The Spreading Storm --
Violence in America
by Dr. Phil Stringer (Florida)
"Their feet are swift to shed blood: Destruction and misery are in their
ways: And the way of peace have they not known: There is no fear of God before
their eyes" (Romans 3:15-18).
ABORTION AND VIOLENCE
In the book Abortion and the Conscience of America President Ronald
Reagan is quoted as saying:
"Regrettably, we live at a time when some persons do not value all
human life. They want to pick and choose which individuals have value . . . We
cannot diminish the value of one category of human life -- the unborn --
without diminishing the value of all human life.:
In February 1994, standing between the United States’ two most important
supporters of abortion, President Bill Clinton and Vice President Al Gore,
Mother Teresa, a Roman Catholic nun, made this statement about abortion and the
violence that follows it:
Nevertheless, 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 its people to love, but to use any violence to get what they want.
This is why the greatest destroyer of love and peace is abortion.
ETHICS OF VIOLENCE
Once a society has accepted the premise that unborn babies can be killed
simply because they are inconvenient and they cannot protect themselves, that
society is doomed to lose all respect for human life.
• What is the ethical difference between killing a helpless baby and an
inconvenient invalid?
• What is the moral difference between exercising choice about killing the
unborn and practicing euthanasia towards the aged?
• If taking the life of an unborn baby is not a moral dilemma, why should
taking the life (and property) of a wealthy tourist be a moral dilemma?
This "Darth Vadar" system of ethics (just kill anyone in your way) is
leading to infanticide (killing of physically impaired infants), euthanasia
(so-called "mercy killing" of the physically impaired and the
elderly) and the new American crime wave.
Far too many American young people are recognizing and understanding the
ethical system of their political leaders’ moral examples and are carrying
this system out to its logical conclusion.
This acceptance of an "ethics of violence" is why we have so much
violence (including random violence), why violent teen gangs have become so much
more prominent, and why so many of our streets are unsafe.
EUTHANASIA
Ever since former Colorado Governor Richard Lamm referred to the elderly
"having a duty to die," the proponents of euthanasia have been coming
out in the open. The following quotes are shocking, but they accurately reflect
the "ethics of violence" as it is being promoted in America.
Dr. Francis Schaeffer made this comment about an article which concerned this
ethics of violence:
An example of this coming down naturally on the side of the nonreligious
humanists is the article by Charles Hartshorne in the January 21, 1981, issue
of the Christian Century, pages 42-45. Its title is, "Concerning
Abortion, An Attempt at a Rational View." He begins by equating the fact
that the human fetus is alive with the fact that mosquitoes and bacteria are
also alive. This is, he begins by assuming that human life is not unique. He
then continues by saying that even after the baby is born it is not fully
human until its social relations develop (though he says the infant does have
some primitive social relations an unborn fetus does not have). His conclusion
is, "Nevertheless, I have little sympathy with the idea that infanticide
is just another form of murder. Persons who are already functionally persons
in the full sense have more important rights even than infants." He then
logically takes the next step: "Does this distinction apply to the
killing of a hopelessly senile person or one in permanent coma? For me it
does." No atheistic humanist could say it with greater clarity. It is
significant at this point to note that many of the denominations controlled by
liberal theology have come out, publicly and strongly, in favor of abortion
(Christian Manifesto).
Dr. William Gaylin told the American Association of University Women:
It used to be easy to know what we wanted for our children, and now, the
best for our children might mean deciding which one to kill. We have always
wanted the best for our grandparents, and now that might mean killing them. We
have the awesomeness of knowledge to do these things, and inevitably we shall
be forced to act on it.
The Hemlock Society said, "We put dogs out of their misery, we should be
at least as kind to to human beings."
These ideas are not new but they are just now spreading in America. This is
the approach to human life taken by the Nazi regime of Hitler. Hitler’s
director of national health care said:
The ill-conceived "love of neighbor" has to disappear, especially
in relation to inferior or asocial creatures. It is the supreme duty of the
national State to grant life and livelihood only to the healthy . . . in order
to secure the maintenance of a hereditarily and racially pure folk for all
eternity. The life of an individual has meaning only in the light of that
ultimate aim, that is, in the light of his meaning to his family and his
national state.
DR. DEATH
Recently, the euthanasia debate in America has focused on the activities of
Michigan’s Dr. Jack Kevorkian. In defiance of Michigan law Dr. Kevorkian
("Dr. Death," as he is often called) has been helping patients commit
suicide. He refers to those who disapprove as "silly religious nuts."
In December of 1993 a Harris Poll reported that 58% of the American people
approved of his activities while only 38% disapproved.
Referring to Dr. Death and the Dutch proponents of euthanasia (who have
carried their proposals into national law) columnist Pat Buchanan writes:
Kevorkian and his Dutch allies have entered a post-Christian era that
resembles the pre-Christian pagan era, when not all life was worth living, and
suicide was an honorable way out. Their logic is inherent in Roe v. Wade. If a
woman and her doctor can end the life of an unborn child, who are these
"religious fanatics" to tell her she cannot end a life too painful
to live? Whose life is it anyway?
In the Old and New Testament, Augustine and Aquinas, natural law and
Judeo-Christian tradition, God is the Author of life. He has written the rules
of human conduct in His words, His books, and on the human heart; no man is
permitted to play God and take innocent life.
Nevertheless, in the New Age, that is the old dogma of a dead creed. God
does not exist. If He does, He is not party to the debate. Each of us,
individually, determines his own moral code. We will decide, democratically,
of course, when life begins, and when it should end.
Because these conflicting beliefs are deeply held, compromise is
impossible; one or the other will prevail in law and determine the character
of the people and nation we shall become.
It should be noted that Dr. Kevorkian clearly understands the ethical
relationship between abortion and euthanasia. He said, "The hypocrites
permit abortion when there is not consent; how can they deny planned death when
there is consent?"
The atheist Dr. Kevorkian sees no purpose in a life that does not live up to
his ideal. In a March 6, 1993 issue of World magazine, this report was
given of a TV show on which Dr. Kevorkian appeared:
[Dr. Kevorkian:] "Do you know what a person dying of Alzheimer’s is
like? I will tell you. They sit in their own feces, lie drenched in their own
urine, they are not human anymore, there is no person, no reason. They are a
zero."
Kevorkian was immediately followed by Woodrow Wirsid, whose wife Jane died
13 years after being afflicted with Alzheimer’s. The host asked,
"Woody, the day of Jane’s death, was she still there? Or had she so
deteriorated that for all practical purposes she was a ‘zero’?"
Wirsid said, "I do not know how to answer that except to say that we
had a little ritual that we continued to the end. She could see me coming from
a distance. Her smile would grow as I approached. When I got close enough, she
would lift her head to be kissed and I would say, "I love you,
Jane." And she would say, "I love you too." We did it to the
end. I do not know. I did not think of her as a zero."
LACK OF RESPECT FOR LIFE
The lack of respect for human life seen in the abortion and euthanasia
debates is clearly spreading throughout American life. In January 1994, a Gallup
Poll showed that the nation’s top concern was fear of violent crime. In
America your chances of being the victim of violent crime are greater than your
chances of being injured in an auto accident. The odds of the average young male
being shot are greater than that of the average G.I. in World War II.
Romans 3:11-18 describes man as he develops without the work of God in his
life. Notice especially the explicit references to the violence in the human
nature:
11 There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God.
12 They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable;
there is note that doeth good, no, not one.
13 Their throat is an open sepulcher; with their tongues they have
used deceit; the poison of asps is under their lips:
14 Whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness:
15 Their feet are swift to shed blood:
16 Destruction and misery are in their ways:
17 And the way of peace have they not known:
18 There is no fear of God before their eyes.
As the leaders of our society have justified violence against the innocent
and helpless, it is clear that many in our society have gotten the message.
Social scientist James Q. Wilson has warned that American young people have
learned to value self-expression over self-control.
While our population has increased by 41% since 1960 violent crime has
increased by 500%.
The number of teenagers arrested for violent crime has increased 300% since
1965.
The United States is living with the moral and social consequences of
abortion!
Dr. Phil Stringer is Executive Vice President of
Landmark Baptist College, Haines City, Florida.
