnation from God.
    I agree with her parents because i simply don’t believe a terminal ilness is terminal. I spoke myself with a man that had a brain cancer and doctors sent him home. We went to his mother crying an telling her he has only 2 weeks to live. He was adopted child, by a mother in a village that has adopted a few and grew them by herself. She was considered a saint by the people in the village. He said she was very loving and kind but in a “harsh” manner.
    I was astonished what was her answer to him crying: my dear boy, why do you cry? Don’t we all owe God a death? We all die eventually, didn’t you know that?!? He sai that moment hit him so string, he accepted his death, then “accidentaly” he met a lady who gave him some recipe with alie and honey to heal cancer and what was a terminal disease was terminated within weeks.
    I was talking to him few years after that incident but he was eager to tell hi story.
    So what is a terminal disease? Isn’t it a reflection of a terminal belief or a sort of attitude or behaviour towards ourself/life/our existence/ the creation that simply cannot allow the soul to evolve further so the “blockage” becomes physical?
    The young lady still has a chance to live a healthy life. Yes, a healthy life till the last moment, provided she has a different attitude towards that which is her reality at this moment (and live God for this particular experience).

    I do believe it all stays in making peace with God from our perspective (full of misbeliefs) and being able to love Him in any situation. We are one with God after all, what kind if reality can be created when we believe we are separated?

  22. Nicole Avatar
    Nicole

    And without being judgemental here, i have to say that people that usually accomplush that much by their early years, both intelectually and phisically, they also hate to ASK FOR HELP. They don’t believe in that, and this is merely a reflection of their power-struggle with God.
    WHY is the question that having a brain tumor, she is still conscious? Isn’t that amazing after all? She can’t use any of her abilities to control her life, but she is still conscious to EXERCISE HER FREE WILL!!
    And what will be her choices for herself NOW:
    – disconnect from live
    – ask God for help… This time is the only left option besides disconnecting…

    These experiences don’t come upon us because God wants to show us who’s the boss here… We choose them as souls, because we want to learn to make peace with Him and be able to love Him in any situation.
    Let’s all send Grace love and hope she will accept that which it is and simply ask for help.
    This is not about her power struggle with God, this is about her soul choosing to learn!
    All our cells are just energy and it can take any form, of a cancer cell or of a healthy cell. We believe this reality as we see it in this 3D condensed matter and don’t believe such changes are possible, but that is just our belief-our reality. That doesn’t make it part of the bigger Truth.

  23. Martin Avatar
    Martin

    I grew up with parents who were world wide Christians and as such I have had a total and complete gutful of people who put their beliefs before the well being of another person. These people who propose one belief in preference to another really have not no idea what love is – and they do not love – for if they had really been exposed to LOVE then they would hide their pain and be there holding their daughters hand and brushing the hair of her fore
    head while she died.

  24. stephen mills Avatar
    stephen mills

    Thanks for that Martin ,i had to go through a similar situation 9 years ago when one of our twins was born with a shortage of oxygen to the brain and was then put on life support we chose to let her go and not to suffer ,she died in my wife,s and my arms.
    I bring this up only to tell you that her name was Grace, she opened her eyes only once and i knew she was going home .

    Neales book Home With God a life that never ends is a wonderful gift for Humanity and has the most breathtakingly descriptive thoughts on life and death that we could read !

    namaste

  25. Sergio Marquez Avatar
    Sergio Marquez

    Thank you for your gentle words. I find it so interesting that when we choose to think of God with your view and sense of him, He becomes a loving, understanding and compassionate God, with a world and Universe that welcomes all of his creations. Yet when others who feel that other human beings do not believe like they do quickly turn God into a vengeful, sadistic and ruthless entity who will destroy his beloved creations only because they won’t bow to the twisted human belief of twisted religious leaders.

  26. barbara Lilley Avatar
    barbara Lilley

    I totally agree with this view of God, and don’t understand how churches can teach that God is love with one breath and in the next talk about how God will judge, condem, punish you. What a distorted or illogical view of God!
    Heaven can be here on earth, and so can hell, and Grace is already in hell.

  27. Erin/IAm Avatar
    Erin/IAm

    Love & Good Journey to you Grace! Love & Good Journey to all touched by her!

    Anyone remember Karen Ann Quinlan? The Pope even got into this one, with wise logic, I might add…worth a recall…this case set precedents of medical mission & ethics, patient/guardian rights, & moral aspects within a judicial system.

    How about Dr. K…still in prison?…for assisting elders in crossing over with their human & spiritual dignities…Was he not often referred to as “the ‘Angel’ of Death”?

    I hold dear to the message: “Freedom is the grandest gift of Love, and Love always seeks to give the grandest gift.” The truth of this is pure & unfailing.

    Dear Grace & Family…I wish you freedom from that which burdens your minds, bodies, & spirits…Blessed be.:) Dear Humanity, I wish you the same.

  28. Pat Avatar
    Pat

    Um, which “Hell” is she going to?

    The word “Hell” is of German origin and refers to the “pagan” Norse underworld. Why did the Catholics put this pagan concept in the bible, other than to make sure that we feared Jesus as much as we feared Bible God? It was used to translate the following words in the bible:

    Sheol – in the old days, Bible God sent everyone, good and bad alike, to Sheol which meant ‘grave,’ ‘dead,’ or permanent unconsciousness depending on the context. It was not a place of punishment until the time of Daniel when the concept of Hades began to influence it.

    Gehenna was referred to by Jesus about a dozen times. It was the Jerusalem town dump and it was a bad place because pagans used to sacrifice kids to the god Molech. It was used allegorically by Jesus because at that time, the ultimate insult for a Jew was to be thrown into the dump rather than afforded a Jewish burial. In any event, the dump is closed.

    Hades is the brother of Zeus and Poseidon. What, you might ask, is a pagan Hell doing in the bible? If we accept Hades, we must accept Zeus, Apollo and all the other pagan gods as being “real.” The bible writers used Hades because Paul’s crew was going after Hellenistic gentiles who understood Hades rather than Gehenna – but it was clearly an allegorical reference that they understood in those days.

    Tartarus is the Roman version of Hades – again a pagan place. Again – why are Pagan gods and places in the bible? If we accept them, we must accept Jupiter and Neptune as real gods.

    So which of these four fake Hell’s is she going to burn in?

    The deeper issue in my mind is whether she chose to have this happen before she came here – as I think we choose many of the challenges that confront us. If she chose it in order that she might experience something and then she cuts it short, she might have to (choose to) to do it again. If she chose it so that she could help others experience something – like her parents – and perhaps in response to the requests from their souls – then she is fulfilling the gift she granted them.

    I suspect that she chose this condition in order to help her parents and the rest of us that we might experience something beneficial to the evolution of our own souls.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *