Posted by Gary on August 28, 2009
In the post preceding this one I shared some thoughts on Senator Edward Kennedy and his advocacy of abortion. I have wondered what will be said by the priest that officiates his funeral tomorrow. It should be interesting. According to the catechism of the Catholic Church, to have an abortion is grounds for excommunication. From the catechism:
2272 Formal cooperation in an abortion constitutes a grave offense.
The Church attaches the canonical penalty of excommunication to this crime against human life.
"A person who procures a completed abortion incurs excommunication latae sententiae,"76 "by the very commission of the offense,"77 and subject to the conditions provided by Canon Law.78
The Church does not thereby intend to restrict the scope of mercy.
Rather, she makes clear the gravity of the crime committed, the irreparable harm done to the innocent who is put to death, as well as to the parents and the whole of society.
Catechism of the Catholic Church: PART THREE: LIFE IN CHRIST -SECTION TWO THE TEN COMMANDMENTS -CHAPTER TWO YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF -Article 5 THE FIFTH COMMANDMENT
If having an abortion is grounds for excommunication, what does the church say about those who have helped to legalize abortion, have spoken in favor of it and have voted against attempts to stop abortion or curtail it?
Today I came across this article in Time mentioning the pope’s silence since Kennedy’s death, intimating that Edward Kennedy and the rest of the Kennedy family are not in good standing with Rome:
One veteran official at the Vatican, of U.S. nationality, expressed the view of many conservatives about the Kennedy clan’s rapport with the Catholic Church: "Why would he even write a letter to the Pope? The Kennedys have always been defiantly in opposition to the Roman Catholic magisterium."…
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Back at headquarters, however, there is little room for nuance. "Here in Rome Ted Kennedy is nobody. He’s a legend with his own constituency," says the Vatican official. "If he had influence in the past it was only with the Archdiocese of Boston and that eventually disappeared too."
Posted by Gary on August 27, 2009
Ezekiel 18:23 "Do I have any pleasure in the death of the wicked, declares the Lord God, rather than that he should turn from his ways and live?”
Ephesians 5:11-13 “
Do not participate in the unfruitful deeds of darkness, but instead even expose them; for it is disgraceful even to speak of the things which are done by them in secret. But all things become visible when they are exposed by the light, for everything that becomes visible is light.”
Thoughts here flow from the recent passing of Senator Edward Kennedy. As the passage from Ezekiel above makes clear, God does not take pleasure in the death of the wicked and our attitude as His people should be the same. I have many things I think in regard to the late Senator but I do not delight in his death. Senator Kennedy is now in eternity and my heart is bent toward mercy for anyone who is now in that realm in which nothing can be changed and all things are permanent and eternal. I remember a professor of mine in Bible college quoting another teacher with this phrase:
“Eternity is God taking our choices and making them permanent.”
While I do not delight in Senator Kennedy’s death, his life and what he championed bears examination. Senator Kennedy’s death begins what will be an ongoing line of legislators who sponsored the death of millions of unborn children entering eternity.
Now here a master work of the devil is put to work…you and I are not to evaluate another person’s life and talk with any sense of judgment regarding what they did or taught others to do. I have heard this over and over since Kennedy’s death, we are not to say anything, we are to put all differences aside (as if our differences are about who will win the Super Bowl or who makes better peanut butter, Skippy or Jif?)
Again, I do not mean a certain kind of talk concerning the deceased, if God takes no pleasure in their death than I must be careful about how I react to it. I am talking about an honest review of a person’s actions and philosophy and its impact on the world and the devil will not have us do it.
I will grant that Senator Kennedy brought about good in certain ways during his time in the Senate but he was also the advocate of one of the greatest evils that has ever come about in human history, the legalization of infanticide, the slaughter of unborn children, everyone of them bearing the image of God since conception.
Of course most of us are well past this…it is law, the Supreme Court has said it is ok and so the rest of us need to get over it right? We will not.
If abortion is not wrong in the eyes of God then there is no reason for concern. If it is, and Kennedy’s church, Roman Catholicism has declared it is. More importantly, the Bible declares that life begins at conception and that we are known by God as His creatures before we are formed in the womb. Therefore, killing children in the womb is sin. Accepting Biblical truth and even the declaration of his church, Kennedy has been the agent of great evil in the sight of God and against mankind.
“Hush” says the devil, you are not to think about or discuss such things concerning this man, he has died and it is not nice to talk about him. What a schemer the devil is, he would have us think that great sin is talking about a man after he has died while all the while we witness and do nothing about the slaughter of children. How nice Americans are in these days…civil, kind unwilling to talk about a man’s role in the slaughter of children. While we were being nice today 1,500 children were put to death in America and 115,068 worldwide.
Because talking about these things is mean, most people will never evaluate Kennedy’s life in the light they should which is, to what degree did his life reflect the truth and glory of God. Through the call to niceness, the devil continues to keep us in the dark. Tremendous evil continues and we will not see it or turn from it.
You can see a report of Kennedy’s history of voting on life issues here.
By the way, challenging a person to consider their actions before God and where they will spend eternity is the nicest thing you can ever do. I do wonder if any priest, bishop, cardinal or pope ever warned the Senator about the evil of his ways and what it would mean for him in eternity?
Posted by Gary on February 2, 2009
Take a moment to watch this TV ad that NBC would not air last night from the group CatholicVote. It is a brilliant spot that reveals the great hypocrisy of infant murder advocates who tell us that it would be better for children to be put to death than to enter life in difficult circumstances.
Posted by Gary on January 23, 2009
Today is January 22, 2009. On this day 36 years ago abortion on demand became the law of our land. Since then we have put to death 40,000,000 of our children. Do you care?
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I can hardly believe the day has come and on the anniversary of Roe v. Wade no less. I must confess my surprise that deliverance would come under our new president Barack Obama but alas, it has. Did you miss the news? If we can take President Obama at his word today we can expect soon the end of the practice of abortion. Here is his statement:
“First, I can say without exception or equivocation that the United States will not torture…
How we have prayed for this, the day when America would recognize the torture it has inflicted on others. Since 1973 we have tortured and murdered over 40,000,000 of our children. Let us all rejoice that today we came to recognize that torture is wrong and have committed ourselves to torture no more.
Imagine, no more:
Suction Aspiration: “General or local anesthesia is given to the mother and her cervix is quickly dilated. A suction curette (hollow tube with a knife-edged tip) is inserted into the womb. This instrument is then connected to a vacuum machine by a transparent tube. The vacuum suction, 29 times more powerful than a household vacuum cleaner, tears the fetus and placenta into small pieces which are sucked through the tube into a bottle and discarded.”
Dilation and Curettage (D&C): “This method is similar to the suction method with the added insertion of a hook shaped knife (curette) which cuts the baby into pieces. The pieces are scraped out through the cervix and discarded [Note: This abortion method should not be confused with a therapeutic D&C done for reasons other than pregnancy.]”
Dilation and Evacuation (D&E): “This method is used up to 18 weeks gestation. Instead of the loop-shaped knife used in D&C abortions, a pair of forceps is inserted into the womb to grasp part of the fetus. The teeth of the forceps twist and tear the bones of the unborn child. This process is repeated until the fetus is totally dismembered and removed. Usually the spine must be snapped and the skull crushed in order to remove them.”
Salt Poisoning (Saline Injection): “Used after 16 weeks (four months) when enough fluid has accumulated. A long needle injects a strong salt solution through the mother’s abdomen into the baby’s sac. The baby swallows this fluid and is poisoned by it. It also acts as a corrosive, burning off the outer layer of skin. It normally takes somewhat over an hour for the baby to die from this. Within 24 hours, labor will usually set in and the mother will give birth to a dead or dying baby. (There have been many cases of these babies being born alive. They are usually left unattended to die. However, a few have survived and later been adopted.)”
Prostaglandin Chemical Abortion: This form of abortion uses chemicals developed by the Upjohn Pharmaceutical Co. which cause the uterus to contract intensely, pushing out the developing baby. The contractions are more violent than normal, natural contractions, so the unborn baby is frequently killed by them — some have even been decapitated. Many, however, have also been born alive.
Hysterotomy or Caesarean Section Used mainly in the last three months of pregnancy, the womb is entered by surgery through the wall of the abdomen. The technique is similar to a Caesarean delivery, except that the umbilical cord is usually cut while the baby is still in the womb, thus cutting off his oxygen supply and causing him to suffocate. Sometimes the baby is removed alive and simply left in a corner to die of neglect or exposure.
Partial-Birth Abortion: Five steps to a partial birth abortion:
- Guided by ultrasound, the abortionist grabs the baby’s legs with forceps.
- The baby’s leg is pulled out into the birth canal.
- The abortionist delivers the baby’s entire body, except for the head.
- The abortionist jams scissors into the baby’s skull. The scissors are then opened to enlarge the skull.
- The scissors are removed and a suction catheter is inserted. The child’s brains are sucked out, causing the skull to collapse. The dead baby is then removed.
(Abortion procedure information taken from LifeSiteNews)
In the majority position of the Supreme Court decision (pp.7-8) that upheld the ban on Partial Birth Abortion Justice Kennedy made reference to this description of Partial Birth Abortion by a nurse who participated in the torture:
“Dr. Haskell went in with forceps and grabbed the baby’s legs and pulled them down into the birth canal.Then he delivered the baby’s body and the arms everything but the head. The doctor kept the head right inside the uterus. . . .
The baby’s little fingers were clasping and unclasping, and his little feet were kicking. Then the doctor stuck the scissors in the back of his head, and the baby’s arms jerked out, like a startle reaction, like a flinch, like a baby does when he thinks he is going to fall.
The doctor opened up the scissors, stuck a high-powered suction tube into the opening, and sucked the baby’s brains out. Now the baby went completely limp. . . .
He cut the umbilical cord and delivered the placenta. He threw the baby in a pan, along with the placenta and the instruments he had just used.”
Were you aware that these are the types of things we have been doing to our children for the last 36 years?
I do not rejoice at the thought of anyone being mistreated or harmed but when I watched the President today make his announcement with all the implied disdain for methods used to get information from detainees at Guantanamo Bay I was angered. America is not going to torture? Strapping a man on board and submerging him in water is torture but the above murderous procedures are not?
How righteous and smug the new administration was today, they have corrected our tortuous ways. Be very afraid children, never has such a large collection of infant murder supporters been gathered together and given authority.
Already we see that President Obama is at work in the abortion realm as Fox News reports: “President Obama will issue an executive order on Thursday reversing the Bush administration policy that bans the use of federal dollars by non-governmental organizations that discuss or provide abortions outside of the United States.”
When President Obama was campaigning he made a promise to sign into law the Freedom Of Choice Act (FOCA). You need to make yourself familiar with this repeal of nearly every restriction that we have succeeded in imposing on infant murder.
I refuse to have the false charge of being unpatriotic keep me from revealing the sinful, murderous reality of what is being done by our country. Multitudes today believe that we have purged sin and ascended in righteousness, America no longer tortures we are told. Yes, we do.
Posted by Gary on November 14, 2008
A South Carolina Catholic priest has had the audacity to tell his parishioners that their claim to faith should govern their choices in life. In a day when you and I are told that we can define what being a Christian is or that we can practice Christianity cafeteria style (“I’ll take that, but not that”) the Reverend Jay Scott Newman has spoken clearly:
"Voting for a pro-abortion politician when a plausible pro-life alternative exits constitutes material cooperation with intrinsic evil, and those Catholics who do so place themselves outside of the full communion of Christ’s Church and under the judgment of divine law. Persons in this condition should not receive Holy Communion until and unless they are reconciled to God in the Sacrament of Penance, lest they eat and drink their own condemnation."
Under the judgment of divine law? Reverend Newman don’t you know that we don’t believe such a thing even exists? At least not for people who go to church. We really believe that judgment only awaits only a few people and of course not us or anyone we love. Judgment belongs to people who do horrible things like murder people, you know like Hitler and his six million or Stalin and his thirty million. You don’t mean to assert that our annual murder of forty two million babies will bring divine judgment do you?
Condemnation? Reverend Newman you and your kind are the real extremists, you mean to tell us that we are sinful and evil people who deserve to be punished. Even worse you would have us believe that God actually condemns people and sends them to hell. Maybe your God Reverend Newman but not our God, our God is love. Yes, we know His Word contains many warnings of His justice and holiness but we know that God finally realized that He was being unloving and harsh and changed Himself:
Malachi 3:6 "For I, the LORD, do not change…”
Jesus doesn’t have anything to do with judgment:
Revelation 19:11-15 “And I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse, and He who sat on it is called Faithful and True, and in righteousness He judges and wages war. His eyes are a flame of fire, and on His head are many diadems; and He has a name written on Him which no one knows except Himself. He is clothed with a robe dipped in blood, and His name is called The Word of God. And the armies which are in heaven, clothed in fine linen, white and clean, were following Him on white horses. From His mouth comes a sharp sword, so that with it He may strike down the nations, and He will rule them with a rod of iron; and He treads the wine press of the fierce wrath of God, the Almighty.”
WAIT! There is more to read… read on »
Posted by Gary on November 6, 2008
Psalm 127:3-5 “Behold, children are a gift of the Lord, the fruit of the womb is a reward. Like arrows in the hand of a warrior, so are the children of one’s youth. How blessed is the man whose quiver is full of them; they will not be ashamed when they speak with their enemies in the gate.”
Our family is grateful to God for the gift He gave us this past Tuesday of a new daughter, Anna Grace. Anna is our sixth child and we are grateful to God for each one of them. We welcome you little Anna. May you come to know Christ the Savior. We pray that you will serve Him all your days and do His will. May you marry a man who knows and serves God and bear children for God’s glory.
You enter a world that is hostile toward God and for all its talk, toward children also but do not worry, your God is mighty and will prevail. In our eyes you are a gift and a blessing not a punishment.
On your behalf and on the behalf of all children we will go out to the gate to speak to God’s enemies to call them to repent and be reconciled to Him and we will not be ashamed.
Posted by Gary on November 4, 2008
Proverbs 29:2 “When the righteous increase, the people rejoice, but when a wicked man rules, people groan.”
If you know me or have read anything on my Blog you know that it is my conviction that the hope of the Christian must never be in politicians or the political process. I have asserted and am convinced that we followers of Jesus have traded Gospel truth and power for political activism. The Church of Jesus Christ needs to repent and return to God as our hope. We must be willing to live Godly in Christ Jesus and embrace the persecution that will follow (2 Timothy 3:12).
It is time for me to practice what I preach for it appears that Barack Obama will be our next president. America has chosen a leader who has no equal in determination to murder the unborn. America, you are determined to ruin yourself. You believe you have found the answer to your problems but what can Mr. Obama do for you?
Isaiah 1:15-16 "So when you spread out your hands in prayer, I will hide My eyes from you; yes, even though you multiply prayers, I will not listen. Your hands are covered with blood. Wash yourselves, make yourselves clean; remove the evil of your deeds from My sight. Cease to do evil…”
Psalm 94:20-21 “Can a throne of destruction be allied with You, one which devises mischief by decree? They band themselves together against the life of the righteous and condemn the innocent to death.”
One of the men of my church recently said to me that the outcome of this election will likely reveal just how displeased God is with us. God is just, He gives to men and nations according to their deeds (Revelation 2:23). You may say what you want but it boils down to this. Human beings bear the image of God so to murder someone is to attack God Himself:
Genesis 9:6 "Whoever sheds man’s blood, by man his blood shall be shed, for in the image of God He made man.”
To willfully choose an advocate of child murder as our leader is our declaration to God, we hate Him and will attack His image by murdering our offspring, we will not have God rule over us.
Here is the silver lining, perhaps a wicked ruler will cause the Church to turn to God and to understand again that our hope, power and victory must come from Him. Those of us who have been redeemed and know righteousness groan.
Our hope is in the Lord our God.
Posted by Gary on October 24, 2008
Ephesians 5:11-14 “Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them. For it is shameful even to speak of the things that they do in secret. But when anything is exposed by the light, it becomes visible, for anything that becomes visible is light. Therefore it says, “Awake, O sleeper, and arise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.”
(I normally do not comment on the actions and words of celebrities because most of them are not saved and there is no reason to expect from them anything other than sinful words and behavior, but because Bono claims Christ as Savior I write the following):
Earlier this week Bono addressed the CA Women’s conference speaking of the plight of children in Africa. Bono stated that men have developed an “ability” to live with the “absurdity” of what is happening to Africa’s children and then declared that “women haven’t”.
It is amazing to watch the blindness that veils the eyes of people who can on one hand see the value of some children’s lives and be concerned for their plight while supporting the ruthless murder of others. While I’m sure there were women in attendance who hold the lives of the unborn as sacred you can be sure that the overall majority in attendance here are ardent supporters of infant murder (Bono makes reference to the presence of the “Great Gloria Steinem”).
Women haven’t developed an ability to live with the absurdity of what is happening to children? First of all, absurdity will not suffice. Severing an infants limbs and vacuuming them out of the their mother’s womb or delivering them up to the head and then puncturing a hole at the base of their skull and suctioning out their brain is not absurd, it is murderous and wicked.
How could Bono say that women haven’t developed this ability to live with the plight of children when they murder 42 million of their own each year?
You know how this works don’t you? How does the devil blind us to the evil of our ways? He always gives us something good to do. Who isn’t for helping the orphaned, needy children of Africa? Yet it is this proper concern for some children that we use to justify our willing participation and support of the murder of other children. We must be good people, we care about the children in Africa!
It is really very scary. If you watch the video above (I suggest at least from the 7:30 mark on) you will hear the hush that falls over the room as Bono holds before us the plight of Africa’s children and urges us to action and yet how many children have had their lives ruthlessly ended by those sitting there listening?
What Bono did here was immoral and shameless. While speaking to a group of adoring women he referred to men as those who have “a penis but no conscience”. Bono brought an obligation on himself when he passed judgment on the consciences of some, his obligation at that point was to speak to all. How dare you Bono speak to an auditorium full of women who murder children and say nothing about their consciences. Yes, you were loved, you were the hero and you were false.
Bono near the conclusion stated:
“You do not have to explain to the women of America, the mothers of America, the value of a child’s life (pause) on far away shores, that I’m sure.”
Yes Bono, a great number of America’s women need to have the value of a child’s life explained to them and no group needed it explained to them more than the group you were speaking to and you said nothing. You as a false prophet deceived their consciences by assuring them that their hearts are good because they care about children who have escaped the womb and said nothing about those don’t. Why were you silent about them? What does this say about your male conscience?
I do not even know if Bono opposes abortion (the Christianity of our day allows the support of infant murder you know) but if he does I know why he did not condemn it here…because to have spoken truth on this occasion would have been to forfeit the love and adoration of his listeners. Bono would have moved from being an idolized rock star to God’s spokesmen. Instead of throwing bras at Bono they would have thrown rocks.
Ezekiel 3:17-18 “Son of man, I have made you a watchman for the house of Israel. Whenever you hear a word from my mouth, you shall give them warning from me. If I say to the wicked, ‘You shall surely die,’ and you give him no warning, nor speak to warn the wicked from his wicked way, in order to save his life, that wicked person shall die for his iniquity, but his blood I will require at your hand.”
Posted by Gary on October 13, 2008
We are focusing on zeros a lot these days as we total the cost of the recent economic bail out plan. We are all very concerned about this 750 billion dollars and at some level I am also.
There is another set of zeros that I am afraid many do not know about and they likely do not know because they don’t care to know. Were you aware that every year 42,000,000 (42 million) babies are put to death in their mother’s wombs?
This figure was reported in 2007 with the amazing attachment that this figure reflects a 17% decline (from 1995-2003) so previously the annual murder rate of unborn children worldwide was closer to 50,000,000 (fifty million).
The story reveals that worldwide 1 in every 5 pregnancies results in abortion and actually 1 in every 3 in Europe. You can also break down 42,000,000 abortions this way:
- 115,068 unborn children put to death every day of the year
- 4,794 unborn children put to death every hour
- 79 unborn children put to death every minute
- 1 (plus a third statistically) unborn child put to death every second
Why don’t we care about these zeros may I ask? As we head to the election booth in a few weeks I fear that most people will vote based on the zeros attached to their wallets and retirement funds while they tell themselves that all this talk about dead babies is fanaticism.
I am sure many would say to me, “How can you make this one issue the thing on which you will base your vote?” To which I respond, how can you make your wallet the main thing on which you will base your vote? For what life are you living, this one or the one to come? The matter is very simple, we are to regard as important what God says is important. It is also an argument from the greater to the lesser, if a man cannot see the most important issue correctly how can I trust him to see less important matters correctly?
If you are an average reader, 90 babies died in the time you read this post. Do you care? Do you fear God? Quit worrying about your finances, our souls are on the scales of justice, what good can your money do you there?
Proverbs 11:4 “Riches do not profit in the day of wrath, but righteousness delivers from death.”
Posted by Gary on August 28, 2008
Isaiah 1:15-18 "So when you spread out your hands in prayer, I will hide My eyes from you; yes, even though you multiply prayers, I will not listen. Your hands are covered with blood. Wash yourselves, make yourselves clean; remove the evil of your deeds from My sight. Cease to do evil, Learn to do good; seek justice, reprove the ruthless, defend the orphan, plead for the widow. Come now, and let us reason together, says the LORD, Though your sins are as scarlet, They will be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, They will be like wool."
In keeping with the theme of the post below, I likewise "want" you to watch this. The video below is an interview by Bill O’Reilly with Jill Stanek a nurse who testified before the Illinois state senate and U.S. Congress about infants who survived abortions who were then allowed to die, some placed in dirty laundry closets and left.
Here is a brief excerpt from Jill’s bio:
- I was a registered nurse in the Labor & Delivery Department at Christ Hospital in Oak Lawn, Illinois, in 1999 when discovering babies were being aborted alive and shelved to die in the soiled utility room.
- Went public when hospital leaders said that they would not stop. The disclosure immediately grabbed the attention of legislators and media.
Was asked to testify before a U.S. House committee in 2000 and 2001 for the Born Alive Infants Protection Act.
- Was fired in August 2001 by Christ Hospital for reasons related to my public outspokenness to its abortion practices.
When it comes to taxes, immigration and national defense I will keep my peace, it is not my calling to enter these realms. When it comes to life we must speak. We can thank God that the Born Alive Infants Protection Act was passed and this evil practice was halted. I would have us know that Senator Obama who is now the Democrat candidate for President would not support this legislation even though Ted Kennedy and Hillary Clinton did.
This is very simply an argument from the greater to the lesser. If a man does not see life rightly how can he be trusted to see lesser things rightly? I know, we have all these compartments we can put things into and our beliefs and practices in one area do not affect our beliefs and practices in another right? My eye.
Candidates, pundits, and the man on the street talk endlessly about what America’s problems are and what is needed. It is all a waste of time for their diagnosis never includes our rejection of the One, True, God and our willingness to slaughter the children who bear His image, to attack them is to attack the God whose image they bear.
It is a tragic marvel that some evangelicals and Catholics are considering supporting Obama. All the talk of coming together, if you fear God how do you come together with someone who advocates killing children after they have been delivered? What is the greater cause that you feel electing someone like this will accomplish? So you get everyone health care and dole out more money to those who claim they need it yet continue our crash course with the justice of God, what are we going to have when it is all said and done, when God gives us what we deserve?
Posted by Gary on August 14, 2008
The Jerusalem Post has a story on Barack Obama’s abortion views entitled, Obama is no moderate: His radical position on ‘abortion’ after birth. From the article:
Earlier this decade, such living, breathing, babies who survived labor were "shelved" – left to die and disposed of with other medical waste, or were "aborted" – killed outside the womb. The practice was ultimately banned by unanimous Congressional votes, as even the most pro-abortion Senate Democrats – including every defender of partial-birth abortion – recognized that killing these breathing babies is no longer abortion in any real sense. It crosses the line; it is infanticide. Yet, incredibly, Obama repeatedly worked to deny these living babies any right to life.
The article includes a nurse’s eyewitness account of this murderous practice (now illegal) which she shared with the committee on which Obama served:
Jill Stanek, an Illinois nurse, testified in the U.Ss Congress in 2000 and 2001 – and before Obama’s Illinois Senate Judiciary Committee – about how induced labor abortions were handled at her hospital, relating this story: "One night, a nursing co-worker was taking an aborted Down syndrome baby who was born alive to our Soiled Utility Room because his parents did not want to hold him, and she did not have the time to hold him. I couldn’t bear the thought of this suffering child lying alone in a soiled utility room, so I cradled and rocked him for the 45 minutes that he lived." Powerful stuff. Obama, however, was reportedly "unfazed" by her testimony.
The Post story recounts the debate in the Illinois Senate as it considered a law similar to the Born Alive Infants Protection Act (BAIPA):
But not Obama. In March of 2001, Obama’s Illinois Judiciary Committee considered a law substantially identical to the BAIPA. It passed the Committee, with Obama voting against. In front of the full Illinois Senate, Obama was the only senator to speak against the bill, arguing that life protection extended to any preterm babies could jeopardize abortion rights. He voted "present," tantamount to a "no" vote. In March of 2002, Obama’s Committee passed the Induced Birth Liability Act, requiring medical care for babies who survive induced labor abortions – Obama again voting "present," arguing that the Act would "create one more burden on women, and I can’t support that."
In 2003, the Democrats took control of the Illinois Senate, and Obama became Chairman of the Health and Human Services Committee. A Committee member sponsored an Amendment that would adopt the exact same language in Illinois’s proposed BAIPA that Senator Boxer was satisfied did not curtail any abortion rights in the federal BAIPA. But as Chairman, Obama unilaterally killed the bill by never allowing a Committee vote, thereby preventing it from being voted on by the full Senate and becoming law.
Here is the conclusion the Jerusalem Post makes on Obama’s abortion position, it is startling:
Obama’s position essentially boils down to this: a woman who contracts for an abortion is entitled, one way or another, to a dead baby. A dead baby must result, even if that baby had already been a distinct living being. The killing of some live babies is just part of the price we must pay in order to keep the sacred right to an abortion supreme and absolute, beyond any shadow of a doubt.
Posted by Gary on
The press is out with stories today concerning Democratic Party’s position statement on abortion. Bloomberg refers to one section as a "departure":
The final paragraph represents a departure: “The Democratic Party also strongly supports a woman’s decision to have a child by ensuring access to and availability of programs for pre- and post-natal health care, parenting skills, income support and caring adoption programs.”
As a pastor I understand the importance of words, every word when speaking of matters of life, death and eternity is vital. This statement is nothing but political wordsmanship, it has no meaning whatsoever. If you want proof of this only consider that pro-abortion advocates accept the language.
This is a departure? A departure from what? Are we to take it that formerly democrats did not strongly support a woman’s decision to have a baby?
Take a moment and read the Bloomberg piece and you will find that this is all about appeasing the consciences of evangelicals so that they can vote for Obama.
Also from the article:
“For many, many evangelicals, that’s a deal-breaker,” said Rick Warren, 54, author of “The Purpose Driven Life” and pastor of the Saddleback Church in Lake Forest, California, where both Obama and McCain will speak Aug. 16. “I don’t care how many other issues you’re right on, but if you’re wrong on that, they consider it a holocaust.”
Notice the avoidance of the first person. What should we take "for many" and "they" to mean from Warren? Is it a deal breaker for him? Does he consider abortion a holocaust?
One more item, this one from the Washington Post and an article entitled, "Obama’s Abortion Extremism" which includes a belief that infants that survive an abortion should still be put to death:
But Obama’s record on abortion is extreme. He opposed the ban on partial-birth abortion — a practice a fellow Democrat, the late Daniel Patrick Moynihan, once called "too close to infanticide." Obama strongly criticized the Supreme Court decision upholding the partial-birth ban. In the Illinois state Senate, he opposed a bill similar to the Born-Alive Infants Protection Act, which prevents the killing of infants mistakenly left alive by abortion. And now Obama has oddly claimed that he would not want his daughters to be "punished with a baby" because of a crisis pregnancy — hardly a welcoming attitude toward new life.
Michael Gerson (Washington Post Op-Ed Columnist)
As we draw closer to November, what is it that your are going to base your choice of a candidate on? Is life a deal-breaker for you?
Posted by Gary on June 7, 2008
My brother in the ministry Tim Bayly (BaylyBlog) has a post that I would highly recommend you make time for on the issue of abortion. The post which excerpts an essay by Joe Sobran demonstrates how abortion touches every realm, consideration and issue of our existence.
Often Christians are labeled “one issue” voters. This label is one that I am not ashamed of. It is simply an argument of the greater to the lesser, if a candidate cannot see the most important issue (life) correctly how can I trust him to see lesser issues as he should?
Here is an excerpt from Sobran’s essay:
…I have found that the abortion issue has so many ramifications that it can’t possibly remain isolated. Time and again when I thought everything there was to say had been said, new and vital considerations came to the fore, The Court’s disruption of life rippled outward to disrupt the family: it ruled that women were entitled to get abortions without informing their husbands, and teenage girls without informing their parents. The Court’s very willingness to assert these things implied something deeply ominous: that the state could redefine family relations, as well as life itself, at its whim.
All these issues converge in the abortion issue. Just what is being killed when the tiniest human embryo is destroyed? Do we dare to say it is nothing? Do we dare to risk assuming the role of enemies of creation? The very act of abortion implies something grave about the whole universe. If it is not wrong, then what can be right? Do we exist in a void in which nothing matters? Is the whole sense of piety–the motive of so much important human action, in history and in our daily lives–deluded?
You can read Tim’s post (which includes a link to Sobran’s entire essay) here.
