Monthly Archives: January 2015

All life is sacred, don’t you think?

Another ‘Sanctity of Human Life’ Sunday has arrived and still people refuse to logically consider the reality that pre-born babies are children in the womb.  Startling how callous our national heart has become to the needs of these ‘little ones’.  Shocking how we so ruthlessly deal with these precious little children while we so delicately cherish our right to choose who lives and who dies and pander our own self-pursuits.  Our culture has blinded itself to reality by sacrificing the truth concerning life in the womb.

As a result, we can no longer see how much we share in common with the little ones.  We have lost our ability to see and value life in the womb and have become a culture of death.

In this blog, I wish to compare and contrast the only differences that exist between a 30 year old adult and a baby in the womb and appeal to you to defend the sanctity of life from conception to grave.  Consider these differences.

First, there is the difference of SIZE.  Granted, there is quite a difference in size between a 2 pound baby and a 200 pound man.  But, does size alone make us a human possessing the right to life?  Ask yourself this question:  DOES SIZE DETERMINE humanness?  Recently I watched the announcement for the new Guinness Book of World Records acknowledgement of the record for the tallest/shortest men in the world.  The tallest man, Sultan Kosen of Turkey, standing a ginormous 8′ 9″, was introduced (for a photo op) to the smallest man, 21 1/2 inch tall Chandra Bahadur Dangi of Nepal.  The contrast is breathtaking.  Yet, is one MORE human than the other simply because he is bigger?  NO!  And the same is true with babies.  Yes, we are bigger in size.  But, that does not mean that they are less human…does it?

Second, there is the difference of the LEVEL OF DEVELOPMENT.  Think about this:  a five year old little boy or girl is not fully developed yet.  They are not fully developed emotionally, physically or mentally.  Does that mean they are less human than us?  NO!  The same is true of babies inside their mothers.  They are not fully developed yet, but that does not mean that they are less human…does it?

Third, there is the difference of ENVIRONMENT.  A baby in the womb and an astronaut in the International Space Station are in completely different environments.  Are they both human?  Yes.  WHERE you are does not change the realities of WHO you are as a person?   Babies in the womb AND astronauts in space deserve the same honor and protection as humans, because both of them are.   The developmental confinement of babies in the environment of the womb does not make them more or less human…does it?

Fourth, there is the difference of DEGREE OF DEPENDENCY.  Some say that babies in the womb aren’t really human yet because they are so dependent on their mothers for life.  If this is true, doesn’t it follow that many hospital patients are not human either because of their dependence on IVs, medications or breathing tubes for life?  Wouldn’t the mortality rate of those patients be quite high if someone removed the apparatus upon which they were so dependent?  A baby’s dependency doesn’t make them more or less human…does it?

Psalm 139 teaches that GOD is responsible for creating life in the womb.  HE has determined the degree of dependency.  HE has determined the environment.  HE has determined the developmental rate.  He has determined the size.

Perhaps we would do well to allow HIM to attend to those issues of life and WE should attend to the task of protecting, honoring and preserving that life.  What do you think?

If this acronym S. L. E. D. seems useful, please send this to a friend.

They’re just dumb animals aren’t they?

Occasionally, we’ll read a Bible account of God’s working in human lives and notice that some of His sovereign action involved animals and birds.  We can think of Noah’s raven and dove, Abraham’s ram, Balaam’s donkey, Samson’s foxes, Job’s leviathan, Absalom’s mule, Jonah’s big fish, Amos’ sheep, Peter’s fishes or Jesus’ victory horse, to name a few.

Possibly, though, we have never really thought about Elisha’s oxen.  The account is found in I Kings 19:19-21.  There, God reveals to us that Elijah is about to be called to appear before Him.  His ministry is almost complete and Elisha will be taking the prophetic mantle of responsibility.  When he arrives near Elisha’s home, Elijah finds Elisha farming–plowing his field.  In use is the plowing equipment and twelve yoke of oxen, one pair of which, Elisha himself is driving.  Elijah approaches, casts the prophet’s mantle around Elisha’s shoulders and awaits a response.  Immediately Elisha prepares to follow.

In waiting are the oxen.

Certainly these fine animals enjoyed a sort of ‘break in the action’ as the two prophets conferred with each other and God made apparent His choice of Elijah’s successor.  What happened next certainly significantly altered the oxen’s  meager existence and opens our eyes to a spiritual lesson.

As God grabs hold of Elisha, Elisha grabbed hold of the plowing equipment to make a fire and grabbed the oxen to make a sacrifice–perhaps not exactly the way the oxen had thought the day might end up.  Yet here they stood:  on one hand was the field of work and on the other was the fire of sacrifice.

In my imagination, wondering what it would have been like if the oxen would have possessed a rational mind to logically think through the options, they might have had reason to pause.  At this point in the account, for them anyway, fresh bedding in a stall, fresh water in a bucket and fresh hay in a manger might have been a pretty good ending to the work day.  But, as it was, they willingly walked to the fire of sacrifice as willingly as they had earlier walked to the field of work.  WOW!

In a way, I deeply admire the oxen.  And I find myself agreeing with a thought taken from the nineteenth century preacher C. H. Spurgeon.  In a prayer, he calls to God and says:  ‘Jesus accept me.  I here present myself to Thee…Like [Elisha’s] bullocks, I stand between the plow and the alter, ready to work or to be sacrificed.  And my motto is simply, “READY FOR EITHER”!’

May this ‘new year’s resolution season’ find us saying to our great God and Savior, ‘TAKE ME AND USE ME, FOR I AM YOURS!  USE ME TO BRING GLORY TO YOUR NAME AND GLADNESS TO YOUR HEART.  I’M READY FOR BOTH’.   Amen.