TISCIONE: Speak for our children

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February 8, 2013

TISCIONE: Speak for our children

Anonymous Weatherford Democrat The Weatherford Democrat Fri Feb 08, 2013, 03:38 AM CST

By THE REV. LOU TISCIONE

These days, a politician can convince people of the most amazing things simply by claiming that whatever it is will be in the interest of our children. Most recently, our government has put forth the idea that the God-given right of self-protection ought to be eliminated in the interest of our children’s safety.

I’m not a member of the NRA, although I’ve recently considered joining. I am a Christian and a thinking person. The cries of many to restrict our rights delineated in our Constitution don’t compute with what they say is the problem.

The cries concerning the protection of our children against gun violence (a term used to camouflage the true intent which is gun control) make no mention of the single biggest cost of human life. The staggering fact is that since 1974, 52 million babies have been killed through abortion.

In this day of so-called scientific enlightenment, denying that the life of a human being begins at conception would seem to any reasonable person to be unbelievable.

In the interest of our children, I stand with those who say, “Let’s stop the violence.” Indeed, let’s stop the violence right now and stand for the sanctity of human life. Christians are accountable to the God of life to speak out against the evil of abortion.

Why do so many Christians speak strongly for the sanctity of human life? The reason is that God is for life. That is, He is the one who set apart human life and sanctified it.

Since, the mid 1970s, the “progressives” have given government the authority to remove the right to life given by our Creator. As Francis Schaeffer wrote in 1981, “The dignity of human life is not some peripheral issue,” The Christian Manifesto.

The protection of human life is not something upon which we can agree to disagree. The dignity of human life is an absolute! The right to live is given by God who is the source of life. He breathed into Man the breath of life, Genesis 2:7. Human life is sacred because the Creator God made it so.

Secular Humanism has clouded the mind of our culture. In a culture where there are no absolutes, men make decisions based upon personal preference. Our culture is governed by moral relativism. Everything is considered relative. There are no absolutes except that there are no absolutes. Yet, the dignity of human life is an absolute.

Our very own Declaration of Independence stated clearly both the source of life and its inherent value: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”

The founders of our country declared that the source of life was God and that life is an undeniable right given by Him. Therefore the right to life is an absolute. Further, when God gave the law through Moses to His people, He included a commandment against murder, Exodus 20:13. The word translated kill or murder in the Sixth Commandment is understood to mean the unlawful taking of life. Only God can authorize the taking of life. God’s highest consequence for the taking of life is the life of the one who took it.

The Sixth Commandment not only prohibits murder, but reveals the character of God. He is the God of life. Jesus said that God is the God of the living, Matthew 22:32. Jesus also said that He is the life, John 14:6.

My concern is that the discussion will surround gun control as opposed to the issue of life. Whether you are a Christian or not I urge you to speak for those who have no one to speak for them. Speak for the unborn babies. The statistics overwhelmingly demonstrate that the most dangerous place for our children is not in school but in the womb.

May the God of life bless your efforts to speak for our children.

The Rev. Lou Tiscione is pastor of Weatherford Presbyterian Church (PCA).

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