Is This the Main Issue In the Election?
I have made an honest effort to stay out of the political discussions regarding the Presidential election this year. I'm not sure I'm very happy with either of the candidates. In regard to the current campaigns, I'll be happy when this whole mess is over come Wednesday morning.
Nonetheless, we, as a nation face a serious and grave issue in less than 48 hours.
While reading Mark Altrogge's blog, Blazing Center, it struck me that the next administration will face a unique opportunity, the possible appointment of two or more Supreme Court Justices.
This can have a huge impact on our country particularly in the area of Rowe vs. Wade and the whole abortion issue. Above all other issues we are facing, I consider this one to be of paramount importance.
Blazing Center details the issue quite well:
I’ve heard Christians say things like, “Abortion is important, but there are other issues just as important. I don’t believe we should vote for or against someone simply based on their stand on this issue.”
I would agree that there are many serious and important issues to consider such as the economic crisis, health care, education, terrorism, the war in the Middle East, and tax reform.
So why is abortion more critical than other issues? The Bible, the very Word of God, our only infallible guide and ultimate authority for our lives, tells us God created human beings in his image and likeness. Abortion destroys the image and likeness of God in a widespread and massive way. Over a million times a year in this nation, the image and likeness of God is barbarically torn apart and tossed in the trash. How can God bless the economic, educational or other policies of a person, party or nation that supports and promotes this horrific practice?
As critical as other issues may be, abortion snuffs out over 1 million innocent lives every year. Is there any other issue in which 1 million children a year are slaughtered?
I checked statistics from America’s wars and I was shocked at what I found.
The total number of deaths in all of America’s Wars from the American Revolution to the present (Including the War of 1812, the Indian Wars, the Mexican War, the Civil War, the Spanish-American War, WWI, WWII, Korea, Vietnam, the Gulf War and the current one) is 657,894.
I urge you to carefully read the rest of this important article here. There is more at stake here than political power and influence.
I find it ironic that there is so much discussion and dissension over the war in Iraq while we are losing more children each day to abortion than we have lost men the entire time we've been in Iraq.
Make no mistake, this is not a pro-war diatribe. We have made obvious mistakes over there. What this is, is a serious call to consider where our priorities and energies should be focused as Christians who should be involved in the political process but not compromised by it. For every minute we argue about the war or the economy or anything else....two babies die.
This nation needs our prayers and our vote to support those candidates that oppose abortion.
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Yes – It’s no small thing: 50 Million babies so far…. 4,000 every day…. That’s more than Stalin (20,000,000) and Hitler (6,000,000) murdered - put together.
ReplyDeleteImagine if 40 babies were killed by some criminal somewhere, what outrage that would cause in the minds of the American public. And yet, we pay for the killing of 100 times that number every day.
One aside – in the present environment of concern about the lack of a sufficient working base to support the coming baby boomer retirement glut, I have to ask: has anyone thought of the impact that those 50,000,000 unlived lives – and the additional millions of unborn babies that those aborted ‘babies’ themselves would have had, if they lived? Not to be crass, by any means – but solely on the level of ‘would have been’ citizens; undoubtedly most of whom would have been good, productive ones – adding to the national treasury every year through their taxes, and adding to the common good through the natural giftedness that would have been displayed in them, as in each of us; we are paying a price already.
In praying for our country these days, I find myself having to begin with a disclaimer to God, like this:
“ --- O Lord, I know we’re a nation that sanctions wickedness of many types, a nation that has murdered 50,000,000 defenseless, innocent babies created in Your image --- I know we deserve judgment God; But I also know you are merciful, and it’s on the Mercy that I throw myself in behalf of our undeserving nation and myself. Be merciful to us O Lord…. Preserve this nation, in spite of our sins, and may Your Spirit open our eyes to uncomfortable truth. . . ”
Was just a bit sobering to me to realize the awful reality…..
Wayne Y
I've been meaning to write some thoughts on this issue for awhile, but alas, life has many other priorities. So just a few quick thoughts here.
ReplyDelete1st. God judges people in eternity, He judges nations in history. The record is complete, both covenantal nations (Israel) as well as non-covenantal (Sodom, Gomorrah, Ninevah, all the -ites). The note above should cause us to fear for our nation. We certainly deserve to be judged; we can only lay out our petition for His mercy and for a national spirit of repentance.
2nd. God selects all leaders. If Obama or McCain wins, its because God has placed him there, for whatever purpose God has in mind. The mechanism God uses to place leaders in the U.S. is through us and our votes. This suggests that we should seek to elect leaders that will honor God and lead according to His principles.
3rd. Psalm 33:12 Blessed is the nation whose God is the LORD, the people he chose for his inheritance. Clearly we want to be a blessed nation, not a cursed nation. The election of political leaders is more of a lagging indicator of our spiritual condition (i.e., if we leave God as a nation, then we elect ungodly leaders, rather than as a Godly nation we elect ungodly leaders who lead us astray). But as all of us know, some of the candidates wish to pass social policies that will lead us further away from God as a nation. This invites God's curse.
4th and finally, Our hope is not in the political process but in a Sovereign God who shows Mercy beyond our imagination. We need to be seeking after Him continually. But he is Lord of all, to include our political process. We should actively seek to honor Him as we participate in it.
First off, I do not agree with abortion, but I do think it's such a small point (in both politics and in the church). Yes, babies are being killed every minute, but in that minute, how many are murdered in Darfur? How many died from the AIDS epidemic in Africa? How many young kids are being shot in gang cross fire? The leaders who are going to step up and make a difference there are those who are getting my votes. Again, I think abortion, homosexuality, ..., are wrong but big picture, we've got bigger issues? You know?
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ReplyDeleteStephanie - I have to disagree with you. While I think that the things you describe are terrible, and need to be addressed, I don't think they compare to abortion. This is true on a couple different levels:
ReplyDeleteFirst - The innocence of the victims. While we are quick, and in a sense correct, to describe a bystander, etc, as an 'innocent victim' of a crime; I think there are none more innocent than an unborn baby who's not yet had the opportunity to choose good or evil.
Second - The magnitude of the problem. The number of abortions since 1973 (when Roe vs Wade was lost) is close to 50,000,000. That is an absolutely huge number. For instance, it dwarfs the number of people killed in all the wars of the 20th century. All of them. That's a lot of dying....
Furthermore, you mention Darfur. I was in East Africa for some time, not far from the Sudan and Darfur. While I was there, nothing like 4,000 people per day were dying. Rarely were there hundreds - although admittedly even that is terrible.
Again - I was an EMT, then a Paramedic for the City of New York for 11 years - several of them in the two worst sections of Brooklyn. Ive seen a lot of terrible things, and a lot of beautiful young men cut down in their youth by needless violence. That said - in the worst year I was there, (1990) the total of all murders for the entire city, for that entire year was 2,605. While that's a big number, and represents a lot of heartbreak, it still amounts to only a bit more than 1/2 of the number of babies that are murdered in the US EVERY DAY.
Do you see my point?
The only issue you mention that comes close to US abortions in the number of victims is the Sub Saharan Africa AIDS epidemic [A truly awful thing that affects 40% of the population in some countries, and has for years]. Yet even that differs dramatically in kind from the abortion issue on one point. The babies who die in abortions aren’t the happenstance victims of a mindless disease like AIDS. Their murders are scheduled by appointment every day, and perpetrated by skilled, thinking professionals: doctors, who upon earning their medical degree, took an oath to use their medical knowledge and expertise to save lives, not to kill. I think that man’s active hand in those 50 million deaths, makes them more egregious still.
I agree the things you mentioned are terrible and must be dealt with. But I can't agree with your statement that "We've got bigger issues". I think that, while many things are more visible than abortion (which is done out of public view – in a corner sanctioned by the state) for the reasons just mentioned, there's truly none "Bigger".
thanks
Wayne