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Showing posts with label abortion. Show all posts
Showing posts with label abortion. Show all posts
Excommunication and Abortion: The Holy Spirits Best "Last-Ditch" Attempt At Working Repentance
0 comments Posted by Drew Lomax at 12:00 PMI've waited some time on posting about this story, mostly because of its controversial nature, but I think there is no easy way to put forth what I'm about to say.
First, you may or may not have heard about the story of the nine-year-old Brazilian girl who was abused and raped by her stepfather, which resulted in her impregnation of twins. This simply is a horrible, tragic event which words fail to describe, and thoughts can ever come to terms with. Quite honestly it's stories like these that make me crave the day for Christ's return so that we can be free of this wicked horror and evil which dwells in our very hearts.
Beside the horror of this case, two questions arise. First , "can a girl that age actually, physically bare children?"
Her doctor, Jose Severiano Cavalcanti said, "We don't know if she will develop the pregnancy up to the end because of the structure of her body. It is a big risk for her,'' further saying, "She doesn't have a pelvis able to support a gestation of twins....''
Alright, second question that I believe would pop up in the minds of many would be, "considering the heinousness of the crime perpetrated against her, the complications such a situation brings, and the danger to her overall health, should she get an abortion?"
In Brazil, a heavily Roman Catholic nation, abortion is illegal except in cases of incest and danger of physical harm to the mother, at least as is decided by their judicial system. This case obviously fits both bills, and is to be the ultimate outcome in this poor girls case.
However, this is where things began to get complicated. The office of the Archdiocese for the Roman Catholic Church in that region of Brazil has condemned the abortion as murder, and suggested that the girl should have attempted to carry the twins to the gestational date and perform a cesarean section when the girl was due.
Pro-choicers the world over were "up in arms" over this, as to be expected. However, they were to be even more irate over what happened next, for the Arch-Bishop of this region in Brazil, as a result of the girls abortion, excommunicated the abortion practitioners and her mother from the Church (they did not excommunicate the little girl) siting, "The law of God is higher than any human laws. When a human law - that is, a law enacted by human legislators - is against the law of God, that law has no value." He also stated, "The adults who approved, who carried out this abortion have incurred excommunication."
One commentator, an atheist who writes for the Examiner, regarding this case stated,
The church is so interested in protecting the lives of the unborn, it seems they lose sight of the humanity that is staring them right in the face. What about the rights of this little girl to live? I suppose it was God's will for that conception to take place. Therefore, it is not for man to undo it by abortion. And by this line of thinking, perhaps it was God's will for that poor little girl to be raped. And by God's hand that sick man was created and eventually placed in the presence of the little girl. And it was by God that that man was created in the image of God. And now, the church wants to evoke God in this case... where was God when this girl was allegedly raped? It is sickening that the church continues to place so much faith in their supposed loving mythical being that they would choose the unborn child over the living child. Where is the humanity in that?
So, it's safe to say this was a controversial case all around, and its cases like this that seem to give credence to the Pro-choicer's side of the argument. You see, when looking at this case with our natural, unaided human reason it seems quite easy to see it through the atheists eyes, that is, if God is responsible for the human life created in the womb of this little child, how then is He devoid of any responsibility when the girl was attacked by her stepfather, or how does He escape any culpability in threatening the life of this child by foreordaining this pregnancy to begin with?
However, the atheist needs to substantiate some claims on their side as well for any of their condemnation to make sense. For instance, when an atheist charges a person or an organization with being "in-human", what does that mean? I guess what I'm getting at is why is it more human (whatever that means) to save the life of the little girl, than that of the unborn child in her womb? I guess such questions, from any pragmatic or material sense are darn near impossible to answer. I mean, which is more valuable? Is there any way to quantify that? After all, the rules of identity demand that both be human, does it not?
Also, as for her life being in danger from the pregnancy, I believe that is overstating the original, albeit ambiguous, diagnosis from her doctor who said, ""We don't know if she will develop the pregnancy up to the end because of the structure of her body. It is a big risk for her,'' further saying, "She doesn't have a pelvis able to support a gestation of twins....'' He is certainly stating that her pregnancy has the potential to be dangerous to her health, but that ultimately he didn't know. However, the Church spokesman had a point in stating that her and her physician could at least try to carry the pregnancy as far as it could go and then attempt a cesarean. Why is it more "humane" to err on the side of death, rather than siding in error with life? After all, there are many, many couples out there who would love to adopt a child from any circumstance; could she not have put these twins up for adoption?
These are objective, legitimate, and logical questions that at least deserve an attempt at answering. I know it's considered in bad taste to "think" instead of "feel" about something, at least by today's standards, but we must use the gift God's given us in reasoning about a situation according to God's Word rather than reacting to it with raw human emotion. And so, given the precepts of Christianity, given the sanctity of ALL human life as affirmed by God's Word, the Arch-Bishop did rightly by the Word of God in exercising the Office of the Keys and excommunicating the mother and the doctors complicit in this act of murder.
And, let it be said, the act of excommunication should never be done in the attitude of moral superiority, but one of extreme love and care for the soul under the pastors keep. This is true compassion, namely that excommunication, Biblically speaking, is meant as a "last-ditch" effort to work repentance in the heart of the faithless, and that is exactly what her mother indeed was, and perhaps still is; faithless. Her mother was unwilling to see that this child growing in the womb of her daughter was given life by God and none other, even in spite of the heinous act committed against her daughter by the girls stepfather. If she had seen this clearly, that is, only through the eyes of faith, she would have done everything in her power to keep both her daughter and unborn grandchildren alive, even if it meant public ridicule, personal scorn, and strife. Such is the life of the Christian; we must pick up our cross daily, do we not?.
You see, there is a fate worse than anything we can endure in this world, it is the fate of being hopelessly and permanently separated from God because of our sin. This can only come about by personally blaspheming the Holy Spirit, that is, as an act of persistent denial of God's forgiveness given us in Christ. And, like I said, I hope on behalf of the Arch-Bishop that he, in excommunicating them, is doing it in the attitude of bringing about repentance for their sin. This means that the forgiveness of sins not be withheld from them if they in fact repent. Let's pray that these people, in the midst of a horrible ordeal, will in fact see their evil acts as evil and confess their sins so as to receive the mercy of God given us in Christ.
Labels: abortion, atheism, office of the keys, repentance, sin, true compassion
(The article I'm quoting from was written by Christine Armario, a writer for the Associated Press, on 2-5-09.)
Beside what's most obviously horrifying about this tragic event, is the shock, dismay, and contempt of those on the "pro-choice" side of the argument have towards this particular abortion practitioner, without seriously considering where their dogma leads. Here's the first part of the story in the writer's own words.
Florida doctor investigated in badly botched abortion
"Eighteen and pregnant, Sycloria Williams went to an abortion clinic outside Miami and paid $1,200 for Dr. Pierre Jean-Jacque Renelique to terminate her 23-week pregnancy."
"Three days later, she sat in a reclining chair, medicated to dilate her cervix and otherwise get her ready for the procedure."
"Only Renelique didn't arrive in time. According to Williams and the Florida Department of Health, she went into labor and delivered a live baby girl."
"What Williams and the Health Department say happened next has shocked people on both sides of the abortion debate: One of the clinic's owners, who has no medical license, cut the infant's umbilical cord. Williams says the woman placed the baby in a plastic biohazard bag and threw it out."
"Police recovered the decomposing remains in a cardboard box a week later after getting anonymous tips."
""I don't care what your politics are, what your morals are, this should not be happening in our community," said Tom Pennekamp, a Miami attorney representing Williams in her lawsuit against Renelique (ren-uh-LEEK') and the clinic owners."
Now, I can completely understand why the "pro-lifers" are up in arms about this, I as a "pro-lifer" feel as they do, and I can understand the natural outrage that someone with a conscience feels regarding the disgusting nature of this story, but at what point will the "pro-choice" side of things start to see that this is exactly where their ideology is heading.
That is not to say that I believe all abortion advocates currently believe in this kind of thing, but I do believe that abortion advocates will be forced to accept this this type of practice in the future. Right now I believe it's possible that not all "pro-choicers" are advocates of infanticide, but I do believe that all infanticide advocates are "pro-choicers", and this is very troubling. Here's my question, what side of the previous statement has stronger intellectual gravitas; what side is more consistent?
And for anybody who thinks I'm going over the line by asking this, then please meet Peter Albert David Singer, professor at one of Americas most elite universities; Princeton. I will quote what this utilitarian bioethics philosopher has said regarding the legitimacy of killing another human being, he says:
"[The argument that a fetus is not alive] is a resort to a convenient fiction that turns an evidently living being into one that legally is not alive. Instead of accepting such fictions, we should recognise that the fact that a being is human, and alive, does not in itself tell us whether it is wrong to take that being's life."
(Rethinking Life and Death 105)
So he is at least honest in saying a fetus (otherwise known as baby) is a living being, but, at least to him, it doesn't categorically tell him whether it's wrong or right to kill that living being. Elsewhere, in regards to infanticide he has stated:
"''I do not think it is always wrong to kill an innocent human being,'' Professor Singer told the rapt audience in Harold Helm Auditorium. ''Simply killing an infant is never equivalent to killing a person.''"
"Princeton Bioethics Professor Debates Views on Disability and Euthanasia"
by: Paul Zeilbauer-New York Times, 10-13-99
Yes folks, this man is educating and influencing the elite's elite of future business leaders, "think-tank" philosophers, politicians, and medical practitioners, etc.; be very afraid!
So, here's what I mean in saying that the "pro-choice" ideology is headed down Professor Singer's road. The arguments for abortion are always rooted in utilitarian ethics, i.e. what is the greater good, etc., and this man is, perhaps, ahead of his time by just pushing the ideas of euthanasia and infanticide to their logically inevitable conclusions. Believe it or not, this man's a very clear and cogent thinker who longs to bring the truth of his sides position to light. He, as a person shouldn't be denegrated for speaking such things, although his ideas belong at the bottom of human reason's junk-heap, but his refreshing honesty is very rare among intellectual elites. All we can ask for is that people think consistently regarding their beliefs, and communicate them honestly without glossing over the unpleasant stuff.
However, Joanne Sterner, the Broward county president of NOW, remains inconsistent with her ideology when she says this about the incident:
""It really disturbed me...I know that there are clinics out there like this. And I hope that we can keep (women) from going to these types of clinics.""
I don't doubt that she was disturbed by the incident, but excuse me, the woman involved in this case was fine, at least medically speaking (maybe not mentally); now as for the child who suffocated in a plastic trash bag in the clinic's rubbish bin, that's another story. And once again, for anybody who believes I'm exagerating this account for effect, here is what Ms. Williams, the would be mother had to say about witnessing the event, she says:
"...Gonzalez [the clinic operator] knocked the baby off the recliner chair where she [Ms. Williams] had given birth, onto the floor. The baby's umbilical cord was not clamped, allowing her to bleed out. Gonzalez scooped the baby, placenta and afterbirth into a red plastic biohazard bag and threw it out."
I believe it's safe to say this baby suffered terribly in her final moments. Here's a little more information about how alive this child actually was.
"At 23 weeks, an otherwise healthy fetus would have a slim but legitimate chance of survival. Quadruplets born at 23 weeks last year at The Nebraska Medical Center survived.
An autopsy determined Williams' baby - she named her Shanice - had filled her lungs with air, meaning she had been born alive, according to the Department of Health. The cause of death was listed as extreme prematurity."
What a tragedy! Let's pray this brutal practice will one day be criminalized as it should, and that the Lord show "pro-choice" advocates the error of their ways so that they repent of this sin.
Labels: abortion, Authored by Drew Lomax, euthanasia, infanticide
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