An Open Letter to the Pro-life Movement
“Abortion brings into the public arena a Van Tilian fact of life: an aborted baby is either dead or alive. There is no neutral ground, no halfway condition, in between dead or alive. The abortion issue was the wedge of Van Tilian self-consciousness for millions of Christians. They gained the first glimmer of awareness regarding a Van Tilian truth applied to civil law: the State is not neutral.
“We began to see placards: ‘Abortion is Murder.’ But then … that terrifying judicial question: ‘What is the proper civil penalty for murder?’ The answer was obvious: execution. The anti-abortionist leaders all began to waffle, and they have waffled ever since.”
- Gary North
Chalcedon Report
I concur.
I used to own a house across the street from an abortion clinic, before it was closed and then bulldozed. We have an extensive web site dealing with pro-life happenings from the mid-1990s until present.
See: http://forerunner.com/fyi/
I conceived the site as a way to identify a “mystery abortionist” who wanted to keep his identity secret. Meredith Raney now runs the site and has added volumes of information. Mademoiselle Magazine wrote a critique of the web site a few years ago. The abortuary owners used to accuse the local pro-lifers of being responsible for cutting their business in half. They even filed four federal lawsuits against us as a group claiming that the existence of the web site was a tortious (yes, that’s actually a word) offense.
I wrote an “Open Letter to the Pro-life Community” a while back, making the same point North makes above.
http://forerunner.com/abortionwars/abortionwars.html
Pro-life activists have done a lot to stop individual abortions from occurring. But if we want a permanent solution, that we do have to come to grips with the fact that although abortion has been restricted in American history, we are one of the few nations on earth that has not ever criminalized abortion.
There IS a lot we can do in the meantime. I chronicle some of these in my “Open Letter.”
But few want to deal with the weighty question of what criminal sanctions need to be enforced.
While it is widely held that abortion was legalized in 1973 through Roe v. Wade, this idea is absolutely wrong. While abortion was restricted in various places, abortion has never been nationally criminalized in American history. We must begin to create the kind of tension in the minds of people that will help them to extend beyond the current debate over the morality of abortion versus a woman’s right to choose. We must change the argument. Should abortion be restricted by the state in the same way that the FDA puts restrictions on food production? Or should an abortionist be tried as a murderer and executed?
See my “Open Letter to the Pro-life Community” for more details.
- Jay Rogers
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Comments
Your comments are welcome!
http://forerunner.com/abortionwars/abortionwars.html
I write in part:
In 1988, I participated in my first rescue in Brookline, Massachusetts. I understood that the purpose was threefold -- repentance, spiritual warfare, evangelism. Rescue was a way of waking the heart of a sleeping church and gaining media exposure. Before long, people would see that abortion was murder because here were Christians who were finally acting like it was murder.
Over the next few years, I noticed that there was a wide difference in what some pro-life activists were saying about the abortion issue and the biblical authority of the law of God. On either side, there were two extremes. On one side, there were a few who would advocate violence. On the other side, there were some who were so extreme in their sanctity of life view that they would deny that capital punishment by the state is a proper biblical punishment for the murderer.
There is inherent in all human beings the sense of good and evil. We all know deep down that murder is wrong, theft is wrong, adultery is wrong. According to Romans 1:18-21, natural revelation testifies of the nature of God, His power and the nature of His creative acts. Man recognizes the existence of the power of God and His creative acts even without knowledge of the Bible.
Obviously, natural revelation teaches us that abortion is wrong. But this knowledge will not alleviate the evil of abortion. In most cases, knowing that abortion is murder will only sear the consciences of the unconverted. Such is the depravity of man. This is why I believe extravagant forms of street activism designed to grab media attention are actually counter-productive in the long run. We would do well to remember that the natural man siting in front of his television set is not basically good. He is intrinsically evil.
The greatest error the pro-life movement made early on is that it was not law-based. That is, abortion is not simply wrong. Abortion is murder. If we believe abortionists and the fathers and mothers who kill their little boys and girls in the womb are murderers, then we must treat them like murderers. There is not a single pro-life organization that is currently lobbying to criminalize abortion. This must now change. We must now begin a movement, by the grace of God, to criminalize abortion with capital punishment as a penalty for murdering children in the womb. We must also advocate criminalizing the actions of those who act as accessories to murder. The mothers and the fathers who pay to kill their babies are also guilty.
Posted by Jay Rogers on 04/07/2006 12:03 AM #
Dr. Francis Schaeffer - How Should We Then Live? (DVD)
Special Two-Disc Set!
After 40 years of intense study and world-wide ministry, Dr. Francis Schaeffer completed his crowning work of scholarship – to present profound truths in simple film language. Dr. Schaeffer’s brilliant analysis of the past and predictions for current trends have proven so uncannily accurate that this amazing series still feels contemporary almost three decades after its initial release. Ultimately, Schaeffer concludes that man’s only hope is a return to God’s Biblical absolute, the truth revealed in Christ through the Scriptures.
Available for the first time on DVD, this documentary spectacular also includes intimate in-depth conversations with Francis and Edith Schaeffer. With the on-disc study guide, this presentation forms a unique course of comprehensive study. While this series forms an innovative analysis of the past, this outstanding work is more than history. Each episode focuses on a significant era, yet speaks clearly to 21st-century man with answers for modern problems.
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(We accept all major credit cards and PayPal.)Click here for more information
The Four Keys to the Millennium (Book)
Foundations in Biblical Eschatology
By Jay Rogers, Larry Waugh, Rodney Stortz, Joseph Meiring. High quality paperback, 167 pages.
All Christians believe that their great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, will one day return. Although we cannot know the exact time of His return, what exactly did Jesus mean when he spoke of the signs of His coming (Mat. 24)? How are we to interpret the prophecies in Isaiah regarding the time when “the earth will be full of the knowledge of the LORD as the waters cover the sea” (Isa. 11:19)? Should we expect a time of great tribulation and apostasy or revival and reformation before the Lord returns? Is the devil bound now, and are the saints reigning with Christ? Did you know that there are four hermeneutical approaches to the book of Daniel and Revelation?
These and many more questions are dealt with by four authors as they present the four views on the millennium. Each view is then critiqued by the other three authors.
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(We accept all major credit cards and PayPal.)Click here for more information
Amazing Grace: The History and Theology of Calvinism (DVD)
Download the Free Study Guide!
Just what is Calvinism?
Does this teaching make man a deterministic robot and God the author of sin? What about free will? If the church accepts Calvinism, won’t evangelism be stifled, perhaps even extinguished? How can we balance God’s sovereignty and man’s responsibility? What are the differences between historic Calvinism and hyper-Calvinism? Why did men like Augustine, Luther, Calvin, Spurgeon, Whitefield, Edwards and a host of renowned Protestant evangelists embrace the teaching of predestination and election and deny free will theology?
This is the first video documentary that answers these and other related questions. Hosted by Eric Holmberg, this fascinating three-part, four-hour presentation is detailed enough so as to not gloss over the controversy. At the same time, it is broken up into ten “Sunday-school-sized” sections to make the rich content manageable and accessible for the average viewer.
Running Time: 257 minutes
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A Revival Account: Asbury 1970 (DVD)
What is true Revival and Spiritual Awakening?
Discover the answer in this eyewitness account by Dennis Kinlaw, President of Asbury College, Wilmore, Kentucky, who recounts the story of a visitation of the Holy Spirit in 1970. This is the presentation that has continued to spark the flames of Revival in the hearts of people around the world. Contains eyewitness footage from the Revival at Asbury College in 1970 in Wilmore, Kentucky.
Certain to challenge you to greater holiness and a deeper commitment to full-scale revival. Original news and private footage has been included. If you are a student who longs to see a spiritual awakening at your school, you must see this video!
“This simple video does a wonderful job of conveying something of God’s heart and power, Everyone we have ever shown this to has received an immediate impartation of faith for revival and the power of prayer.”
— Bob and Rose Weiner, Weiner Ministries Int’l
Running Time: 40 minutes
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Massacre of Innocence (DVD)
Exposing The Occult Roots of Abortion
This presentation looks at the spiritual roots of abortion and exposes the myths surrounding child killing. Little known historical facts about abortion and how they relate to modern feminism are presented logically and accurately. Has been effective in converting many to a pro-life position.
Massacre of Innocence goes where no pro-life presentation has gone before in “tearing the lid off abortion” to reveal the spiritual realities we must battle if we will bring an end to this crime. The presentation is absorbing, fast-paced, informative and incredibly devastating to any attempt to justify abortion.
“… an extraordinary statement … a powerfully articulate presentation about what abortion really means, and why a great and moral nation like the United States must not allow the slaughter to continue.”
— Congressman Robert K. Dornan
Running time: 85 minutes
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(We accept all major credit cards and PayPal.)
please try to help me understand. it would be greatly appreciated.
Posted by monet517 on 03/07/2006 05:54 PM #