Did God fail the Faith Healers, or did He triumph?

So the Beagleys of Oregon City–Marci and Jeff–were convicted today by a jury of their peers of negligent homicide in the death by toxicity of their teenaged son. Our reporter on the scene, Shelly Strom, said there is no doubt whatsoever that the Beagleys loved their son dearly. The bond between father and son, she says, was particularly strong.

But there was a stronger bond. And who is to say that bond does not still hold, at least in the Beagley’s Christian-marinated world? Did the Beagleys’ God fail them? They prayed for their son’s delivery, but he was not spared. Or were their prayers in vain from the start? Perhaps it was His will that young Neil jump on the chariot as it swung low over Oregon City, to rise up and join his savior Jesus Christ at the right hand of their God.

How will they tell the story to themselves? How will they explain their decision to let the boy decide he did not want traditional medical help as he lay dying? Heartbreak is everywhere in this little drama that unfolded in a blue collar town located just south and east of Portland. And who has the right to say, in this age when spirituality is on every yoga practitioner’s lips, that the Beagleys’ belief in their God was misguided? That they were wrong in their action or inaction.

A jury has spoken: under the law they are guilty. I would not ever want to be in the position the Beagleys are in today. Nor would I have wanted to be a member of that jury. Thank God for that.–D.D. Cook