How does someone who values human life, from conception
until natural death, understand the thinking of someone who is convinced that
abortion is an “act of love”? In a new
book called Pro, Katha Pollitt
asserts that abortion is a social good for women, men, and children. Where can we begin to unravel the thought
process that leads to such a conclusion?
In 2
Chronicles 22, the reign of Ahaziah, son of Jehoram, only lasts a year before
he is killed alongside Ahab’s son Joram by the agent of God’s wrath against
Israel’s wickedness, Jehu. The kingdom
of Judah has plummeted from its moral high-point under Jehoshaphat with the
murderous reign of his son Jehoram and grandson Ahaziah. Now, in the wake of Ahaziah’s death, his
mother Athaliah (Ahab’s daughter) decides to take over the throne for herself
and proceeds to attempt to wipe out any remaining descendants of David that had
survived Jehoram’s killing of his six brothers and other relatives. Even though God preserved Ahaziah for the
sake of the line of David, it now appears that Athaliah will finish the
job. How can a woman turn against her
own children and grandchildren and choose to murder them for the sake of
power? The darkness of the heart of
mankind is a truly frightening thing when it destroys the natural bonds of love
and protection that we expect from a parent and turns them instead into the
total disregard for human life that Athaliah shows here.
At this
point in the story, modern man’s willingness to treat human life as expendable
seems to be in keeping with our history, unfortunately. When the children are about to be murdered,
however, one of their aunts, Jehosheba, decides to risk her own life to act as
she hides the year old Joash from Athaliah’s henchmen. From that point on, Jehosheba and her husband
Jehoida, a priest of the temple, hide the child for the next six years from
Athaliah. Where do they keep the only
surviving heir of the line of David safe?
Within the temple of the LORD.
How do
we as Christians respond to the threat against the innocent posed by abortion
and euthanasia? The political process
cannot be our primary response, as it may never bear fruit and doesn’t help
those vulnerable today. We must commit
ourselves, as a Church, to supporting the young pregnant girl, the exhausted parents
of the special needs child, and the family wracked by end-of-life issues, we
must offer concrete support to anyone we know in such a situation, and also
support the organizations that are helping within our communities (such as ABC
Life Center, here in Franklin) with our money, time, and prayer.
We
cannot understand how anyone could think of life as something to be discarded
when inconvenient, but human history is full of examples of people doing just
that. We can, and must, do our utmost to
protect the weak from those who, like Athaliah and Katha Pollitt, have decided
that some lives don’t really matter.
To watch the video, click on the link below:
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