40 = 55M

I regularly get email updates from the Heritage Foundation (heritage.org). I appreciate these because the good people there keep me informed about issues that are important to me. Just today, I read the piece that they had discussing Secretary of State Clinton's comments on the Benghazi, Libya situation. When criticized for her, and the Obama Administration's, actions, she countered, "Was it because of a protest or is it because of guys out for a walk one night and they decide they go kill some Americans? What difference, at this point, does it make?” When I heard this in the news on Wednesday, I openly asked her, "What do you mean, 'What difference does it make'?!" Thankfully, Heritage Foundation writer James Philipps picked up on this and proceeded the answer her question. I commend his article to you: "Benghazi Terrorist Attack: The Difference It Makes".

But this is not important as a subject that they addressed that I want to put before you today. They picked up on the fact that today there was "March For Life 2013" held in Washington, DC. Why is this march done during this cold season each year? Because this week marks the anniversary of the court decision, Roe vs. Wade which legalized abortion in America.

And now, this year is memorialized by by the formula 40 = 50M.  From the Heritage Foundation article by Sarah Torre, "It’s an equation meant to reflect the enormous cost of 40 years under the ethic of Roe: Since the Supreme Court’s decision in 1973, an estimated 55 million abortions have been performed."  This is an astounding black eye of shame on our country, and a pathetic low point in American history.  And for 55 million babies, it made the difference between breathing and not breathing.

To read the whole article by Torre, go to this link:  http://blog.heritage.org/2013/01/25/march-for-life-2013-a-pro-life-generation/.

Personally, I have been "pro life" for a long time.   I don't choose this position out of political persuasion, but out of Biblical revelation and conviction.   In short, the Bible teaches followers of the Lord to value life because all humans are made in the image of God.  Genesis 1:27, this fact is unfolded in front of us:  "So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him;
male and female he created them."  No qualifiers are put on this "image bearing" at all.  All humans, including all males and all females.  No races are left out, no nationalities, no people of particular stature in society are excluded.  All people, not matter what the conditions of their conception, are inherently valuable.  

 

This then, is derived value; derived from God who created us.  This is important because our country's Declaration Of Independence recognizes this, and our current culture does not.  "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."  Today, value is derived by self esteem, or by parental choice.  Of course, the self esteem of the unborn infant is not really weighed at this point.  But the parental choice is. 

Since 1973, in our country 55 millions preborn children have lost their lives totally within the protection of the law.  In this picture to the right, 3560 crosses are on display in Geneva, Illinois representing the children who die in abortions daily in the United States.

The Apostle Paul introduced the people of his day to their Creator with these words:  "The God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in temples made by man, nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything. And he made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place, that they should seek God, and perhaps feel their way toward him and find him. Yet he is actually not far from each one of us, for 'In him we live and move and have our being’;  as even some of your own poets have said,‘For we are indeed his offspring.’"  (Acts 17:24-28).  From God we derive our value to live.

At the heart of abortion is this change of world view.  From who, or what do you and I, and all the people of the world, have value?  From where do I get the "right" to live and breath and have my being in the first place? 

The answer to these questions leads me to be "pro life".  Where do your answers lead you?