Pro-life pumpkin carving contest
Give trick-or-treaters more than a fistful of candy at your house this Halloween – give them a message of life!
American Life League has launched its 2nd annual pro-life pumpkin carving contest.
Participants may submit photos of their pro-life jack-o-lanterns no later than October 27 for a chance to win $100 in pro-life gear.
Or if you’d simply like to make a pumpkin like the one pictured right, get the stencil here.
Participants may enter as many photos as they wish. The winner of the contest will be announced October 29, and entry photos will be displayed on ALL’s Facebook fan page as they are received. Click here for more details.
Oct.11, 2010 1:52 pm |
Breaking News |
Jill Stanek is a nurse turned speaker, columnist and blogger, a national figure in the effort to protect both preborn and postborn innocent human life.
Hey, they’re all over this post over at fark.
http://www.fark.com/cgi/comments.pl?IDLink=5682437
I’m not sure I’d like to see the murder of an abortion doctor depicted on a pumpkin.
Yes, lets encourage people to celebrate the pagan holiday – and by means with no less than this pro-life nonsense. The two fit better than you know, however.
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If you where a real Christian(this involves reading and following The Bible yourself, rather than simply discussing it in a Sunday school group), you would be aware that in the hundreds of commands(even if only 10 where put into tablets) in The Bible – there is no command about abortion. It IS mentioned in The Bible however. The term used in “untimely birth.” Never forbidden. God is all knowing – God knew that abortion would eventually become commonplace. God is not shy to tell us his will. Hundreds of commandments and NOTHING. Do you think God forgot?! Obviously that is impossible.
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Then you get to this soul upon conception nonsense. The Bible DOES NOT say this anywhere. Come at me with some verse on John the Baptist if you will, but it does not say this. God may indeed have a plan for some people, but that does not mean they have received a soul yet. In fact, there is only ONE place that it is ever mentioned when God delivers a soul upon a person – as God breathed into Adam the breath of life.
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Yes, upon the first breath taken. Yes, that breath is taken upon birth. It has always been the Christian(and Jewish) tradition to celebrate the BIRTH DAY of the child as the start of life, and the basis for age. This “upon conception” stuff is nothing but new-age nonsense. There is NO BIBLICAL support for this position. There IS Biblical support for what I’m saying.
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In fact, Exodus clearly defines that causing an unborn to die is NOT tantamount to murder. It results in a fine to the woman’s family or to her husband. But to kill the woman – death. Eye for an eye after all. If abortion was murder, the person who caused it would be killed, not fined. A fetus is therefore Biblically differentiated from a living person.
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“Blasphemy will not be tolerated.” – This is amusing to me, because so many of you pro-lifers don’t understand that your anti-abortion beliefs are SECULAR. To believe that abortion is wrong is one thing and you are well within your rights to believe this, but to say that your work on this issue is somehow God’s will – that is Blasphemy. To claim that Secular(including political) beliefs are apart of Christianity is Blasphemy.
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Most irritating to me are people who take a singular Biblical verse, take it completely out of context. then further twist its meaning to conform to their pre-existing beliefs.
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The pro-life belief system is very common among Christians(or should I say would-be Christians who don’t read The Bible except on occasion one verse at a time), as such it is mistaken as a Christian belief. Its not so surprising in a “Christian Nation” where most “Christians” are only mildly familiar with the contents of The Bible. Its a fact, Surveys done where people are tested on Biblical knowledge, most American Christians score very low – in fact lower than agnostics and atheists!! Its simply abhorrent and inexcusable!
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The reason is “Christians” who (hopefully) attend church, join in Sunday school, prayer groups, and listen to the Preacher’s sermon – and instantly accept all that is said without thinking about it, praying about it(asking God to grant you wisdom and protect you from falsehoods), and most importantly verifying it BY READING THE BIBLE! Instead they just fall into group thing, and group beliefs. Tis not the spirit of the Lord that moves them, but the spirit of the (well meaning but misguided) mob. It all started with people who could not properly separate their religious(100% scripture based) beliefs from personal beliefs – then add in the group think etc and it spread like a cancer.
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Its like mixing pure water with a flavored sugary powder – very difficult to separate once mixed. They mix and many people accept them as one. It may be more popular than pure water – but your beloved kool-aid is NOT the same as the pure water. Your beliefs are TAINTED and IMPURE. But you don’t know the difference when you’ve been given kool-aid your entire life. Also note that pure water quenches the thirst, but that sugary kool-aid soon leaves you thirsty for more and more. This is because it does not properly refresh the soul.
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Do not learn the contents of the word of God from fallible men – learn it by READING the infallible word of God. God may grant wisdom for those who seek it, but from WHERE are you seeking it?! From a prayer group? From other men? Or directly from the word of God?! If you believe that the combination of a few strands of DNA(its just 4 chemicals arranged in different ways) is somehow sacred – then its clear where you HAVEN’T been seeking your wisdom.
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DNA may show the incredible DESIGN of God’s creation, it is not itself sacred. It starts an incredible biological reaction, but that itself is not sacred neither. Certain monkeys (by God’s design) share 99% of the same DNA we do. Its a fact. But God did not give those monkeys a soul. Its not that 1% of our DNA that is sacred – its that God endows us WITH A SOUL.
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1/3rd of all pregnancies end WITHOUT the mother EVER knowing she was pregnant. The fertilized egg is passed out of the mother as if a normal menstrual cycle. With the other 2/3rd, you have all the babies that are born, aborted, or are suffer known miscarriages(aka natural abortions). Aside from the FACT that “soul upon conception” is NOT STATED in the Bible(and is therefore a secular belief), just what would make you think that God would give more than 1 out 3 embryos a soul knowing they will never even be born?!
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I imagine I’m dropping a bomb on all of you, and as many heads are exploding at the idea – its the truth. You can’t just twist the word of God to fit your own way of thinking. You can’t just ignore parts of the world of God that don’t suit you. You CANNOT add to the word of God either! Yet you do! Take a step back, realize what you are doing. Pray and repent.
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But go ahead and bring on the hate mail – it only proves what I’ve said(that you are no Christian). The hatred of my message(which is in short is “do not believe things not written in The Bible”) or any personal hatred of me – like any hatred in your heart – only separates you from God. Or perhaps it shows just how separated you already are. After all, God is love.
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I’m sure most of you will brush this all off – call me a liar, deceiver and such. Most of you won’t believe what I say here – and that is fine with me. In fact, that is what I want. Just like your preacher and every member of your Church – I’m a fallible man. I don’t want you to blindly believe me either! That kinda thing is exactly what started this mess! I want you to only THINK about it. I want you to PRAY about it. I want you to READ The Bible YOURSELF and learn about it YOURSELF. I certainly wouldn’t mind if you stopped the spread of secular beliefs in Church.
Wow. bk3k
You believe God is fine with abortion. I do not.
As a mother of miscarried children I believe you just told me that God cares not and suck it up cause I will never see those children again.
You believe everything you wrote. I do not.
Hi bk3k.
“If you where a real Christian(this involves reading and following The Bible yourself…”
Where does the bible say that being a real Christian means reading and following the bible yourself?
bk3k …
If you actually read and study the Bible as you claim to, you would see the obvious folly of your views. Here’s an article you *need* to read:
Abortion in the Bible and Church History
by Randy Alcorn
http://www.epm.org/
There is a small but influential circle of prochoice advocates who claim to base their beliefs on the Bible. They maintain that “nowhere does the Bible prohibit abortion.” [1] Yet the Bible clearly prohibits the killing of innocent people (Exodus 20:13). All that is necessary to prove a biblical prohibition of abortion is to demonstrate that the Bible considers the unborn to be human beings.
Personhood in the Bible
A number of ancient societies opposed abortion, [2] but the ancient Hebrew society had the clearest reasons for doing so because of its foundations in the scriptures. The Bible teaches that men and women are made in the image of God (Genesis 1:27). As the climax of God’s creation mankind has an intrinsic worth far greater than that of the animal kingdom placed under His care. Throughout the Scriptures, personhood is never measured by age, stage of development, or mental, physical, or social skills. Personhood is endowed by God at the moment of creation—before which there was not a human being and after which there is. That moment of creation can be nothing other than the moment of conception.
The Hebrew word used in the Old Testament to refer to the unborn (Exodus 21:22-25) is yeled, a word that “generally indicates young children, but may refer to teens or even young adults.” [3] The Hebrews did not have or need a separate word for unborn children. They were just like any other children, only younger. In the Bible there are references to born children and unborn children, but there is no such thing as a potential, incipient, or “almost” child.
Job graphically described the way God created him before he was born (Job 10:8-12). The person in the womb was not something that might become Job, but someone who was Job, just a younger version of the same man. To Isaiah, God says, “This is what the Lord says—he who made you, who formed you in the womb” (Isaiah 44:2). What each person is, not merely what he might become, was present in his mother’s womb.
Psalm 139:13-16 paints a graphic picture of the intimate involvement of God with a preborn person. God created David’s “inmost being,” not at birth, but before birth. David says to his Creator, “You knit me together in my mother’s womb.” Each person, regardless of his parentage of handicap, has not been manufactured on a cosmic assembly line, but has been personally knitted together by God in the womb. All the days of his life have been planned out by God before any have come to be (Psalm 139:16).
As a member of the human race that has rejected God, each person sinned “in Adam,” and is therefore a sinner from his very beginning (Romans 5:12-19). David says, “Surely I was sinful at birth.” Then he goes back even further, back before birth to the actual beginning of his life, saying he was “sinful from the time my mother conceived me” (Psalm 51:5). Each person has a sinful nature from the point of conception. Who but an actual person can have a sinful nature? Rocks and trees and animals and human organs do not have moral natures, good or bad. Morality can be ascribed only to a person. That there is a sin nature at the point of conception demonstrates that there is a person present who is capable of having such a nature.
Jacob was given prominence over his twin Esau “though not yet born” (Romans 9:11). When Rebekah was pregnant with Jacob and Esau, Scriptures says, “The babies jostled each other within her” (Genesis 25:22). The unborn are regarded as “babies” in the full sense of the term. God tells Jeremiah, “Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you” (Jeremiah 1:5). He could not know Jeremiah in his mother’s womb unless Jeremiah, the person, was present in his mother’s womb. The Creator is involved in an intimate knowing relationship not only with born people, but with unborn people.
In Luke 1:41,44 there are references to the unborn John the Baptist, who was at the end of his second trimester in the womb. The word, translated baby, in these verses is the Greek word brephos. It is the same word used for the already born baby Jesus (Luke 2:12, 16) and for the babies brought to Jesus to receive His blessing (Luke 18:15-17). It is also the same word used in Acts 7:19 for the newborn babies killed by Pharaoh. To the writers of the New Testament, like the Old, whether born or unborn, a baby is simply a baby. It appears that the preborn John the Baptist responded to the presence of the preborn Jesus in His mother Mary when Jesus was probably no more than ten days beyond His conception (Luke 1:41).
The angel Gabriel told Mary that she would be “with child and give birth to a son” (Luke 1:31). In the first century, and in every century, to be pregnant is to be with child, not with that which might become a child. The Scriptures teach the psychosomatic unity of the whole person, body, soul, and spirit (1 Thessalonians 5:23). Wherever there is a genetically distinct living human being, there is a living soul and spirit.
The Status of the Unborn
One scholar states: “Looking at Old Testament law from a proper cultural and historical context, it is evident that the life of the unborn is put on the same par as the person outside the womb.” [4]
When understood as a reference to miscarriage, Exodus 21:22-25 is sometimes used as evidence that the unborn is subhuman. But a proper understanding of the passage shows reference is not to a miscarriage, but to a premature birth, and that the “injury” referred to, which is to be compensated for like all other injuries, applies to the child as well as to his mother. This means that, “far from justifying permissive abortion, in fact grants the unborn child a status in the eyes of the law equal to the mother’s.” [5]
Meredith Cline observes, “The most significant thing about abortion legislation in Biblical law is that there is none. It was so unthinkable that an Israelite woman should desire an abortion that there was no need to mention this offense in the criminal code.” [6] All that was necessary to prohibit an abortion was the command, “You shall not murder” (Exodus 20:13). Every Israelite knew that the preborn child was indeed a child. Therefore, miscarriage was always viewed as the loss of a child and abortion as the killing of a child.
Numbers 5:11-31 is an unusual passage of Scripture used to make a central argument in A Prochoice Bible Study, published by Episcopalians for Religious Freedom. [7] They cite the New English Bible’s peculiar translation, which makes it sound as if God brings a miscarriage on a woman if she is unfaithful to her husband. Other translations refer to a wasting of the thigh and swelling of her abdomen, but do not take it to mean pregnancy, which would presumably simply be called that directly if it were in mind.
The woman could have been pregnant by her husband, assuming they had been having sex, which Hebrews couples normally did. It appears that God was expected to do some kind of miracle related to the bitter water, creating a dramatic physical reaction if adultery had been committed. The text gives no indication of either pregnancy of abortion. Indeed, in the majority of cases of suspected adultery, there would be no pregnancy and therefore no child at risk.
The Prochoice Bible Study that cites the NEB’s unique translation suggests if God indeed causes miscarriage, it would therefore be an endorsements of people causing abortions. This is a huge stretch, since neither the wife, husband, nor priest made the decision to induce an abortion, nor would they have the right to do so. The passage does not seem to refer to a miscarriage at all; but even if it did, there is a certainly nothing to suggest any endorsement of human beings initiating an abortion.
Child Sacrifice
Child sacrifice is condemned throughout Scripture. Only the most degraded societies tolerated such evil, and the worst of these defended and celebrated it as if it were a virtue. Ancient dumping grounds have been found filled with the bones of hundreds of dismembered infants. This is strikingly similar to discoveries of thousands of dead babies discarded by modern abortion clinics. One scholar of the ancient Near East refers to infant sacrifice as “the Canaanite counterpart to abortion.” [8] Unlike the pagan sacrifices, however, with abortion, child killing need no longer be postponed till birth.
Scripture condemns the shedding of innocent blood (Deuteronomy 19:10; Proverbs 6:17; Isaiah 1:15; Jeremiah 22:17). While the killing of all innocent human beings is detestable, the Bible regards the killing of children as particularly heinous (Leviticus 18:21; 20:1-5; Deuteronomy 12:31). The prophets of Israel were outraged at the sacrifice of children by some of the Jews. They warned that it would result in the devastating judgment of God on their society (Jeremiah 7:30-34; Ezekiel 16:20-21, 36-38; 20:31; compare 2 Kings 21:2-6 and Jeremiah 15:3-4).
Abortion and Church History
Christians throughout church history have affirmed with a united the humanity of preborn child. [9] The second-century Epistle of Barnabas speaks of “killers of the child, who abort the mold of God.” It treats the unborn child as any other human “neighbor” by saying, “You shall love your neighbor more than your own life. You shall not slay a child by abortion. You shall not kill that which has already been generated” (Epistle of Barnabas 19:5).
The Didache, a second-century catechism for young converts, states, “Do not murder a child by or abortion of kill a newborn infant” (Didache 2.2). Clement of Alexandria maintained that “those who use abortifacient medicines to hide their fornication cause not only the outright murder of the fetus, but of the whole human race as well” (Paedogus 2:10.96.1).
Defending Christians before Marcus Aurelius in A.D. 177, Athenagoras argued, “What reason would we have to commit murder when we say that women who induce abortions are murderers, and will have to give account of it to God? …The fetus in the womb is a living being and therefore the object of God’s care” (A Plea for the Christians, 35.6).
Tertullian said, “It does not matter whether you take away a life that is born, or destroy one that is coming to the birth. In both instances, destruction is murder” (Apology, 9.4). Basil the Great affirmed, “Those who give abortifacients for the destruction of a child conceived in the womb are murderers themselves, along with those receiving the poisons” (Canons, 188.2). Jerome called abortion “the murder of an unborn child” (Letter to Eustochium, 22.13). Augustine warned against the terrible crime of “the murder of an unborn child” (On Marriage, 1.17.15). Origen, Cyprian, and Chrysotom were among the many other prominent theologians and church leaders who condemned abortion as the killing of children. New Testament scholar Bruce Metzger comments, “It is really remarkable how uniform and how pronounced was the early Christian opposition to abortion.” [10]
Throughout the centuries, Roman Catholic leaders have consistently upheld the sanctity of human life. Likewise, Protestant reformer John Calvin followed both the Scriptures and the historical position of the church when he affirmed:
The fetus, though enclosed in the womb of its mother, is already a human being, and it is a most monstrous crime to rob it of the life, which it has not yet begun to enjoy. If it seems more horrible to kill a man in his own house than in a field, because a man’s house is his place of most secure refuge, it ought surely to be deemed more atrocious to destroy a fetus in the womb before it has come to light. [11]
Modern theologians with a strong biblical orientation agree that abortion is the killing of a child. Dietrich Bonhoeffer, who lost his life standing up against the murder of the innocent in Germany, argued that abortion is “nothing but murder.” [12] Karl Barth stated,
“The unborn child is from the very first a child… it is a man and not a thing, not a mere part of the mother’s body… Those who live by mercy will always be disposed to practice mercy, especially to a human being which is so dependent on the mercy of others as the unborn child.” [13]
In the last few decades it has become popular for certain theologians and ministers to be proabortion. The Religious Coalition for Abortion Rights, for instance, has adopted the motto, “Prayerfully Prochoice,” and prochoice advocates point to it as proof that conscientious Christians can be prochoice. Yet the arguments set forth by such advocates are shallow, inconsistent, and violate the most basic principles of biblical interpretation. Their arguments are clearly read into the biblical texts rather than derived from them. [14]
The “Christians” prochoice position is nothing more than an accommodation to modern secular beliefs, and it flies in the face of the Bible and the historical position of the church. If the church is to be the church, it must challenge and guide the morality of society, not mirror it.
Conclusion: The Bible and the Children
Even if church history were unclear on the matter, the Bible is very clear. Every child in the womb has been created by God, and He has laid out a plan for that child’s life. Furthermore, Christ loves that child and proved it by becoming like him—He spent nine months in His mother’s womb. Finally, Christ died for that child, showing how precious He considers him to be.
Christ’s disciples failed to understand how valuable children were to Him, and they rebuked those who tried to bring them near Him (Luke 18:15-17). But Jesus called the children to Him and said, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these.” He did not consider attention to children a distraction from His kingdom business, but an integral part of it.
The biblical view of children is that they are a blessing and a gift from the Lord (Psalm 127:3-5). Society is treating children more and more as liabilities. We must learn to see them as God does—“He defends the cause of the fatherless and the widow, and loves the alien, giving him food and clothing” (Deuteronomy 10:18).
Furthermore, we must act toward them as God commands us to act:
Defend the cause of the weak and the fatherless;
Maintain the rights of the poor and oppressed.
Rescue the weak and needy;
Deliver them from the hand of the wicked (Psalm 82:3-4).
As we intervene on behalf of His littlest children, let’s realize it is Christ Himself for whom we intervene (Matthew 25:40).
References
Virginia Ramey Mollenkott, “Reproductive Choice: Basic to Justice for Women,” Christian Scholar’s Review (March 1988), p. 291.
James Hoffmeier, Abortion: A Christian Understanding (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Baker Book House, 1987), pp. 46,50; Eugene Quay, “Abortion: Medical and Legal Foundations,” Georgetown Law Review (1967), pp. 395,420; Meridith G. Kline, “Lex Talionis and the Human Fetus,” Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society (September 1977), pp. 200-201.
Lawrence O. Richards, Expository Dictionary of Bible Words (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan Publishing House, 1985), pp. 156-157.
James Hoffmeier, editor, Abortion: A Christian Understanding and Response (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Baker Book House, 1987), p. 62.
John Jefferson Davis, Abortion and the Christian (Phillipsburg, New Jersey: Presbyterian and Reformed, 1984), p. 52.
Meridith G. Kline, “Lex Talionis and the Human Fetus,” Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society (September 1977), pp. 193
why can’t it be $100 in pro-choice gear? or why cannot the prize just be $100, so the winner can spend as they see fit?
oto
October 11th, 2010 at 8:56 pm
Ah yes, Fark.com. That bastion of journalistic integrity and political acumen. O WAIT…
Dropping the sarcasm, while this does sound fun for those who do celebrate Halloween, I am afraid I shall have to watch from the sidelines. I know it’s all cultural and divorced mostly from its roots, but I just can’t see that it’s so divorced that I wouldn’t be celebrating a pagan holiday. As a Christian, I can’t. I don’t intend this to be judgey on those Christians who do, because this is my hang-up, but there you are. I hope the contest goes well, though.
The roots of this holiday are not pagan but Christian. All Souls day is traditionally November 1. It became a folk holiday to dress to scare afterward. The pagans have latched onto it and tried to make it their own; it’s not. Pagans had plenty of festivals and celebrations of their own, but choosing Oct. 31 came after Jesus. There was no ” Samhain” prior to the first century. (nor the second, nor the third century after Christ). While it may be that Christians Christo-fied some pagan holidays, in this case, the theft was the other way around.
The bible is so pro-life it isn’t even debatable. This is why I tell people, citing chapter and verse does not impress me. Can you UNDERSTAND what you read? Because when the Lord tell us to choose life that you may have life and have life in abundance tells us pretty clearly what God thinks.