May 2012 Newsletter
Posted By cmbuuck on May 15, 2012
A person who does evil to his neighbor is not the only one guilty under the [the 5th] commandment. It also applies to anyone who can do his neighbor good, prevent or resist evil, and save his neighbor so that no bodily harm or hurt happens to him-yet does not do this. . . . Martin Luther: LCI 189
HOW TO END ABORTION OVERNIGHT: My friend Chuck Colson, who is making progress following surgery bue.t still in ICU, published a provocative guest column a few weeks ago on his Breakpoint website. (E.D. since this article was written Chuck Colson has died.) It was penned by a gentleman named Rolley Haggard. The writer made a bold pronouncement.
Here is a condensed version of what he wrote:
If every Sunday, in every pulpit, in every evangelical church across America, ministers would devote one minute—ONE MINUTE—to decrying the evil of abortion on demand, such universal solidarity within the ranks of Christian leadership would accomplish two things, maybe three.
First, it would dispel ambiguity and send a clear signal to every pew-sitting believer that this is a top-line priority with God, not a fine-print codicil, not “one more good thing that Christians ought to do when they have time.”
Second, it would foster unanimity amongst all believers—at least on this one all-important issue—and enable us together to render unto God what is God’s (i.e., sufficient advocacy at the ballot box to get Roe overturned) while at the same time rendering unto Caesar what is Caesar’s—which, don’t forget, includes the advice and consent of “the governed.”
And third, maybe, just maybe the voice of conscience would become less easily ignored by those outside the church and we would see abortion on demand outlawed, not only in America, but around the world—“overnight.”
What do you think?
Is the Church too reluctant to address the issue of life from the pulpit?
Even more to the point, why doesn’t the scourge of abortion shock more Christians? It could be that time has dulled our senses. Thirty-nine years is a long time. Has the shock of it all faded the evil of it all?
Perhaps for some. But frankly, I believe one of the main reasons that so many don’t consider the dignity of life as a top-tier issue is this:
It’s different when the numbers don’t have names and photographs attached to them. Instead of hearing names and seeing faces, we read and see the astronomical numbers related to abortion. Those startle, but they don’t shock, at least to the same degree.
Every number lost to abortion is a name known to God. If people saw the faces, as God does, if people saw snapshots of the lives that were to be, I think more would see and agree that every child deserves a chance and has a right to life.
And if that were to happen, yes, I think we could end abortion overnight. . . . Posted by Jim Daly
Bioethicist Argues for Dehydration as Default Decision for PVS: Dr. Catherine Constable, a bioethicist and author of a paper in the March issue of Bioethics, argues that all patients diagnosed in a “permanent vegetative state” (PVS) should by default be withdrawn from artificial nutrition and hydration unless an advance directive states the patient’s wish to be kept alive. Current medical presumption favors life in PVS and other catastrophic brain injury cases by providing nutrition and hydration. Constable finds this presumption a “violation of autonomy,” saying it “goes against the best interests of the patient.” She reasons that an individual’s autonomy is the highest human good, even overriding the “sanctity of life.” Since a patient in a PVS condition is presumably no longer conscious and therefore lacks autonomy, she reasons that there is no moral reason for that patient to be kept alive. Bioethics expert and consultant Wesley J. Smith warns the creation of a default for death “would establish the foundation for a veritable duty to die.” LifeSiteNews.com – Center for Bioethics and Culture Network