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Loading...In our society “Who is responsible for my troubles?” has become a constant outcry.
Sadly it is usually a cry that comes about when an individual spills hot coffee on himself and want someone else to pay for his mistake. But there is also an outcry regarding responsibility when large numbers of people are injured or killed in a tragedy, such as the World Trade Center.
In a fictional book that deals with the theme of Good verses Evil, God verses satan, a virus is loosed on the world killing almost everyone. When one of the good main characters realizes what is going on he cries out, “Who’s responsible?” The response is, “No one, everyone, God, who knows?” When something goes wrong we hope the responsible party will step forward and fix it.
They usually don’t.
Even with the recent tsunami I have heard a number of attempts to blame someone, anyone. More than one person has blamed the sins of the people who live in that part of the world. Others have said that God is mean, and He is to blame. Still others are saying that India and the United States have conducted secret nuclear tests in the Indian Ocean, resulting in the 9.0 earthquake.
The truth is sometimes natural disasters just happen and suffering people are left in the wake. But even if human ignorance, or greed, or whatever caused the tragedy, the immediate question is not who caused the mess, the question is who is going to step forward to help those left suffering from the tragedy.
In the Garden of Eden Adam and Eve were fully responsible for their sin. I find it interesting that although God held them accountable for their sin, God Himself stepped up and accepted the responsibility to help them and those of us who followed out of their dilemma.
I believe God has given us an excellent model of caring.
When something is wrong we must accept the responsibility to step forward and be merciful, attempting to do what’s right. The situation may not be our fault, but God’s grace demands that we be responsible to act, especially if the victims cannot help themselves.
God intends that justice and care for the defenseless be the active concern of government.
Government is to oversee the care for those who cannot care for themselves, save abandoned children, and protect the defenseless that would otherwise be killed.
Many people turn their backs on such problems saying that is “government’s” job.
But since our government is one “of the people and by the people” then ultimately we are responsible for what our leaders do or don’t do. Ultimately “the people” are responsible to attempt change when change is needed. We as God’s people in a country where our voices still count must try to bring about justice where justice has been denied. We must try to save the lives of those who are being unjustly murdered.
We must try to make a difference. God cares about justice so we must care. And today there are two areas of pressing concern in our nation — abortion and embryonic stem cell research. Just because the 1973 Supreme Court said abortion is constitutional doesn’t mean it is morally or ethically right; it doesn’t even mean it really is constitutional.
The Supreme Court has been wrong before and has reversed itself. It used to be legal to own and sell slaves. Due process wasn’t always the law of the land. Things can change, and things must change.
The barbaric and meanhearted act of abortion must come to an end. We have been lied to. This is not an issue of a woman’s right to choose; this is an issue of an innocent human being having the right to live. Look at the fuss made over convicted murderers being executed. Remember the moral and ethical objections to Terri Shivo not being allowed to live, even though her state was virtually nonresponsive and hopeless. With such moral concerns being voiced by a majority of our population how can we continue to pretend that abortion is anything short of killing an innocent and defenseless human being?
A new concern for our society is embryonic stem cell research. Some people are so desperate for cures that they seem willing to consciously avoid the question of whether or not embryos are life. But until human life is determined and defined we are in grave danger as a society. Roe vs. Wade, as flawed as it is, never had in view a decision of life outside the womb, only inside.
Embryonic stem cell research requires people giving up viable embryos, or researchers developing viable embryos in a laboratory, and then destroying them; if embryos have “life” that is murder.
The death toll of the recent tsunami was horrific. But the death toll of the tsunami pales in comparison to the ANNUAL number of children killed by abortion just in America alone.
We cry out against the death toll of certain diseases, especially those caused by man’s selfishness or ignorance.
Smoking kills about 350,000 people each year, 20% who die from second-hand smoke. As horrible as those numbers are abortion annually kills three times as many — over one million humans per year; and none of them had a choice.
As tragic as those numbers may seem to you, if viable embryos do possess “life” then we are talking about millions of killings each year. How can a society that “cares” about life continue down such a path without destroying its own conscience?
We are supposedly a nation that acts in just and moral ways. If there is any chance that embryos have life then we must do everything in our power to determine if that is the case BEFORE we destroy them.
If they have life we have a moral, ethical and legal obligation to keep those who would use embryos in stem cell research from doing so. Of all the people in this great nation God’s people have a responsibility to step up and champion this challenge.
As I understand recent history the collective “Christian community” was pretty much silent while Roe vs. Wade was being fought. If Christians had been far more vocal back then the outcome may have been different. But even if it wouldn’t have made a difference to society back then, even if it doesn’t make a difference to our society on this ethical stand, it makes a difference to God. God knows that not everything you do will make a difference to the world; God doesn’t require that it does. What God does require is that you TRY to make a difference in the world.
We must stand up for justice.
We must stand up for those who cannot stand up for themselves. If you are a child of God you are responsible to attempt to make a difference, even if it seems impossible.
A solitary man died alone on a cross on a hill in a tiny country 2,000 years ago. In the eyes of the world what difference could He make? But in the power of God Jesus made all the difference in the world.
Choose life, choose Christ.
