Clearing Away The Brush

          As follow-up to the last post I thought I would continue on the topic of abortion and politics.         

          I remember fondly the times of my youth when my father, sister, brother and I would trek into the woods to spend a Saturday morning gathering wood to replenish our fuel source for upcoming winters.  My job was much the same each year: wait for my father to complete trimming with the chainsaw and then proceed to clear away the brush.  Although our focus was to be on the main trunk of the tree, we could not see how to attack the problem until the brush was removed.  Cutting, splitting, loading, hauling and stacking efforts could not proceed until the impediment was cleared away.  I was reminded of this process recently as scrutiny of comments made by a national politician regarding abortion in cases of rape has intensified.  Were the politicians’ comments just misunderstood or misconstrued because of a verbal misstep or were they completely disgusting and inappropriate?  Should the candidate resign because of the insensitivity of his words and for the good of the party or continue in the race?  Are there, or are there not, natural processes in women’s bodies that react differently in the reproductive process in cases of extreme trauma?  Have the presidential incumbent and challenger correctly handled responses to the comments made and successfully distanced themselves from the political fallout?  In my opinion, these questions and many others surrounding the issue are, at best, secondary.  Similar to the Saturday mornings of my youth, the rightful focus of attention with the issue at hand – abortion - is being obstructed.  The brush needs to be cleared away.

            In every case of abortion something is being killed.  The central question when abortion is discussed is: What is being killed?  If what is being killed is a tumor or parasite, then by all means terminate with impunity regardless of the situation.  If what is being killed is a human being, however, much more thought needs to be given.  Even in the most horrible and unthinkable atrocities of violation, like rape and incest, do the acts and manifestations of the violator substantiate killing another innocent, albeit unborn, human being?  After all, we do not sentence the violator to a penalty of death for committing the crime.  One could argue that a child born from such a horrible circumstance would be a constant reminder of the traumatic event, but again would the horribleness of the event warrant the killing of an innocent human being?  Moreover since the only differences between a child in the womb and a 2-year old is size, location, environment and level of development, would we consider killing a 2-year old that was a constant reminder of a past traumatic event?  What is at issue is the value of human life.

            In the United States of America our very Declaration of Independence makes clear the position of the nation:   “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”  Because all men are created and endowed by their Creator with an unalienable right to life and liberty then the Creator, the One responsible for the imputation of the unalienable right, establishes the inception of life.  “So God created man in His own image; He created him in the image of God; He created them male and female” (Genesis 1:27 HCSB).  In short, because we are created as image-bearers, human life is valuable, precious, sacred and must be preserved to the greatest extent possible.

            Answering issues of tragedy, suffering and loss are incomparably weighty and deserve a response beyond the 40-character-or-less variety.  “For God who said, ‘Let light shine out of darkness,’ has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.” (2 Corinthians 4:6 HCSB).  If the brush is cleared and we can view unobstructed Christ and the Cross, then we will see the light of the truth and be able to give meaningful answers for such weighty matters in human experience.

A Question for the Candidates

           This year the citizens of the United States will cast their ballots for the office of President.  As I sit and write in this election year the prospective candidates of the challenging party have been through their first primary vote and have gone through a number of debates.  Following the final choice of contender and running mate, another series of debates and advertisements of both challenger and incumbent will take place en route to the November elections.  Amid all the advertisements and debates, I would contend that the single most important question to be asked of every candidate is never directly raised.

            Is human life sacred?  I have noticed that this question is never directly asked.  Perhaps that is because the answer is seen to be rhetorical: yes.  Which candidate if faced with the question would stumble around with a diatribe of double-talk or an outright response in the negative?  We testify to the truth of a positive response with our very behavior.  Do we not celebrate a stranger charging into a burning building to drag out another that is incapable of escape?  Do we not honor one who sacrifices her own life for that of another?  Does not our own Declaration of Independence clearly state the inalienable right of life to every individual?

            All other topics in a debate depend on the answer to this question.  Economic issues concern goods and services exchanged between people.  Domestic and foreign policy issues concern the interaction between citizens of the same, or of different nations, respectively.  Any issue relative to governance involves people.  If human life is trivial then the issues concerning how people treat or interact with each other must also be trivial.  If human life is sacred, then in issues of governance the primary concern ought to be that the sacredness of every human life is preserved.

            I stated previously that the question is never asked directly, and that is because it is routinely asked indirectly; something like, “Would you say your position on abortion is pro-choice or pro-life, and why?”  Responses vary based on the stated platform of each candidate.  I contend that those holding the pro-choice position, as it is most commonly held, does not hold all human life to be sacred.  This is because the choice being made is to kill a unique unborn human.  From conception a unique human life is growing in the mother’s womb; not a mass of benign cells akin to a tumor, not a parasite like a tapeworm, but a unique human life.  Other than size, location, environment and level of development that unique unborn human life is no different than a four-year old toddler, and we do not determine rights of life based on such differences.  To be six feet four inches tall does not make one more deserving of life than another only five feet four inches tall.  Similarly, we do not designate one to be less deserving to live because they take up residence East of the Mississippi River, or because they are underwater.  We cannot choose to kill an eight year old because they have not developed enough to drive an automobile.  If we cannot choose to kill a four year old toddler for these reasons then we cannot kill a unique unborn human for those reasons either.  One might ask about cases of extreme violation like rape or incest.  As horrible and vile as those acts are, the violators themselves are not killed for the crime nor would we advocate killing a four-year old toddler because they are reminders of a horrible violation once endured.  Only in cases of tubal pregnancies would termination be warranted as in that case if the dreadful act of killing one human life is not carried out two human lives will be lost.  If all human life is sacred then we must fight to preserve all human life possible.

            An acute observer will note that the reasons presented above not to kill an unborn human life do not provide a reason why life is sacred.  Why does our Declaration of Independence state in the clearest of written word that all human life is sacred?  If we are here as a result of some combination of undirected natural causes, random chance, evolution by natural selection, genetic drift and the like then human life is remarkable and highly improbable but not sacred.  No, our Declaration makes clear that all human life is sacred because we are created and are endowed by our Creator with those inalienable rights.  The Christian worldview is the only one that could provide for such a statement and in Genesis 1:27 we read, “So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.”  All human life is sacred because all human life is created by the God of the Bible in His image and we all at least act as if it were true.

            January 22 is the 38^th anniversary of the Supreme Court decision giving legal rights for the killing of unique human lives and this is an election year.  In my opinion, we should think soberly of the question of the sacredness of human life and put each candidate under great scrutiny as all other issues of governance hinge on the answer to that question.

Bookends of Worship

I work in structural steel fabrication and so on my desk are bookends made of sections of large thickness angle. We have similar angle bookends elsewhere in the office, on opposite ends of catalogs and code reference materials.  These bookends are weighty objects that bound a group of books so that they remain in order and upright.  Without solid bookends, the grouping will fall apart.

In reading through the book of 1 John I noticed some powerful bookends that are worth looking at carefully.  The book begins with the following:

That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, concerning the Word of life - the life was manifested, and we have seen, and we bear witness, and declare to you that eternal life which was with the Father was manifested to us - that which we have seen and heard we declare to you, that you also may have fellowship with us; and truly our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ.

And ends with the following:

Little children, keep yourselves from idols.  Amen.

If we look at these two statements we see some striking ideas.  First that there is one thing that is true.  Second that our choice is between two things that are known.  Third that our confidence and love is bound by two poles.

There is one thing that is true, and that one thing is God (Father, Son and Holy Spirit).  Truth is often defined in terms of correspondence; that truth is that which corresponds to reality.  In the opening lines of 1 John we have a description on what has been since the beginning and which has been seen, that has been heard, that has been touched.  We do not believe in something imagined in the minds of men with no physical manifestation in based in reality.  We believe in something manifested physically in our time and space and history - Jesus the Christ.  We remember that the child was born, the Son was given.  He, the Word of Life, walked among us and was seen, heard and touched.  He was crucified, died and was buried having been touched.  He rose again and appeared to many witnesses, for forty days walking, eating, talking and being touched.  The Son of God was handled.  Idols were fashioned by men as objects of worship, and remain today, being fashioned by men in the factories of our minds - oftentimes as the works of our hands.  We are told at the beginning of 1 John to follow the truth of what man has handled that was given by God, and likewise are told at the end of 1 John to not follow the lie of what man has handled that is fashioned by his own hand.  Do follow that which is true, do not follow that which is a lie.  These are the two poles that bind our love - the positive pole of the truth and the life, the love of God in which we abide and find our redemption; that Jesus is Lord and Christ - and the negative pole of lies and death, that we can be God and fashion for ourselves the objects of our worship.  There is but one way to life everlasting, and it does not flow through the hands of men.  Our love and confidence is in that which is testified to in heaven by the Father, the Word and the Holy Spirit and on earth by the Spirit, the water and the blood.  This Jesus is both Lord and Christ and we have life if we abide in Him.

The challenge is to take up the truth and abide in Christ daily, not in ourselves - in so doing we will know what love is, we will be confident in that which we know that has been revealed to us, we can be faithful to do all things as unto the Lord and glorify Him in all things which is our act of worship (in all things all day long) in living in accordance with the purpose for which we were created and brings true meaning in our lives.

When Things Just Don't Add Up

"Can I hold her?", "She is such a pretty baby", "Touch head, no, no".  These were a few of the comments made by my six, four and two-year-old sons as my wife and I brought our new baby girl home from the hospital.  With bright eyes and wide grins all three of them, along with my wife and I, sat in amazement at that new little life.  Something occurred to me as I was watching all three of them on the couch and thinking about what we were all holding in our hands.  What exactly did we bring home?

I know that sounds like a pretty silly question, especially from a man who has three children already, but after some more thought it's not only a good question, but an absolutely essential one.  Contemporary culture in the United States is being driven more and more strongly by a secular mindset.  Secular has been defined as that condition where religious ideas, institutions and interpretations have lost their social significance.  In other words, religion is seen to be outdated and the overt attempt is being made to systematically expunge it from all areas of life: politics, education, media, and on and on.

Changing over to a secular society, however, does not come without ramifications.  And so we come back to the question at hand, what exactly did we bring home?  I have spoken with many non-theists, or anti-theists and those who are most consistant with their beliefs have confirmed the outworking of the exclusion of a Biblical-Christian worldview.  According to the antitheist what my wife and I brought home was simply a successfull procreative attempt where our genetic material was passed on to another homonidic organism.  Further, the only obligation my wife and I have to that organism is to provide just enough food, shelter and care necessary for future procreation, with the only boundaries being those set by local law enforcement and current societal norms.

Don't we all know that that explanation of a new child's life must be absolutely wrong?  Even modern movie-makers see how short that understanding falls.  Think of the number of movies where the protagonist is a hit-man, a tough cop or just a doggedly independent man whose whole life changes because of the introduction of a child into his life.  Isn't it undeniable that children are more than just a bundle of biological drives and reactions, more than just successors of genetic material?  We know that is the case, but what is the explanation?

"Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations."          Jeremiah 1:5

"Are not two sparrows sold for a penny?  Yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from the will of your Father.  And even the hairs of your head are all numbered.  So don't be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows."           Matthew 10:29-31

These are familiar passages which, along with countless others in scripture, tell us that we are more than just a mindless collocation of atoms, more than just genetic materials on this earth by pure chance.  She is my daughter, she is a miracle.  What my wife and I brought home, that has changed all our lives, is a precious gift from Almight God who we are to be caretakers over and have been instructed to train up to be a woman of God.  We are to love her, care for her, and provide for her as a faithful steward, or caretaker, of the precious gift that she is.  This has been the case for each of our four children.  As a structural engineer who delights in the consistancy of mathematics, in this case one plus one plus one plus one amounts to more than just four.