Posts Tagged ‘abortion’

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Thoughtful Response to Abortion by John Piper

January 23, 2012

The following is found here at theresurgence.com

1. Existing fetal homicide laws make a man guilty of manslaughter if he kills the baby in a mother’s womb (except in the case of abortion).

2. Fetal surgery is performed on babies in the womb to save them while another child the same age is being legally destroyed.

3. Babies can sometimes survive on their own at 23 or 24 weeks, but abortion is still legal beyond this limit.

4. Living on its own is not the criterion of human personhood, as we know from the use of respirators and dialysis.

5. Size is irrelevant to human personhood, as we know from the difference between a one-week-old and a six-year-old.

6. Developed reasoning powers are not the criterion of personhood, as we know from the capacities of three-month-old babies.

7. Infants in the womb are human beings scientifically by virtue of their genetic make up.

8. Ultrasounds have given a stunning window on the womb that shows the unborn at eight weeks sucking his thumb, recoiling from pricking, and responding to sound. All the organs are present, the brain is functioning, the heart is pumping, the liver is making blood cells, the kidneys are cleaning fluids, and there is a fingerprint. Virtually all abortions happen later than this date.

9. Justice dictates that when two legitimate rights conflict, the limitation of rights that does the least harm is the most just. Bearing a child for adoption does less harm than killing him.

10. Justice dictates that when either of two people must be inconvenienced or hurt to alleviate their united predicament, the one who bore the greater responsibility for the predicament should bear more of the inconvenience or hurt to alleviate it.

11. Justice dictates that a person may not coerce harm on another person by threatening voluntary harm on themselves.

12. The outcast, the disadvantaged, and the exploited are to be cared for in a special way, especially those with no voice of their own.

13. What is happening in the womb is the unique person-nurturing work of God, who alone has the right to give and take life.

14. There are countless clinics that offer life and hope to both mother and child (and father and parents), with care of every kind lovingly provided by people who will meet every need they can.

15. Jesus Christ can forgive all sins and will give all who trust in him the help they need to do everything that life requires.

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On Knowing the Future…

July 28, 2008

I don’t want to know.

As I ate my basket of Nachos at the Park Grill on Millennium Park in downtown Chicago last Friday, I couldn’t help but think about the past (and the future).  The last time I enjoyed lunch at the Park Grill was September 17, 2007—the last time I saw my mother healthy.  And sitting there under the umbrella this past Friday, a flood of emotions caught up with me.

I remembered having lunch at the Grill in September with James and Lydia, Cari and her kids, my wife and kids, and my Mom and Dad.  We sat there for two hours waiting for a reasonable time to say farewell when they would head to O’Hare Airport and fly home to Tulsa.  If my memory serves me correctly, Mom was wearing a yellow cloth overall with some sort of hat.

Who could have known that only two months later she would be gone, taken by cancer?  And who would want to know?  How differently would we have acted, spoken, felt if we had known the future?  Would we have been able to enjoy those precious moments together?  Would we have laughed or cried?  Would we have been hopeful or broken?  On Friday I realized that I’m glad I didn’t know because we were able to enjoy one another, as a family, unspoiled by the troubles of life.

Many of you know that my wife is pregnant.  And part of the routine for the doctors is to run all kinds of tests to determine the health of the baby.  Is the baby healthy or does it have a disease, a malformity, or a terminal condition?  After talking with my wife, we concluded that we don’t want to know, not yet anyway.  No matter the health condition of this baby, we’re not going to terminate the pregnancy.  And if the baby has major long-term health problems then we just want to enjoy the next six months without having to worry about the future.

About the future, I’m comfortable not knowing what’s in store.  I trust that God does know the future; and I trust that He is able to accomplish His purposes whatever the future holds.  But for me and for my family, we just want to live and be content in the ever-present Now.

Who needs to worry about tomorrow when all we’re guaranteed is today?  See Matthew 6:25-34 in the Bible.

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