This faith-based blog deals with
Christian living, disability, ethics,
Life Issues.
“Our once great western Christian civilization is dying. If this matters to followers of Jesus Christ, then we must set aside our denominational differences and work together to strengthen the things that remain and reclaim what has been lost. Evangelicals and Catholics must stand together to re-establish that former Christian culture and moral consensus. We have the numbers and the organization but the question is this: Do we have the will to win this present spiritual battle for Jesus Christ against secularism? Will we prayerfully and cooperatively work toward a new Christian spiritual revival ― or will we choose to hunker down in our churches and denominationalisms and watch everything sink into the spiritual and moral abyss of a New Dark Age?” - Mark Davis Pickup
My adult daughter sent me the link below called "Calming Storms" by Clayton Jennings. Shen and Was 8 years old and her brother was five when I was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis (MS). As I have said in previous blog posts, those years were terrifying years. We pulled together as a family. I have often wondered what impact it had on my children to watch their dad deteriorate from a healthy active man to walking with a cane then two canes, then crutches then a scooter and electric wheelchair. My daughter said her email that accompanied this video "This dude has a story eerily similar to the one Dean and me; I can relate to." Is there a storm in your life? Trust Christ. He will see you through it. Christ has been with me throughout 30 years of multiple sclerosis. He has brought me calm in the midst of my storms of disease. There can be peace even in pain. Listen to Clayton Jennings story below. Mark
(Note: Bookings for me to address your church, college or group about a Christian perspective on suffering or euthanasia and assisted suicide, contact me at HumanLifeMatters@shaw.ca )
It is by watching the dynamics between their father and mother that children learn about proper (or improper) relationships between the sexes. It is in the home that children are first introduced to the concept of love between a man and a woman united in marriage. It is by observing their parents that children first learn about loyalty, commitment and mutual submission and self-sacrifice for the betterment of the other. That is the way it supposed to be.
Boys learn from their fathers. Dads, be careful of the example you set for your sons. Whether bad or good, your example will be your legacy. Only you can decide which it shall be.
After 40 years of marriage and being a father and grandfather I believe the truth of the old adage: The best complement a man can give to his children is to tell and show them he loves their mother.
Marriage between a man and a women is a holy covenant ordained by God. Men, nurture your marriages, honor your wives.
Is there anything so wicked as a man trying
to silence his
conscience?It is a willful
act that happens in stages: Bit by bit, incident by incident, rationalization
by rationalization, the voice of a man’s conscience can be stifled—that still
small voice within him eventually becomes fainter, until his heart turns to
stone and covers the voice within.
But even within a stone-heart, his
conscience knocks and pounds against the inner granite wall, making muffled
cries of protest.
How many murderers have used alcohol or
drugs to dull a stabbing conscience! How many corrupt business tycoons keep
their lives busy with the hum of constant shady wheeling and dealing to
distract them from a relentless nagging conscience? Occasionally, at an
unexpected moment, a whisper of conscience escapes from behind their stone
hearts and catches them off-guard—only to be quickly squelched.
Perhaps they tell themselves they would not
be so cruel if it weren’t for their own abusive upbringing. Perhaps they ease a twinge of shame by
telling themselves it was their own poverty as a child that drives them to
accumulate ill-gotten wealth so their own little ‘Johnny’ or ‘Suzy’ won’t have
to endure deprivation. Besides, the wily
old tycoon has done good things too. Remember that charity drive for crippled
children he hosted in 1972? It must have
helped dozens of kids!
As long as a man is still making excuses
for his bad behavior, we know his conscience is alive. There’s still hope for
his humanity. As long as he’s trying to hide his misdeeds, there is still
acknowledgement of good and evil and right from wrong. The fact that the evil
or misdeeds are hidden bears witness that he knows what is right.
Natural law
People of older times called this innate
sense of right from wrong the Law of Nature or Natural Law—a standard of decent
behavior that people instinctively understood beginning in early childhood. It
was innate and didn’t need to be taught.
C.S. Lewis
C.S. Lewis began his marvelous book Mere Christianity, by addressing the Law
of Human Nature. He started with the
premise that people everywhere ascribe to a common standard of Objective truth,
a set of rules of fair play or morality to which they expect others to know
about. You can tell this by the way
children and adults alike quarrel. Lewis wrote:
“They say things like this: “How’d you like
it if anyone did the same to you?” ─ “That’s my seat, I was there first”─
“Leave him alone, he isn’t doing you any harm” ─ “Why should you shove in
first? ─ “Give me a bit of your orange, I gave you a bit of mine ─ “Come on,
you promised.””
Lewis noted that seldom does the other
party reply: “To hell with your standard.” No! The offender pretends that
there’s some special reason why “the person who took the seat first should not
keep it, or that things were quite different when he was given the bit of
orange, or that something has turned up which lets him off keeping his
promise.” In fact they both agree with a
common standard of decent behavior. The fact that they are quarrelling
indicates that they are trying to show the other person is in the wrong.
Otherwise, as Lewis wrote, they would “fight like animals”.
C.S. Lewis originally put this idea forward
in the 1940s for a series of British radio broadcasts. Mere
Christianity was not published until 1952.
The idea of a natural moral law ingrained into humanity has weaved
throughout history. America’s founding Fathers talked
of ‘Truths’ that are ‘self-evident’ (human equality and being “endowed by their
Creator with certain unalienable Rights.”)
Saint
Paul referred to natural law
written on human hearts (Romans 2.14-15). The Catholic church teaches that
“natural law expresses the original moral sense which enables man to discern by
reason the good and the evil, the truth and the lie:” (The Catechism of the Catholic Church No. 1954). Pope Leo XIII
(1810-1903) said, “the natural law is written and engraved in the soul of each
and every man.” St. Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274)
said,
“The natural law is nothing other than the
light of understanding placed in us by God; through it we know what we must do
and what we must avoid. God has given this light or law at the creation.”
Brave New World
And yet I see rampant immorality with
little obvious guilt. People parade their sin in the streets! How can this
be? Abortion advocates successfully secured
abortion on demand, resulting in the deaths of millions. Biomedical researchers
experiment on embryonic human life. They advocate strip mining comatose
patients for their organs. Euthanasia and assisted suicide proponents are gaining
acceptance in mainstream society.
People with serious progressive
disabilities (like me) are left to wonder what awaits us in our Brave New World
of the 21st Century?! Has
modern secular man been able to finally eradicate God’s natural law from the
human heart?[1]
The Catholic church teaches this is not
possible.
“Even when rejected in its very principles,
it cannot be destroyed or removed from the heart of man. It always rises again
in the life of individuals and societies.” (Catechism of the Catholic Church, No. 1958.)
Nazi euthanasia victims wait
their fate
And history teaches this too. Despots and
scoundrels, prevaricators and deniers of natural law have risen before. They
have their day in the limelight but the natural law they denied or twisted
still beckons good people back to the Truth.
The Church speaks the Truth to provide
moral clarity to humanity—even at the darkest moments of confusion. If this
generation rejects the principles of natural law and God’s Word, another
generation faithful the Word of God will rise to replace error with Truth. I
believe this with all my heart. I must!
[Chopin's Prelude in e minor, Op.28, No. 4]
[1] For more reading on these subjects see Wesley J. Smith’s books (Culture
of Death, Encounter Books 2002) & Consumer’s
Guide to a Brave New World (Encounter Books, 2005).
There is a new Christian movie called ALONE, YET NOT ALONE. See the trailer here.
My friend Joni Eareckson Tada sang the title track and it has been nominated for an Oscar. Although a disgruntled composer of a rival song challenged the nomination, the Academy has ruled the song is eligible for the Oscar nomination for Best Original Song.[1]
See below and listen to Joni's wonderful voice. Here's hoping we see my dear friend Joni on the red carpet for the Academy Awards!
In the January/February edition of Christianity Today (they called themselves CT now) a small article caught my eye. It was entitled "More evangelicals see suicide as moral." Really? According to the Pew Research Center, 1 in 3 evangelicals who worship weekly think that "a person has a "moral right" to suicide if, they are "in great pain with no hope of improvement. Fewer approve in other circumstances (incurable illness: 27%; ready to die: 19%; burden on the family: 19%." Deeply, deeply disturbing... .
I presume the reference to "evangelicals" means people who claim to be biblical Christians. The NELSON'S NEW CHRISTIAN DICTIONARY: An Authoritative Resource on the Christian World. (Thomas Nelson Publishers, 2001) defines evangelical this way: "Member of a Bible-based Protestant church emphasizing personal salvation solely through being born again and through uncompromising commitment to the person of Jesus Christ." How can one third of evangelical Christians give a biblical justification to support suicide? What Scriptures would they use? How can nearly 30% of evangelicals support suicide for incurable illness? If a born-again evangelical Christian has an uncompromising commitment to the person of Jesus Christ, and believes the Bible is the inerrant word of God, I defy him to find any place in the Holy Bible or in the life of Christ that would support his position. Actually quite the opposite is true.
The great 20th century Christian apologist Malcolm Muggeridge once said, "Jesus healed the sick, raised Lazarus from the dead, gave back sanity to the deranged, but never did He practice, or include, killing as part of the mercy that occupied His heart. His true followers cannot but adopt the same attitude." I have been incurably ill with multiple sclerosis for 30 years. At about the 2-3 year point of my degeneration, my sorrow was so deep, my heartache was so sharp that I might have chosen suicide had I not been surrounded by people who loved me and a Christian community of concern that lifted up my inherent value --even when I doubted my own value. They would have intervened with psychiatric care had I been in danger of hurting myself or found someone to help my suicide. Today I am so happy I did not kill myself when I was at my lowest point.
Granted, I now use an electric wheelchair (at one time it was so repugnant to consider) and I have been unable to work for many years, but I am still surrounded family who chose to still love me. I am head-over-heels in love with them, including five wonderful grandchildren who bring me such joy. Look what I would have missed had I opted for suicide 20 or 25 years ago! Followers of Christ must stand for the sanctity of every life. There are effective pain medications and medical techniques that can eliminate all physical pain.[1] Emotional and spiritual pain are more difficult to reach and treat, but good Christ-centered palliative counselling can manage this pain. The love of Jesus Christ can reach and heal emotional and spiritual anguish. (I know, I have personally experienced it.) I hope the Pew Research Center was wrong in their claim that so many evangelical Christians support suicide for the sick.
Fellow Christian, do not let the culture of death that is all around us change you. Challenge and change the culture to embrace every life, regardless of how hopeless circumstances may seem for the incurably ill. With Christ there is always hope. I know it. Mark
__________________________________ [1] Dr. John Scott, palliative care expert at the University of Ottawa, wrote these words in 1995: "The World Health Organization has demonstrated the access to pain-relieving drugs, along with a simple educational program, can achieve relief in a vast majority of patients. Specialists in various parts of the world estimate these basic approaches can control 85 to 98 percent of cases. The remaining cases require more careful attention and the use of multiple drugs and therapies to achieve complete relief." How much more have therapies have improved in the intervening 19 years!
I came across a BBC program on the story of Gregorio Allegri's iconic masterpiece Miserere. As usual the BBC made a visually elegant production with vaguely anti-Catholic undertones -- but it's still worth watching. The program is 30 minutes long and traces the Miserere we know today back to its more simple beginning.
My adult daughter sent me the link below called "Calming Storms" by Clayton Jennings. Shen and Was 8 years old and her brother was five when I was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis (MS). As I have said in previous blog posts, those years were terrifying years. We pulled together as a family.
