"Human Rights Since Birth"

So very sad that the UN presents human rights as coming into effect at birth and thus implies that, prior to birth, one lacks rights or is not human, or both.  [Link to the above image and page.  See also my FB post on this disturbing image.]

Day of Mourning

Today is a day of mourning, after the US Senate refused to protect babies born alive after failed abortions:  44 senators gave their approval for leaving these little ones to die--babies who have been born, are alive, are outside the womb... yet may be left to die, gasping for breath.  In other words, 44 US senators gave their approval for infanticide.  Talk that this legislation would have actually clashed with existing abortion law was utterly unfounded and incorrect--sheer deception and falsehood (see text of bill).

Author of the bill, Senator Ben Sasse (pictured), discusses the sad fact that 44 senators could not bring themselves to actually stand up for the weak, the vulnerable, the defenseless.  Their rejection of this legislation calls into question the genuineness of so many of the 44 who claim to advocates for the disadvantaged and exploited and for those who are discriminated against.  If a desperate newborn lying on a table is not a classic example of such voiceless and vulnerable people, who is?  Note also Sasse's speech prior to the vote.

I do want to acknowledge the courage and conviction of three Democratic senators who defied the majority in their party and stood up for the weak and defenseless, and who thus caused the support for this bill to be truly bi-partisan:  Bob Casey (PA), Joe Manchin (WV), and Doug Jones (AL).  

Show Us the Evidence

In light of the recent series of undercover videos showing Planned Parenthood doctors and senior staff discussing the sale of body parts of aborted babies, I am reminded how the pro-choice community resolutely refuses to answer the key question brought to the surface by all of this:  "Where is the evidence that the unborn are not children?"

I'm sure that these videos are generating interest in the specific questions of whether certain laws have been broken having to do with specific prohibitions against the sale of fetal body parts, but it just pushes me to think big-picture and ask again (as so many people have been asking since 1973), "Where is the evidence that the unborn are not children?"  Why is it we are so sure that the unborn offspring of human beings is not a true human being?

See further my earlier post elaborating on the matter.

See here for info on the recent undercover videos.

Twenty-Two Years Like a Day

I can appreciate all the vigorous debate over religious freedom and equal rights and the delicate interplay of diversity and unity within our society, and how it all plays out in relation to Christians and Muslims and atheists and gays and straights and everyone else--it's an important conversation (did I say "shouting match"?).  But so very much more pressing and profound and (in fact) hope-awakening are the deep things of Jesus' love and his sovereign goodness through the storms and all the way home to heaven.  My soul is helped ever so much more by the testimony of Greg Lucas (and the witness of Kara Tippetts, and of Elliott Orr) than by all the excitement of politically charged culture war disputes.

Logic of the Resurrection

I am struck afresh at the relentless and hope-giving logic stemming from Jesus' resurrection from the dead and giving hope for future resurrection to all who trust in him.  See HERE on 1 Corinthians 15.
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Making Sense of Perfection

A must-see video about life, beauty, disability, love, humility, and so much more.

Broken

Cru tells the Great Story--about God and life and love and death and hope.

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Reflecting on Life

Many thoughtful and sobering and urgent words are circulating today, the 40th anniversary of Roe v. Wade, about the cause of life and the grievous reality of abortion.  For example:

• Remembering Roe v. Wade
• About "Jane Roe"
• 64 questions
• We know they are killing children
• A poem for the children
• MLK's dream and the nightmare of black genocide
• Roe v. Wade misunderstood and misrepresented

On this topic, see also:

• Related resources at Desiring God, including the e-book, "Exposing the Dark Work of Abortion"
• Recent pro-life books
• The wonder of fetal development
• My post the other day.

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Where is the evidence?

When President Obama addressed a packed audi­torium in Newtown, Connecticut, last month, two days after the mass murder of twenty elementary students and six staff at Sandy Hook Elementary School, he made a very profound statement.

After asserting that our most important job is to give our children “what they need to become self-reliant and capable and resilient, ready to face the world without fear,” and after stressing the im­portance of “keeping our children safe, and teaching them well” and noting that “we bear a responsibility for every child,” the president made this weighty claim:  “This is our first task—caring for our children.  It’s our first job.  If we don’t get that right, we don’t get anything right.  That’s how, as a society, we will be judged.”

Strong words!  And wise.  What’s more, the leader of the free world delivered them with a sense of urgency.  But I must ask a question:

Mr. President, since the protection of children is such a crucial priority for our society, and since you have not taken action to protect the unborn, it must be that you have evidence, compelling evidence, that the unborn are not children.  Since this is your posi­tion, please share the overwhelming and convincing evidence you possess that allows you, on the one hand, to look the other way as abortion goes on (over a million per year in the USA), and yet, on the other hand, passionately to announce our national outrage over the slaughter of innocent school children.

After all, unless we have utterly compelling reasons to classify those outside the womb differently from those inside the womb, we would want to err on the side of protection for the unborn.  Since we affirm every person’s right to “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness,” and in light of the fact that the unborn have so many characteristics in common with those who have been born, surely the burden of proof is upon those—upon you—who contend that the unborn are not children.  In order to support the practice of abortion (and, indeed, to treat it as a person’s right), both rationality and decency require persuasive evidence that in so doing we “do no harm” to children.  

Mr. President, please deliver that evidence.

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The Wonder of Fetal Development

Take a look at this 9-min. video and stand in awe of our Maker!

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Human Rights

In light of Barack Obama's strong pro-choice position, I've been wondering how he might answer this question: What arguments persuade you that the unborn are not people?

Some Obama volunteers came to our door the other day, so I asked them this question: "Have you heard him explain why he thinks the unborn are not people?" They were rather transparent: no, this question has not been addressed.

But it needs to be addressed. Because, if abortion is to be acceptable in America, where we affirm the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness for all people--where we insist that these are inalienable rights to which all human beings are entitled--then one would need to be persuaded that the unborn are not people.

Either that, or one would have to say some people are more equal than others.

So I wonder. I wonder what Obama would say.

By the way, you might want to read the recent article from Robert P. George of Princeton University for a searching assessment of Obama's record and stance on abortion.
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