Better Dead Than Disabled???

A one year old boy, who could have a tracheotomy, be taken home from the hospital and live his life, may have his ventilator removed at the wishes of his mother and the HOSPITAL TRUST PAYING FOR HIS CARE, because his severe physical disability has been deemed 'intolerable suffering'. His father disagrees and is fighting for his son's life.

See UK Court to Rule Whether Baby Better Off Dead Than Disabled from the blog Secondhand Smoke by Wesley J. Smith.

Reformation Day and Luke 14

In honor of Reformation Day, the anniversary of when, in 1517 Martin Luther nailed his 95 theses to the Wittenberg University’s Castle Church door, boldly declaring where the Church needed reform, I'm writing my own thoughts about the Church and some places where we still need reformation. Of course, this post will lead to inclusion of people with disabilities, because, well, that seems to be what I do.

There are two religions in this world. One is based on works, the other on grace. The religion based on works requires its disciples to work through law, rite, or service to make that disciple in right standing with the god of this religion. The God of the second religion, that based on grace, demands perfection unto His Law; however, when man failed and fails, this God has given mankind His own righteousness through His Son, the Second Person in the Trinity that calls Itself God, a righteousness contingent only on faith in this Holy Son and His atoning work on the Cross.

The disciples of this second God- of this One True God- the adopted sons and heirs, join together according to the Word of this God, as one Body, and we call ourselves the Church, with Christ as our Head. Like the followers of the first religion, the Church has a law, the Law of God, though our Law has been fulfilled by this Christ, and we members of the Body now walk by faith in our Savior, Christ Jesus', work and in the Spirit, Who is the Third Person of this Triune God. We perform rituals in our church gatherings as does the first religion, though our rituals, rituals of baptism and the communion of the saints, focus not on our attempts to gain righteousness but rather on the One Who obtained righteousness for us. 

And, as do followers of the first religion, Christians, those of the Body, of the Church, we perform acts of service. As is the Law, Christians, attempt to love God and love our neighbors by serving our community and serve others. 

However, unlike those following the first religion, Christians are not attempting to earn our place in our God’s Kingdom through this service, though serving God and serving others is part of God’s Kingdom. In fact, daily lawbreakers, we could never serve enough to enter that Kingdom. 

Nor are we serving God through our own power or our own nature. We are serving God because we have a new nature, and a new Power- the Holy Spirit, given to us through the work of the Cross, upon our belief in Christ, this work, and the repentance of our sins. We are serving humanity- offering grace and mercy to one another- in response to how we were shown grace and mercy, in response to how we were invited into that Kingdom based solely on the death and resurrection of our King. We love because we have been loved.

Based upon this motivation for service and community within our own Body, we take seriously our Savior’s teachings on service and community. The fourteenth chapter of Luke’s gospel, verses 7 through 24, includes one such teaching. Through instruction and parable, Jesus shares His Father’s desire that, oh, may His house be full! He teaches us that His Father wants those at His table those who cannot repay His kindness- ‘the poor and the crippled and the blind and the lame' (vs 13) (as if people who are not poor or who do not have a disability could pay Him back). In fact, He says to compel them to come, revealing the earnestness of His heart toward the least in this world, those same ‘least’ who will become great in His Kingdom.

How does this teaching apply to Christ’s Church 2,000 years after its original exhortation? It applies the same way. There are still those who are ‘great’ in this world, and those who are poor or who have disabilities are still regarded as ‘the least’. Sadly the world’s view of who is great and who is the least is often paralleled in the Church.

Thankfully, the Spirit of God is working in the same way that He has for 2,000 years. He still convicts the Church, both the individual member and the entire of Body, of sin, and He is convicting me of my exclusionary practices of the ‘least of these’ in my church’s gatherings. 

So, what do inclusionary practices of the ‘least of these’ look like? Inclusionary practices begin by being reminded of how all inclusion to the Body begins. It begins with the Cross and how Christ, forgiving us of our sin, reconciles us with God, making us His child and a member of Christ’s Body. We must be reminded that God never needed our able bodies or cognitive awareness or our large bank accounts to forgive us our sin, to give us faith, and to make us one with Him and His community. In that regard, we become aware that we are no different than our poor and/or disabled brother and sister.

When we become aware of the absolute equality with ‘the least’, community- koinonia- the Greek word used 20 times in Scripture for 'fellowship, sharing in common, communion'- makes sense! We are equally created in the image of God, we are equal in our human depravity, and we are equal in that any grace anyone has received has been from God. We are one Body.

Therefore, as one Body, if one member suffers, we all suffer. When one rejoices, we all do. When one holds a banquet, all are invited. 

Whether through formal programming, or just meeting an individual or family where he or they are suffering or struggling, any church can do ‘disability ministry’. The call is for all, for all of the Body, to invite, to compel, ‘the poor and the crippled and the blind and the lame’ into the Kingdom of God and sharing a meal- that is, offering them repentance and the forgiveness of sin through Jesus' name, and truly becoming one Body- for the grace of God is for them, too!- in loving response to how the Father first invited us. This is how we reveal the religion of grace to the world.

'Rational' Suicide?

"'Rational' Suicide Advocates Push Assisted Suicide in Mental Health Journals"- A podcast edition of bioethicist Wesley J. Smith's 'What It Means to be Human'.

John Shelby Spong is Not My Liberator

John Shelby Spong is not my liberator.  

An advocate for the rights of those living homosexually for quite some time, in a recent manifesto, Bishop Spong declares that he will no longer debate nor pay any heed to those who would deny 'justice' to those who identify as gay or lesbian by calling homosexuality sinful.  

Justice.  God is a God of justice.  He demands it for the sin of man.  God cannot overlook sin- or He wouldn't be just.  

But God is also a God of mercy.  In His mercy, God met His demand for justice Himself.  He gave His own Son as a propitiation of His wrath to save people from it.

Romans 3:23-26 says, "for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation" [propitiation is the absorption or the appeasement of the wrath of God] "by his blood, to be received by faith.  This was to show God's righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins.  It was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus."

This is God's justice.  I sinned homosexually.  Jesus suffered and died for that sin, removing the wrath of God from me.

This is God's mercy.  God drew me to His Son and to His work on the Cross.  He called me to repentance, gave me faith, and freely forgave me from that sin.

This is God's freedom.  Having been washed, sanctified, and justified, in the name of Jesus and by the Spirit of God  (2 Corinthians 6:11), I now boldly approach the throne of grace, receiving the mercy and grace in time of need of a sympathetic High Priest who has been tempted in every way I have been and yet did not sin (Hebrews 4:14-16), enabling me to walk by His Spirit so that I may no longer gratify the desires of my flesh (Galatians 5:16).

Bishop Spong has been denying people the Gospel of Jesus Christ for decades.  This leaves us enslaved to sin.  (Romans 6:6).  In addition, we are enslaved to what overpowers us (2 Peter 2:19)- and homosexuality is very overpowering. 

John Shelby Spong is no liberator; he is an enslaver.  He boldly stands for my right to remain in my sin.  Jesus Christ sets me free from it.

'Quality of Life'

'Quality of life'.  Brothers and sisters, can we think about that phrase for a moment?  Can we think about what we are saying when we are using it?  Can we, as Christians, really use that phrase?

Consider the way we use it:

"Ma'am, your child will be born with Down syndrome.  I cannot guarantee his quality of life.  Here are your options."

"Sir, your father is in the middle stages of Alzheimer's.  His quality of life is decreasing more and more.  We need to discuss end of life care."

"What do you mean I'll never move my arms or legs again?  You mean I'll probably have to stay on this vent as well?  This isn't much of a quality of life!  I can't live like this!"

It would seem to me, that we have replaced the idea of 'not suffering too much' with 'quality of life'.  As though quality somehow correlates to suffering.  My friends, suffering is very much a part of the human condition.  We all suffer.  When is 'too much'?

'Quality of life', though, what does that phrase really mean?  Does it mean that we humans have become like packages of meat?  Some of us have Grade A quality lives, while others, Grade B, C, or D?  What decides quality of life?  Who decides?

In Scripture, the quality of human life is this: man was created in the image of God.  Human life, in all its stages and ages, is worthy of dignity and existence for this reason alone.

From another Scriptural standpoint, while man is also created in the image of God, men also are the sons and daughters of Adam.  Therefore, we were all created perfect- but we are all perfect no more.  Sinners, all of us, sick and not sick, disabled and not disabled, find our equal worth and equal value in the same source- the Cross of Christ.

If we want to say that a man is suffering very much, that he has acquired a severe disability, he is in much pain, he cannot work, his family is stressed to the max, and he is very depressed, say those things.  But don't try to determine the quality of his life based upon his suffering.  His life is still of equal quality (equality)- of equal value- to anyone else's.  It is as deserving of protection and preservation- even from his own very depressed mind- as is all of ours.

'Quality of life' is a dangerous phrase.  It threatens equality, human dignity, and judges human life as 'worthy' or 'not worthy'.  'Quality of life', in this day and age of 'options', and perhaps even 'duty', can turn all too quickly into 'qualified to live'

Down Syndrome, Suffering, and Grace

A recent study says that ninety-two percent of women who discover they are carrying a child with Down syndrome opt to abort the pregnancy.

I am not a parent, much less a parent of a child who will have a lifelong disability.  I can only imagine the feelings and thoughts that contribute to this 'choice'.  I imagine that fear of the unknown plays a role, for many of these parents who make this choice do not know people with Down syndrome.  I imagine that people are fearful of financial strain and the extra challenges that families with Down syndrome face.  I imagine, though, mostly a fear of suffering is involved.

For what parent wants to have his or her child suffer?  And, truth be told, men, women, and children with Down syndrome do suffer.  Oh, not to the terrible degree that doctors have described to parents since before Down syndrome even had a name, while convincing them to institutionalize their children in the past or abort them nowadays.  In fact, even while sharing with me their painful struggles related to their disability and the hurt and pain caused by mistreatment and abuse inflicted by others upon them, often, the men and women I have known with Down syndrome do not view themselves as having suffered any more than anyone else.   But it is a myth that people with Down syndrome are happier than other people.  

It's interesting.  From the world's view, while the purpose of suffering is debatable and the origin often ignored, the answer to suffering always seems to be to end it- even if the way to end it involves ending the life of the one that is suffering.   

Suffering seems to be a potent force in the lives of believers, as well.  For some, suffering seems to turn them away from God, from even the very idea of God, in frustration and mistrust.  While for others, suffering seems to be the cause for hoping in God for answers and comfort.

I do not have all the answers for suffering nor all the answers for those who will soon parent a child with Down syndrome.  God gives many answers in Scripture, but I haven't found them all.  But I have found some.

I am convinced that suffering exists, for instance, because it is a natural consequence to sin having entered the world.  But I am also convinced that God is a God of redemption, Who not only forgives sinners, but redeems the suffering sin has inflicted upon us.  Romans 8:28 says that God works all things for good for those who love God and who are called according to His purpose.

This includes Down syndrome.  For those who are saved, God works Down syndrome for good.

It is very, very true that people with Down syndrome and their families will face hardships unique to that particular developmental disability.  But it is also true that for those families and people with Down syndrome, God's grace will be made perfect in that weakness. (2 Corinthians 12:9)  It is easy to see the lows and the struggles that Down syndrome will bring.  But soon to be parents have no idea the grace and mercy that God will bring to them through their child.  

Nor do we, the Church, realize what we are missing when we are missing children and adults with Down syndrome in our congregations.  People with Down syndrome have unique gifts and callings that the Church needs- many that have nothing to do with their Down syndrome, for people with Down syndrome are so much more than their disability!  And we are certainly missing the way God brings redemption to Down syndrome and the good He causes through it.

So, this second to last paragraph is more an exhortation to myself, since I have been lacking in this area, but feel free to receive it for yourself, also.  Instead of simply condemning parents who are considering the choice to terminate the life of their unborn child who has Down syndrome, embrace those parents before the choice has been made and make room for them and their child in the Church.  And for those parents who have already made that tragic, sinful choice to abort, as God calls them to repentance, offer them the grace and mercy of the Cross that has been offered to you.  Forgive them and love them.

Down syndrome is in itself not a gift.  But, as all 'syndromes', sicknesses, and disabilities, when redeemed by the Redeemer, Down syndrome becomes a way that the very glory of God is revealed.  

Weakness and the Glory of God

Early in Scripture we read a seemingly disheartening command of God.  None of the offspring of Aaron, the priests of Israel, who had a disability could go through the veil and approach God’s altar, ‘lest he profane God’s sanctuaries’.  (Leviticus 21:23)  In addition, for sacrifice, God only accepted ‘perfect’ animals, those without blemish or illness.  Yet, even men in ‘perfect’ bodies sacrificing ‘perfect’ animals were not perfect enough to purify us once for all time- as was the perfect sacrifice made by Jesus Christ (Hebrews 7:26-28).

The animals sacrificed were a foreshadow and type of this perfect sacrifice to come.  The sacrificed animals and the men entering into God’s holiest place on Earth had to be as perfect as they could be to mimic the Christ.  However, neither were really perfect.

All priests had to offer sacrifices for themselves before offering sacrifices for the people, for these priests sinned.  Because of this sin, their bodies wouldn’t remain perfect forever.   They would with age begin to wither, fail, and die.   Had they not been sacrificed the bodies of these perfect animals, also, would also have grown old and died because sin was in the world.

God considered, for the Old Testament system of sacrifice, disability ‘profane’.  God always considers sin profane.  Could disability be profane because it is a result of sin in the world?

Yet, God doesn’t shun the person with the disability.  He still refers to Himself as their God, as the God Who sanctifies them.  (Leviticus 21:21, 23)  In His same grace and mercy, God doesn’t shun His sin-drenched people.  

God is a God of both justice and love.  God hates sin.  Sin must be atoned for.  However, God loves His people, and for His Holy namesake, forgives His people for their sin, sending His own Son as atonement.  For we His people cannot atone for ourselves.

We are not saved by our own righteousness.  Our righteousness is like filthy rags.  The only righteousness we have to offer God is that which was imputed to us by Christ at His sacrifice.  The only sacrifices we have to offer God are a broken spirit and a contrite heart.  God draws near to the humble.   God knows we are weak, that we are only dust.  He takes pity on the weak, and, while He demands us to do so, also, as Job found out, caring for the weak- the blind and the lame- did not even make him righteous ‘enough’.  (Job 29:15)  

There is hardly a greater a symbol of weakness than disability or illness, and these people to whom God seems most drawn.  While they were forbidden to enter the holy of holies, God comes to them.  To people like Paul who know that because God’s grace is made perfect in our weakness, when we are weak they are strong.  The only strength that is to be relied upon is God’s, as the only righteousness that is to be counted is Christ’s.  It is God Who opens the eyes of the blind and the deaf, makes the lame man leap, and the tongue of the mute sin for joy (Isaiah 35:5-6), and in His justice, Jesus came to open the eyes of the Spiritually blind.  (John 9:39) 

Interestingly, God calls people to weakness- before He calls us to stand and to run.  He calls us to repentance, to a time of contriteness and humility at salvation, making us His.  When we are God’s we rely on God’s strength, and, therefore, must die to our own.

In our weaknesses, God glorifies Himself.  It was because of a bodily ailment that Paul first preached the Gospel to the Galatians.  (Galatians 4:13)  God is just as glorified by leaving Paul with his ‘thorn’ in 2 Corinthians 12, as when Jesus gives glory to Him through the healing of a man born blind in John 9.

God receives glory in His compassion for the suffering and the hurting.  Jesus, for instance, Who only did the work that He saw His Father doing first, (John 5:19) ministered to and healed people with disabilities, illnesses, and sin.  He was filled with compassion for the widow whose only son had passed away.  After raising the son from the dead, He returned him to His mother.  This most compassionate act caused the people to cry, “God has visited His people!” (Luke 7:11-18)

In the resurrection of Christ, those of us called by God unto salvation, having had our spiritual eyes opened, have hope of an end to suffering.  Our physical weaknesses will have an ending.  We will not always be disabled, old, and emotionally vulnerable.  Most excitedly, in our new bodies we will no longer battle with sin.  One day, we will be perfect (1 Corinthians 15).

However, even in our perfect bodies in our perfect Home, human beings, once being imperfect, children of wrath and enemies of God, we will always remain dependent on Christ and His perfect sacrifice.  Upon Christ, who embraced weakness by putting human flesh and dying our death (Philippians 2:5-11) , to bring us to God (1 Peter 3:18), to give us eternal life (John 3:16), which is knowing God (John 17:3), forever in perfect harmony with our Creator.

Bioethical Decisions in a Fallen World

As both a Christian and a caregiver for the elderly and those with disabilities, I'm struck with this Biblical view point- sin obstructs our decision making process.  In our fallen state, we often make choices, including medical choices, for the wrong reasons- often for motives that appeal to the flesh or mere human reasoning.  While paitents should remain a crucial part of the decision making process regarding their medical treatment and doctors should have the freedome to discern the best care for his/her patient, both patients and doctors would be wise to remember that human reasoning does not always lead us to the right choices.

Bioethics is attempting to set standards for the conduct of medicine and healthcare in an age of new knowledge and changing science.  However, bioethicists are setting these standards from a fallen state of mind.  Truth is subjective to them, as are ethics, dependent on such things as a person’s worldview, religion, and philosophy.   “There is a way that seems right to a man, but in the end it leads to death.”  (Proverbs 14:12, 16:25)  If this proverb has ever been relevant, it is so with bioethics.  

When we, as Christians, set standards for how we care for the sick and needy, we must remember that truth is not relative.  The truth- the Biblical truth- about who God is and who man is plays a critical role in regard to medical decisions that affect the lives of the weak and the needy. All of those we care for in the hospital bed, teach life skills to in the group home, or 'produce' in the laboratory are deserving of dignity and respect for the sole reason that "In the image of God, made He man."  (Genesis 9:6)  So, while scientists can manipulate genes and clone embryos, we can never engineer the image of God out of a human being.  This truth alone could set the tone for any medical ethic.

However, likewise, in our attempts to manipulate genes and clone embryos to eradicate diseases and eliminate disabilities, we can never create a person who will not inherit the struggle with sin.  As much as we are created in the image of God, we are also sons of Adam; therefore, there will never be a perfect person.  Our only hope remains, as it always has, in Christ and Him crucified.  In His work on the cross- the great exchange, the righteous for the unrighteous, the suffering for our sins so He could save us from them and bring us to God.   This is incredible mercy and incredible love.

Despite the uniqueness of each created person, in these two things- our common created image and our common depravity- man can be considered virtually identical to one another.  Our worth could not be contingent upon any work or ability.  To say that a person is too weak or does not contribute enough is laughable compared to the greatness and splendor and perfection that is in God!  All men fall short of that Glory.  We are all too weak and no one ‘contributes’ enough!  For all of us, our worth is dependent only on who we are through the work of Christ at the cross. 

With new life in Christ through the cross, we are given new nature and the told to renew our minds.  In both this new nature and in our renewed minds, we view suffering, ethics, and caring for the weak and the vulnerable differently.  We now consider those weaker than we are, and we realize that it is a sin to not show them the same grace and mercy we were given, even if one is so weak that he or she is not even cognitively aware of it.  

Suffering is horrible.  It is no light thing.  We are better off dead and at peace with our Maker than alive on this dead earth!  But in our renewed minds, we know, also, that we cannot take suffering into our own hands, as those in bioethics seem to do.  We can never consider breaking God’s commandment to not murder, for instance, through abortion and euthanasia because we deem someone to be suffering too much.  We cooperate with nature and conform to the way God created it.  For when we attempt to manipulate nature (think of the undignified 'Ashley Treatment') and destroy that which we judge undesirable- destroy whom we judge undesirable because of the sufferings they are given- we question God’s goodness and wisdom leaving us rebuked as Job was- “Where was man when God laid the foundation of the earth?”  

As we painfully watch those around us suffer, doing all we can to ease their suffering, we are to suffer with those suffering.  We are not to cooperate with the hopelessness that suffering brings by manipulating the death one suffering or who we assume will suffer after birth.  Instead we offer them and their loved ones the hope of Christ found in His Gospel, that those who call upon His name will be saved from their sin soaked hearts, from the wrath of God, and from hell.  And that those who call upon His name will be saved to new life in Christ, to a perfect and holy body in eternity, and the unimaginable joy of eternity in the presence of the Creator.

Because of the unity we have with Christ (because of the great love and mercy shown to us at the cross), we, in humility, count others more significant than ourselves.  We look not only to our own interests, but also to the interests of others.  We have this mind among ourselves, which is ours in Christ Jesus Who, though He was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but made Himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men.  And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.  (Philippians 2:1-8)

And so we humble ourselves to one another, using our freedom to serve one another in love (Galatians 5:13), taking tender care of the weak (1 Thessalonians 5:14), seeking justice and encouraging the oppressed (Isaiah 1:17), and becoming disabled to the disabled (1 Corinthians 9:22) in order to share the Gospel to all people, in hopes that all people will be saved from, among other things, their fallen states of minds, having their minds aligned with Christ and His purposes for all things- including suffering and caring for those suffering.  

Genetic Testing and Family Planning

A video on genetic testing.

Listen carefully to what Devin's mother says.  Had she known she were a carrier for Fragile X Syndrome, she would have had her eggs fertilized outside of her womb, tested, and implanted only healthy eggs.  This son whom she obviously loves and adores would not have been born.  She would rather have his just forming life destroyed than let him be born with a disability.

This is what we are doing with the gift of genetic testing?  Reverting to eugenics- from which the science of genetics evolved?  What kind of people can reason like this?

Oh, that's right.  All of us.

The human heart is deceitful and desperately sick.  (Jeremiah 17:9)  We live in sin and obey the devil, the one at work in the sons of disobedience.  We've all lived that way, following the inclinations of our sinful nature.  By our very nature, we are subject to God's wrath.  (Ephesians 2:1-3)

God says to take tender care of the weak.  (1 Thessalonias 5:14)  He commands we learn to do good, seek justice, correct oppression, and plead the widow's cause. (Isaiah 1:17)

But we don't do it, and so God's justice demands consequences.  The wages of sin is death.  (Romans 6:23)  But, God in His great mercy, sent His Son as a propitiation, to absorb the wrath of God and to suffer our consequences.  The good news is that, God showed His love for us in that while we were still sinning Christ died for us.  And now all who repent and believe in Christ and his work on the cross will be saved.  (Romans 3:21-26, Mark 1:15)

We're then given a new nature.  No longer children of wrath, we are children of God.  (Romans 8:15, Titus 3:7), heirs with Christ (Romans 8:17), given His righteousness (1 Corinthinas 1:30).  And, now, we're told to renew our minds (Ephesians 2:23).

So, we don't reason like Devin's mom anymore.  With our renewed minds, we know that as God knit Devin in his mother's womb, Devin's form was not hidden from God.  God knew Devin had Fragile X Syndrome.  And, yet, Devin was fearfully and wonderfully made, a wonderful work.  How precious are God's thoughts toward Devin!  And Devin's mother.  (Psalm 139:13-16)

And also with our renewed minds, as we now seek God and His ways, we do as He commands.  We stand up for the weak, needy, poor, oppressed, and the very, very tiny.  We love justice.  We show the hope of God to Devin's mom and to Devin.

We don't let murder in the name of genetic testing just happen.  We do something about it.  

There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way to death.  (Proverbs 14:12)

Why Can't a Person in a Committed Homosexual Relationship Wholeheartedly Follow Christ?

From the blog post of Tony Jones.

If you are one who thinks that homosexual sex is sinful, can you please explain to me WHY a gay or lesbian person who is in a long-term, monogamous relationship would not be able to wholeheartedly follow Christ?

My only stipulation is this: You may not quote one of the six verses in scripture that mentions homosexuality.  Instead, you must use theological and/or philosophical arguments to attempt to convince me that when you have genital contact with someone of your own gender, it somehow inhibits your relationship with Christ.

Yes, Mr. Jones, I have an answer for you.  Why can't a person in a committed homosexual relationship wholeheartedly follow Christ?  Because no one can wholeheartedly follow Christ!  No one seeks God.  (Romans 3:10-12)

Wholeheartedly following Christ (obeying God, loving God with all your heart, mind, and strength) is a law.  The Law of God demands perfection.  But, instead, all have sinned- we are all under it (Romans 3:23, Romans 3:9).  We are  children of wrath by nature (Ephesians 2:1-3) and enemies of God (Colossians 1:21). We are sons of Adam, born in sin, and sinful from conception (Romans 5:12-13, Psalm 51:5).  

Mr. Jones, have you wholeheartedly followed Christ all your life?  Do you obey the Law- always?  Again, the Law demands perfection.  And we can't do it.  So, therein enters the cross.

Jesus didn't come to teach us new laws or even how to follow the already established one.  He didn't come to teach us a 'better way to live' (which is a law).  He came to fulfill the Law.  (Matthew 5:17)  Sent by His Father (John 8:42), Jesus came to call sinners (Matthew 9:12-13), 'that those who do not see may see and those who see may become blind' (John 9:39), and to die for them (John 12:23-29).  

In doing so, Jesus doesn't abolish the Law (Matthew 5:17), but He sets us free from the yolk of the Law (We are no longer slaves to it.)  (Galatians 4- Galatians 5:1)  

What does this mean?  For mankind, who has had the Law of God written on our hearts (Romans 2:14-16), we are invited to enter the rest that Jesus Christ provides from the pain and conflict of striving through works (such as wholeheartedly following Christ) (Matthew 25:30, Hebrew 4:10).  

How do we enter that rest?  

Well, the Law demands perfection, and it demands justice when it is not obeyed.  However, for His name's sake, for His glory John 12:28), and for His love of the world (John 3:16) God sent His One and Only Son to meet that demand for justice.

But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although, the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it- the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe.  For there is no distinction; for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood to be received by faith.  This was to show God's righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins.  It was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who had faith in Jesus.  (Romans 3:21-26)

We enter into that rest through faith- faith in Christ and His atoning work on the Cross.  For even Abraham, his righteousness was a result of faith.  (Galatians 3:5-9)  "A person is not justified by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ, so we also have believed in Christ Jesus, in order to be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the law,because by works of the law no one will be justified."  Galatians 2:16 (emphasis mine)  We are no longer imprisoned to sin, but are justified by faith in Christ.  (Galatians 3:23-26)

And, now, I would point out, Mr. Jones, that you have asked two distinct questions.  You asked why can one living in a committed homosexual relationship would not be able to wholeheartedly follow Christ.  The answer would be because no one can do that.  No one can follow the law.

And you ask for thoughts on why practicing homosexuality inhibits one's relationship with Christ.  Yet, you ask me not to use the Scriptures that reference homosexuality, only philosophical and theological arguments.  

When one understands that one's relationship with Christ is dependent on Christ and His work on the Cross, not on our work of wholeheartedly following Him, we understand that through faith in Him, the Spirit is given to us, and through the Spirit, we are given santicfication.  "...Did you receive the Spirit by the works of the law or by hearing with faith?... Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh?"  (Galatians 3:2-3)  If we are led by the Spirit, we are not under the law, yet when we walk by the Spirit, we will not gratify the desires of our flesh.  (Galatians 5:16-18)

If you remember, while Jesus has fulfilled and freed us from the Yolk of the Law, He has not abolished it.  He has set, clearly, His desire and commands for our sexuality.  When Scripture is read in context, we see clearly in Genesis 1 and 3 that man and woman are created in the image of God and together reflect that image.  We also see that it is not good for man to be alone, so God gives Him woman.  We see that the people that God loves, Israel in the Old Testament and the Church in the New Testament, are represented as a feminine Bride that our masculine Bridegroom pursues, changes (calls to repentance), saves, and loves like a jealous lover.

That being said, I cannot completely respect your stipulation to ignore Scripture pertaining to homosexuality.  For the Bible must be read in whole and in context.  (It's interesting that you imply that a committed homosexual relationship would be more acceptable- more Biblical?- than homosexual promiscuity.  Is that assumption part of Scriptural references to sexuality taken out of context?)  As it says in 2 Timothy 3:15-17, "All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be competent, equipped for every good work."  

Homosexuality inhibits one's relationship with Christ because it is sin.  (1 Corinthians 6:9-11, 1 Timothy 1:9-11, Leviticus 18:22 and 20:13, Romans 1:18-27).   "If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth.  But if we walk in the light as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin.  If we say we have no sin, and the truth is not in us.  If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.  If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us."  1 John 1:6- 10

And, yes, my answer ultimately is- because the Bible says so.  

Oh, but there's good news!  Christ died even for the sin of homosexuality.  The Spirit makes us new!  (1 Corinthians 6:11)  We still struggle with our sin, as we will until we die.  But forgiveness is promised for those who put their trust in Christ and there is hope in the change that comes from sanctification through the Spirit.

Thouhts on Seven Pounds

Spoiler Warning!

I just saw the movie Seven Pounds, and I found it disturbing. In an age where support for euthanasia and assisted suicide is on the rise, any movie that portrays suicide as a good thing raises my suspicion. But as a Christian, I found the reasoning behind main character choosing death, as denying the hope we have from the sacrificial death of Christ.

Superbly acted, Will Smith plays a man named Ben Thomas who seeks to right the terrible wrong of accidentally killing seven people. He does so by donating some of his own organs to people he judges to be 'good people' in need of transplants.

Some organs he is able to give as a 'live donor', such as a kidney, a lung, part of a liver. But in order to donate other organs, such as his heart, he must die. And so, he commits suicide, enabling him to give away those organs.

When Jesus said, "Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends" (John 15:13), I think He was talking about Himself, foreshadowing the redemption that would come when He would give His life at the cross.

Ben Thomas will find no redemption in his own death.

Ben Thomas was a terribly depressed man, filled with guilt and grief- one of those people he killed was his own wife. Ben was a man desperately in need of the Truth- that there is a God and He is willing to forgive (Romans 3:30, 1 John 1:9). He needed to know that by giving away his organs, sacrificing his own life so that others may live, he would NOT make up for the terrible tragedy for which he was responsible. No one can pay for his own sins. (Romans 3:23). We need a Savior. Thankfully, Jesus died for the sins of Ben Thomas'- so that Ben wouldn't have to.

There is only one sacrifice for the forgiveness of sins (Hebrews 10:10). There is only one justification (God can justify Ben Thomas), one way of redemption (God can redeem Ben Thomas), one propitiation (the wrath of God that was on Ben was placed onto Christ)- it is the death and the resurrection of the Perfect One (Hebrews 4:15)- the only 'good man' to ever live, by the way (Romans 3:10)- the only begotten Son of God, the God Man Christ Jesus. (Roman 3:21-26).

It is He Who makes all things new (Revelation 21:5). It is the Father, in Whom "we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose." (Romans 8:28) All things will work together for good- even a tragedy such as the one Ben faced.

Ben Thomas needed to be told of the new life found in Christ. He needed to be told of the LOVE of GOD and that "God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us." (Romans 5:8) Ben needed to be given this hope from his friends- the hope we have from Christ's death- not help in causing his own death.

Do You Doubt My Puberty?

This is an excellent article on a father's perspective regarding the right of his son, who has autism, to sexuality and to sex.

Because this is not a Christian article, it made me think, what would a Christian perspective be on the subject of sex for people with developmental disabilities?

Legally and ethically, an adult with a developmental disability has the same rights and responsibilities to sexual activity as does anyone else. The only way this right can be interfered with is through proper legal channels due to concern that the person may not be able to consent to sex or because the person's sexual behavior may be predatory toward others.

Please understand. A man or woman with a development's disability is not a child. He or she has passed puberty and is a sexual being. As do the rest of us, a man or woman with a developmental disability has the right to choose what he or she does with his or her sexuality. To choose his or her own morals and to act on them. Our responsibility as caregivers and loved ones is to educate and protect- but we cannot, nor should not, forbid sexual activity, unless someone is immediately being harmed.

What about the Christian man or woman with a developmental disability? How do we, who have been given permission by this person, mentor his or her sexuality?

I haven't had the opportunity to do this yet. My experience in the sexuality of those with developmental disabilities has been in a secular setting, where all I had to offer the person were his or her legal rights, counsel on choosing his or her own morals, and counsel on the physical and emotional consequences of sexual activity. (The nurse was supposed to explain the, um, 'mechanics'.)

I look forward to walking this out with someone one day, not just from a 'Christian perspective', but from a relational perspective, based on the personal relationship between God and the woman I would mentor. I look forward to affirming her personhood by affirming and protecting her sexuality and inviting her to surrender her sexuality to God. And I look forward to the good things God will do through her sexuality.

I look forward the woman making her own decisions about sexual activity as much as she is able, based on what God has taught her through His Word. I look forward to her deciding for herself to choose God and His laws and deny her flesh unless married, as all of us single women must do, through the power of the Holy Spirit, through which is our only ability to do such a difficult thing.

I look foward to offering her grace and assuring her of God's grace and forgiveness should she fall.

One day soon, I hope...

Dr. Oz on the Stem Cell Debate

Dr. Oz to Oprah and Michael J Fox: "The stem cell debate is dead."

No So Cohesive Thoughts on Terri Schiavo and Word of Faith Teachers

Today is the fourth anniversary of the death of Terri Schiavo. I don't really know what to say about it, except that I guess I just wanted to acknowledge it.

I miss her, this stranger. I miss praying for her.

Four years ago, a real woman's life was taken from her under guise of compassion and alleged choice. She was not brain dead. Though living with a profound cognitive disability, she was not completely void of cognitive awareness (a 'vegetable' being the derogatory term), although, that would not have made her any less of a person nor any less worthy of care had she been.

We have a terrible fear of acquiring a severe disability, and we have a terrible fear of those with severe and profound disabilities. Until that fear is resolved, the prejudice that leads to institutionalization and this kind of murder will not end.

Before we blame the secular bioethicists and the 'liberal media', though, perhaps we who call ourselves Christians should look at our own ungodly reactions to people like Terri Schiavo, that is to people who are experiencing pain and suffering.

Frederick K.C. Price of Crenshaw Christian Center:

We don't allow sickness in our home." (Frederick K.C. Price, Is Healing for All? (Tulsa: Harrison House, 1979), 20

... how can you glorify God in your body, when it doesn't function right? How can you glorify God? How can He get glory when your body doesn't even work? ... What makes you think the Holy Ghost wants to live inside a body where He can't see out through the windows and He can't hear with the ears? What makes you think the Holy Spirit wants to live inside of a physical body where the limbs and the organs and the cells do not function right? ... And what makes you think He wants to live in a temple where He can't see out of the eyes, and He can't walk with the feet, and He can't move with the hand? ... The only eyes that he has that are in the earth realm are the eyes that are in the body. If He can't see out of them then God's gonna be limited he's not going to be helped...” applause (Frederick K.C. Price, “Is God Glorified Through Sickness?” (Los Angeles: Crenshaw Christian Center, n.d.), audiotape #FP605)

In John 5 we read about a man who had been sick for 38 years sitting by the pool of Bethesda for the opportunity to climb into the pool after an angel had stirred it and be healed. When Jesus asked him, "Do you want to be healed?" vs 6), the man replied, ""Sir, I have no one to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up, and while I am going another steps down before me." (vs 7) After that, verses 8-9 say, Jesus said to him, "Get up, take up your bed, and walk." And at once the man was healed, and he took up his bed and walked.

That's basically all these verses say about this man's healing. However, both Joel Osteen, who often makes claim to the idea that being healed is one's own responsibility by believing a certain way, in his book, Your Best Life Now and Joyce Meyer in her book, Eight Ways to Keep the Devil Under Your Feet claim that this man lay around the pool feeling sorry for himself and making excuses. Says Osteen:

If you're serious about being well, if you really want to be made physically and emotionally whole, you must get up and get moving with your life. No more lying around feeling sorry for yourself."

Says Meyer:

I would think that after thirty-eight years, a diligent, determined person could have crawled over to the edge of that pool. Even if that man had only moved an inch a year, it seems that in thirty-eight years, he ought to have been able to get close enough to the edge to just roll over into the water when it was stirred up."

And here is where fear and prejudice of disability seem to come through in Meyer's words:

Thirty eight years is a long time to lie somewhere, waiting for somebody to do something for you. I would have been on the edge of the that pool, and next year when the angel came around, when that water started bubbling, I would have fallen in and said, 'Either I'm going to get healed or I'm going to die, but I'm not staying like this'" (emphasis mine)"

And dare we forget Todd Bentley? Bentley spent the summer parading people with illnesses and disabilities on stage, either physically assaulting them or telling stories about how he had physically assaulted people at other times, mocking them, and proclaiming miracles for them, though not one single miracle could be verified by the secular media. (Go to YouTube, search for Todd Bentley, and watch the videos for yourself.)

These are just a very few examples of well known Christians' 'appreciation' for suffering. This is sad.

Thankfully, they do not represent all of us.

I read these words today in Andrew Comisky's book, Pursuing Sexual Wholeness:

In this lifetime Jesus does not intend to satisfy very craving of the soul, to remove every weakness. For our deep longings are for Him above all else. That longing within us is not merely the result of personal brokenness or the influence of family and friends: it's intrinsic to our status as the created, as children disposed to grow upward to the Creator, through His love. Our fallenness highlights the folly of attempting to secure ourselves on the earth, through the creature. The Father employs the aches and longings that remain to keep us focused on Himself.

But His purposes don't end there. He desires to employ that which has yet to be healed as an avenue of His grace. Through the wounds and deprivations that He indwells, God creates in us a deep wellsring of compassion- His heart- toward others who are broken. He graces us and intends to use us to grace others."

Though Comisky is speaking to those who struggle with sexual brokeness, the same can be said for all Christians who want their best life now and expect bodily perfection and wordly prosperity. We are all broken. This brokeness forces us to find our strengh and sufficiency in Him. We then, in turn, offer the same undeserved mercy and grace God offers to us to others, to people like Terri Schiavo, caring for and protecting their life.

It's the way of the Cross. It's the way of Christ

Four Arrested in Two States in Assisted-Suicide Probe

From the story:

Four people in two states have been arrested as part of an investigation into the Final Exit Network, an organization that police believe helped a Georgia man end his life in June, authorities said Thursday.

John Celmer, 58, lived in Cumming, north of Atlanta. Cumming police, the Forsyth County coroner and the man's relatives all had suspicions that his death was an assisted suicide, and
the Georgia Bureau of Investigation launched an investigation, the agency said in a news release.

The GBI on Wednesday set up a sting operation at a
residence in adjoining Dawson County, using an undercover agent who had posed as a terminally ill man seeking assistance with his suicide, the statement said.

Four people were arrested and charged with "assisted suicide, tampering with evidence and violation of the Georgia's Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act".

The Final Exit Network, based in the north Atlanta suburb of Marietta, identifies itself on its Web site as "an all-volunteer organization dedicated to serving people who are suffering from an intolerable condition. Network volunteers offer you counseling, support and even guidance to self-deliverance
at a time and place of your choosing, but you always do the choosing. We will never encourage you to hasten your death."

An 'intolerable condition'. What could that mean? Certainly not just a terminal illness, as this group, FEN, has been linked by police to the death of a woman with mental illness and depression.

They claim on their website that they will never encourage someone seeking their assistance to hasten his death. However, read on.

Goodwin [one of the men arrested] allegedly walked the undercover agent through the steps and demonstrated how he would hold the agent's hands to stop him from removing the exit bag...

My concern with murders like these is that this will lead to the continued legalization of assisted suicide. Using the same argument that many do with abortion, some will claim that assisted suicide must be legal, arguing that these 'back alley' assisted suicides are just not safe.

Top Ten Pro Abortion Moments of 2008

From American Life League

Red Faced and Red Handed: Top Ten Pro-Abortion Moments of 2008

by Katie Walker
Released January 7, 2009

Washington, D.C. (7 January 2009) – 2008 was a down year for the pro-abortion movement's talking heads. As you read the quotes below, despite the seriousness of the subject - after all, we are talking about matters of life and death - it's hard not to laugh at their ridiculous attempts to justify their position.

1) NOT THAT! ANYTHING BUT THAT!

Dear leader, President-elect Barack Obama at a town-hall meeting in Johnstown, Pennsylvania in March:

“Look, I got two daughters – 9 years old and 6 years old,” he said. “I am going to teach them first about values and morals, but if they make a mistake, I don’t want them punished with a
baby.”

Comment: President-elect Obama demonstrates his disdain for the sanctity of preborn babies by stating that children are “punishments” instead of miracles and blessings.

2) HOLDING OUT FOR A RAISE?

President-elect Barack Obama answers Pastor Rick
Warren’s question “At what point does a baby get human rights?” at a Saddleback Church interview:

“Answering that question with specificity is above my pay
grade.”

Comment: The future president will swear to uphold and defend the Constitution and Bill of Rights - hard to do when you can’t decide who gets rights and who doesn’t because it’s above your “pay grade.”

3) DATE-NIGHT OPTIONS: DINNER? DANCING? ABORTION?

Justin Timberlake/Jessica Biel

“Nobody should be able to say what you can do with your body,” Biel told cheering crowds at Last Chance for Change, a rally endorsing presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama. "I give Jess the right to choose where we go to eat all the time," Timberlake added.

Comment: Just when we start to have a sliver of respect for our Hollywood elite, they say something like this. Justin sees no difference between choosing where to eat or which child to kill.

4) KILLING BLACK BABIES – 'UNDERSTANDABLE, UNDERSTANDABLE'

Planned Parenthood of Idaho – A Live Action Films exposé video exposed Planned Parenthood’s deep-rooted racism. A caller posed as a potential donor and
the following conversation ensued:

Actor: I want to specify that abortion to help a minority group, would that be possible?

Planned Parenthood employee: Absolutely.
Actor: Like the black community for example?

Planned Parenthood employee: Certainly.

Actor: The abortion – I can give money specifically for a black baby, that would be the purpose?

Planned Parenthood employee: Absolutely. If you wanted to designate that your gift be used to help an African-American woman in need, then we would certainly make sure that the gift was earmarked for that purpose.

Actor: Great, because I really faced trouble with affirmative action, and I don’t want my kids to be disadvantaged
against black kids. I just had a baby; I want to put it in his name.

Planned Parenthood employee: Yes, absolutely.

Actor: And we don’t, you know we just think, the less black kids out there the better.

Planned Parenthood employee (laughing): Understandable, understandable.

Comment – The apple doesn’t fall far. Planned Parenthood hasn’t strayed much since the days of its racist founder
Margaret Sanger, who once spoke to a Ku Klux Klan group and was a member of the American Eugenics Society.

5) HEY LOOK, MOM, HERESY!

Ca. Rep. Nancy Pelosi in a television interview with NBC’s
Tom Brokaw:

Tom Brokaw: Madame speaker, when does life begin?

Rep. Pelosi: As an ardent, practicing Catholic, …I don’t think anybody can tell you when life begins.

Comment: That’s like saying, “As a vegan, I would
like my steak medium rare.”

6) BEING 'PRO-CURE' IS BEING PRO-LIFE! ... EVEN IF WE HAVE TO CANNIBALIZE PREBORN CHILDREN FOR IT

Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm in support of
Proposition 2, a bill that now allows embryonic stem cell research:

“As a Catholic, I can say to be pro-cure is to be pro-life.”

Comment: What about this statement is Catholic? Not a thing.

7) FIVE-FINGERED DISCOUNT FOR PLANNED PARENTHOOD C.E.O.

PP C.E.O. Miriam Inocencio

Despite a six-digit salary drawn from Planned Parenthood’s tax- and abortion-gorged pockets, Planned Parenthood of Rhode Island CEO Miriam Inocencio must have really liked that Macy’s blouse!

Comment: Clearly her day job – helping to kill preborn babies – has affected her moral judgment. If Miriam is hurting for cash, perhaps we can redirect some of Planned Parenthood's extra Title X taxpayer funding her way?

8) MODERN CHIVALRY

Comedian Doug Stanhope

These are not empty words. I, Doug Stanhope, am offering you, Bristol Palin, the sum of $25,000 so that you can abort your child and move out of that draconian home. I have also set up a
PayPal link so that others around the world can help increase this amount to ease the burden of starting out on your own at such an early age.

Comment: We love it when pro-abortion radicals show their true colors. Stanhope can’t fathom why a young couple would actually want their baby. Nope. Clearly, Bristol
doesn’t need love and compassion – she needs $25,000!

9) MORE THAN WE CAN SAY FOR SOME POLITICIANS

South Carolina Democrat chair Carol Fowler

Vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin’s “primary qualification
seems to be that she hasn’t had an abortion.”

Comment: South Carolinians overwhelmingly voted for the Palin ticket. That’s got to hurt, Fowler.

10) KEEP IT CLASSY, OLD BOY

Comedian Bill Maher

Refers to Sarah Palin’s Down syndrome baby as “it” three times in a monologue citing why she isn’t qualified to be vice president ::: the rest of quote deleted by me, Julie :::

Comment: What can we say, really? We’ll just let Maher condemn himself.