James Jay Lee took several people hostage in the Discovery Channel Building in Silver Spring Maryland yesterday around 1 pm. He was shot and killed by police officers a few hours later after pointing a gun at one of the hostages.
James Jay Lee was an ardent environmentalist apparently, and an enemy of human life. Human life in Lee’s worldview was the enemy of the planet, and Lee declared himself the enemy of humanity, with a special rage towards infants, on behalf of the planet Earth. Read James Jay Lee’s manifesto here.
Lee will be forgotten as a madman. And surely anyone who takes innocent people hostage at gunpoint is mentally unstable in some way. Lee was a terrorist to be sure. Some will object to this idea as well. However, despite complicated psychological explanations and descriptions of what exactly a terrorist is, if a person uses terror to achieve their goals they are a terrorist. James Lee was a small time terrorist. It’s preposterous to claim that terrorists are somehow more mentally stable than James Lee was. Can we say of the 911 hijackers that they were sound-minded men with a reasonable plan, albeit, a misguided plan? Certainly not. Anyone claiming that needs their own examination. They were terrorists and so was James Lee.
And if in light of the absurdity of James Lee’s actions yesterday his worldview seems absurd, and, I think it truly is, we should not overlook the fact that it is nonetheless a worldview that finds more acceptance among environmentalists than we might think it does.
Consider this article from the UK Daily Mail from 2007 and shudder.
Or this article that is critical of the notion of child killing to save the planet.
Or the more overtly utilitarian thoughts of Peter Singer, a tenured Princeton Professor who sees child killing as a “means” to the “end” of a better world.
Or the worldview of President Obama’s scientific advisor John Holdren.
The madness that makes up the worldview that human children should be murdered with the goal of achieving a better world is much more embedded in our culture than we think. James Lee was unstable. But that is because James Lee’s worldview was unstable. We should be deeply concerned that his worldview is in near perfect sync with the worldview of too many, and one is too many, influential and powerful people.
While James Lee had to be stopped, it is equally important that his worldview be refuted. The loss of innocent human life stemming from the utilitarian worldview is massive. We can only hope and work to the end that people everywhere see these lies for the destructive force that they are and turn from it completely. Who would have thought that environmentalism could have come to this?
By There are truths that we encounter every day that everyone submits to. One such truth is the law of gravity. No one will deny that if I am a holding a rock in my hand and let it go the rock will fall to the ground.
What about moralistic truth? Do we believe that morals are based on each individuals subjective basis for truth or is there an objective standard that is higher than us on which we base truth? If we agree with option one, we find ourselves on a slippery slope, what is true for you might not be true for me, so I can do whatever I want and it does not matter if it encroaches upon your rights and happiness.
On the other hand, if truth is objective then we can no longer judge moralistic truth by our own standards, but instead we judge truth by something other than ourselves, our opinions or feelings. We judge truth by a fixed standard, one might say, a higher standard. Normally, this is attempted by the knowledge or opinion of a majority of people. Historically, this has proven to take us onto a slippery slope of trouble as seen in pre Civil War America with slavery, and Nazi Germany with the holocaust.
Where does this then leave us in the quest for moral truth? I submit for your consideration that the only objective standard to truth that isn’t subject to human prejudices and biases is that of the Bible, as it claims to be the words of the one and only unchanging God.
When outsiders who have never heard of God’s law follow it more or less by instinct, they confirm its truth by their obedience. They show that God’s law is not something alien, imposed on us from without, but woven into the very fabric of our creation. There is something deep within them that echoes God’s yes and no, right and wrong. (Romans 2:14-15 taken from the Message)
Paul here testifies that we all have objective truth in our hearts. Why else do we cry out for justice when we see wrong being done? No one ever hears about their neighbor’s house being broken into and says, “What the robber did was okay because the robber has a different moral standard than me or my neighbor.”
In the case of abortion and many other moral issues we have exchanged God’s truth for for a lie. No one naturally submits to God’s moral truth because we all make ourselves our own God. When people say that a woman should have the right to choose what happens to her baby, they are saying in essence that the woman is an autonomous being and she should not have to submit to law of nature and what naturally happens when sexual intercourse happens nor should she submit to what God declares to be right and wrong.
The pro-choice movement wants you to buy into the lie that there is no fixed standard for right or wrong. They want you to believe that a pre-born baby with a heartbeat isn’t worthy of dignity and respect. They want you to believe that it is an amoral humane choice to kill an infant with a disability since an infant isn’t a person (you can read more here). They want you to believe that it is normal and natural for a healthy pre-born baby to be delivered partially and then have its brain sucked out to terminate its life, and if that fails, it is acceptable to leave the baby that was born alive for dead (for more information go here and here).
The pro-choice movement wants us to believe all these things for reasons that appeal to subjective moral standards. One very common reason is a woman’s freedom over her body. Another is waiting for the right time when the home life is better or you have more money to properly support a family. My hearts goes out to the women who believe the lie of the pro-choice movement because of fear, whether it be fear of an unhealthy baby or fear of parenthood. Fear is common for most people in many situations, but fear shouldn’t lead us to trade truth for a lie. I’m praying that women in this most difficult of scenarios will embrace the truth about human life in the womb, that the children inside them are worthy of a chance at life because of the objective truth about who and what they are.
In December 2009, another mother smothered her baby to death and there was barely any news coverage. The reason for the lack of new coverage is because the baby was still connected to the mother by the umbilical chord and placenta.
“In the state of Virginia as long as the umbilical cord is attached and the placenta is still in the mother, if the baby comes out alive the mother can do whatever she wants to with that baby to kill it,” said Investigator Tracy Emerson. “She could shoot the baby, stab the baby. As long as it’s still attached to her in some form by umbilical cord or something it’s no crime in the state of Virginia.” You can read the rest here.
The mainstream media wants us to believe that only one of these cases presents children with worth and dignity. Our society wants us to believe if a baby is inside of a woman then said woman has a right over her own body to shoot, stab or even decapitate the child. The devil wants us to echo Pontius Pilate and throw reason to the wind by cynically asking “What is truth?”
What is the truth in this case? If truth is merely a matter of perspective and is subjectively decided upon by our own interpretation of an event, can anyone say that what Ms. Daley did is wrong?
A new birth control pill has been approved by the FDA. It comes with controversy as pro-lifers claim that it is an abortifacient pill and proponents of the pill claim it is not. The truth is that the FDA doesn’t know.
Read the attached PDF in which the pharmaceutical company and the FDA readily acknowledge that they do not know the effect the drug has on a “fetus”.
The Americans United for Life released a statement regarding the abortifacient nature of the drug and the irresponsibility of approving a drug that comes with such a great unknown.
Words for Young Pro-Life Evangelicals from Randy Alcorn, Or, for Old Burned Out Pro-Life Evangelicals Too.
By SethTuesday, August 10, 2010 6:28
Click the link to watch an interview Mark Driscoll hosted with Randy Alcorn at the Resurgence website. Randy shares some solid thoughts with young pro-life evangelicals.
Click here to check out Randy’s blog.
Click here to buy Randy’s pro-life book “Pro-Life Anwers to Pro-Choice Arguments”. It’s one of the most helpful and easy to read pro-life books I’ve come across.
An article in the American Spectator on August 3rd covered similar ground as the article on our site a few weeks ago noting the dubious nature of the Obama administration’s push for Kenyans to vote yes for their new draft constitution that would open the door for abortion on demand.
The American Spectator article also noted, regarding the language of the abortion provision, that:
“This language has the fingerprints of western abortion rights groups all over it. The Center for Reproductive Rights (CRR) has implored Clinton to “send a message to Kenya expressing support for the Draft Constitution and opposing any amendments to eliminate abortion language…”
Pro-abortion groups like the CRR have been lobbying for abortion in Kenya with propaganda videos like this:
This is the typical argument from the pro-abortion lobby as to why abortion should be legal and it’s emotional appeal is strong.
Yesterday, Kenyans voted in favor of the new constitution.
Neither the article I wrote a few weeks ago, or the article in the American Spectator on 8/3/10, were opposed to a new constitution for Kenya, but we are opposed to this particular constitution. The ratification of this constitution affirms that while Kenya may have a future government with a better balance of power, Kenya’s children are not safe.
What message did the Obama administration really send to Kenya with all it’s lobbying for this constitution? It was a soundly utilitarian message: The sacrifice of Kenya’s pre-born children is worthwhile, if it gives your country temporal stability. At it’s core however, the message is much simpler: money talks.
How long will we allow those who willfully shed innocent blood to dictate the terms of compassion to us?
Kenya has allowed the pro-abortion monster to do just this. What weary, poor and bleeding nation will be the next victim of the purveyors of this brand of bloody compassion? Make no mistake, the monster is hungry and it surely has another victim in sight.
By Ten tiny fingers and ten toes with the sweetest hands and feet you ever saw.
Two arms and two legs.
Two little ears to whisper countless “I love yous.”
One button nose.
The most kissable heart shaped lips.
The softest cheeks and little baby bum.
The fuzziest hair. Just like a baby chick.
And two almond shaped eyes.
Perfection.
I saved the best for last with my reminiscence of those memories of holding a brand new baby.
I’ve been thinking about something lately. Would I have felt the same if my own little bundle of perfection was born with Downs Syndrome? And I’ve come to realize that I would feel the same.
We don’t see many of those sweet almond eyes these days anymore. Their beautiful faces are missing from the landscape of our culture. When you go to the mall, the grocery store, the restaurants, the cleaners and the list could go on their presence is absent, but our culture wants us to embrace this “new normal” and discount the significance of their lives.
Babies with Downs Syndrome are a vanishing people group .
Every mother who has prenatal care (and even mothers who don’t) are given the option at 12 weeks to run a test to determine if their baby has Downs. And what next? Sadly, in most cases, abortion. In approximately 90% of cases where Trisomy 21(the downs bearing chromosome) is detected that is the end result. What a sad reality that is. Not only that, what percentage of those babies don’t have downs at all and parents make that life changing decision just like that.
But not everyone makes that decision. Oh how glad I am to see that those precious babies are saved!
We only get one life. Single, not plural. We only go round this planet once. And for the past 6 months I have been reading a blog of a Mom who has documented her baby’s first 6 months on this crazy, fun, and wild ride we call life. Her baby girl has Downs. She quotes an American poet named Mary Oliver who asks: “Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?”
This Mom answered that question in a manner we should all hope to answer it. A Mom who in spite of the odds, and the seemingly grim news that her baby had Downs, loved her completely, fully, and truly. A Mom who had the courage to take a step forward, to not walk away from life. To give birth to this incredible blessing. Her story is inspiring. If you read it you will see beauty come from ashes. And you will see life and the beauty of Downs babies in new ways.
I have never been the same.
The television show Friday Night Lights followed their episode dealing with abortion with another episode that only affirmed the pro-abortion perspective that was being sold in the episode I wrote about in the last article.
I won’t summarize the entire episode but here are a few clips:
In this episode, Becky, the girl who had the abortion, thanks her friend Tim, who offered his silent support of her abortion and lets him know that he was the most helpful person to her through the hardest thing she’s ever had to go through, namely, having an abortion.
The father of Becky’s now deceased child, Luke, comes from an evangelical Christian home, and his mom is, according to a NY Times “Arts” review of the episode, “portrayed as a narrow-minded fanatic who mistakes her own narcissism for virtue.”
Becky tells Luke at one point that she had a good conversation with his mom, yet, Luke’s Christian mother is also shown working behind the scenes to make somebody pay for the abortion killing of her grandchild. Perhaps in a following episode she will be vindicated but in this episode and the previous episode at least, she is placed in a rather humiliating light. She represents the pro-life position to the viewer and she is portrayed as emotionally deranged.
The pro-life position however, is not based on emotion. It is based on observable facts. Don’t misunderstand, Friday Night Lights doesn’t have to be fair to the pro-life position. The writers are free to write what they want to write. However, it should be known that they are not portraying the pro-life position accurately or fairly. This was a pro-abortion message.
And a significant part of that message was directed to men. That message? ”Men, shut up. What advice or counsel could you possibly give that would help a young woman in this position?” That’s my take on it anyway. Tim was the silent, passive, hero. Well, he did offer to give Becky a ride to the abortion clinic like a good lad.
My hope is that men rebel against this message. And I don’t just mean that I hope they shout louder at the next pro-life rally. I hope men take on a role of leadership in our culture that affirms the sanctity of human life in every possible way.
The pro-abortion lobby, already plunged deep into an abyss of insanity, would now have us believe that abortion affirms the sanctity of human life. Abortion, though emotionally difficult for women, affirms their womanhood and can be a beneficial solution to the problem child nestled in the womb. That’s the pro-abortion message behind these episodes of Friday Night Lights.
An NBC drama called Friday Night Lights covers the issue of abortion in a recent episode and it’s rousing delight in the pro-abortion lobby. In the episode a tenth grader gets pregnant and decides to have an abortion. The reason for delight amidst the pro-abortion lobby is of course, because she has the child killed.
Here’s a link to a pro-choice op-ed and the full episode. I watched it this morning and while I was moved by the writer’s depiction of the grief, the hardship, and the pressures that confront a young woman in this situation, the episode functioned on a premise I believe to be a lie.
What’s the premise? That children destroy our futures. There is an underlying assumption in this episode that tells the viewer that this young woman’s life is over if she chooses to have and raise her baby. This is a lie. The option of adoption is never mentioned and the veil is pulled over the viewers eyes from the start. All peer pressure in the episode is arrayed against the life of this pre-born child and the Texas law that requires an abortionist to describe the child and inform the woman of what happens during an abortion is vilified.
The episode ends in a curious way. The father of the child calls and tells her he will be there for her to help raise the child no matter what. She informs him that she has “taken care of it.” She hangs up and cries. The viewer is left, I suppose, to decide whether she regrets her decision or not, but only after a thorough pro-choice flogging. Of course she’s sad, but now she has her life back.
Does she?
Can we identify when we’re being fed a premise? I’m feeding my readers one right now. My premise is that pre-born children are humans deserving protection from humans and an opportunity to live.
We should out-rightly reject the premise behind this show. We should also take careful notes. These are the arguments that grease the machine that is the abortion industry in the United States of America. We have now a powerful, one-sided, pop-culture depiction of the abortion issue being praised for it’s compassionate approach to the issue. With this, we can be confident there is more to come.
Ronald Reagan said this in his 1983 essay called “Abortion and the Conscience of the Nation”:
“As we continue to work to overturn Roe v. Wade, we must also continue to lay the groundwork for a society in which abortion is not the accepted answer to unwanted pregnancy.”
How true. Both are noble efforts and we need people dedicated to both. I’m praying for a president to be elected in 2012 who gives us this kind of leadership. And I’m praying for pro-lifers to not have the patience to wait that long to lay down their lives in some form or fashion for pre-born children and the moms who are carrying them. Join us!