DUTCH TREAT- Cal Fox's Blog

Gov Romney and Mr Krauthammer do raise an important related issue: The frozen or discarded embryos from In Vitro Fertilization. According to an article in Christianity Today (July 2204), there are 400,000 frozen embryos stored in 430 fertility clinics. Romney and Krauthammer are willing to allow those that will be discarded to be used in research. If they are human beings, what do we do with them?

In my appeal yesterday to pro-lifers to be consistent in their moral outrage against anti-life forces, I urged concern for human beings who exist and die as homeless people on streets of our cities.  In an earlier post, I mentioned the 8 million who die annually around the world due mostly to preventable starvation and disease.  Are you outraged over them?

Today, let me add the multitudes of people who are being slaughtered in Darfur, Africa.  Already 333,000 have been killed.  Are you outraged over them?

And then there is the case of Edith Schaeffer, wife of Francis, whose family is insisting that she be kept alive and treated well by a medical staff in a Swiss hospital that wants to allow her to die.  Is this, too, an outrage? 

Outrage over one is called for, but it must not stop there.  Our outrage must overflow to all the others!

see www.worldmag.com/subscriber/displayarticle.cfm?id=10479

Many Christians believe in the immortality of the soul- the soul inhabits the body (some say it is imprisoned in the body) and at death it is released and goes to Heaven.  The Scripture does not teach this.  Human beings do not have souls.  We are souls.  As a new Christian, many years ago, I learned from the Scofield Bible that we have bodies and souls and spirits- three separate parts (Trichotomy).  Later, I learned that was not Biblical and we have two separate parts- bodies and souls (Duality)  I have since learned that the Bible actually says human beings are one (Unity)  We are not human beings apart from our bodies.  The physical, mental, psychological, spiritual- all together make us who we are as human beings. 

Thus the absolute importance of the resurrection of the body.  Easter is about that.  The Gospel song "you ask me how I know he lives, he lives within my heart" is incomplete.  I know Jesus lives, first, because of the historical account of the literal resurrection of his physical body.  Second, I know it because of the testimony of his Holy Spirit within my heart to that reality.  Jesus did not go from the grave into our hearts.  In his resurrected body, Jesus went to Heaven where he has remained to this day.

We look forward to the same experience.  Redemption includes the redemption of our bodies- of all we are on every level.  Jesus would not be Lord of All, if he were not Lord of the physical realm.  Salvation would not be complete, if it did not include all that we are as human beings.  Jesus would not be my Savior, if he saved only some part of me and the rest of me was lost.  Depravity is total.  Redemption must also be total.  It will be- on the Day we are raised, even as he was

The Terri Schaivo story has aroused strong deep feelings in multitudes.  Many are very indignant at the treatment she is getting, which they perceive to be cruel, inhumane, now tantamount to her murder.  They are outraged and disgusted that she not only is being allowed to die, and in a terrible way; but with the sanction of the Courts. 

I had lunch with a man last week who also has the same feelings, the same indignation about the treatment of the extreme poor and homeless in the inner city.  His eyes welled up as he expressed his equally sincere moral outrage over what he considers to be their cruel and inhumane treatment by the City and, especially, by Christians, through their indifference and neglect of these human beings. 

It won't do to say Ms Schaivo is an innocent victim and deserves better, while the homeless are not victims and do not deserve better.   If Ms Schaivo's life has value and must be sustained at all costs because she is a human being, than every single homeless person's life has value and must be sustained at all costs because each of them also is a human being.  Pro-Life is Pro-Life. 

There was a segment on this morning's TV news about sleep- Americans typically do not get enough and that, because we live very hectic, on the go lives.  We also go to bed wound up, or troubled, by events of the day or of the morrow.  And we get up that way and do it all over again.

How essential to start each day with a Quiet Time.  I use the Anglican Devotional at http://www.oremus.org  During Holy Week I added  a CD of Gregorian Chant in the background during QT.  I have it on now.  What a sweet blessing it is.  The point is to calm the inner person down and focus on the Presence of the Lord- and then meditate [not study] on Scripture and pray, before rushing out into the morning traffic. 

In contrast, many of the Psalms I read daily include exhortations to shout praise, dance and clang cymbals in Worship of our Almighty God, Creator, Redeemer & King.  That's the difference between private and corporate Worship- we need both.

To judge by the biggest news story of this weekend, dying is the most horrible thing that can happen to anybody- it must be avoided at all costs!!

(Actually, some whose lives are terrible, welcome death to end their misery. To them it seems to be a friend that brings freedom.)

Truth is Death is the wages of sin. All sin, all die. One way or another. It can not be avoided.

Easter can be symbolic of new life, new beginnings; but that is not what Easter is.
Nor is Easter is about life after dying, though it may be used to give that assurance.

Easter is about the death of death. Easter celebrates the work of God to destroy the Enemy of Death, to destroy all the dark Powers of Death that wreck havoc everywhere in God's world. Those Powers, Death, do not belong in God''s world. They have no right to exist, no right to ruin the lives of people.

Easter is about the resurrection of Jesus. The resurrection of Jesus is the miracle worked by God to burst the bonds, to destroy the stranglehold, of Death.

Multitudes do not seem to know about Easter. Stories of bunny rabbits and annual flower shows do nothing to deliver people from their horror of dying. Only the Good News of Easter (which should be called Resurrection Sunday) can do that.

Do the multitudes protesting dying and railing against death this weekend know that it is Easter? Do they know that on the other side is Glory? Christians know that!

Alleluia!

Overwhelming effort is being made to prevent the dying of a particular person in Florida. Just wondering if the same overwhelming effort is going to be made, by the same people, to prevent the dying of untold numbers of other particular persons elsewhere.

If one person deserves our concern, and she does, do not all the others? Unlike the parents, most people involved in the Florida case are involved because they are "Pro-Life", ie- not because of a personal relationship, but because of an absolute principle they believe in. I wonder if the Florida case will result in an upsurge of support for Pro-Life causes from celebrities, clergy, the columnists, editors, letter writers and the public everywhere?

Also wondering how so many people who do not want personal values dictated by the government or who insist that government stay out of our private lives can be so adamant that government should be so involved in this very personal and private Florida case.

And wondering how it is right for Congress to seek to over ride or direct State Courts in what they do, or how it is that medical decisions (as well as medical ethics) should be determined by politicians, or how pro-traditional marriage advocates can work to undermine the rights of a husband. (I know, in this case the husband has not been faithful; nevertheless, the principle and the law remains. As to the parents- in the Marriage Ceremony parents are asked "Who gives this woman to this man?" The father [normally] answers "Her mother and I do." The Groom takes the Bride's hand and the father steps back and sits down.)

Just wondering. The tragic Schiavo case is not black and white simple and precedents are being made in it that could effect all of us.

"The Scandal of the Evangelical Conscience" is the theme of Ronald Sider's new book of that name. He provides abundant evidence from surveys and polls (mostly from the Barna group) that evangelicals live their lives pretty much like every one else, including (what we used to call) fornication, adultery, divorce, addictions, lying, etc and, of course, materialism. He puts it bluntly- Bible believing and quoting Christians are hypocrites.

He finds several most probable causes- all under the general phrase "Cheap Grace"- just pray the "Sinner's Prayer" and, being then saved, live however you want (which amounts to doing like everyone else in our culture) If true, that is a scandal!

I would insist that anyone (even if it that includes millions of people) who actually thinks this way is not a Christian. If people who call themselves "evangelical" actually think this way, then that label is degraded. Cheap grace is no grace at all.

Reformed, Book of Romans, Pauline Christians know that God's gifts of regeneration, repentance and saving faith result in Justification. Justification results necessarily in sanctification. Holiness is the fruit, the evidence of Justification- without it, there is no evidence, no assurance, that anyone who claims to be a Christian actually is.

The basic cause of the scandalous situation Sider describes is failure to preach and teach the Reformed Faith. Where it is proclaimed, there is no scandal (that is not to say there is no sin). Where it has been preached, there has been "Revival".

What is increasingly preached and taught today can be called "The Post Modern Gospel" and it is the root from which the scandal described in Sider's book grows.

In contrast to the parents of Terri Schiavo, in the mid 70's, the parents of Karin Quinlan argued, through the chain of courts, to have their daughter's life support [a respirator]  removed, after she had been in a PVS for a number of years.  Likewise, in the mid 80's, the parents of Nancy Cruzan argued that their daughter's feeding tube be removed so that she could die, after many years in a PVS.

All three cases hinged on trying to determine what the patient wanted and honoring that- respecting her priavcy, her rights, her freedom of choice- as well as honoring the Constitution's quarentee of due process.  All in all, an impressive legal battle to do "the right thing" on behalf of the otherwise helpless women.

All three cases demonstrate the importance of having a Living Will and granting someone power of attorney to make decisions on the patient's behalf.