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32 Days of Love beats an abortion
Last updated on: March 15, 2017 at 9:16 pm by Elizabeth Scalia
32 Days of Love beats an abortion 2017-03-15T21:16:16+00:00 Elizabeth Scalia
Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.
הַעִדֹתִי בָכֶם הַיּוֹם, אֶתהַשָּׁמַיִם וְאֶתהָאָרֶץהַחַיִּים וְהַמָּוֶת נָתַתִּי לְפָנֶיךָ, הַבְּרָכָה וְהַקְּלָלָה וּבָחַרְתָּ, בַּחַיִּיםלְמַעַן תִּחְיֶה, אַתָּה וְזַרְעֶךָ
– Deuteronomy 30:19
I have argued many times that by welcoming new life into the world – regardless of how “perfect” that life is – we are allowing Love to come into the world, anew. And if God is Love, then it seems to follow that the “completely new” love that occurs between a parent and child – in utero and even more intensely ex utero – is God’s means of manifesting his “ever ancient, ever new” love – to make it real and knowable, touchable, breathable, kissable and grieve-able in the world.
Considered thusly, it is not surprising that those who would “subdue” God would also be enthusiastic about subduing new life – of judging how much life there should be, and of what quality – of “playing god.”
I suspect every abortion, every “compassionate” bit of euthanasia has the evil one stamping his foot in triumphant glee. The quality of a person’s life may not be a doctor’s, or a government’s idea of “great,” but it is the life he or she has. and the “compassion” that would end such a life based on a qualitative judgment should always be questioned. What you deem tin may be my gold, after all:
Should we steal from our brother the opportunity for him to reach out a hand and have it immediately grasped, to have everything about his existence affirmed, over and over?
Should we steal from ourselves the opportunity to love?
People who clamor for government-run health care should consider that once the taxpayers have given that power over the government, they – like AIG and all of the “evil banks” currently being talked down – will place themselves and their loved ones into the power of the government and their accounting sheets. The grandmother you think of as gold, may be so much tin, if she costs the government too much to keep alive. The husband you call your diamond becomes only coal to the bureaucrat.
And abortion…if you discover that the child in your womb is “defective” and decide you want to love it, anyway, that you want to allow your daughter a few precious minutes of life and love, give your son the chance to grow in the life he will have, you will be told you are unrealistic and selfish to burden the state and your fellow taxpayers with your absurd love.
Why wouldn’t evil stamp its foot and shout for joy?
Old Scratch must be pretty grouchy that this one has got away from him, that this unrealistic and selfish love has been allowed to come into the world, and flourish, and breath and live.
When I was 19 weeks pregnant, I was told that my baby had no brain. This condition is known as “anencephaly.” I was told that my baby was only alive because she was attached to me, but that she couldn’t survive on her own. The doctor said that I could continue the pregnancy safely, but that my baby would die shortly after being born. Or I could choose to terminate the pregnancy then, which would mean being induced at 20 weeks and letting my baby die without ever seeing or holding her (I don’t even want to know what they do with babies in this case). Well, to some people this would be a difficult decision, but it wasn’t for me. I knew there was nothing to gain by terminating the pregnancy and I already loved my daughter more than anyone else in the world. Even if she was unconscious like the doctors said and lived for only a few seconds or minutes –even if she was stillborn –it was worth it to me. And so we began our journey…
Today, as I type this, Faith is 20 days old. Apart from a sterile dressing on her head that needs to be changed once a day, Faith lives a completely normal life. She isn’t suffering or sickly, like you would expect.
Doctors don’t know everything. Good doctors know that.
At 32 days, little Faith is still – miraculously – alive, but struggling a bit. Her mother realizes that she is unlikely to bring this child to kindergarten or dance at her wedding, but does that make her love – or Faith’s life – any less worthwhile? Watch the videos.
This is love. God is Love. All who live in love…live in God. If this child does not live another day, she has beaten all odds. Her life, and the love she and her mother share – a love that did not exist before her conception but now will never end – will have forever defeated the evil one.
There are lines being drawn. It is between light and darkness, and everyone must choose his side. I suggest that to “err on the side of life” can never bring the dark. Choosing otherwise turns out the lights.
Baptist pastor Walter Hoye is in jail today for the “crime” of peaceably offering help for life.
For the proponents of the lie – abortion is like having a tooth pulled, a fetus is just a parasite, none of this means anything – there is almost no greater crime. You’d think Pastor Hoye had committed murder, or something. Killed a puppy. Blown up a bridge.
I wrote a while back:
We have been trained in the secular world to disregard life as something holy and to understand that our human potential is inextricably tied to our personal freedoms and our domination over those uncontrollable matters of life: death, pain, and joy. This is a great deception. The truth is, just as human expansion upon the earth depended upon someone being willing to explore those uncharted waters marked, “Here be monsters,” our human potential can only grow when it is open to exploring the Unknowable. The vehicle for that exploration is faith. If the monsters of life are pain and suffering, fear and doubt, moving through them is what leads to discovery, growth, and — yes — holiness. God does not give us more than we can endure, but we cannot ascertain on our own precisely how much strength we have.
Faith’s young mother dared to grow; she loves her daughter with abandon. It is – by the world’s measure – a foolhardy love (when is love ever sensible?); it is a love that will eventually bring her to her knees with pain. That’s what love does; it brings the pain – and also the joy. All of it is part and parcel of an authentic, meaningful life lived with arms, heart and soul wide open, instead of a life resolutely, “sensibly,” “correctly” shut and ultimately meaningless. I thank God for foolish love. I thank God for the courage of it, and the richness it brings.
Oh yeah… guess what? Yesterday, when her bandage was being changed, Faith opened up her big blue eyes and saw her Mama!!! :) That was a first. I usually don’t even see her eyelids because her dressing covers them. I look forward to watching her dressing change now because that’s when I get to see all of her face, her ears, her hair… she is such a cutie! Such beautiful features that only a few people have the privilege of seeing.
The Life of Faith; and the mother who will know her, and love her, forever.
As I wrote elsewhere:
By the world’s measure, the power of a woman lies in what she “does.” By Christ’s measure – by God’s – woman is intrinsically powerful, simply in her being. She is afforded the power, freedom and respect to “make” or “break” mankind’s connection to the Creator.
Pope Paul VI was prophetic with Humanae Vitae, which almost everyone reviles without having read a word of it. The kneejerk rejection of that wisdom, has partly led us to where we are, today.
We are rapidly putting limits on liberty in America. The ultimate liberty is to be able to choose life – whether the life is your own or someone else’s.
Please pray for little Faith, and her mother. And for Heather, who is pregnant and being treated for cancer.
Related:
Resisting Termination in Pregnancy
No Greater Love
Where your treasure is, there will your heart be
‘Pro-life’ Harry Reid backs Gov’t Funded Abortion
Barack Obama’s Culture of Death-a-rama
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