Jesus, Our Perfect Example - V

Righteous indignation continued.

Closely related to abortion is infanticide. "Infanticide is the killing of a born child–whether that killing is accomplished by a direct act on the part of someone, or whether ordinary care vital to the child’s survival, such as feeding, is refused" (from What Ever Happened To The Human Race, by Francis Schaeffer and C. Everett Koop). The book by Schaeffer and Koop was copy righted in 1979. At the time of writing infanticide was not legal. But they inform us

The first effort we know of in this country to educate the medical profession in the art of infanticide was a documentary motion picture titled Who Shall Survive? John Hopkins Hospital and Medical School produced it in 1972. It shows a newborn infant with Down’s syndrome (frequently called mongolism) who was permitted to die by "inattention." We suspect that "starving to death" would be a more accurate way of saying this (pages 55,56).

Recent headlines in the news told of one young mother giving birth in the bathroom during her senior prom. She disposed of the baby and returned to her dance. A young couple ready for college rented a motel room where she gave birth to their baby. They then killed the child and claimed the baby was born dead.

Today we can add "physician assisted suicide" or "mercy killing" to the list of what we need righteous indignation over. Oregon has recently passed a law making physician-assisted suicide legal. Dr. Jack Kavorkian along with the members of the Hemlock Society has led the charge to make this legal. But where will it stop?

What We Need To Do.

Getting angry is necessary, but it is not enough. Jesus was angry at the hardened of heart, but He did what needed to be done, He healed the lame man. Then He attempted to correct the problem with teaching. Leaders of the abortion rights and right to die movements will probably never be persuaded to change their position. But, many influenced by them can be with the facts presented in a calm, loving manner. How can we present such facts?

On the abortion issue, we can obtain information on the development of the unborn while in the womb. The National Right to Life Organization has pamphlets available which show pictures of babies in the womb at various stages of development. The film "Silent Scream" is another good teaching tool. In the film a former abortionist tells the story of his attempt to forever silence the anti-abortion movement. He had a feminist woman come in for an abortion. During the procedure an ultrasound film of the procedure was made. The end result was the woman who aborted the baby will not talk about it and the doctor no longer performs abortions. He is now an avid pro-life supporter. What happened? When they sat down to view the tape, the images they expected were not present. What was present was evidence of the "fetus" (or glob of tissue) attempting to avoid the instrument used to kill it and remove it from the womb. Additionally, they saw the mouth of the "fetus" opened in the way a person does when screaming in pain. A web site has the full text with some pictures from the film at: http://www.silentscream.org/silent.htm

We need to be angry about what is done and try to educate people about it. If we simply get mad we are not following the example of Jesus.

Denny