How old were you when you had your first "official" boyfriend or girlfriend? What was he/she like?
4th grade, so 9 or 10. His name was Jason, a tall, blonde, shy kid who smiled a lot and wore glasses. Our relationship consisted of him asking me to 'go out with him', me telling my friends that Jason and I were 'going out', and the two of us mutually breaking up about a day later. The stuff of Jane Austen novels.
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Topic: Abortion
What does it mean that minority abortions are double those of whites? When Is Abortion Racism? January 21, 2007 By John Piper. © Desiring God.
Website: www.desiringGod.org.
Email: mail@desiringGod.org.
Toll Free: 1.888.346.4700 Author: John Piper Scripture: Ephesians 5:16-17 |
I appreciated the irony tonight while watching 20/20. No, 'appreciate' is not the correct word. I noticed irony. Or incongruency, rather.
I remember a movie called Twillight of the Golds about a family with a pregnant daughter whose baby tests positive for the 'gay gene'. Abortion is considered and recommended for this pregnancy by her family and husband, and, of course, we the audience come to understand how immoral that idea would be. (And, of course, it would be quite immoral to end an unborn life because it may be carrying the so-called 'gay gene'.)
I was thinking of that movie while watching this 20/20 segment and then watched the next story on this same episode tonight about a man who surprised his parents by being born with no limbs.
I was thinking about the irony (or incongruency) that the popular, pc public wouldn't think twice if this man's parents had known he would be born with this kind of disability and chosen to terminate that pregnency. And how silent that public remains about the fact that the idea of euthenasia for such infants is creeping upon us here the US as it has in Europe. And how that same public would cry out if abortion, etc. were to be considered for pregnancies where the 'gay gene' was detected- as they should cry out, of course. But they remain silent for other 'kinds' of pregnancies being terminated.
Ironic, or incongruent.
Just in case you don't have enough blogs and websites to keep up with, I've been reading a very informative blog lately called Secondhand Smoke. It's authored by Wesley J. Smith, "a senior fellow at the Discovery Institute, an attorney for the International Task Force on Euthanasia and Assisted Suicide, and a special consultant for the Center for Bioethics and Culture." (From the site.)
His blog consists of his view point regarding bioethics, etc. If you go to his site, you'll need your eyedrops, as his blog is quite the eye opener... so, your eyes will get dry after awhile from being open so long while reading... okay, sorry.
Incidentally, he's also the speaker from the lecture I wrote about a few days ago regarding the absolute value of human life. I found a short five minute clip of that lecture, btw.
There is so much talk out there in the world about suffering. There is so much talk out there about 'those people' who are *suffering. There is so much talk out there about how to help 'those people' who are suffering by ending their suffering. There is so much talk out there about ending 'those people' who are suffering.
The logic these days (these last days?), in this distorted world, is ending a person's suffering is worth ending the person.
I am wondering if we jump on the euthanasia, doctor assisted suicide bandwagon because we don't really know 'those people'? They aren't in our lives. I didn't know Mrs. Schaivo.
What if I did? What if she weren't just the woman I read about online or whose story I watched on the evening news? What if she weren't the woman whose disability was described differently in each article or story, as if reporters or bloggers couldn't exactly explain what was 'wrong' with her?
What if she had been someone in my life, say a friend or a family member or a woman I cared for as a caregiver? Would I be so easily tempted to talk about her in the abstract and form opinions about her based on different articles all written from different points of view?
If I had a relationship with Mrs. Schiavo, would it make it easier to recognize her life's worth, her dignity, and her personhood and do my very best to see that she has the best care and support and found a way to see that her bridge to Mrs. Schiavo and community stayed strong? Or in my pain of believing someone I love was suffering, would I accept the distorted philosophy of euthanasia?
What if I had a relationship with Mrs. Schiavo's family? Would I, in my fear of Mrs. Schiavo's disabilities, encourage her hurting family in the route of euthanasia? Or would I offer real, practical support, by way of sharing in the care of Mrs. Schiavo and of the family?
What if relationship with people with serious and profound disabilities and their families took those with disabilities out of the abstract in debate about human life and made them real people to us? Would we see ending their 'suffering' worth ending their lives? Or would we find a way to relate to them in their suffering, and instead of trying to end it their suffering at any means, would we recognize suffering as a shared human experience?
*Side, but important note, many with disabilities do not see themselves as actually 'suffering' in the way that suffering is used in the media and politics. They see their lives as normal, albeit with some hard things in their lives, but they resent that the rest of us see them as 'suffering'.
From the video:
In a collective decision, every voice counts, either by its rhetoric or by its silence.
Does life have absolute value simply because it is human?
We have to answer that question. We have to. We have to.
We have to realize that bioethicists today, SAY NO. We have to become educated, at the very least aware, of what the consequences have been and will be of them saying no! We have to.
What do we say, Christ followers? How do we answer this question? A simple yes or no will suffice- for now. It's a start.
Most of us are already aware when we listen to God and let Him put His Truth in our hearts that the once taken for granted sanctity of human life is no longer a given, we will grieve for the life that has been lost, for the lives that will be lost, and for what our part has been. And it will hurt.
I know, believe me, I know, it's hard to look at what's happening. It makes us have to do all that 'thinking'. I know it's 'uncomfortable' when we seek God's Truth in this matter because we have to 'feel stuff'. We might offend people, even our friends, and be contraversial. We might even be called to speak out, make a stand.
You don't have to watch all of these videos. They are of a lecture given by Wesley Smith at Trinity Law School on the value of human life and what is happening in the field of ethics today. Watching all four will take 2 hours total of your time. So, you don't have to watch all of both videos.
But you do have to answer the question- Does life have absolute value simply because it is human? You have to.
Today at church we had the opportunity to hear some testimonies from people who had experienced healing from God this week. It was great to hear their stories of the power of God.
However, I was reminded, overwhelming so, of how much people with illnesses and disabilities are needed at my church. Yes, in part to see the glory of God revealed when He chooses to heal some of them. But also, to see the glory of God revealed when He chooses not to.
As the men and women told their stories of healing as quickly as possible with only so much time alloted them, focus and attention seemed to be only on the physical symptoms of their illness or emotional pain, with a quick declaration that God delivered them. As if they were saying, on the external, God healed my body or delivered me from this sinful outward behavior.
I know there was much more to their healings than just the external, and, again they only had so much time to speak. But what I need to see, as a member of my church, is what is happening with their hearts. Where is their heart as God is healing them? Where are they spiritually? What is God doing in their sanctifying process of making them holy? Is this physical healing a reflection of that transformation or is it something that God has given them for the sole reason of blessing them? Will this physical healing press them into deeper relationship and trust with God?
In addition to those who have had physical healing in their lives, I also need to hear from people who still struggle with a physical or mental illness or a physical or mental disability, yet are being transformed into the likeness of God for the glory of God, in faith and trust that the grace of God is sufficient in their weakness.
Yes, God does heal people sometimes of physical disability, of the chemical imbalances of mental illness, etc., and for that we thank Him and praise Him! But, He is not only concerned with the physical! He looks upon the heart! He may or may not choose to heal the leper, make the lame man walk, or give sight to the blind woman. He does not promise physical healing.
But He does promise life and life abundantly, which is found in the graceful relationship with His one and only Son. He promises new identity, freedom from sin, and transformed spirits.
Savation is for everyone!
He goes even further and uses those He chooses not to heal for His glory in making the church better! With the suffering around us, God gives us the gift of compassion and love- if we will take it. With those who struggle with their physical bodies or mental disabilities who trust in the sufficiency of God's grace, we learn to rely on that same sufficiency in our own weaknesses or when our time for suffering comes. And God gets all the glory!
I feel very convicted.
