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Imagine this scenario:
A man is killing grade school children. He is killing about one every week for a year. He does not do it in shadows. He does it out in the open for everyone to know.
How could he do such a thing! Certainly there is public outrage. We in a civil society (and supposedly a God-fearing one) will not stand for such a thing! No. Some decry the man; some picket him, while others cheer him on.
Certainly, the civil authorities will stop him. He will be arrested, prosecuted, tried, and sentenced to the death penalty for his heinous crimes. No. He continues his evil work unabated. They debate the issue's legality and properness; all the while the death toll rises. Nope, they did not even tell him to stop killing 10 year olds; their senseless murders continue to rack up at the rate of 52 a year.
Can you imagine such a thing? Is this in Nazi Germany? Is it some strange ancient pagan culture? Surely it must be those "crazy" Muslims again. What kind of people would stand idly by and let such horrific behavior happen? The answer is, the country that claims "In God We Trust" as their national motto, and the year is 2009.
"A preposterous scenario," You exclaim, "no such thing ever happened in modern America!" Quite right. I altered the facts. Here are the real ones. It was not one child killed by this man every week, it was seven every day. And it was not just one year; it was 36 years, totaling over 60,000 children murdered by this one man.
The other facts are all true. Oh, except the children were not grade school aged, they were still in the "safety" of their mother's womb. Does that one fact ease your conscience? Does it negate the horrific nature of the crime? Are you now saying, "Oh, that's not the same thing at all?" But do you suppose that our Lord is now also relieved that the 60,000 children are more innocent and helpless; that they were not school children, but unborn children? And if not, should you be relieved?
There are only three differences I can see between an unborn and a school child.
First, their location. School children are no longer in the protective bodies of their mothers, though they are in the protective homes of their families. School children are located in the U.S., in Asia, in Africa, and around their world. I don't suppose anyone would argue that it is okay to murder a school child any place on the planet. If they did, wouldn't we call them a racist? Because a child is still located in the womb, does that make it okay to murder them? Location cannot be an excuse to say it is okay to kill babies.
Second, their size. I am of average height: 5'10", and a bit above average in my weight (if you know what I mean), but people come in all shapes and sizes. The tallest man on record was 8' 11". The smallest man alive now lives in Nepal; he is less than 20 inches tall. No one could rightly kill either of these men without it being murder. Would it be okay if the person were only 10 inches tall? How about 5? Size certainly cannot be used to justify the killing of babies.
And then there is functioning capacity. An unborn baby is not fully developed. Their brain is not finished wiring itself so they are not as smart as most school children. Their muscles are not yet strong and they cannot even walk. In fact, if it were not for their mother's body taking care of them, they would die in an instant! Doesn't that put them in a different category of life that we can't call murder? Doctors tell us that a male's brain doesn't finish wiring until he is about 30. Many women can attest to this. Perhaps we shouldn't use that as criteria. But even so, there are thousands of "mentally handicapped" people around the world (some of the most joyous and loving people I might add); are we going to argue that because they are not as smart as the average person, the taking of their life would not be murder? Myriads of people are born with non-functioning parts of their body and are not able to function like the average person. Hitler called for their annihilation. Is that the kind of society we want to be? Is that the Christian view of things? Is it not true that all babies, born and unborn alike, will die if not taken care of by their mother or someone else? A baby's ability not to function like the average person and dependence on others can't be reasons to justify murdering them.
Logic and sound reason aside, Christians must ask, "What does God think?"
God teaches us that all children are a gift from Him.
"Truly children are a gift from the Lord; the fruit of the womb is a reward" (Psalm 127:3).
Scripture reveals that God condemned Israel for their carelessness and evil done to children and other innocents:
"They mingled with the nations and learned their works…They sacrificed their sons and their daughters to demons, and they shed innocent blood, the blood of their sons and their daughters, whom they sacrificed to the idols of Canaan, desecrating the land with bloodshed" (Psalm 106:35, 37-38).
"They mutilated their sons and daughters by fire…till the Lord, in his great anger against Israel, put them away out of his sight" (2 Kings 17:17-18).
I don't think that killing babies because of convenience rather than false worship is any less detestable to the Almighty God. Simply consider the testimony of God's Word on those whom He has created in His image:
"For You formed my inward parts; You wove me in my mother's womb. I will give thanks to You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Wonderful are Your works, And my soul knows it very well" (Ps 139:13-14).
"Upon You I was cast from birth; You have been my God from my mother's womb" (Ps 22:10).
"By You I have been sustained from my birth; You are He who took me from my mother's womb; My praise is continually of You" (Ps 71:6).
But what does God think about those whose birth ends prematurely resulting in death?
"If men strive and strike a woman with child so that she gives birth prematurely, yet there is no injury, he shall surely be fined as the woman's husband may demand of him, and he shall pay as the judges decide. 23 "But if there is any further injury, then you shall appoint as a penalty life for life, 24 eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, 25 burn for burn, wound for wound, bruise for bruise." (Ex.21:22-23)
Though this is given to the magistrates, what are we to do, if there be no Godliness in the magistrates?
Yesterday morning, at a Lutheran church in Wichita, Kansas, a man was gunned down as he was serving as an usher during the morning service. This man was the one who had killed over 60,000 babies in his career. The man, to whom Justice turned a blind eye, ended his killing spree. Dr. George Tiller, was a physician who violated his Hippocratic Oath to "do no harm" for 36 years. Known as "Tiller the Baby Killer," this man unashamedly ended the lives of an average 35 children during the week between church services. But this man did not work alone. He was aided and abetted in his crimes.
At a March 1925 international birth control gathering in New York City, a speaker warned of the menace posed by the "black" and "yellow" peril. The man was not a Nazi or Klansman; he was Dr. S. Adolphus Knopf, a member of Margaret Sanger's American Birth Control League (ABCL), which eventually became known as Planned Parenthood. Yes, my fellow Americans, Nazi philosophy lives here among us, out in the open in this, and other Eugenics movements, preaching natural selection by abortion. "Take the unwanted out from among us," they say. "We don't want the least, the lost, the last, and the lonely among us."
Dr. Tiller drew national attention because he is only one of three doctors in the country who will openly push the laws beyond their limits. He preformed "late-term" abortions in the third trimester of development, and the so-called "partial birth" abortion, where the mother gives birth in a breech orientation. After the legs and torso are delivered, the doctor inserts a probe into the baby's cranium and evacuates his brain, killing it. Because the head was still undelivered, some said these babies were not babies, but the practice has been since banned by the Supreme Court.
But should we be surprised when the world is evil? No, but when an organization calls itself a "church" should we not be a little shocked? This man served week after week, year after year doing the Devil's bidding and apparently was not rebuked by those claiming Jesus' name. Are they not complicit in his crimes? Did they even rebuke him, discipline him, and pray for him? It appears not. Are their hands unstained by the blood of this man and his tens of thousands of victims? Is not their tacit approval damning enough as they extended the right hand of fellowship to him and even honor him with representing the church as he ushered people to their seats on the Lord's Day?
How can this be a country comprised by 78% of her inhabitants who claim to be Christians, and now have a majority of those who label themselves as "pro-life" (I suppose the other 45% consider themselves pro-death)? Why in a country "for the people and by the people" do we have laws and elected politicians that permit such practices? God forbid that we, as a people, should vote for such again.
But what of the question at hand, "Should Christians weep for Tiller?" And correspondingly, "Should we denounce the killer who stopped him" as so many of Tiller's opponents have already done?
For some, this is an easy answer, "YES!" For them this is a tragedy that may set any pro-life argument back. For others, they quote "Vengeance is Mine, saith the Lord. I will repay." Still others take an absolutist view of "Thou shalt not kill." But none of these really work. The commandment is regarding homicide, the taking of innocent life. As the verse clearly explains above about causing the premature birth of the unborn, abortion is not an innocent crime. Furthermore the same verse and many more call for justice, eye for an eye...life for a life. If all vengeance is reserved for God, then no penalties may be given on earth. Justice halts and anarchy prevails. But this was a matter given to the magistrates. Jesus calls for it to return to the magistrates in Matthew 5:38. He then calls for us not to resist an evil person in their back-handedness. But this is not a call for lawlessness. In fact, when the magistrates and judges will not administer Godliness, God will raise up even the wicked as a rod of judgment in His hand.
Consider what God did with Judah:
"The Babylonians and all the Chaldeans, Pekod and Shoa and Koa, and all the Assyrians with them; desirable young men, governors and officials all of them, officers and men of renown, all of them riding on horses. 24 'They will come against you with weapons, chariots and wagons, and with a company of peoples. They will set themselves against you on every side with buckler and shield and helmet; and I will commit the judgment to them, and they will judge you according to their customs" (Ezek 23:23-24)
If we weep for Dr. Tiller, will we weep for Kaiser Wilhelm, Pol Pot, Adolph Hitler, Saddam Hussein and others who have caused the murder of thousands and millions? We can weep for another soul lost for eternity, but dare we not weep a single tear for him without shedding one for every baby he killed. Dare we not weep without taking action. Remember this when you head to the polls. Write a letter to your congressman, to the editor of the newspaper, or to that church urging national repentance. You can decry abortion; you can decry the abortionist’s murderer, but what will you do to shut down the killing fields.
If you have had an abortion, it is not the unforgivable sin. Your baby is home with Jesus. My prayer is that you will repent (if you have not already) and accept Jesus' forgiveness in the waters of baptism. Then one day you can rejoin that girl or boy in eternity.
At the time of this blog posting, the number of abortions in America since the infamous Roe vs. Wade decision is approaching 54,000,000 at the average rate of three per minute. Click below to see the current count.
A man is killing grade school children. He is killing about one every week for a year. He does not do it in shadows. He does it out in the open for everyone to know.
How could he do such a thing! Certainly there is public outrage. We in a civil society (and supposedly a God-fearing one) will not stand for such a thing! No. Some decry the man; some picket him, while others cheer him on.
Certainly, the civil authorities will stop him. He will be arrested, prosecuted, tried, and sentenced to the death penalty for his heinous crimes. No. He continues his evil work unabated. They debate the issue's legality and properness; all the while the death toll rises. Nope, they did not even tell him to stop killing 10 year olds; their senseless murders continue to rack up at the rate of 52 a year.
Can you imagine such a thing? Is this in Nazi Germany? Is it some strange ancient pagan culture? Surely it must be those "crazy" Muslims again. What kind of people would stand idly by and let such horrific behavior happen? The answer is, the country that claims "In God We Trust" as their national motto, and the year is 2009.
"A preposterous scenario," You exclaim, "no such thing ever happened in modern America!" Quite right. I altered the facts. Here are the real ones. It was not one child killed by this man every week, it was seven every day. And it was not just one year; it was 36 years, totaling over 60,000 children murdered by this one man.
The other facts are all true. Oh, except the children were not grade school aged, they were still in the "safety" of their mother's womb. Does that one fact ease your conscience? Does it negate the horrific nature of the crime? Are you now saying, "Oh, that's not the same thing at all?" But do you suppose that our Lord is now also relieved that the 60,000 children are more innocent and helpless; that they were not school children, but unborn children? And if not, should you be relieved?
There are only three differences I can see between an unborn and a school child.
First, their location. School children are no longer in the protective bodies of their mothers, though they are in the protective homes of their families. School children are located in the U.S., in Asia, in Africa, and around their world. I don't suppose anyone would argue that it is okay to murder a school child any place on the planet. If they did, wouldn't we call them a racist? Because a child is still located in the womb, does that make it okay to murder them? Location cannot be an excuse to say it is okay to kill babies.
Second, their size. I am of average height: 5'10", and a bit above average in my weight (if you know what I mean), but people come in all shapes and sizes. The tallest man on record was 8' 11". The smallest man alive now lives in Nepal; he is less than 20 inches tall. No one could rightly kill either of these men without it being murder. Would it be okay if the person were only 10 inches tall? How about 5? Size certainly cannot be used to justify the killing of babies.
And then there is functioning capacity. An unborn baby is not fully developed. Their brain is not finished wiring itself so they are not as smart as most school children. Their muscles are not yet strong and they cannot even walk. In fact, if it were not for their mother's body taking care of them, they would die in an instant! Doesn't that put them in a different category of life that we can't call murder? Doctors tell us that a male's brain doesn't finish wiring until he is about 30. Many women can attest to this. Perhaps we shouldn't use that as criteria. But even so, there are thousands of "mentally handicapped" people around the world (some of the most joyous and loving people I might add); are we going to argue that because they are not as smart as the average person, the taking of their life would not be murder? Myriads of people are born with non-functioning parts of their body and are not able to function like the average person. Hitler called for their annihilation. Is that the kind of society we want to be? Is that the Christian view of things? Is it not true that all babies, born and unborn alike, will die if not taken care of by their mother or someone else? A baby's ability not to function like the average person and dependence on others can't be reasons to justify murdering them.
Logic and sound reason aside, Christians must ask, "What does God think?"
God teaches us that all children are a gift from Him.
"Truly children are a gift from the Lord; the fruit of the womb is a reward" (Psalm 127:3).
Scripture reveals that God condemned Israel for their carelessness and evil done to children and other innocents:
"They mingled with the nations and learned their works…They sacrificed their sons and their daughters to demons, and they shed innocent blood, the blood of their sons and their daughters, whom they sacrificed to the idols of Canaan, desecrating the land with bloodshed" (Psalm 106:35, 37-38).
"They mutilated their sons and daughters by fire…till the Lord, in his great anger against Israel, put them away out of his sight" (2 Kings 17:17-18).
I don't think that killing babies because of convenience rather than false worship is any less detestable to the Almighty God. Simply consider the testimony of God's Word on those whom He has created in His image:
"For You formed my inward parts; You wove me in my mother's womb. I will give thanks to You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Wonderful are Your works, And my soul knows it very well" (Ps 139:13-14).
"Upon You I was cast from birth; You have been my God from my mother's womb" (Ps 22:10).
"By You I have been sustained from my birth; You are He who took me from my mother's womb; My praise is continually of You" (Ps 71:6).
But what does God think about those whose birth ends prematurely resulting in death?
"If men strive and strike a woman with child so that she gives birth prematurely, yet there is no injury, he shall surely be fined as the woman's husband may demand of him, and he shall pay as the judges decide. 23 "But if there is any further injury, then you shall appoint as a penalty life for life, 24 eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, 25 burn for burn, wound for wound, bruise for bruise." (Ex.21:22-23)
Though this is given to the magistrates, what are we to do, if there be no Godliness in the magistrates?
Yesterday morning, at a Lutheran church in Wichita, Kansas, a man was gunned down as he was serving as an usher during the morning service. This man was the one who had killed over 60,000 babies in his career. The man, to whom Justice turned a blind eye, ended his killing spree. Dr. George Tiller, was a physician who violated his Hippocratic Oath to "do no harm" for 36 years. Known as "Tiller the Baby Killer," this man unashamedly ended the lives of an average 35 children during the week between church services. But this man did not work alone. He was aided and abetted in his crimes.
At a March 1925 international birth control gathering in New York City, a speaker warned of the menace posed by the "black" and "yellow" peril. The man was not a Nazi or Klansman; he was Dr. S. Adolphus Knopf, a member of Margaret Sanger's American Birth Control League (ABCL), which eventually became known as Planned Parenthood. Yes, my fellow Americans, Nazi philosophy lives here among us, out in the open in this, and other Eugenics movements, preaching natural selection by abortion. "Take the unwanted out from among us," they say. "We don't want the least, the lost, the last, and the lonely among us."
Dr. Tiller drew national attention because he is only one of three doctors in the country who will openly push the laws beyond their limits. He preformed "late-term" abortions in the third trimester of development, and the so-called "partial birth" abortion, where the mother gives birth in a breech orientation. After the legs and torso are delivered, the doctor inserts a probe into the baby's cranium and evacuates his brain, killing it. Because the head was still undelivered, some said these babies were not babies, but the practice has been since banned by the Supreme Court.
But should we be surprised when the world is evil? No, but when an organization calls itself a "church" should we not be a little shocked? This man served week after week, year after year doing the Devil's bidding and apparently was not rebuked by those claiming Jesus' name. Are they not complicit in his crimes? Did they even rebuke him, discipline him, and pray for him? It appears not. Are their hands unstained by the blood of this man and his tens of thousands of victims? Is not their tacit approval damning enough as they extended the right hand of fellowship to him and even honor him with representing the church as he ushered people to their seats on the Lord's Day?
How can this be a country comprised by 78% of her inhabitants who claim to be Christians, and now have a majority of those who label themselves as "pro-life" (I suppose the other 45% consider themselves pro-death)? Why in a country "for the people and by the people" do we have laws and elected politicians that permit such practices? God forbid that we, as a people, should vote for such again.
But what of the question at hand, "Should Christians weep for Tiller?" And correspondingly, "Should we denounce the killer who stopped him" as so many of Tiller's opponents have already done?
For some, this is an easy answer, "YES!" For them this is a tragedy that may set any pro-life argument back. For others, they quote "Vengeance is Mine, saith the Lord. I will repay." Still others take an absolutist view of "Thou shalt not kill." But none of these really work. The commandment is regarding homicide, the taking of innocent life. As the verse clearly explains above about causing the premature birth of the unborn, abortion is not an innocent crime. Furthermore the same verse and many more call for justice, eye for an eye...life for a life. If all vengeance is reserved for God, then no penalties may be given on earth. Justice halts and anarchy prevails. But this was a matter given to the magistrates. Jesus calls for it to return to the magistrates in Matthew 5:38. He then calls for us not to resist an evil person in their back-handedness. But this is not a call for lawlessness. In fact, when the magistrates and judges will not administer Godliness, God will raise up even the wicked as a rod of judgment in His hand.
Consider what God did with Judah:
"The Babylonians and all the Chaldeans, Pekod and Shoa and Koa, and all the Assyrians with them; desirable young men, governors and officials all of them, officers and men of renown, all of them riding on horses. 24 'They will come against you with weapons, chariots and wagons, and with a company of peoples. They will set themselves against you on every side with buckler and shield and helmet; and I will commit the judgment to them, and they will judge you according to their customs" (Ezek 23:23-24)
If we weep for Dr. Tiller, will we weep for Kaiser Wilhelm, Pol Pot, Adolph Hitler, Saddam Hussein and others who have caused the murder of thousands and millions? We can weep for another soul lost for eternity, but dare we not weep a single tear for him without shedding one for every baby he killed. Dare we not weep without taking action. Remember this when you head to the polls. Write a letter to your congressman, to the editor of the newspaper, or to that church urging national repentance. You can decry abortion; you can decry the abortionist’s murderer, but what will you do to shut down the killing fields.
If you have had an abortion, it is not the unforgivable sin. Your baby is home with Jesus. My prayer is that you will repent (if you have not already) and accept Jesus' forgiveness in the waters of baptism. Then one day you can rejoin that girl or boy in eternity.
At the time of this blog posting, the number of abortions in America since the infamous Roe vs. Wade decision is approaching 54,000,000 at the average rate of three per minute. Click below to see the current count.
What will you do??
"All evil needs to triumph is that good men do nothing" -Edmund Burke
7 comments:
You are 100% right! We cannot ignore the death and destruction created by this man! He apparently did not feel that what he was doing was wrong and did not repent for the thousands of lives that he took over the years. I do pray for his family in their loss and hope that they ... and their church will admit to the wrongdoing and the suffering that was caused by this . We can NOT be blind to what is going on around us daily!
Jeff,
My only concern with your blog is that it seems to condone vigilante justice. No individual has the right to decide to end someone's life, be it an unborn baby or a monster who regularly provides late term abortions. If God wants these people to die, He has many avenues to achieve it rather than the individual with a gun.
This news immediately caught my attention...I wasn't sure how to feel. Yes, I am for the rights of an unborn child. I feel that once you become pregnant, You are responsible for a new life. But, lets go one step further. Lets teach our fellow humans NOT to become pregnant in the first place unless their reason is to add to Gods kingdom. In too many cases, the sin begins with adultery and fornication. Murder is against the Law of God! The man who killed this Dr. is WRONG. The Dr. was a lost soul (even though he probably was a loving, church going Christian.) My question is...did any of the other church members ever try to help him understand Gods Holy Word???
Dave,
Thanks for your comment. I left my position regarding “vigilante justice” purposefully unclear in my blog hoping to solicit responses such as yours. But I have a question regarding your statement, “No individual has the right to decide to end someone's life.” If someone were about to kill you, would you be able to end their life to stop them? What if they were trying to end your child’s life, would it be okay then? What about a neighbor’s child?
This was my purpose in making an analogy to killing school children. If someone were about to kill a school child, I hope we would step in to stop him. But for some reason, when it is an unborn child, we simply say, “he should not do that.”
While I am not necessarily advocating “vigilante justice, “ as I pointed out that the “life for a life” law was given to the magistrates, I am hoping to get people to recognize that as Christians, simply making a statement “abortion is wrong” and even voting accordingly, does not seem like it is enough to deal with a genocide issue. I want every Christian to ask the question “What am I doing” and then realize that it is not enough.
When the Restoration Movement began, the cultural moral issue they had to tackle was slavery; ours, it seems, is abortion. The Kingdom cannot be sleeping this one out. We have to do more.
Well argued. As for the man who killed Dr. Tiller (perhaps as God's instrument), he too must face justice. I don't condone what he did any more than I condone the genocide that was done at the hand of Dr. Tiller.
Pastor Jeff:
I understand your hurt for the children and where you're coming from but I can't agree:
http://www.worldpolicy.org/projects/globalrights/religion/bible-violence.html
Christ taught us not to judge and not to carry a sword. He said it used to be eye for an eye, hate your enemy, but He's changing all that.
I also don't believe He keeps score. Those that are with Him are under His protection and is blood and will face God the rest will fall away. It doesn't matter if you murdered half the world or gave every minute you had to the world - but didn't accept Christ. The worst sin in history was eating an apple - it led to everything else! So to say Hitler is worse than another sinner is from our eyes, but Jesus was hardest on the church goers that were hypocrytes, not on murders or sinners.
I'm in the camp that if I have a gun and someone points it at me I'm going to put mine down and trust God. If the lilies of the field are taken care of how much more is He going to take care of me? My part is to show the love of Jesus, Our Father is in charge of judgement and punishment.
What I did like about your blog was the making a difference, I agree with that though I'd encourage people to leave the polls behind and focus on the community and getting to know young people and teaching them about saving themselves for marriage.
Bless you and your ministries!
Very good blog Jeff. All good men need to do for evil to prevail is.... nothing!
Luke 22:36 "But now," Jesus said, "whoever has a purse or a bag must take it; and whoever does not have a sword must sell his coat and buy one.
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