Print This PostOn a hill far away…
Sitting on the edge of a 200 foot dropoff while clinging to a cross made of seasoned and weathered aspen makes one glad that there is a God who sees and cares. He sees me perched on a rock 10,000 feet high in the Collegiate range of the Rockies, and He sees me sitting in front of the 20-inch widescreen monitor writing this post to my friends and family around the world. In fact, He sees my friends and family at the same time. He also knows, and sees, what none of us can see about each other-our hearts. That’s why I’m writing tonight. My heart is sad that people who call themselves followers of Christ and believers in His Word are seemingly immune to the pain we all cause when we choose to ignore the plight of the weak and helpless among us for the sake of comfort and convenience and “change.”
Since 1973, we have knowingly allowed a secular humanistic worldview to take root and thrive in our homes, our courts, our businesses, and our churches. The result of that is a stunning disregard for the truth of Holy Writ and the incubation, birth, and maturing of evil in our midst. We, the church, look like, sound like, act like, dress like, and vote like truth is a commodity to be dispensed as needed, which is rare, and wanted, even less. We spend our money on cars and homes and “toys’ we don’t need and ignore the fact that in this country, this year, another 1.3 million babies will be sacrificed on the altar of “choice.”
1% of all abortions occur because of rape or incest; 6% of abortions occur because of potential health problems regarding either the mother or child, and 93% of all abortions occur for social reasons (i.e. the child is unwanted or inconvenient).
Women identifying themselves as Protestants obtain 37.4% of all abortions in the U.S.; Catholic women account for 31.3%, Jewish women account for 1.3%, and women with no religious affiliation obtain 23.7% of all abortions. 18% of all abortions are performed on women who identify themselves as “Born-again/Evangelical”.
Women with family incomes less than $15,000 obtain 28.7% of all abortions; Women with family incomes between $15,000 and $29,999 obtain 19.5%; Women with family incomes between $30,000 and $59,999 obtain 38.0%; Women with family incomes over $60,000 obtain 13.8%.
These statistics are courtesy of The Alan Guttmacher Institute and Planned Parenthood’s Family Planning Perspectives.
Here’s my point. If 93 percent of abortions do not fall under the heading of rape, incest, or life of the mother or child, then we are killing over 1.2 million babies a year. How, in God’s name, can we allow that to continue and still believe in our hearts and repeat with our lips that we are trying to stop the spread of violence in any other arena of our lives? Jesus said to bring the children to him. He said He came that we might have life. Life. Physical life as well as spiritual life.
Listen to my heart and watch my lips. I am FULLY aware of the women in my life and yours that have had abortions, for whatever reasons. My response is the same as Jesus to the woman caught in adultery. “Where, o woman, are your accusers?” I will not be the first to throw a stone for the fear of an avalanche falling on my own head. My sins are too numerous and varied to mention, at least here. Many of the best volunteers in our Crisis Pregnancy centers are women who have had abortions and know the pain that follows. Who better to talk to an alcoholic than another alcoholic? That’s me.
To me, the whole issue comes down to worldview. I can either live my life and make my decisions based upon what God says in His Word, or I can base my reading of his word based upon the way I live my life and make my decisions. [I purposefully placed no emphasis on his word because of the lack of importance.] We can’t have it both ways.
Since I started voting back in 1980, I have been a staunch supporter of the party that says Roe vs. Wade should be overturned. A law that was passed to make abortions legal and safe so that women would not die at the hands of back alley abortionists, has turned into a state-sponsored factory to eliminate “unwanted or inconvenient” pregnancies. Our tax dollars pay for those abortions. I will NEVER vote for ANY candidate of ANY party who supports Roe vs. Wade.
Mother Teresa say it well: “But I feel that the greatest destroyer of peace today is abortion, because it is a war against the child – a direct killing of the innocent child – murder by the mother herself. And if we accept that a mother can kill even her own child, how can we tell other people not to kill one another? How do we persuade a woman not to have an abortion? As always, we must persuade her with love, and we remind ourselves that love means to be willing to give until it hurts. Jesus gave even his life to love us. So the mother who is thinking of abortion, should be helped to love – that is, to give until it hurts her plans, or her free time, to respect the life of her child. The father of that child, whoever he is, must also give until it hurts. By abortion, the mother does not learn to love, but kills even her own child to solve her problems. And by abortion, the father is told that he does not have to take any responsibility at all for the child he has brought into the world. That father is likely to put other women into the same trouble. So abortion just leads to more abortion. Any country that accepts abortion is not teaching the people to love, but to use any violence to get what they want. That is why the greatest destroyer of love and peace is abortion. ”
I will end with this. And with this, if I haven’t already, some of you will disagree with me strongly and ask me to take you off my list. I have no doubt of that. This blog is called the heart is central. I believe that with all my heart. And, for too many years, I cared too little for my own heart, and as a consequence, yours as well. That time is here no longer. I have learned in the rooms of AA “to thine own self be true.” Tonight that is what I’m doing.
This final quote is from a man that I admire as much as any man on this earth. Partly, because we have something in common that most of us don’t. He spent time in prison. While there he made a promise to do what he could to help those prisoners once he was released. He kept his word. Today Prison Fellowship is in 112 countries around the world. Chuck Colson had this to say, and I agree:
I hope you will read my new book, The Faith, because in it you will learn what Christians believe, why we believe it, and why it matters. We have defended, as you will see in the book, the sanctity of life at every stage through the centuries, including leading all the great human-rights campaigns. It may sound harsh, but in the book I say, “Christians who are pro-choice are denying the Gospel and have to question whether they have not separated themselves from the company of Christian discipleship.”
Jesus, who died that we might live, sees us now, and on Nov. 4, and the day after. As my Mom says, “may God give us what we need, not what we deserve.”
From my heart to yours,
-Harv
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October 25th, 2008 at 12:44 am
Hi Harvey,
While I totally agree with you that abortion is an abomination before God, I also feel that the party that has promised to overturn Roe v. Wade has forgotten another important injunction from the Lord – to look after the widows and the orphans — which in today’s society could be translated as the widows, the orphans, the single mothers, the poor, the homeless, and the medically and the mentally ill.
From the statistics posted above, it is clear that it is the poorest women in our nation(those earning less than $30,000 per year) who are getting the most number of abortions (48.2% — almost half of all women who choose this form of “contraception”. Perhaps if more were done to provide decent housing, jobs, health care, preventative health care (so that women don’t get pregnant in the first place), and education about both the dangers inherent in abortion and the development of those tiny, defenseless precious babies in the womb more women would choose to keep their children.
And there is some research that suggests that education about fetal development does have a positive impact — the rates of abortion in the USA have been steadily decreasing over the last 20 years as we have learned more and more about how babies form and grow in the womb.
The statistics you quoted seem to be raw statistics that have not been correlated with the total number of women of child bearing age in the USA who fall in each of the economic categories. Is that correct? How would these numbers change if you were to run a correlation between total numbers of women of child bearing age against the numbers of women in each category obtaining abortions? My guess is that the sheer volume of those who are in the middle class (i.e.those earning between $30,000 to $60,000)makes that 38% statistic as high as it is. (which is still appalling) I would also guess that we would probably see that a disproportionate number of poor women choose abortion compared to the rest of the population (because they feel they have no other options?)
Don’t get me wrong — I am and always will be against abortion. But I also believe that as we prayerfully consider who to vote for we also need to consider how our vote can help change the social and environmental factors that cause women to choose this horrible option in the first place. And that perhaps there might be other ways to fight against the consequences of Roe V Wade other than automatically disqualifying a candidate who supports his party’s platform.
We need a candidate who is willing to provide concrete, workable alternatives to abortion that women will want to take — and who is willing to commit to limiting the scope of Roe v Wade so that it is harder for women to take the easy way out by killing their babies. You are right, 1.3 million murdered babies is 1.3 million too many. In my opinion neither candidate offers the perfect solution.
October 25th, 2008 at 5:30 am
Harv,
We have always been open and honest with each other and its time for a little “straight talk”.
Barack Obama is only concerned with the 7% that you speak of, “1% of all abortions occur because of rape or incest; 6% of abortions occur because of potential health problems regarding either the mother or child”.
If the American people would take the time to actually look at Barack Obamas’ stance on this, and each of his issues they would be totally amazed at how many lies that they have been deceived by.
I had some friends the other day tell me that Obama was getting rid of firearms. This is another lie that has the American People in an uproar. He isn’t getting rid of guns, any more than he is PRO-ABORTION.
He is however, working to stop the sale and transfer of assault weapons to civilians like the Tech-9 Automatic weapon that was used at Columbine. People are NOT deer hunting with Automatic Weaponry and I agree.
I am in a Sportsmens Club with a lot of Vietnam Veterans who WILL NOT vote for John McCain simply becaus he sold out our country in vietnam. He has lied to the American people, stating that he had his limbs broken in the P.O.W. camps. The FACT is that his arms were broken when his 5th airplane went down while bombing civilian territory in Vietnam, and when he made it to the P.O.W. camp he was singing like a canary before they even had a chance to torture him. He is NOT a Hero, he does NOT have the temperment or where-with-all to be president, and if he sold out his country back then, he will sell us out today.
Do you trust your country in the hands of someone who gave classified information to the ENEMY which resulted in the death of thousands of American Troops? thats not heroic !
Sure Obama served on a school advising committe with Bill Ayers, but McCain served and voted with Bush 90% of the time , and he has done nothing but flushed this country down the tube. Our Economy, Our Stance in World View, Our freedoms and rights (Patriot Act), He is also one of the leading terrorists in history. We invaded Iraq over 6 years ago for what reason???
Sure Saddaam probably helped fund 9/11, but the U.S. trained Al Qaida to be fighters, we funded their training, weaponry, Hell , we even trained them to fly in our flight schools here in Florida. We are more responsible for 9/11 than Sadaam was.
Do I feel that Obama is ready, and equipt enough to take over as president? Yes, with his calm demeanor , and the advice of his advisors, he and Joe Biden are more than capable of handling our country in every day affairs and should a crisis arise!
McCain and Palin(A.k.a. Miss Teen South Carolina), I do NOT feel that either of them are prepared to take over as president or vice president. John McCAIN for one is too volitale, he is also two-faced, he has disgraced our country, disgraced our military, and is NO way ready to be a leader. Furthermore, i believe Sarah Palin gives the All American Woman a bad reputation. We need a leader, someone who is well prepared on issues, foreign policy, how government works. Granted she has been in Alaska for some time now, but there is virtually NO crime rate in Alaska, she hasn’t had to make any important decisions in her career or deal with the same situations that politicians deal with down here with the rest of the United States, Funding Moose and Wildlife Habitat projects doesn’t qualify you to be president.
Furthermore, she has abused her power already by firing her brother in law just because he divorced a family member of hers, and there are plenty of other more qualified, well educated women that McCain could have picked for a running mate.
Abortion is wrong, we all know that, but the fact of the matter is that Obama is NOT pro-Abortion, NOT a Muslim, NOT Anti-Gun, NOT palling around with Terrorists, NOT a communist, NOT socialist. He is just an American Man who has worked his way up through the hardships of life, who believes we will never get anywhere in life as long as we continue in the failed policies of the ones in office before him. I couldn’t agree with him more.
He is a good,devoted Christian man who doesn’t wear his religion on his shirtsleeve and i admire him for that, its NOT something to brag or boast about. If McCain and Palin are “Born Again Christians”, then why are they encouraging and enabling Hate rallies across the US?
Im done rambling, but at least my ramblings are based on facts unlike the dirty campaign that McCain and Palin are running. Obamas campaign has been about the issues from DAY 1, and i admire him for that. He has truly proven to be a leader, and not giving into or being affected by the slanderous and deceitful talk of others. Thank You and God Bless
If you would like to do a fact check , you may. Keep in mind the Vietnam Veterans Against John McCain Website has been up and open to the public for 15 years. Long before McCain even thought about running for president.
http://www.vietnamveteransagainstjohnmccain.com
http://www.fightthesmears.com
Your Brother in Christ,
Patrick Peregoy
October 25th, 2008 at 5:55 am
Steph,
I couldn’t agree with you more, we should be looking at the social issues that cause the women to get abortions in the first place.
Would people rather see these babies in dumpsters,floating in rivers,lakes,ponds. Buried in the ground, burned in fireplaces????
Thats what women will resort to, they are NOT going to keep and raise the baby or give it up for adoption like the law says so any more than a drug addict will not use drugs just because the law says so. We need to examine , and work on the issues.
Thanks For Your Heart ! Im with ya !
Patrick
October 26th, 2008 at 7:52 am
Wow…mega Obama supporter…yikes! Somebody needs a reality check!
Not that I support McCain either, but he’s clearly the better choice. This has been THE WORST race for president in presidential history. I would support Huckabee though, he’s amazing.
But at any rate…I didn’t feel that the blog was controversial. Not to me at least!
Obama not subject to slander!? That’s funny you say that, since he’s going to give “95% of Americans and business’” a tax cut. You know how many business’ do under 250k a year? Like all 3 of them. That’s a good idea, lets take a start up company doing 600k in business (pretty small start), and jack up their taxes. That’s a great idea.
Abortion should be illegal. In fact, I really don’t know how that other guy got so much into Obama from an abortion discussion. I would pray that things like our youth group and campus life can have an impact on our youth and try to help prevent things like this from happening. That’s why we run the programs! Obama and McCain won’t be able to make an easy fix on abortion, and that’s why I don’t care about what they say, I know what we must do as people to help the students with these decisions.
Mr. Obama supporter, I pray you would be able to see the light in this. If you think McCain/Palin is the only dirty campaign, you need to go see a doctor or have brain surgery or something.
October 26th, 2008 at 7:56 pm
Sorry Scott,
I shouldnt have attacked McCain like that, but here are some resources to help you better understand Senator Obama’s point of view on things. He is PRO-LIFE, he just believes we need to tackle it from another angle.
Years ago before there was AA or CR they would just lock drug addicts and alcoholics in Mental Institutions and Prison. Today we are blessed to have these programs in order to better treat the problem, and offer alternative solutions.
Drug addicts and drug dealers do not obey the law any more than a mother who wants to throw her baby away will. We need to examine the issues at stake and approach it from a different angle. He is NOT pro-abortion, and He is a Christian. Im asking you to see what he really stands for and NOT what the Media says he does. I did this with McCain and Obama, i fact checked all of the rumors, all of the heresay, and i have found Senator Obama to be more open and honest about the issues, about his struggle with finding his faith, about his past, and he has a clear and ideal plan on how to tackle the issues causing hardships in todays society. Like i said, i apologize for attacking McCain, it was 4am and i have been having some family issues here at the house and i used Harvs blog as a venting tool. Here are some resources that i should have posted the first time about Obama, his faith, and Abortion. Thanks and God Bless
http://www.matthew25.org
http://www.prolifeproobama.com
October 26th, 2008 at 10:27 pm
Sweet! Glad you have a respectable opinion.
I won’t be voting though, both candidates lost my vote in the second debate when a member of the audience asked a question to both candidates, of which neither of them gave a response to, but decided to beat around the bush with the question. I think I will write in Bill Cosby. He is a great choice!
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