The Pro Choice Abortion ideology present the only real difficulty about having an abortion is the hoops a woman has to jump through in order to get one. But there is a real ongoing cost to taking the decision to ‘terminate’ the child.
To read about the journey one woman has made and is making go to Rebekah’s Hope. Michelle had an abortion some 20 years ago and is still working through that decision.
I’m struck by how absurd morality can be in our country. Abortion is legal up to 24 weeks – bizarrely – and any number of reasons may be given to abort other than gender choice. The Daily Telegraph last week uncovered, through its investigative journalism, abortions taking place purely over the preferred gender of the baby – though they could not give that as a reason because it’s illegal to do so.
Doctors at British clinics have been secretly filmed agreeing to terminate foetuses purely because they are either male or female. Clinicians admitted they were prepared to falsify paperwork to arrange the abortions even though it is illegal to conduct such “sex-selection” procedures.
Andrew Lansley (Secretary of State for Health) was shocked by this revelation.
“I was shocked when I read reports that some abortion clinics may have been behaving in this way. What is selecting by gender for termination of pregnancy is not just morally wrong it’s also illegal,” said Mr Lansley.
It’s OK to abort then, as long as gender is not the reason. Am I missing something here. Does anyone else find this absurd?
I know nothing of Andrew Lansley, he may be a very nice man, but wouldn’t it be great if politicians sought to exhibit some moral backbone and say abortion was wrong, period. But for some inexplicable reason politicians seem duty bound to support the pro death pro-choice ideology. Instead they have to cover it up with smarmy lily livered rhetoric in case they lose a few votes.
Now I have a Kindle it’s so easy to download and buy stuff – that’s good and bad. It’s good, for example because amongst other things I bought ‘God is not Great‘ for £0.99p. It’s bad because no matter what the format I still have to find time to read the stuff. A window of opportunity opened and so I began to read. It was also a time to find the drawback of the kindle I have of not being able to type notes fast enough and so it’s really hard work. I need a pen and a notepad with it. May I’ll get faster and improve with use.
I’m assuming he (Hitchens) will lay out his store as it were in the first chapter, so here’s a few points to be going on with from Chapter 1.
1. I like his style writing – he has [had] great skill with words and was obviously very well read.
2. I like his honesty. He tells it how he sees it. He calls a spade a spade as we say. And I like writers that do that. His honesty doesn’t extend however to a correct understanding of Christianity. He continuously (as does Dawkins) misrepresents Christianity (see point 3).
3. Sadly, from what I read he never ever really understood the Gospel. This view may be wrong – I guess his brother might know – but it’s how he writes.
4. He talks a lot about Religion. Yes Christianity is a Religion. And there can be stupid and very bad Christians – but this doesn’t actually invalidate it as truth. It certainly doesn’t help but it doesn’t mean it isn’t true.
There’s a big problem with the Title. For such a specific claim you would have thought it important to be specific about the God he is talking about. Is it the Christian God, the God of Islam or the God of his own imagination. Here’s just a couple of quotes.
Many of them never believed, and many of them abandoned faith after a difficult struggle. That might be his experience but it isn’t mine. And in any case even if it were true it still wouldn’t invalidate the truth claims of Christianity. All that proves is the weakness of the human condition. You say, why doesn’t God help them then. In my experience He does – for example my own mother that died of bone cancer and many other I know of.
‘We may differ on many things, but what we respect is free inquiry (Really! see paragraph below), open-mindedness, and the pursuit of ideas for their own sake.
God did not create man in his own image. Evidently (There are other explanations for so many religions but it doesn’t suit his case to give any evidence even if he could), it was the other way about, which is the painless explanation for the profusion of gods and religions, and the fratricide both between and among faiths, that we see all about us and that has so retarded the development of civilization.
Imagine that you can perform a feat of which I am incapable. Imagine, in other words, that you can picture an infinitely benign and all-powerful creator, who conceived of you, then made and shaped you, brought you into the world he had made for you, and now supervises and cares for you even while you sleep. Imagine, further, that if you obey the rules and commandments that he has lovingly prescribed, you will qualify for an eternity of bliss and repose. I do not say that I envy you this belief (because to me it seems like the wish for a horrible form of benevolent and unalterable dictatorship), but I do have a sincere question. Why does such a belief not make its adherents happy? It must seem to them that they have come into possession of a marvelous secret, of the sort that they could cling to in moments of even the most extreme adversity. This quotation serves to demonstrate his understanding of the Gospel is 100% wrong. Any decent historian may not believe it but should be able to tell you what it is. Sadly, Hitchens doesn’t have a clue and his readers will just slavishly and uncritically swallow it. His Atheism is poisoning everything!
Since reading the first chapter I have listened to a discussion of the book first broadcast back in 2008. This is a series of 8 available at Unchained Radio for $0.98 cents each. (I think they might be available for free) I’ve now listened to them all and I’d say they are worth every penny (I am English). To buy them go HERE. These guys are way more able than I am but demonstrate rather uncomfortably for Atheists that Christian apologists (especially Presuppositional apologists) have good solid scriptural apologetic arguments and the debating skills to take them on. I’m being polite when I say they (Paul Manata in this case) completely destroy Christopher Hitchens arguments, method, worldview and just about everything else besides. Whether he listened to the programs back then, I can’t say, but he was well able to defend himself at the time. The reason for ‘flagging them up’ here (he can no longer defend himself) is because as one of the ‘Four Horsemen’ an awful lot of weight will be given to his words. I have no doubt in the coming days we will be hearing a lot of his writing and of his legacy to the Atheistic cause.
After listening to Paul Manata discuss the book I am left wondering why Hitchens was so popular a writer. A book was mentioned in one of the broadcasts. With a Kindle it’s possible to download sample sections. So I read a sample of the book ‘On Bullshit‘ by philosopher Harry Frankfurt as it was recommended by Paul Manata. By the criteria of the book Dawkins, Hitchens and the other ‘Horsemen’ are probably no more than a bunch of ‘Bullshitters’ and people love it. Frankfurt has a sequel to ‘On Bullshit’ and it’s well worth reading the sample section of ‘On Truth’. Frankfurt thinks they (Bullshitters) are worse than liars. We need to make sure that as Christians we don’t follow their example.
Out of curiosity and a search through YouTube I found a video of an Atheist convention. Hitchens was filmed with an 8 (yes that’s Eight!) year old girl asking him what books she should read. He listed a few books and is amazed to find she had read them. Now here’s the thing: She said she wanted to be a Free Thinker just like him. We (Christians) are accused of indoctrination if we tell children about The Lord of Glory but if 8-year-old little girls are taken to an Atheist convention (her Mother stood proudly looking on) they are free thinkers. And Christians are accused of being closed-minded! That’s the end of this post – I’m speechless!
HT for the broadcasts to my friend Jim over at The Domain for Truth.
There’s a very helpful program on ‘The Historical Adam‘ over at The Reformed Forum. It won’t answer all your questions about the YEC / OEC debate but it’s a good start. There are a number of truths that (IMHO) must be held: The Bible is God’s revelation and final word to us, God created the world, the universe and everything outside himself, a historical real Adam created by God, a real historical fall into sin, a real flood and a real Satan. The program is very well worth a listen.
Rick Phillips joins Nick Batzig and Kenneth Kang-Hui to speak about the historical Adam. The teaching that Adam was a historical figure, the federal head of all those who descend from him by ordinary generation, has become a much debated topic. Rev. Phillips and the panel navigate through the issues and underscore why this traditional doctrine is so significant.
The Audio is now available of Gary Brady’s Church History Lecture – ‘The Great Ejection of 1662. Here’s the Link Also available through the Bulkington Website and my Website ROCHE.
I’ve shamelessly taken the picture of John Flavel from Gary’s Gallery of the Faithful on his ‘Great Ejection‘ site.
I’ve just finished reading ‘Against All Odds’ by Paul Connolly – Kindle edition. It’s quite a brave book to write, it’s honestly written and pulls no punches (pun intended). The early chapters are quite a harrowing account of life in an institution till he was forced to leave at the age of 17. Paul was abandoned at two weeks old and left out with the rubbish and his book is really an account of his ongoing battle with a sense of worthlessness. If you are offended by very strong language then I don’t recommend you read it. But if you can get past the language and some of the abuse it really is a story of survival ‘Against All The Odds’. We see or meet people and perhaps comment how some individuals have something written on their forehead. For some it’s the word ‘Jail’, for others it’s ‘Abuse Me’ or it might be ‘Thug’ and we all see these labels from time to time. We might also comment on how some kids often through no fault of their own, do not stand a chance – they are marked as it were from birth. Such was Paul Connelly, at least that’s what he was told.
It a story that ultimately triumphs over a horrendous upbringing and the damage that followed him into adulthood and that he still is not entirely free from like the rage within him that he struggles to control ever day. Thankfully he found, in his words, a wonderful woman and he now has two wonderful young boys. It is remarkable indeed that he has defeated the lies of those so-called ‘carers’ by living a normal life.
What’s my response to the book as a Christian? Because of the link that altered me to the book I naively expected there to be some Christian input. It didn’t take long for me to realise this wasn’t going to happen. The only encounter Paul had with Christianity was in the home so understandably there is no mention of God in the book except towards the end when he contemplates killing the ‘carers’. These were individuals that by any standard had really escaped true justice in spite of the best efforts of some police officers. Here’s the passage at the end of Chapter 12 where Paul writes:
“Some of them have paid something for their crimes, but they havent paid nearly enough and I dont believe in a just God who punishes the wicked after death. I wish that I did because, if anyone ever deserved fire and brimstone, it was them.”
It’s a fascinating quote because it shows how Paul has a sense of justice that unfortunately does not extend to some of the victims he battered senseless. Did they all really ‘deserve’ it, or even most of them – I doubt it. I’m reminded of the end of ‘Unforgiven’ with Clint Eastwood. Little Bill is facing death and says ‘not like this, I don’t deserve this’ to which William Munny (Eastwood) replies ‘what’s deserve got to do with it’. Unlike the justice of men, the justice of God is righteous and He knows all the details. The fact is we all, me, Paul, everyone, deserves the judgement of God. But through the free Grace of God in the Gospel of Christ repentant sinners may go free.
There are some great insights into the human condition as he deals honestly with his own inward state and the resultant struggle within. This is something Paul would fail to appreciate but he is articulating what the real problem is: it’s a heart problem. Jesus teaches quite specifically, that it isn’t what comes out of a man or the exterior – how good and righteous we make ourselves out to be, even deluding ourselves – it’s the sinful nature within that is the problem. And only God in Christ can sort that out. His book made me think I should be less judgemental. That drunk that we see staggering down the road: I do not know his story. Maybe he has a similar story to Paul. As a Christian what’s the very best I can do for such people? I can hold out hope and give them words of eternal life. And where possible maybe a hot drink and a non-condemnatory chat and treat them as a human being of worth, people made in the image of God yet ravaged by sin. Though terribly marred by sin they nevertheless have the stamp of God’s image upon them.
The full title is ‘Against All The Odds: The Most Amazing True Life Story You’ll Ever Read’. It isn’t the most amazing true life story I’ve ever read, it is an amazing story, but the Life of Jesus Christ is the most amazing story I’ve ever read and am likely to read. Here’s where I’m left disappointed and sad: and if somehow Paul does read these words I trust he’ll take them as well-meant and full of hope. Although it’s a marvellous outcome for him he’s still without Christ and without hope. I admire him but at the last day when he stands before God to give an account if he is without Christ he’ll be damned. There’s just no easy or nice way to say it. But it’s true. Without a Saviour he’ll end up in the same place as his abusers. I know this is an unpalatable truth, but really it is the great leveler as ‘we must all appear before the judgement seat of Christ’. But ‘Christ loves the unlovely that lovely they may be’. This is real hope!
All the while reading about Paul I couldn’t but help compare his life – and outcome – with another book I read a little while ago by Mez McConnell ‘Is There Anybody Out There‘: A Journey from Despair to Hope. Mez suffered horrific abuse from beatings and drug use that today affect his health and probably always will. Mez turned to Christ and is now the Pastor of a Church. He works with the dregs of society, the druggy, the dropouts and seeks to lead them to Christ. Check out a previous post on Mez and the links there to find out more. Here’s his Blog. And read his book.
As good a story as Paul’s is and as inspiring as it is, it falls short. Why? I’d like to believe that Paul seeks to help those caught in desperate circumstances but his resources are finite and the hope he offers is limited to this life. But the Gospel comes with the Power of God to change us from within, to forgive, to cleanse and to keep. Paul couldn’t help me – I couldn’t afford his services, but the Salvation offered by Christ is free to all that will call on Him. And Christ will never turn anyone away.
It’s turned out well for Paul, and I’m glad it has. But his story is unfinished without a Saviour – and so is yours.
UPDATE: Sincere apologies, I mis-spelt Connolly. Now corrected. I know a Connelly and didn’t notice the difference until it was pointed out to me.
March Church History Lecture
7:30pm Monday 26th March
A Church in the Wilderness – Axminster after 1662.
Speaker: Stephen Rees
April Church History Lecture
7:30pm Monday 23rd April
Latimer – “God’s Bulldog”.
Speaker: Jeremy Walker
Last evening we had the first of this years Church History Lectures with Gary Brady (Childs Hill Baptist Church, London) speaking on ‘The Great Ejection of 1662’. It was encouraging again for the folk at Bulkington Congregational to see a good number out to hear the lecture.
Gary took the subject in broad brush strokes with many stories of hardship as ministers of the Gospel sought to maintain a good conscience in the face of malicious State legislation and persecution. We too need much grace in our day to stand for truth in the face of increasing opposition to Gospel realities and truth.
The lecture should be available for download soon and I’ll post a link here.
Follow the link for Gary’s Blog on The Great Ejection of 1662 where you will find further information on the topic. Gary is also in the process of writing a book on the Ejection.