The Old Worn Out Drum

I'll continue to bang the old worn out drum for the cause of the unborn as THE singular moral, social, and political issue of our day.

John Piper on One-Issue Politics, One-Issue Marriage, and the Humane Society :

No endorsement of any single issue qualifies a person to hold public office. Being pro-life does not make a person a good governor, mayor, or president. But there are numerous single issues that disqualify a person from public office. For example, any candidate who endorsed bribery as a form of government efficiency would be disqualified, no matter what his party or platform was. Or a person who endorsed corporate fraud (say under $50 million) would be disqualified no matter what else he endorsed. Or a person who said that no black people could hold office—on that single issue alone he would be unfit for office. Or a person who said that rape is only a misdemeanor—that single issue would end his political career. These examples could go on and on. Everybody knows a single issue that for them would disqualify a candidate for
office.

It's the same with marriage. No one quality makes a good wife or husband, but some qualities would make a person unacceptable. For example, back when I was thinking about getting married, not liking cats would not have disqualified a woman as my wife, but not liking people would. Drinking coffee would not, but drinking whiskey would. Kissing dogs wouldn't, but kissing the mailman would. And so on. Being a single-issue fiancé does not mean that only one issue matters.It means that some issues may matter enough to break off the relationship.

So it is with politics. You have to decide what those issues are for you. What do you think disqualifies a person from holding public office? I believe that the endorsement of the right to kill unborn children disqualifies a person from any position of public office. It's simply the same as saying that the endorsement of racism, fraud, or bribery would disqualify him—except that child-killing is more serious than those.


Doug Groothuis on Recovering from Fetus Fatigue:

Evangelicals, for God's sake, please wake up. Remember the least, the last, and the lost: the millions of unborn human beings who hang in the balance (Matthew 25:31-46). No, this is not the only issue, but it is a titanic issue that cannot be ignored. Rouse yourself to recover from fetus fatigue. God is watching.

Gene Edward Veith says that what a candidate believes about abortion tells us how he will treat other issues.

Scott Klusendorf on why children should be free to smoke in pro-choice America.

Abortion is the Moral Equivalent of Murder

My Dad made an important correction to some sloppy thinking on my part in my last post. Regarding Jim Wallis' statement that 'abortion is not the moral equivalent issue to slavery' I said that abortion was indeed the contemporary moral equivalent issue to slavery, and should be opposed morally, ethically, and with all the political means at our disposal. I was only half right.

My Dad comments:

"Abortion is not the moral equivalent of slavery. Abortion is the moral equivalent of murder. Both prenatal and postnatal homicide are 100% fatal. Slavery on the other hand, while frought with death and suffering, and though a clear moral evil, does not quite measure up to the evil of abortion. The comparison is also something of an anachronism. I understand slavery in a society 200 years ago. I have no understanding whatsoever of abortion in a society as "advanced" as we are supposed to be."

Well put. I stand corrected.

Wallis on Abortion and Poverty

Christianity Today recently interviewed Jim Wallis, the champion of the religious 'evangelical' left. It is a very revealing article. I will most likely interact with it a bit in the near future. But for now, I'd like to point out just one flaw in his thinking.

Wallis was asked if his views regarding the criminalization of abortion were out of step with the position of Wilberforce that 'protecting slaves without criminalizing slavery was unjust'. He refused to answer a plain 'justice' question with the same obfuscation we always see from the left on this issue. "Stop the politicking and actually reduce the number of abortions", is the cry. But why is there such a concern for political action on behalf of the poor, or in matters of global warming and environmentalism- but, in this area- an area of crystal clear moral ramifications (which is far more than can be said of the cause of environmentalism), the political process is hopeless. The answer we must rather hear is this: "yes, abortion- the murder of the unborn- is criminal, evil, and must be outlawed like any other clearly criminal and evil activity in a just society."

Wallis says this of the work of Wilberforce and the parallel issues of our day:

"I don't think that abortion is the moral equivalent issue to slavery that Wilberforce dealt with. I think that poverty is the new slavery. Poverty and global inequality are the fundamental moral issues of our time. That's my judgment."

On what basis is such a judgment made? Can we truly say that poverty (however Wallis defines this) which has its root in such a wide array of problems, causes, and issues is anywhere as clear a moral problem as global infanticide? I do not know any who maintain that 'poverty' should be enforced legally, or should be perpetuated (though of course it is perpetuated in a variety of ways). Such a judgment certainly cannot be a pragmatic one. Pragmatically (utilitarian concerns seem to prevail when our morality collapses), even on the basis of Wallis' own statistics in the article (30,000 children are dying every day because of poverty and disease)- poverty doesn't hold a candle to the evil of abortion on a global scale. Globally, 126,000 children die everyday of abortion. 87 per minute. 1.4 every second.

Abortion is the moral equivalent to slavery. And there is need of more men and women who would stand as Wilberforce did.

Genocide Awareness

A bold, and very provocative ministry on the frontlines in the battle against the slaughter of babies is the Center for Bio-Ethical Reform (warning: graphic imagery of aborted babies). Yesterday I was able to meet with Mark Harrington who is CBR midwest director, and will be overseeing the Genocide Awareness Project that will be coming to Florida State University (Lord willing) in February. GAP is an exhibit which seeks to demonstrate the horrors of abortion by comparing it to various wide scale human atrocities throughout history. CBR is known for their use of graphic imagery in the fight against abortion. For some great arguments for the use of graphic imagery in the war against abortion in the public arena can be found here and here and here.

The fact is:
- these images are true depictions of a holocaust unparalleled in human history that is accepted - and perpetrated in our commuities;
- we have become numb and apathetic in our efforts to fight against this heinous evil;
- we live in a culture that embraces such powerful imagery in EVERY other area of life and in every other fight (civil rights, animal rights, eco-friendly causes, sexual 'freedom' and promiscuity, violence and warfare, etc.).

When I visited Buchenwald and beheld the stark reality of the sins against humanity and the image of God I was powerfully moved. I was also horrified that such atrocities were committed on a hillside overlooking the peaceful and serene village of Weimar. The villagers insisted they did not know what was happening when in fact they did know, they simply chose to ignore it.

I was able to see the GAP up close when they came to the University of Central Florida in 1999 when I was a seminary student. Tori and I provided housing for two young ladies who traveled the country with CBR helping to staff GAP on various campuses. I can say that this exhibit is extraordinary and highly impactful and done with great care and discernment.

Pray that GAP will be able to come. Mark earnestly pursued our campus parachurch ministries in preparation for his visit. Only two campus ministries were represented, neither would support the project. At the end of the meeting it was just Mark, me, and Barb Shackleford (praise God for Barb Shackleford!!) the director of A Women's Pregnancy Center praying that God would raise up student leadership at FSU in the fight for life on campus (Leon county saw a 30 percent increase in abortions last year, a great percentage I'm sure due to the presence of one of Florida's largest student populations). After we prayed Mark received a callf from a campus student leader who wanted to support and sponsor GAP!

Now, we can pray that God would raise up (through Four Oaks and AWPC if necessary) a student led campus organization for life. Perhaps this upcoming exhibit would spark such an organiztion.

This is THE defining issue of our day, without a doubt. Yes, climate change is an 'inconvenient truth'. But, abortion in America and around the world is a tragic, shaming, disgusting truth perpetrated by all of us who are apathetic, silent, ignorant, or complicit in such sins against the least of the least of these.

Amnesty International Abandons The Least of These

Amnesty Int'l has moved from a 'neutral' stand on abortion (as if we didn't see this one coming) to both feet firmly planted "in the way of sinners". Here is a little piece on the new policy in Christianity Today. The organization says this regarding the shift, "women and men must exercise their sexual and reproductive rights free from coercion, discrimination, and violence."

Just to remind you in the midst of such flawed logic, sickening rhetoric, and patent propoganda: we are talking about the murder by dismemberment of little babies at the hands of their own mothers, fathers, and doctors. This is the exercise of sexual rights at the cost of our little babies. This is not noble and has nothing to do with freedom. It is pure wickedness on a global scale.

Shame on you, Amnesty International, and all who fund you.

Life Flight

The other night I watched a show on The Learning Channel or The Discovery Channel, or some such cable t.v. drivel merchant about people suffering from terminal illnesses awaiting an organ donor match and life saving transplant. It was indeed heartbreaking to watch as people wasted away while a seemingly cruel providence taunted them with this or that hope for survival.

The money, technology, knowledge, expertise, and hopes that were cast into each of these transplant efforts was a thing to behold. The camera team captured one team of doctors and nurses as they acted with skillful precision to extract the digestive system of one recently deceased. There was a rush via medical and police escort to a helipad at a nearby hospital. There was a life flight on a state of the art helicopter, the arrival to another hospital in another state with no little fanfare. There was the rather elaborate hand off of the treasured cooler of one woman's insides to an equally skilled team that brought the elaborate transplant operation to its eager, hopeful, and barely living recipient for a lifesaving conclusion. Like I said, it was impressive.

But the whole heroic process got me thinking.

It got me thinking about Terri Schiavo. A woman who was slowly starved to death by a team of doctors and nurses while her family begged for her life. It got me thinking of the thousands like Terri who will slowly starve to death, yet have no family to beg for their lives, or none who care to.

It got me thinking about the thousands of babies that would die this very day. Babies with every right to life as you or I or the mothers who carry them or the doctors who stand watch over their death. Deaths made possible by the perverse logic of a corrupted legal system, with approval of the counsel of our nation's highest court, and the tacit approval of a self serving and comfort driven populace. Deaths made possible by medical progress. The quiet, albeit violent, procedure of sucking little human parts out of their mother's womb, the home that God made with sovereign intricacy to nestle their budding lives.

There is in one corner a desperate, no holds barred fight for life at all costs.

There is in another corner a desperate, no holds barred flight from life at all costs.

All this gets me thinking. Does it get you thinking?

The Days of Ignorance Are Definitely Over

Last Sunday churches all over America honored the sanctity of human life and remembered with tears the cause of the most helpless among us- our unborn children.
As I look over my sermon for tomorrow dealing with abortion and forgiveness I wanted to remind you of a verse and then point you to some links.

If you are slack in the day of distress, Your strength is limited. Deliver those who are being taken away to death, And those who are staggering to slaughter, O hold them back. If you say, "See, we did not know this," Does He not consider it who weighs the hearts? And does He not know it who keeps your soul? And will He not render to man according to his work? --Proverbs 24:10-12

Please take some time and visit these sites to be informed, inspired, and convicted afresh on the most heinous of our national sins.

I spent a couple of tear soaked hours reading the true stories of these women and their abortion experiences - www.tellmyabortionstory.com
A very cool and cutting edge site, that is full of sound reasoning and helpful ways to get involved is here - www.abort73.com
You can read the research and statistics compiled through the Guttmacher Inst. (the research arm of Planned Parenthood) which is where we find most of the recent studies on Abortion trends and stats in America -www.alanguttmacher.org/pubs/fb_induced_abortion.html

Sidebar: Consider a tragic example of pro-death logic that is put forth in the Guttmacher findings on the safety of abortion procedures: "Abortion is one of the safest surgical procedures for women in the United States. Fewer than 0.5% of women obtaining abortions experience a complication, and the risk of death associated with abortion is about one-tenth that associated with childbirth."- Take a moment and go through an exercise in discernment: how might a thinking and loving Christian respond and defeat such twisted thinking?

An easy to navigate, straight forward, and wonderfully informational site (full of great links) is over here - www.abortionfacts.com

Ignorance on this issue is sin and culpability for all Americans.
Rescue those heading toward slaughter.

How?

First- Pray:

• Pray for women in crisis pregnancies. Make it a part of your regular prayer list.
• Pray for the unborn.
• Pray for the men- boyfriends, husbands, fathers, grandfathers, church leaders: in so many stories we see that many women would have chosen life if there was a supportive male to help and stand with her.
• Pray for our leaders- for understanding, conviction, and courage.
• Pray for a revival of justice in America on this critical issue of civil rights.
• Pray for an awakening in people's hearts, in churches, in schools.
• Pray for creative ways to champion women in such straits, and the unborn that are being led to slaughter.

Second- Think and Act:

• Get all the information you can. As I said there is so much at our fingertips.
• Get information and help in presenting a sound case for life to your friends, neighbors, co-workers. Get up to date on statistics, bioethics, philosophical arguments- use all of this knowledge and reason to create a 'life ethos' in your sphere of influence (for help go to these sites:

1. www.str.org (Stand to Reason- excellent site, easy to use, straightforward info and arguments to equip the average Joe and Jane to stand faithfully on the pressing issues facing us.)
2. www.prolifetraining.com (Scott Klusendorf's site dedicated to equipping folks to set forth cogent and articulate pro-life views in a variety of ways.)

• And, the above link to abort73.com is great for this as well.
• Go to www.awpc.cc- call them up; they need volunteers, and especially counselors. If you are a Christian woman, you must pray earnestly about whether or not God would use you to counsel women in crisis pregnancies.
• Encourage your church to get involved- speaking out at various church functions, raising awareness, supporting your local pregnancy center.
• Mentor and disciple young men and women.
• Give generously- find a way to give and support with material goods and $ your local center.

Let's make this a year that we stand stronger, speak louder and clearer, love and care deeper on this absolutely devastating reality in our country- 45 million babies aborted since 1973- at least a million more will die in 2007. May we not be ignorant, slothful, or weak on this day of distress.

Michael J. Fox or Babies...Who Should Live?

Let's all remember what is at stake here.

I just watched a recap of the many network appearances of Mr. Fox throughout this week in support of his campaign ad for Claire McCaskill in her bid to defeat Jim Talent for a Senate seat.
If you've been in a hole somewhere then let me fill you in. Michael J. made an appeal to voters in the ad to support McCaskill and therefore support stem cell research funding. While making this appeal, M.J.F. was visibly suffering the effects of Parkinson's disease (shaking and swaying back and forth). The inimitable Rush Limbaugh then accused Fox of manipulation and political spin of the worst sort by using his disease to push a candidate- and that push primarily coming through going off his meds in order to intensify the physical manifestations of the devastating Parkinson's disease.

Whether or not Fox did this is not the issue, fundamentally.

The issue rests in the truth of the claims made in the ad. The issue is this: who is more important to the American people- unborn conceived humans at the earliest stage of development or people with Parkinson's?

Mr. Fox says this in his ad on behalf of Mrs. McCaskill:

"They say all politics is local, but it's not always the case. What you do in Missouri matters to millions of Americans _ Americans like me."

I agree with half of this statement. What we do in Missouri matters to millions of Americans. But this is where my agreement ends. What happens in Missouri (and throughout our nation) is not important just to Americans like Fox. Also Americans like my little 5 year old Tessie. Americans like my little 4 year old Bo. Americans like my little 1 year old Emma. All these little ones were once much littler ones, made in God's image, conceived in the body of their mother, and deserving of dignity and honor- not because of their size, or their appearance, or their lamentable physical condition- but because they are humans. Humans.

Just like you, Mr. Fox. Only much smaller.

So, Mr. Fox, stop your arbitrary distinctions of the value of one American over the other. I believe with you that your condition is tragic. Your disease is awful and destructive. Death is an urgent reality knocking upon your door. But the solution to your immanent fate is not the denigration of other's value for the sake of your gain. The solution is found in coming to grips with your mortality as one made by God for God.
And you will meet God.
Whether it comes through a life cut short by a devastating illness or through 'natural' means after a full and long life. God will then ask you plainly, 'In whom did you trust?" He will inquire, "And how did you love the least of these?" He will demand of you your life, your very soul, and you will discover that God's Word is true: "What profiteth it man to gain the whole world and forfeit his very soul?"

What profiteth it a man, or a nation, to gain freedom from disease if, in this process, he surrender his own soul and the lives of countless innocents for such gain?

Save the Human Embryos!

Thank the Lord for the wise and righteous work of President Bush in his veto of the legislation (and thank the Lord for the Republican controlled House which was 51 votes short of overriding our President's veto) that would have multiplied federal dollars going to embryonic stem cell research. Now let's work to end this damnable practice altogether.

Polls tell us that many Americans disagree with our President on this issue. Here are two good articles for you to consider if you are unsure of the facts surrounding embryonic stem cell research, or are unsure of your own position regarding its morality:
http://www.str.org/site/DocServer/against_scr.pdf?docID=170
http://www.str.org/site/News2?page=NewsArticle&id=5228

Also, remember that there is clear medical evidence that points to life beginning at conception:
http://www.prolifephysicians.org/lifebegins.htm

Consider these quotes from scientists and physicians on the beginning of life at the moment of conception:

Dr. Alfred M. Bongioanni, professor of obstetrics, University of Pennsylvania:
"I have learned from my earliest medical education that human life begins at the time of conception. I submit that human life is present throughout this entire sequence from conception to adulthood and any interruption at any point throughout this time constitutes a termination of human life."

Dr. Jerome LeJeune, genetics professor at the University of Descartes in Paris (discoverer of the Down Syndrome chromosome):
"After fertilization has taken place a new human being has come into being. . . . This is no longer a matter of taste or opinion. Each individual has a very neat beginning, at conception."

Professor Micheline Matthews-Roth, Harvard University Medical School:
"It is scientifically correct to say that an individual human life begins at conception."

Professor Hymie Gordon, Mayo Clinic:
"By all the criteria of modern molecular biology, life is present from the moment of conception."

Dr. Watson A. Bowes, University of Colorado Medical School:
"The beginning of a single human life is from a biological point of view a simple and straightforward matter-the beginning is conception."

Dr. Landrum Shettles, pioneer in sperm biology, fertility and sterility, discoverer of male- and female-producing sperm:
"I oppose abortion. I do so, first, because I accept what is biologically manifest- that human life commences at the time of conception-and, second, because I believe it is wrong to take innocent human life under any circumstances."

Now consider one of the basest arguments in favor of embryonic stem cell research:

Specter, who has lost all his hair to chemotherapy that he is undergoing for cancer, appealed to Bush to change his mind and support more embryonic stem cell research, which advocates say could help develop new treatments for such afflictions as cancer, diabetes, Parkinson's disease and spinal cord injuries.
"I look in the mirror every day, barely recognize myself," Specter said. "And not to have the availability of the best of medical care is simply atrocious."

You ask, 'Erik, is this really a base argument?'

Well, let's consider again the medical evidence and conclusions set forth above. Now, let's change the wording of the above paragraph so that it is consistent with such evidence:

Specter, who has lost all his hair to chemotherapy that he is undergoing for cancer, appealed to Bush to change his mind and support the destruction of living human beings for the sake of medical research, which advocates say could help develop new treatments for such afflictions as cancer, diabetes, Parkinson's disease and spinal cord injuries.
"I look in the mirror every day, barely recognize myself," Specter said. "And not to have the availability of the best of medical care is simply atrocious."

What Sen. Spectre is doing is using his affliction, as sad and difficult as it is, to politically promote a bill that would mean the destruction of another human life in order to continue his own. This is unjust at best, brutal at worst, and good ole tyranny all around.

First they came for the Jews

and I did not speak out

because I was not a Jew.

Then they came for the Communists

and I did not speak out

because I was not a Communist.

Then they came for the trade unionists

and I did not speak out

because I was not a trade unionist.

Then they came for me

and there was no one left

to speak out for me.

- Pastor Martin Niemöller

A person is a person, no matter how small.

-Horton

This is pure and undefiled religion in the sight of our God and Father, to visit orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself unstained by the world.

- James 1:27

Deliver those who are being taken away to death, And those who are staggering to slaughter, O hold them back. If you say, "See, we did not know this," Does He not consider it who weighs the hearts? And does He not know it who keeps your soul? And will He not render to man according to his work?

- Proverbs 24:11

The Logic of Life

In 1973 the highest court in our land handed down a death sentence upon over 40 million of its most vulnerable and innocent citizens. Today, Governor Mike Rounds of South Dakota signed legislation that challenges the devastating and brutal decisions of Roe vs. Wade and Doe vs. Bolton.

The bill would criminalize all abortions in that state except for those that would save the life of the mother. The law criminalizes abortion even in the case of rape or incest.

I'd like to consider two statements issued in the AP article reporting this significant milestone in the ongoing fight for life in America.

The first is the statement issued by Gov. Rounds upon signing the legislation:

"In the history of the world, the true test of a civilization is how well people treat the most vulnerable and most helpless in their society. The sponsors and supporters of this bill believe that abortion is wrong because unborn children are the most vulnerable and most helpless persons in our society. I agree with them."

What arguments can be made against this logic? Well, there are none. The courts decision made over thirty years ago rests on the argument that the fetus is not a person. This argument rests on feeble medical evidence, made even weaker after 33 years of medical progress which continues to preserve life in the womb at earlier and earlier stages. This argument flies in the face of the standing laws of the 32 states in the Union against fetal homicide, protecting the unborn. This decision was in fact the arbitrary assertion of the rights of the mother over the rights of the child. This is called tyranny. This is especially grievous considering the objects of our tyranny: our own children.

And here is the statement coming from Kate Looby, the director of Planned Parenthood in South Dakota:

"Obviously, we're very disappointed that Governor Rounds has sided on the side of politics rather than on the side of the women of South Dakota to protect their health and safety."

Why is the legislative process reduced to mere 'politics' in Ms. Looby's statement? Was Roe vs. Wade just 'politics'? Was Planned Parenthood vs. Casey just political maneuvering?
What about the health and safety of the 800 babies that were murdered in Sioux Falls abortion clinic run by Planned Parenthood last year?
Why is the health and safety of South Dakota's women more important than the health and safety of its children?
And what, exactly, is threatening the health and safety of South Dakota's women?

We have a very compelling argument for this legislation presented in the brief statement issued from the Governor's office.

We have logically flawed and heavy handed spin from the pro-abortion advocate.

I'll choose the logic of life.