Human Life Is Always Legitimate

When Congressman Todd Akin went to bed Saturday night, he had a legitimate shot at becoming the "show me" state's next senator.  But Sunday was a comin' and with it came a firestorm set off by the Congressman's incendiary "legitimate rape" remarks made during a St. Louis TV station interview.  Akin's remarks may not only torch his senate campaign, but could also cause significant smoke damage to the Romney/Ryan presidential ticket.  Tampa, we have a problem.

The Romney/Ryan ticket may suffer some collateral damage from Akin's gaffe because last year Congressmen Ryan and Akin co-sponsored the “No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion Act”.  This controversial bill introduced the term "forcible rape" in an effort to severely curtail the number of abortions performed on rape victims with taxpayer dollars.  Proponents were simply trying to avoid illegimate rape claims by women who were just looking for the government to pay for an abortion they couldn't  afford.  Reasonable enough from a pro-life perspective, but very difficult to legislate. 

Currently lost in the Akin firestorm, however, is the central issue that should outrage every American regardless of sex, race, religion or political stripe.  Namely, that human life is always legitimate, no matter its origin.  Yes, rape is tragic.  Impregnation by rape is a seemingly unspeakable tragedy.  But, it does not negate the embryological fact that a human embryo is just that --a human.  Though I think Congressman Akin's remarks were boneheaded and embarrassing to conservative Republicans, I do support the logic behind his closing comment on the rape/abortion subject --"The punishment ought to be on the rapist and not attacking the child".

People who are otherwise pro-life support the rape exception for abortion, believing it avoidsfurther punishing the victim for her perpetrator's crime.  Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan are in this camp .  It's a noble thought, though an illogical one.  Pro-lifers oppose abortion for one simple reason --they believe that an unborn child is a human being and that no one has the right to take an innocent human life...period.  It matters not from whence the life came.  The rape exception effectively says that the comfort of the rape victim is morally superior to the life of the unborn child.  This may be a safe political position to assume, but logically and morally it is fatally flawed.

With our nation's politics entering the ultimate silly season, I'm hopeful that the Akin firestorm will serve to purify the arguments on both sides of the abortion debate.  Because in a pure debate where logic is forced to support the moral foundation upon which one stands, I am confident that those standing on the pro-life foundation will prevail.    







             



          

 

    

Freedom For All But The Most Deserving

Today we celebrate the two hundred and thirty-sixth anniversary of our nation's independence. American flags appropriately fly over our gatherings of family and friends, as patriotic pride overshadows politics and social issue divisiveness on this --Uncle Sam's birthday.  Like millions of my countrymen, I too am proud to be an American.  However, when I read the Declaration of Independence, my pride turns to shame when I consider the ones whose certain unalienable rights have been denied them for nearly forty years now...the most innocent and defenseless among us...our unborn American children:          

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, — That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.

Since the fatally flawed Roe vs. Wade Supreme Court decision in 1973, we've been living in a country governed by laws that often value animal, sometimes even plant life, above human life.  I’m reminded of this every time I go to my office.  The lake outside my window is home to a large flock of Canada Geese.  Come to think of it, the lake outside most office windows in America is home to a large flock of Canada Geese.  Although beautiful creatures, they are far less valuable in the eyes of their Creator than any human life ever conceived.

Yet, The Migratory Bird Treaty Act of 1918 affords geese far more protection than we give innocent unborn American children.  The penalty for destroying a goose egg in America today can be up to $5,000 and six months in jail.  The penalty for destroying an unborn child?  Sadly, there is none.  Seriously?

As you give thanks to the One who gives us true freedom this 4th of July, please add a special prayer for our country to restore those certain unalienable rights to those most deserving of it.  And, may every goose sighting hereafter prompt you to do the same until a woman's right to choose no longer trumps a child's right to live.   

Click here to read the full text of The Declaration of Independence.  

       

Compassionate Plea to Abortion's Living Victims

There are over 50 million living victims of abortion in America today.  By "living victims", I'm referring to the estimated 1 in 4 men and women who have been party to at least one abortion.  This purposefully compassionate reference to those who chose to terminate a pregnancy in no way diminishes the gravity of the choice they made.  Nor does it diminish the fatal fact that the ultimate abortion victims are the unborn children. 

However, those who exercised their legal right to choose deserve something beyond the condemnation so incessantly heaped upon them by far too many within the pro-life movement.  They deserve what anyone else deserves whose ever made a life-changing decision with oft times unbearable unintended consequences.  They deserve compassion.         

What they get instead, is heaping helpings of guilt and shame served up by self-appointed, pro-life judges. Jesus Himself saved His most excoriating critiques for such Pharisees who twist the Scriptures, while cloaking themselves in cliches like, "love the sinner, but hate the sin".  You won't find this in the Bible.  But, as Tony Campolo points out towards the end of this video, what you will find are numerous passages exhorting us to love the sinner, but hate the sin in ourselves.   

It's no surprise then that most living victims of abortion have gone underground with their abortion secret.  Amongst party-goers and church-goers alike, abortion is the ultimate taboo topic of conversation.  It's also one of the last secrets to be shared between even the most intimate of friends.  Therein lies the rub --a procedure performed in secret within a culture hell-bent on keeping it that way. 

If you have no regrets about your role in a past abortion, this post is not for you.  No need to gnash your teeth over the "living victim" moniker.  It's not about you.  It's about those who just can't seem to shake the memory of that fateful day.  To the woman who senses that she not only lost the life within her, but also a part of her very heart and soul.  To the man who wonders if anything less than begging his woman NOT to get an abortion then should prompt him to beg her forgiveness now.  I'm reaching out to such men and women because I believe they represent the vast majority of all living abortion participants.  As such, they also represent the key to ending abortion on demand in America. 

Forty years is long enough for America to wander through the abortion wilderness.  Nearly sixty million pure and innocent voices shout this truth from the halls of heaven.  They're saying it's time for the living victims to come out of their bunkers and hear the “Good News” that God has for them. 

You are not alone.  God is with you and the 25% of the American adult population who believed the "right to choose" lie.  No one has to convince you of the guilt of your abortion sin, but neither does anyone have the right to condemn you.  Knowing your own burden, imagine the devastating toll being exacted upon our nation by the combined burdens of your fellow living victims.  But, don't stop there.  Imagine being free of that horrible burden once and for all.  You can be...you need to be...our country desperately needs you to be.

But you say, “I don’t deserve forgiveness. I deserve to suffer for the rest of my life.” While it IS true that none of us deserves the forgiveness that God so freely gives, it is also true that without it, we can never be the person God intended us to be.  Could it be that God wants to set you free, so that you can help others avoid the same mistake? Could it be that God could use you, yes YOU, to end abortion in America in your lifetime?  Could it be that God led you to read this so He could tell you how much He loves you and how much He wants to have a personal relationship with you?  Could it be...?

Yes, it could be...and it could be today.  His name is Jesus, God's one and only son who died for you.  He died to set you free from the guilt of all sin, including the sin of abortion.  He proved His power to do so by raising from the dead after three days and then appearing to hundreds of people before ascending into heaven where He anxiously awaits you.  He's the Savior of the world and He can be your personal Savior. 

Jesus made it abundantly clear that His death and resurrection covered all sins past, present and future for all people.  He did so as he hung dying on the cross, looking down on those who put him there and saying, "Father forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing (Luke 23:34)".  Today, Jesus stands between you and God the Father saying, "Father forgive <your name> for their abortion sin.  She/He knew not what she/he was doing."

Once you meet Jesus face-to-face, His focus is not on your past sins, but upon the sin free possibilities of your future.  So how can you meet this wonderful Savior?  For me, someone shared the truths within a little booklet called The Four Spiritual Laws when I was clearly ready to receive it.  I literally prayed the prayer on page 10 on April 13, 1975 and haven't been the same since.  I invite you to do the same.  After all, isn't it time to lay that burden down and be truly free?          

  

    

Why I'm In Business For Life

“Well, you have no choice.  She has to get an abortion.”  These words from my best friend were still ringing in my ears, as I searched the Scriptures for what God had to say on the matter.  My head told me that I couldn’t allow fatherhood to derail my college career.  My heart told me that trying to convince my girlfriend to get an abortion was not only wrong, but futile.  But, it was God’s Word that ultimately persuaded me:

"For you created my inmost being;
you knit me together in my mother's womb.
I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
your works are wonderful, I know that full well. 

My frame was not hidden from you
when I was made in the secret place.
When I was woven together in the depths of the earth,
your eyes saw my unformed body.
All the days ordained for me
were written in your book
before one of them came to be."
                                                            (Psalms 139:13-16)

After reading this passage, I made a note in the margin of my Bible that simply read, “NO ABORTION”.  It wasn’t an option.  God had confirmed what my heart had already been telling me.  Ironically, it was a false alarm.  My girlfriend wasn’t pregnant.  Nonetheless, the seeds of my pro-life convictions were planted deep within my soul.   I didn’t know it at the time, but that defining moment would soon find me “in business for life”.
  
Over the next three decades, those seeds of life were continually watered with tears,   as our extended family faced seven unplanned pregnancies.  My wife and I have seen the perils of children parenting children.  We’ve held the precious gift of life that many times only an adopted child can be.  We’ve seen God turn mothers’ mistakes into life-saving miracles.  We’ve heard the voice of God speak clearly on behalf of the chosen ones whose birth mothers were unable to care for them.  Time and time again, we’ve seen mothers choose life when it was anything but an easy choice.  But, it was always the right choice.

Shortly after 9/11, my seeds of life began to bring forth fruit that, to this day, unnerves me no end.  In what pastor/author, Bill Hybels, refers to as “a whisper from God”, I heard God calling me to play some role in helping to:

“Abolish abortion in America in my lifetime” 

Along with this whisper came the name, “In Business For Life”.  I’ve always assumed this to be the name of an organization that God wants me to start, but have yet to hear His starter’s gun.  What I have heard is His gentle wooing of abortion’s “living victims” –the estimated 50+ million American men and women who have participated in an abortion.  Setting these captives free by offering the forgiveness, faith and freedom that only God can give is essential to re-establishing a culture of life in America.  Thereafter, the gates of hell will never prevail against the pro-life, soul cleansing tsunami that is destined to wash across our country.  “They will know the truth and the truth will set them free”…and abortion will take its rightful place as a permanent bloody stain in our nation’s past.
 
I fervently believe that my home State of Indiana will play a critical role in leading America to victory in The War Within the Womb.  Our march towards an abortion-free country starts in our neighborhoods, cities and states.  Who’s stopping us from shutting down the abortion clinic nearest our home for lack of demand?   Why couldn’t Indianapolis become an abortion-free city?  What other state is more worthy to become known as “The Crossroads of Life”?  If not in downtown Indianapolis, where will we erect the official national “Memorial to the Unborn”?  Of course, it must be built to ensure that we never again lose our way when it comes to the sanctity of life.  Why can’t Hoosiers build it?  Shouldn’t we start planning now?

If you think I’m dreaming, you’re right. I have a dream that my five children will one day live in a nation where their right to choose will once again and forevermore be constrained by the rights of all others to live. I have a dream that abortion, like slavery 150 years ago and racial discrimination a mere 50 years ago, will be legally abolished in America in my lifetime. It is a dream that must be fulfilled, for the very future of our Nation depends upon it.  I believe this dream emanates from the very heart of God and the souls of the great leaders in our Nation's past.

Yes I know, abortion is perhaps the most divisive, politically incorrect issue in America today.   But, did you know that the most dangerous neighborhood in this great Nation is within  the wombs of its women?  One in four who enters never makes it out alive.  Did you know that in the America of the unborn, it’s been 9/11 every day for nearly 40 years?  The daily human toll within American wombs is greater than that of the fallen “Twin Towers”…now totaling over 56 million and counting.  Most importantly, did you know God has much to say about it?

"Rescue those being led away to death;
hold back those staggering toward slaughter.
If you say, "But we knew nothing about this,"
does not he who weighs the heart perceive it?
Does not he who guards your life know it?
Will he not repay each person

according to what he has done?" 

(Proverbs 24:11,12)                                                            

Now you know why I’m in business for life.  In future posts, you'll be invited to join me, as we change the course of human history...one innocent life at a time.