[original article here]

Angie Jackson, twitter username antitheistangie, has been live tweeting her abortion in an effort to encourage other women to consider the option of abortion. A video from ABC new gives insight into her perspective into the subject and her justification for abortion.

In the video she makes clear her situation; she had an abortion for a variety of reasons. Her protection (IUD) failed, as it always will eventually, and her doctor had warned her that child-birth could kill her, as it nearly had with the birth of her first child. Calmly, Angie, tells of the safety, normalcy, and practicality of an abortion.

Ever faithful, both sides of the abortion debate are going at it yet again; pro-choice people claiming this was a wonderful motion by young Angie to help spread the wondrous benefits an abortion has the potential to have, pro-life people sometimes going so far as to condemn the woman and call her things I won’t reproduce here.

If Josiah wants to, we might watch the video at the next meeting to give everyone the opportunity to comment.

Just recently a new contraceptive pill, ellaOne, has appeared in European drug stores. As with all contraceptives, the pill “prevents” a pregnancy with a 80-90% success rate. However, this pill improves on previous pills in that it is supposed to be effective up to 5 days after unprotected intercourse, a 2-day increase from older pills that worked within only 72 hours. As with all contraceptive pills, consumption within 12 hours is strongly recommended, as the process is said to go more smoothly.

The extra 2 days of course means that the pill further pushes into areas of conflict, as the fertilized egg is in further development inside the mother. The egg is fertilized, but not in lodged in the uterus at this point in time. Many pro-abortion groups use this point to argue that the process is no more abortion than it was before. (I guess that assumes it wasn’t before either?)

As always, we should turn to the Bible for guidance. Jeremiah 1:5a says the following:

“Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, And before you were born I consecrated you,”

If God knew us before we were even formed, should it matter at what stage the baby’s development is?

I’m interested in hearing people’s opinions about this; if not here then at the next meeting.

A few days ago, CBS announced that an pro-life ad featuring Florida Gator Tim Tebow and his mother will be airing during the Superbowl. The ad, which cost $2.5-2.8 million dollars, will tell the story of his mothers, Pam’s, decision not to abort him, even after a doctor’s recommendation to end the pregnancy when she became sick.

The ad is said to not mention the word abortion while still getting the message across, nevertheless, it has encountered much opposition, particularly from NOW, the National Organization for Women. Many complaints have gone to CBS concerning the division, anti-choice, and general “hate” the message that Pam Tebow’s decision to keep her child would cause. Focus on the Family is described as an “anti-equality, anti-choice, homophobic organization,”

There has even been talk that Pam Tebow’s testimony is a fraud, as abortion in the Philippines has been illegal since 1930. Many make the argument that a doctor would not suggest an abortion for then-missionary Mrs. Tebow, and thusly, the whole ad is a desperate attempt at pro-life people to mislead the people concerning the subject of abortion.

Petitions have already been started, asking CBS to take out the ad from the Superbowl commercial space.

More information easy to find via Google.

Just this past night, Republican Scott Brown earned himself a Massachusetts Senate seat, thereby replacing Democrat Ted Kennedy in Congress. The story behind his campaign is quite remarkable. As this seat would determine if there were enough Democrats in the Senate to pass the healthcare bill, many influential leaders were involved, including President Barack Obama.

As there are now only 59 Democrats and 60 votes are needed in the Senate to pass a bill, the healthcare bill will now need to be supported by at least one Republican in the Senate. This is a very encouraging thing because now there is no benefit to the Democrats to work on the bill alone–exclude the Republicans entirely and they simply will vote against the bill.

Beyond the encouragement to us that the healthcare bill now stands a lesser chance of being passed, regardless of funding for abortion, we can also see how much influence the people indeed can have. Several recent polls show that at least a plurality, and in most cases a majority, of Americans in general oppose abortion funding in healthcare.

Today that has been verified in the election of to-be Senator Scott Brown R-MA. Another wonderful praise that healthcare is that much less likely to be passed!

Well, it’s been a while since we’ve posted on here.

However, things happen whether people report them or not. Just today LifeNews posted an article about the status of the healthcare bill. As stated in the article, 60/100 votes are needed in the Senate and a majority of Representatives (218 since there are 435 total).

And it’s borderline.

So the question is, will funding of abortions make it into healthcare?

This is a difficult question to answer, as those favoring abortion-funded healthcare must consider if they can keep abortion yet still maintain enough votes. Bart Stupak, who fought for and successfully amended the House bill to exclude monetary provision for abortion with the exception of physical danger to the mother, says he and a small group of Democrats will oppose healthcare if his amendment does not survive to the final version.

Already the vote will be close; but will the Senate’s provision for abortions or the House’s Stupak Amendment make it into the final bill? Only God knows, so please, remember that the Voiceless covet your prayers.

Discrepancies on abortion between the House and Senate versions of the bill available here. (page 5)

Standing at 1,472 feet, the Empire State Building in New York is a phenomenon of modern architecture. Completed in 1931, it remained the world’s tallest skyscraper until 1972. Even today, the Empire State Building has not ceased to amaze as millions of people from all walks of life continue to marvel at the sensational height of the massive skyscraper each year, and seemingly none leave in disappointment.

It is no hard thing to lose oneself in amazement upon gazing at the great stature and complexity of this icon of architectural prowess. Whether looking down from the pinnacle or staring upward from ground level, it provides an awe-inspiring experience to the viewer.

However, the most important aspect of the entire structure is often overlooked completely. For, beneath all the grandeur and glory of 102 stories, lies a simple, concrete foundation that holds together every bit of the magnificence of the skyscraper. Without the foundation, this remarkable structure would be reduced to mere ruins. The greatness of the Empire State building lies not in its glorious summit, but in its plain foundation.

Today, as the debate over the issue of abortion grows more and more heated and complex, it seems to have erected a skyscraper of its own. And, as our culture glazes wearily over this seemingly unending structure, it appears to be quite overwhelming and insurmountable. So overwhelming, in fact, that many have deemed the debate to be an eternal stalemate. However, beneath the incomprehensible complexity of the massive structure of the culture war over this issue, lies the fairly simple and often neglected foundation of it all. This foundation is the bottom-line of the entire debate and it lies in one simple question: is the baby in the womb a valuable human being entitled to the same rights as you and I? Once we answer this question, we will have caused the complexity of the imaginary skyscraper to be reduced to nothing.

But, how should we even begin to answer such an important question? Well, first, let’s inquire after the Maker of the foundation of the universe, to find out how He would go about answering our vital question. In this post, we will endeavor to do just that by highlighting a few of the many passages in the Bible relevant to this question.

First of all, to answer our big question, we must take a look at the beginning of the universe, creation. When God made the universe and everything in it (light and darkness, day and night, the heavens, the earth, the sea, the dry land, the animals, and lastly, man) He pronounced that every aspect of His creation was “very good” (Gen. 1:31). However, God’s creation of man carried with it an aspect that separates man from the rest of His creation. We may observe this vast difference in Genesis 1:27: “So God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created them; male and female He created them.” Nothing else in God’s entire creation did He create in His own image. Therefore, human life carries with it a certain intrinsic value to God. That is, according to God, there is sanctity to every human life. Nevertheless, the reader may inquire what does this prove? After all, if we resolve that the unborn are not human beings (or persons), this “sanctity of all human life” does not apply to them. Well, before we object in this way, we must first ask the following question: does God consider the unborn to be human beings made in His image? For, if we are able to answer this question affirmatively, then we need not even question that this sanctity applies to them.

So, how does God consider the unborn? Well, we can only accurately pursue the answer to this question by examining God’s own words about the unborn in Scripture. Speaking to Isaiah, God says, “Thus says the LORD who made you, who formed you from the womb and will help you…” (Isaiah 44:2). Here, God, speaking to a grown man, makes it clear that the something that God was forming in the womb was not merely that which would eventually become Isaiah, but, rather, God was forming the person Isaiah himself in the womb. Isaiah, a human being created by God, did not suddenly become himself at birth or even at viability, but, instead, he became the person Isaiah at the very moment that God began to form him in his mother’s womb. In numerous other passages in Scripture, God speaks of the unborn in the same manner. (Ex.- Job 10:8-12; Psalm 139:13-16). And so, it is the same for each of us; from the very moment that God begins to form us in the womb, He already regards us as persons made in His image.

In addition, we come to an identical conclusion by observing our position as sinners before God. Shortly after God’s creation of man, man fell into sin through disobedience to God’s commands (Gen. 3). As a result of this sin, every human being that has ever lived has inherited this sinful nature; Romans 5:12 states, “Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned.” How does this relate to the unborn? Well, God’s word tells us in Psalm 51:5, where the psalmist David proclaims, “Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me.” In this passage, David declares to us that this same sinful nature inherited in every person, was present within him from the moment he was conceived in his mother’s womb. In his book Pro-Life Answers to Pro-Choice Arguments, Randy Alcorn notes that “only a person can have a sin nature. David’s statement clearly shows that he was a person at the point of conception.”

Clearly then, in the eyes of God, the unborn are considered to be human beings (or persons). And, as all human beings are made in the image of God and therefore have an intrinsic worth like nothing else in creation, the lives of the unborn carry that identical sanctity as well.

Do not be overcome by the skyscraper that the debate over this issue has erected, for God has vanquished it and reduced it to mere ruins. He has answered our one vital question with overwhelming clarity:

“Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you.” (Jeremiah 1:5)

Today, we live in a culture full of deceptions. It seems that, everywhere we turn these days, people are pushing for some cause that they proclaim will surely make the world a better place. And, of course, regardless of what they are truly fighting for, their causes have always and will always have some appealing slogan attached to them. In the midst of all this confusion, it is no hard thing to come to the wrong conclusions. However, after each of these championed causes has taken its turn, one factor will determine whether they were, in the end, profitable to humanity or not. That factor, without a doubt, is time: only by looking back to the pages of history may we accurately assess the ultimate success or failure of a cause or idea.

Thus, as we endeavor to determine the good or evil of a cause at the present, our first step should certainly be to examine the pages of history for a similar cause, in which the motivations, the methods, and the results contain a striking resemblance to current events. As the saying goes, “History repeats itself.”; and by examining history, we just might be able to correctly begin to make an educated assessment of the events and causes of our own day.

By drawing parallels from three separate periods of history, this short film does exactly this. What do these three periods in time, the Holocaust, slavery, and modern-day abortion actually have in common? Well, as the short film portrays, the answer to this question bears remarkable importance to our lives today.

First of all, these three periods all have the same motivating philosophy behind them, a philosophy that accomplished arguably the most horrific periods of the devaluing of human life that the world has ever seen. For the Nazis, this philosophy took full form in the driving force of the Holocaust known today as the science of eugenics. This “science” endeavored to produce a “master race” by getting rid of the “weeds” of society by means of elimination. Using this philosophy as the driving force of their actions, the Nazis justified their massive slaughter of the Jews by proclaiming that they were simply less than human. The slave trade exhibited the same kind of philosophy as well. The slave traders could only capture and enslave the Africans, if they could justify their actions by asserting that the Africans were less than human. Likewise, at present, the 4,000 abortions that happen every day in America magnify this philosophy to even greater heights, for we can only kill them if first assume that the unborn are less than human. And thus, each of these undermines the sanctity of all human life that exists because “God created man in His own image” (Gen. 1:27).

Secondly, we see another striking similarity in that, at each of their prospective time periods, slavery, the Holocaust, and abortion today were and are promoted as great benefits to society. During the Holocaust, the Nazis held firmly to the belief that they were doing a favor to the human race by eliminating the Jews and thus, they heralded their slaughter of the Jews as a victory for all of society. At the time of the slave-trade, many held to the belief that slaves added a great boost to the economy of various farms and plantations and this belief, when freely proclaimed, added extra strength to the slave trade and made it out to be a victory for economic growth. Today, our culture constantly holds up abortion as a victory of “choice” and a symbol of the precious freedom that we have in our country. Thus each of these evils in society has been cloaked to the point where it no longer maintains any association with evil, but, rather, it escapes untouched into an association with good.

However, there is one obvious difference which we must not fail to acknowledge. That difference is this: whereas the Holocaust and the slave trade (in America, at least) have passed away into infamy, the evil of abortion is happening right now; it happened nearly 4,000 times today in America alone. How often do we look back in history to the Holocaust and conclude that, had it happened in our own lifetime, we would have surely done something about it? Well, it is happening right here in your lifetime; it is happening right now. And so, only one question remains: will you take a stand for life in the midst of our modern Holocaust of abortion? History awaits your decision.

“If you faint in the day of adversity, your strength is small. Rescue those who are being taken away to death; hold back those who are stumbling to the slaughter. If you say, “Behold, we did not know this,” does not he who weighs the heart perceive it? Does not he who keeps watch over your soul know it, and will he not repay man according to his work?” ~Proverbs 24:11-12

At age 17, the typical American teen wastes away the day playing video games, watching television, and surfing the web. And, without a doubt, this way of living has become perfectly accepted and quite expected from the culture around it. Our culture has even given the word “teenager” the unquestioned negative connotation which assumes that a “teenager” is merely an irresponsible and lazy person who acts like a child and seems to be an adult in appearance alone. The expectations have been already set, and teens everywhere are falling to meet them. Because of the new rise of entertainment and overall consumption, the days when people in their teen years were expected to do great things are long gone. Or, are they? Does God still use teens to do great things for him?

Well, on July 16, one teen took a giant step toward erasing these low expectations of the cultural mindset. It was on that day that Zac Sunderland, a 17-year-old from California, made history, becoming the youngest person ever to circumnavigate the globe alone. Aboard his boat Intrepid, Zac braved the seas for 13 months, encountering no small measure of difficulties along the way. In the process, Zac also took the opportunity to share his faith. Why did he do it? Upon his historic return, Zac explained his central reason for going on his amazing journey. He said:

“As far as inspiring people, the main thing today would be that society puts younger people, like 15 through 18, in kind of a box, no one’s really expected to do much. They kind of just tend to go to high school and play football and that’s pretty much it. There’s so much more potential that people can do with the right motivation and the right ambition in life. So my thing would just be to get out there and do hard things. Go for it.”

So, back to our original question: Does God still use teens to do great things for Him? Certainly! Indeed, if we choose to follow God’s calling on our lives, there’s no limit to what God might do through us. “For nothing is impossible with God” (Phillipians 4:13). Undoubtedly, it will be hard to shake off the low expectations of our culture, but, if we’re willing to do hard things for God, He will enable us to do so.

Thanks, Zac, for this powerful reminder that God truly does use young people to do great things for Him. And so, as we endeavor to take a stand for life for the glory of God, there’s no limit to what God can do through us! God can truly use us to make a huge difference in our culture, to defy these low expectations, and to take a stand for life. And, as young people, He has called us to do just that.

” Let no one despise you for your youth, but set the believers an example in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith, in purity.” ~1 Timothy 4:12

To visit Zac’s website, go to www.sailzac.com

On Monday, Arizona Governor Jan Brewer signed three life-saving bills into law: the “Abortion Consent Act” (HB 2564), the “Partial-Birth Abortion Ban” (HB 2400), and the “Prohibition of Abortions Performed by Non-Physicians” bill (SB 1175). According to Cathi Herrod, the President of the Center for Arizona Policy (CAP), “It is the most significant pro-life legislation to pass in Arizona.”

According to LifeNews.com the “‘Partial-Birth Abortion Ban’ creates a state ban on partial-birth abortions so that local prosecutors can make sure the federal partial-birth abortion ban can be better enforced.” This bill is of utmost importance if we are to make sure that this gruesome procedure is not carried out in Arizona.

Regarding the “Prohibition of Abortions Performed be Non-Physicians” bill, Arizona Right to Life states, “Clarifying that no person other than a licensed physician may perform a surgical abortion, SB1175 is extremely important since nurse practitioners and other non-doctors are not equipped to deal with complications arising from a surgical abortion. Women’s lives will be saved because of this clarification.”

Again, according to Cathi Herrod of the Center for Arizona Policy (one of the many, if not the central organization involved in pushing for this legislation), said, “The Abortion Consent Act establishes informed consent procedures for women considering abortion, fixes problems in Arizona’s parental consent law, and protects health care workers from being forced to participate in abortion against their moral and religious beliefs.” Thus, having this legislation pass in Arizona is no small occurence. Rather, by educating women who are considering abortions in this manner and by giving them time to think about their decision, women who otherwise would have proceeded to have abortions out of general ignorance or simply because of a rash decision, are enabled to make the right choice.

To find out more about these three bills, visit the Center for Arizona Policy website at www.azpolicy.org.

As many of you already know, many people throughout the state of Arizona (including our group) dedicated a significant amount of time in prayer for our Governor to sign these bills and, as is evident, God came through in a remarkable way. However with still thousands of abortions happening every year in the state of Arizona, there remains plenty of work to be done. And so, we must be greatly encouraged by these victories; that is, knowing that God truly does hear our prayers, we must be greatly encouraged to “continue steadfastly in prayer, being watchful in it with thanksgiving” (Col. 4:2). Praise God from whom all blessings flow!

“Again I say to you, if two of you agree on earth about anything they ask, it will be done for them by my Father in heaven. For where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I among them.” ~Matthew 18:19-20