A brand new issue of the Christian Research Journal is now out and there is a particular article I’m excited about in this issue written by Douglas Groothuis, a professor of philosophy at Denver Seminary and frequent contributor to the Christian Research Journal. He did a viewpoint article titled, Recovering from Fetus Fatigue.
He says that millions of evangelicals, especially young evangelicals, are experiencing fetus fatigue. They’re tired of the abortion issue taking center stage, so they’re moving to newer, hipper things such as AIDS in Africa, the environment, and cool tattoos. Abortion has been legal now since 1973 —before they were born—so it’s the old guard that get worked up about the millions of abortions that have taken place over the years, to wit the idea of fetus fatigue.
That Barack Obama and the entire Democratic Party are pro-choice is a secondary concern to them. After all, these young people reason that Obama could not do much damage concerning abortion. They may be thinking, “No he wouldn’t enact Pro-Life policies but he says he wants abortions to decrease.” In the midst of such causal sentiment Groothuis says, “I’m compelled to say in no uncertain terms ‘For God’s sake evangelicals, if that word has any meaning today, please wake up and consider the acres of tiny bloody corpses that you cannot see.’”
Yes, the Christian vision is holistic and we should endeavor to restore shalom to the whole of this beleaguered planet under the lordship of Jesus Christ, and that includes helping Africa, preserving the environment, combating human trafficking and much, much more. The leading domestic moral issue however, continues to be the value of helpless unborn human life. Since Roe V Wade over 1 million unborn human beings have been killed through abortion each and every year. That puts the total well over 35 million.
The Russian, Marxist, totalitarian Joseph Stalin said “One death is a tragedy, a million dead is just a statistic.” Too many evangelicals are Stalinists on abortion since the numbers apparently mean nothing to them. Things have declined to the point where bumper stickers say, “Don’t like abortion; then don’t have one.” How about “Don’t like slavery; don’t have one.” The two cases are exactly parallel, if slavery is not a private issue then neither is abortion. Since they both involve questions of the value of human lives. Again, Groothius says, “For God’s sake evangelicals wake up; remember the least, the last, the lost, the millions of unborn human beings whose lives hang in the balance. This is not the only issue of moral significance but it is a titanic issue that cannot be ignored. Rouse yourself to recover from fetus fatigue. God is watching and waiting even as the blood of the innocent unborn cry’s out from the ground.”
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5 comments:
It's a good point. I have to admit, I'm suffering from fetus fatigue. It's hard to avoid the feeling that the issue of abortion has been used by cynical secular republicans to keep evangelicals in the fold. I would like to vote for Obama. I think he would be better for the country in every way--except for abortion.
There are other issues, it's true--and it doesn't help that James Dobson, for example, tried to get Richard Cizick fired because of his endorsement of "creation care," claiming that the health of the planet is not a "moral issue." It doesn't help also that Dobson said he could never vote for McCain in spite of McCain's prolife stance--or that governor Palin cut funding for poor mothers in Alaska.
If senator Obama wins the election, maybe what pro-lifers should do is try to become democrats and try to take over the democratic party and put the pro-life agenda on their platform. After all, the democrats claim to stand up for the rights of the most helpless and vulnerable; while the republicans don't want to be stuck with the burden of supporting the results of someone's irresponsible sexual choices.
Mark is very naive. You cannot expect the democratic party to shift more towards the center. It will not happen. They have no reason to do anything of the sort. The Republican Party may be cynical in some aspects, but remember they did get the partial birth abortion ban into the law books. This would never happen under a democratic watch. If you consider yourseld a Christian, Mark, and a suppose you do, then remember one very important thing... Christians swim AGAINST the mainstream, AGAINST the tide. Having said that, remember that you have power when you go to vote, and if you have alot of Democratic friends, then tell them that you are voting Republican. They will mock and jeer you, but then you have to tell them that you cannot stand the Democratic Party's stance on abortion. If enough DEMOCRATS take this action, THEN you will be able to move the party from the FAR LEFT political sphere towards the center. All Democratic socially moral issues fall on God's deaf ears when your party so wildly supports abortion on demand. So vote your conscience this Tuesday. Remember that you will give an account to the Lord someday...maybe even next Wednesday! Take care and God Bless You.
I'm a registered Republican and I've never voted for a pro-abortion candidate in a presidential election. Neither candidate is campaigning in my state (Kansas) because they have both written it off as a "red state." But it looks like Obama is going to win anyway, and it looks like the democrats will take over congress, so I think the only alternative is for the pro-life cause to try to influence the democratic party--or to work outside the political realm in providing alternatives to abortion. I do know that volunteer crisis pregnancy centers do a lot of good.
If the republican party is the only hope for the pro-life cause, things look pretty hopeless. But I don't think a Christian should ever give up hope, no matter how naive that seems.
I understand Mark's point of view, to an extent. I would likely be less "Republican" if moral issues were not at stake. While I don't like Obama's "spread the wealth" mentality, I really don't like his position on life and gay marriage. The life issue goes far beyond what we generally consider as "abortion," and includes infanticide, which Obama has supported by argument on the Senate floor. Gay rights have been taken beyond the realm of ordinary human rights and taken to the extreme of redefining marriage and infringing on religious freedom. Obama is in support of this, too. If I find a candidate disagreeable on economic issues, that is one thing; when that candidate denies the most fundamental rights granted to Americans in the Constitution, that is the real deal-breaker. ideration.
Hank I heard you today talking about Obama and abortion, and you mentioned that we need to look at all of the issues and make a balanced decision. However, knowing God's position on life (He hates the shedding of innocent blood), wouldn't the abortion issue alone be a deal-breaker for a believer?
Obama is not a centrist when it comes to an abortion, he is about as radical as you can get -- evident by the fact that he is already planning to overturn executive orders that will use our tax dollars to fund Planned Parenthood's efforts in other countries as explained here (http://friendfeed.com/rooms/pro-life).
Obama will advance abortion like we have never seen before -- and his voting record and statements made this crystal clear to people during the election (even though he was misleading in the debates).
I am not suggesting that someone is not a Christian because they vote for Obama, I am just saying that within the confines of an election, an issue as massive as abortion should be considered an essential and not a secondary issue open for debate.
I sent a lot of emails out before the election exposing Obama's radical abortion views and a Mormon friend of mind was confused and asked me, "A Christian voting for Obama isn't that an oxymoron?"
So while we are trying to reach Mormons, we look morally confused to them because we can't even stand together on essentials (a large number of Christians voted for Obama).
I am not saying McCain was the perfect candidate, but at least he aligned himself with strong pro-life positions -- not to mention, Palin was about as strong on abortion as any candidate in recent history.
I just don't see how Obama's radical views on abortion could "balance out" for any believer.
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