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Toddlers Don’t Count Either

Ruthie

A news story caught my eye when I logged onto the internet today; CNN is reporting (with accompanying video) that a two year old girl was run over by two trucks outside a hardware market in China’s Guangdong province while her mother was shopping. A van struck her, crushing her with his front tires, paused, and then continued on and ran over her again with his rear tires and drove away. Onlookers, cyclists, and other motorists ignored her and did nothing to aid her (while some did swerve to avoid her body in the street), and shortly thereafter, another truck ran over her again. The security camera footage shows that seven minutes passed by while the girl lay in the street bleeding before a trash collector finally came to her aid, picked her up and went to find the mother. Taken to the hospital, the little girl is in a coma on a respirator, listed in critical condition and not expected to survive.

Now, the country is apparently experiencing some collective angst as they try to figure out “how” something like this could happen – that is, the callousness and apathy of not just the driver(s) who didn’t stop (after committing the crime), but the many people who were not compelled in any way to help a bleeding, helpless child.

“Many people are discussing what they perceive as a loss of morality in Chinese society,” she (CNN’s Enuice Yoon) said to Erroll Barnett. “…some observers have been pointing out that China education system really has failed here, that it’s failed to emphasize and reinforce the need to respect human life at a time when 1.3 billion people all clamoring and rushing to climb up the economic and social ladder.”

It is not China’s education system that has failed; it’s a greater failure; it’s a human failure, and it’s not just China – it’s global. If we, as a world, reject God, then there is no logical impetus for us to be compassionate, kind, or merciful.

The cold indifference to the plight of a little girl so brutally injured should be no surprise to anyone in a country where individual rights mean nothing to the greater machine that runs the society. In a country where the government decides who gets to live and who gets to die, who gets to speak and who gets silenced, and most importantly, where women are forced to abort babies against their will every single day, because the government has decided that “for the greater collective economic success” of the country, families can only have one child….why is anyone surprised? The results are that life has no intrinsic value; the government reigns as “god”; and the only value people hold is what they can offer to the state.

Why are the people surprised? Why is the world outraged? The detachment and indifference to the horror of what happened to this little girl is a natural, and not surprising, result of a world gone mad that has propagated the belief that we can decide and determine which life is valuable and which life isn’t.

If life is not precious in the womb, then life is not precious outside of the womb. Once you draw a line and put some people on one side of that line, and some on the other side, then you have in effect declared that no life has value.

Protecting My Wife

Ed

My mentor, Linda Bartlett, (click here to see her blog ) has always taught that one of God’s roles for men is to provide a covering for their wives. This covering, among other things, can be provided through physical protection or spiritual leadership.

This year, I purchased my first lawn mower. As I’ve done a couple of times already, I poured too much oil into the reservoir. Needless to say, when I started the mower, it looked like I was laying down a smoke screen to hide an invading army. My pride took a big hit…what would the neighbors think? What’s wrong with Ed: he can’t fill the oil properly and when he does it wrong, he can’t figure out how to drain it so it wouldn’t look like the subdivision was burning down!

So here I was, ready to give up and have the repairman come out again. Yes, again, because he’d already been out earlier this year when I ran over a tree stump in the backyard, a move that killed the blade and sheared something off (and I have no idea what that was). My wife was beside herself. Not only did we have the cost of buying a new mower this year, we’ve already had to pay to fix it once already. Her anxiety rose, her spirits dropped.

So I worked in a cloud of smoke and mowed the lawn. I buried my embarrassment and focused on getting the grass cut to an acceptable height. Someone once said to me that owning a home and doing the DIY jobs around the house was worth the pain and fatigue because you could be proud of the a job well done at the end of the day. Not really.

Rather, at the end of the day, I thanked God that I was able to provide my wife with a covering in the form of peace of mind. Even if it meant walking behind a cloud a smoke for an hour.

Man Does Not Know His Time — Jack Kevorkian

Ed

On June 3, 2011, Jack Kevorkian died of natural causes. He is best known for promoting assisted suicide and his claims to have helped over 130 people to end their lives. In an interview last year, Kevorkian stated that he had no regrets, “How can you regret helping a suffering patient?“

During his years at medical school, Kevorkian was promoting a utilitarian view of human life as he advocated for allowing murderers on death row a choice to die by anesthesia thus allowing their bodies to be used for medical experiments or organ donation (see NY Times article). His utilitarian view served as the foundation for why he viewed death as a help to a suffering patient. Never mind that suffering is totally subjective and that anyone, at any time, could say that they are suffering too much and wished to die. Rather than offering hope, love and care, Kevorkian only offered death as a solution to pain and suffering.

In today’s world, society tells us that it’s okay to look at someone who is suffering or in pain, shake our heads and say “wouldn’t it be better if we could just end this suffering?” Kevorkian’s promotion of assisted suicide, and even euthanasia, led people only to despair…the despair of thinking there is nothing of value to their lives and that they are a burden to their families, friends, and caregivers.

But there is a different way. We are admonished to “bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ”  (Galatians 6:2 NKJV). We can help those who are suffering know that they are not alone, that someone does care for and love them. Rather than confirm someone’s fear that they are no longer “useful” to us by helping them kill themselves, we ought to reaffirm that they are valuable and valued. By selflessly bearing one another’s burdens, we fulfill Christ’s commandment to “love one another as I have loved you” (John 15:12 NKJV).

Maybe it’s just me, but…rather than do what Kevorkian did, that is, help or encourage people who are facing seemingly insurmountable pain or suffering kill themselves, or kill them directly at their request, we ought to help someone through their suffering. We can walk beside them and show them that all human life is precious and valuable no matter what age the person is, what condition the body may be in, or what stage of development that human life has reached. Even more importantly, we ought lead them to the one true hope we have, our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

May God have mercy on your soul, Dr. Kevorkian.

“But as for me, I trust in You, O LORD; I say, ‘You are my God.’ My times are in Your hand.” Psalm 31:14-15 (NKJV)

Private Family Matter

Ed

Today, President Obama defended the right of a woman to choose to kill her baby as a “private family matter” and that “government should not intrude” on it. What does that mean?

If I have a child with a woman out of wedlock, I am forced by the courts to pay child support even though I don’t want to. So the government DOES intrude on private family matters.

Some parents choose to not to vaccinate their children, yet the government makes it mandatory for entry into school. So the government DOES intrude on private family matters.

Some parents don’t want to take their children to the doctor when they’re sick, yet the government may take their children away if they don’t. So the government DOES intrude on private family matters.

Some parents don’t think their child should be restrained in a car seat, yet that’ll get the parents a traffic ticket. So the government DOES intrude on private family matters.

Some parents choose to give their children alcohol, yet the government says it’s illegal to provide alcohol to a minor. So the government DOES intrude on private family matters.

Some parents think it’s okay to leave their children at home alone, yet the government will arrest the parents for endangering the welfare of a minor. So the government DOES intrude on private family matters.

Some parents think it’s okay to have sex with their child, yet that parent would be arrest for pedophilia. So the government DOES intrude on private family matters.

Some men (and women) think it’s okay to have more than one wife at the same time, yet they’ll get arrested for polygamy. So the government DOES intrude on private family matters.

Some men think it’s okay to beat their wives, yet that’ll land the guy in jail. So the government DOES intrude on private family matters.

Some people don’t want to purchase health insurance, yet under the health care reform law passed last year everyone will be forced to purchase an insurance plan. So the government DOES intrude on private family matters. (President Obama’s big idea.)

So why is it okay for the government to become involved in all these private family matters (and more), but Obama uses that as an excuse to justify legalized abortion-on-demand? You can’t have it both ways, Mr. President. You cannot, on the one hand, legislate dozens, if not hundreds, of private family matters and then say that the government should not intrude on a private family matter when it is politically expedient for you (Obama has flip-flopped on many things but he has unswervingly supported the right to kill a baby in the womb).

Maybe it’s just me, but…justifying the murder of 1.2 million babies in the womb every year by saying it is a “private family matter” is patently disingenuous and a red herring cop out used to justify receiving pro-abort PAC money.

Health Care Repeal Vote

Ed

The Health Care Reform Law passed last year has already led to attempts to use taxpayer funds to pay for abortion (see “Attempts to Fund Abortions with Tax Dollars”). In the House of Representatives, the new Congress is attempting to repeal this law and the first step came last week with H.R. 2 “Repealing the Job-Killing Health Care Law Act”. The bill was overwhelmingly passed in the House on Wednesday, January 19, 2011.

The bill is not expected to be heard in the Senate, as the Democratic Party, which controls the Senate, has no interest in passing legislation that would limit abortion-on-demand in the United States. When asked if the Senate would hear the repeal bill, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) simply stated, “No.” Ironically, Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) acknowledged the perfect Law of God when he said, “We … believe that the only perfect law ever enacted was carried down the mountain by Senator Moses.” How then, does he support the health care law that supports taxpayer funded abortions in light of the Fifth Commandment?

Although some are saying that the members of the House who are sponsoring H.R. 2 are merely taking part in a political exercise, it should be noted that they are fulfilling their promise to their constituents: i.e. working on the repeal of legislation that devalues human life by providing taxpayer funded abortions. Since the Health Care Repeal bill was voted on in the House, another pro-life bill has been introduced: H.R. 3 “No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion Act.” This act is even more important as it will codify the Hyde Amendment banning the use of federal funds paying for abortion through Medicaid.

As Luther teaches, we are citizens of two kingdoms, and as such we have a duty to participate in our civil government. Thus, Lutherans should use this opportunity to let their elected officials know that any taxpayer funding of abortions (including funding of the United Nations as they export abortions worldwide through the International Planned Parenthood Federation or on military bases, as well as the health care system) is not acceptable.

Surgical abortions already end the lives of 1.2 million American babies every year. We should not allow the increase of senseless murders of the innocent pre-born by making it easier to obtain an abortion-on-demand by funding it with taxpayer dollars.

Just as importantly, as Luther also instructs us in the Large Catechism, by not speaking out, and by allowing our tax dollars to be used to pay for murder, we are complicit in the sin of abortion.

Now is the time to contact your representatives to let them know that H.R. 3 should be passed to ensure that future congresses cannot fund abortions with your tax dollars simply by allowing the Hyde Amendment to fall by the wayside. It is also time to contact your senators to let them know that they need to allow discussion on the Senate floor on H.R. 2. By allowing one person (Reid) to deny public discussion on a law that most Americans do not want funded from their own pockets is not how a “representative government” works.