Wednesday, April 11, 2012
Saturday, March 19, 2011
ATHENAEUM PONTIFICAL REGINA APOSTOLORUM
Faculty of Bioethics
Commercial Markets Created by Abortion: Profiting from the Fetal Distribution Chain
Professor: Father Joseph Tham
Student: Victoria Evans
Matriculation n.: 00006495
BE2001 Dissertation for the Licentiate
Rome, 18 November 2009
2
CONTENTS
Introduction…………………………………………………………………………………..4
1. Foundations of Abortion……………………………………………………………..7
1.1. Individual Impact…………………………………………………………….7
1.2. Socio-Economic Impact……………………………………………………...9
2. The Abortion Industry……………………………………………………………….12
2.1. Industry Composition………………………………………………………..12
2.2. Case Study…………………………………………………………………...13
2.2.1. Planned Parenthood Business Operations…………………………...15
2.2.2. Clinical Trials…………………………………………………..........18
2.3. Political Landscape…………………………………………………………..20
2.3.1. Federal Framework…………………………………………………..20
2.3.2. Planned Parenthood Structure………………………………………..21
2.3.3. Grassroots Lobbying…………………………………………………22
2.3.4. Direct Lobbying……………………………………………………...24
3. The Fetal Parts Industry……………………………………………………………..27
3.1. Legal History………………………………………………………………...28
3.2. Investigative Report…………………………………………………………32
3.3. Fetus Farming………………………………………………………………..37
4. The Pharmaceutical Industry………………………………………………………..40
4.1. Industry Dynamics…………………………………………………………..40
4.2. Vaccines……………………………………………………………………..44
4.3. Human Technology Manufacturing Platforms……………………………....47
5. The Cosmetics Industry……………………………………………………………...51
5.1 Cosmeceutical Development………………………………………………...51
3
5.2. Market Demographics………………………………………………………53
6. Ethical Assessment………………………………………………………………….56
6.1. The Human Person………………………………………………………….56
6.2. The Past and the Future……………………………………………………..57
6.3. Cooperation in Evil………………………………………………………….59
Conclusion…………………………………………………………………………………..65
Bibliography………………………………………………………………………………...68
4
INTRODUCTION
The abortion divide is commonly viewed as an ideological conflict. Does a woman‟s
right to make reproductive choices eclipse the right to life of a developing fetus? Too often the
rhetoric begins and ends at this level of discourse.
An ideology may be defined as “a system of collectively held normative and reputedly
factual ideas and beliefs and attitudes, advocating and/or justifying a particular pattern of
political and/or economic relationships, arrangements and conduct.”
1
It is a wide-ranging shared
belief system that can serve to motivate and justify and to provide the foundation for programs of
political and social action. “Leaders of sociopolitical movements realize that there will
inevitably be times when a movement‟s ideology will conflict with the experiences and
moralities of their followers. At those moments, followers must reject their own consciences and
blindly fall back on the accepted dogma.”
2
This quotation characterizes the ideological divide
surrounding abortion. It is today‟s most polarizing issue.
There is a particular cultural vision that provides motivation and justification for access
to legal abortion by focusing on a woman‟s autonomy, privacy, equality and right to self-
determination. Understanding this vision is fundamental to understanding the deep reluctance of
the pro-choice community to abandon the status quo as it relates to abortion. By the same token,
those who reject abortion do so based on an anthropology that embraces as central the individual
human person, his dignity, intrinsic worth and right to life, regardless of stage of development or
state of life. This vision of the person is irreconcilably at odds with the acceptance of abortion.
Today the abortion industry claims a unique place as an established structure of
American society. It benefits from legal and governmental protections. Juridical cases
upholding abortion rights indicate its relatively secure position in federal and state courts.
Explanations as to why it has come to occupy this position vary. Perhaps it is the will of the
majority, the sheer political strength of an ideological movement, or a postmodern vision of what
1
M. B. HAMILTON, “The Elements of the Concept of Ideology”, Political Studies 35 (1987) 18-38. 2
M. CRUTCHER, Lime 5: Exploited by Choice, Life Dynamics, Incorporated, Denton 1996, 205.
5
constitutes a “right” for the human person and a “good” for the society. Putting aside the
ideological question for the moment, it appears that abortion-related businesses, silently
springing up and maturing over the past forty years, could now be influencing the abortion
debate. The reality of these businesses is not often part of the general public‟s knowledge or
concern.
Is there a commercial case for preserving the abortion industry in its present form that
transcends ideology? Are special interests driving the industry? How much power, if any, do
financial considerations wield when weighed against societal norms, rules and laws that govern
abortion? Does the public‟s ignorance of these factors contribute to maintaining the abortion
culture as it exists today? If people understood these factors, might their ideas about abortion
change? As commercial ventures, how much profit do the abortion industry and those industries
dependent upon it generate---and to what interests? What extent does money, “the root of all
evil,” play in understanding the complex calculus of abortion?
As a practical matter, this paper cannot settle the question of whether abortion is
predominantly an ideology or a commercial enterprise. To some degree, it is both. It will
instead focus on industrial sectors whose origin and growth are a result of legalized abortion.
The culture of abortion is multifaceted. Its influence has permeated countless segments of
society. It has created new commercial markets and molded existing ones. While it fulfills the
definition of an ideology, particularly in those who inhabit its two extreme positions, economic
revelations that underlie the abortion industry may affect the thinking of those less resolved
individuals inhabiting the more moderate center.
Little is widely known about the business aspects of the abortion industry that relate to its
function of supplying electively-aborted fetuses to industries that exploit them for economic
gain. An unintended consequence of the essentially unencumbered right to abortion has been the
creation of a vast and lucrative market in fetal tissue, fetal organs and fetal parts.
This paper will attempt to follow the money trail in an effort to expose those special
interests that contribute to abortion‟s control over the American culture and the American
6
economy. It will examine some industries connected with and profiteering from the abortion
industry, some directly and some more remotely.
Chapter 1 will look at general foundational aspects of abortion. Chapter 2 delves into the
social, commercial, political and juridical systems that make the abortion industry itself
profitable. Chapter 3 examines the fetal parts industry, an industry that could not have
developed without a legal and protected abortion structure. Chapter 4 follows fetal-tissue
technology into the pharmaceutical industry. Chapter 5 reveals how fetal-tissue supply and
demand shape the cosmetics industry. Finally, Chapter 6 analyzes the ethical implications of the
practices taking place and why it is necessary to shine a light on these practices. The scope will
generally be limited to the United States, except in cases involving worldwide markets.
7
Chapter 1
FOUNDATIONS OF ABORTION
Who profits from abortion? Abortion does not affect just one person. It impacts
individuals, families, businesses and society at large. Thus, many people and entities can
potentially be involved not only in abortion‟s choice and execution, but also in its aftermath---the
disposition of the fetus.
1.1. Individual Impact
The terminated fetus would seem to profit least from abortion. There may be cases where
he is spared a life of hunger and pain, suffering and sorrow; however, this is a decidedly
nihilistic view of mankind. Not only does it discount the possibility of the experience of pain by
the fetus during abortion, but it also avoids the larger question of the purpose and value of human
life and existence in general. As a philosophical tenet, most would agree that it is better to be
than not to be.
Whether the mother benefits from abortion has been the subject of considerable debate.
The pro-choice community points to the relief experienced by the woman who escapes an
undesirable situation, her crisis pregnancy. She is restored the ability to control her body and her
future. The pro-life community cites a not insubstantial body of evidence that documents a
woman‟s feelings of guilt and pain, as well as the physical and emotional distress that can
accompany abortion.
3
Pro-choice advocates point out that the father, if he knows, may also
experience relief on emotional and economic levels---often more so than the mother. But men
too have been shown to suffer as a result of abortion and regret the loss of fatherhood. Some
have voiced frustration at a legal system which gives the woman sole control over determining
the fate of their child.
4
3
V. THORNE, “Manifestations of Abortion‟s Aftermath in Women”, in http://www.noparh.org [6-2-2009]. D. M. FERGUSSON - L. J. HARWOOD - J. M. BODIN, “Reactions to Abortion and Subsequent Mental Health”, The British Journal of Psychiatry 195 (2009), 420-426.
4
G. CONDON - D. HAZARD, Fatherhood Aborted, CareNet U.S.A. 2001, 31.
8
Compared with the volumes written about the post-abortive woman and the terminated
fetus, remarkably little has been written about the third necessary participant in abortion---the
abortionist. Doctors who have the training and vocational calling to perform the procedure are
crucial to the abortion industry‟s ability to provide abortion access to women. Besides impacting
the doctor, a facility‟s medical and administrative staff is affected by its proximity to abortion.
The staff closely participates in that it counsels the women, prepares them for the operation,
assists during surgery and recovery, and disposes of fetal remains.
In Necessity and Sorrow, pro-choice author Magda Denes chronicles her research
evidencing the conflicts experienced by abortionists. One abortionist confessed, “As a
physician, I‟m trained to conserve life… I guess I feel guilty because according to the Hippocratic Oath5 you‟re not supposed to do abortions.”6 But others are dedicated to the field.
The Executive Director of the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists says, “By
and large, [abortion doctors] are zealots who are strongly committed and who believe, in most instances correctly, that if they don‟t provide the service, no one will.”7
While many doctors enter the field on ideological grounds or based on a belief that this
area of medicine is underserved, abortion is also a lucrative business. Doctors can earn
significantly more money performing abortions than they can by practicing other kinds of
medicine. Although the chargeable fees and reimbursements available for a routine first-
trimester abortion are generally low, the per-procedure fees are more than offset by the high
volume of abortions that can be performed in a single day.
8
This is particularly true since many
women below the poverty level, who might not otherwise be able to pay for an abortion, are
subsidized through state Medicaid programs.
5The Hippocratic Oath, as originally formulated in the latter half of the fourth century BC, contained the following prohibition: “I will not give a woman as pessary to cause an abortion.”
6
M. DENES, In Necessity and Sorrow, Basic Books, Incorporated, New York, 1976. 7
W. H. PEARSE, M.D., American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, New York Times (8-1- 1990).
8
M. CRUTCHER, Lime 5: Exploited…, 189.
9
1.2. Socio-Economic Impact
An early argument advanced in favor of legal abortion was that it would contribute to the
common good by solving prevailing social problems: child abuse, violence against women,
single-parent households, poverty, etc. “Every child, a wanted child,” was a popular slogan.
However, these social ills would seem to remain notwithstanding the elimination of millions of
presumably unwanted children. As to child abuse, studies indicate a reverse trend. A prior
history of abortion has been shown to produce more child abuse, not less, in subsequent
pregnancies.
9
Some claim that one ideology underlying abortion is eugenic in nature.10 Demographic
data points to a disproportionate concentration of abortion facilities located in economically-
disadvantaged black and ethnic neighborhoods. According to a 2008 study performed by the
Alan Guttmacher Institute and reported in The Washington Post, “While the overall number of
abortions has been falling in recent years, black and Hispanic women are making up a larger
percentage of those receiving them. A large racial disparity was evident. Non-white women
have the procedure at three to five times the rate of white women, the study found.”
11
Currently,
36% of abortions performed in the U.S. are performed on African-American women, although
black women of child-bearing age account for less than 13% of the population.12
Has the common good benefited from legal abortion? More women have taken the
opportunity to complete their education, enter the workforce and leave the welfare roles. From
an environmental standpoint, the collective “carbon footprint” may have been reduced and there
may have been lower consumption of natural resources, both nationally and globally. But after
9
P. NEY - T. FUNG - A. R. WICHETT, “Relationship Between Induced Abortion and Child Abuse and Neglect: Four Studies”, Pre- and Perinatal Psychology Journal 8/1 (1993), 43-63.
10Margaret Sanger founded the American Birth Control League in 1916, which eventually became Planned Parenthood. According to the Birth Control Federation of America‟s “Margaret Sanger Papers Project”, she supervised the “Negro Project” which assembled clinical data to influence the adoption of clinics and contraceptive techniques primarily in the black communities of the South.
11
UNITED PRESS INTERNATIONAL, INC., ”Abortion Demographics Show Big Changes”, The Washington Post (23-9-2008).
12
C. H. CHILDRESS, JR., “The Dawning of a King‟s Dream” (2003), in http://www.blackgenocide.org/king.html [6-15-2009].
10
nearly fifty million legal U.S. abortions between 1973 and 2009, the data is inconclusive or
dubious at best. Born in 1973, Caleb King, pastor at the Assembly of God‟s New Life Christian
Center in Novato, California, lamented, “There is a growing sense in my generation that there are
a lot of us missing, a lot of people with great potential.” The logical question flowing from this
is whether society has benefited from the largely unregulated, uncontrolled and uncontrollable
abortion industry. This question has gone largely unasked and almost completely unanswered.
The answer may be a function of economics.
Commerce, defined as “the exchange or buying and selling of goods, commodities or
property,”
13
capitalizes on opportunity. It looks for utility in things that would otherwise be
wasted and searches for innovative business ideas. Maximization of profits is the ultimate goal. Markets are created by exploiting supply and demand.14 The choices the public exercises
regarding the sort of markets it allows to be created are important. These choices create the kind
of world in which we live. They define the ethics of a society.
When abortion became legal in the United States, no one anticipated that it would give
rise to a tremendous market in fetal parts, tissues and cells. Campaigns advocating for a
woman‟s right to choose never looked beyond the stated motivation---a desire for legal access to
abortion---to the collective forces representing the creation of emerging markets.
Abortion became legal throughout the United States in 1973 with the Roe v. Wade
Supreme Court decision. Until that time it was controlled by state law. Each of the fifty states
regulated the practice to varying degrees. In Roe v Wade, the Justices ruled that abortion could
not be restricted at all in the first trimester of pregnancy. Second-trimester abortion could be
regulated only for reasons of the mother‟s health. During the third trimester, after viability,
abortion could be prohibited except when necessary to preserve the mother‟s life or health.
15
Thus, the definition of “health” became all-important in determining the parameters of legal
13 Merriam-Webster's Dictionary of Law, Merriam-Webster, Inc. 1996. 14Supply and demand is an economic model based on price, utility and quantity in a market. It concludes that in a competitive market, price will function to equalize the quantity demanded by consumers and the quantity supplied by producers, resulting in an economic equilibrium of price and quantity.
15 Roe v. Wade, 410 U.S. 113, 160-165 (1973).
Faculty of Bioethics
Commercial Markets Created by Abortion: Profiting from the Fetal Distribution Chain
Professor: Father Joseph Tham
Student: Victoria Evans
Matriculation n.: 00006495
BE2001 Dissertation for the Licentiate
Rome, 18 November 2009
2
CONTENTS
Introduction…………………………………………………………………………………..4
1. Foundations of Abortion……………………………………………………………..7
1.1. Individual Impact…………………………………………………………….7
1.2. Socio-Economic Impact……………………………………………………...9
2. The Abortion Industry……………………………………………………………….12
2.1. Industry Composition………………………………………………………..12
2.2. Case Study…………………………………………………………………...13
2.2.1. Planned Parenthood Business Operations…………………………...15
2.2.2. Clinical Trials…………………………………………………..........18
2.3. Political Landscape…………………………………………………………..20
2.3.1. Federal Framework…………………………………………………..20
2.3.2. Planned Parenthood Structure………………………………………..21
2.3.3. Grassroots Lobbying…………………………………………………22
2.3.4. Direct Lobbying……………………………………………………...24
3. The Fetal Parts Industry……………………………………………………………..27
3.1. Legal History………………………………………………………………...28
3.2. Investigative Report…………………………………………………………32
3.3. Fetus Farming………………………………………………………………..37
4. The Pharmaceutical Industry………………………………………………………..40
4.1. Industry Dynamics…………………………………………………………..40
4.2. Vaccines……………………………………………………………………..44
4.3. Human Technology Manufacturing Platforms……………………………....47
5. The Cosmetics Industry……………………………………………………………...51
5.1 Cosmeceutical Development………………………………………………...51
3
5.2. Market Demographics………………………………………………………53
6. Ethical Assessment………………………………………………………………….56
6.1. The Human Person………………………………………………………….56
6.2. The Past and the Future……………………………………………………..57
6.3. Cooperation in Evil………………………………………………………….59
Conclusion…………………………………………………………………………………..65
Bibliography………………………………………………………………………………...68
4
INTRODUCTION
The abortion divide is commonly viewed as an ideological conflict. Does a woman‟s
right to make reproductive choices eclipse the right to life of a developing fetus? Too often the
rhetoric begins and ends at this level of discourse.
An ideology may be defined as “a system of collectively held normative and reputedly
factual ideas and beliefs and attitudes, advocating and/or justifying a particular pattern of
political and/or economic relationships, arrangements and conduct.”
1
It is a wide-ranging shared
belief system that can serve to motivate and justify and to provide the foundation for programs of
political and social action. “Leaders of sociopolitical movements realize that there will
inevitably be times when a movement‟s ideology will conflict with the experiences and
moralities of their followers. At those moments, followers must reject their own consciences and
blindly fall back on the accepted dogma.”
2
This quotation characterizes the ideological divide
surrounding abortion. It is today‟s most polarizing issue.
There is a particular cultural vision that provides motivation and justification for access
to legal abortion by focusing on a woman‟s autonomy, privacy, equality and right to self-
determination. Understanding this vision is fundamental to understanding the deep reluctance of
the pro-choice community to abandon the status quo as it relates to abortion. By the same token,
those who reject abortion do so based on an anthropology that embraces as central the individual
human person, his dignity, intrinsic worth and right to life, regardless of stage of development or
state of life. This vision of the person is irreconcilably at odds with the acceptance of abortion.
Today the abortion industry claims a unique place as an established structure of
American society. It benefits from legal and governmental protections. Juridical cases
upholding abortion rights indicate its relatively secure position in federal and state courts.
Explanations as to why it has come to occupy this position vary. Perhaps it is the will of the
majority, the sheer political strength of an ideological movement, or a postmodern vision of what
1
M. B. HAMILTON, “The Elements of the Concept of Ideology”, Political Studies 35 (1987) 18-38. 2
M. CRUTCHER, Lime 5: Exploited by Choice, Life Dynamics, Incorporated, Denton 1996, 205.
5
constitutes a “right” for the human person and a “good” for the society. Putting aside the
ideological question for the moment, it appears that abortion-related businesses, silently
springing up and maturing over the past forty years, could now be influencing the abortion
debate. The reality of these businesses is not often part of the general public‟s knowledge or
concern.
Is there a commercial case for preserving the abortion industry in its present form that
transcends ideology? Are special interests driving the industry? How much power, if any, do
financial considerations wield when weighed against societal norms, rules and laws that govern
abortion? Does the public‟s ignorance of these factors contribute to maintaining the abortion
culture as it exists today? If people understood these factors, might their ideas about abortion
change? As commercial ventures, how much profit do the abortion industry and those industries
dependent upon it generate---and to what interests? What extent does money, “the root of all
evil,” play in understanding the complex calculus of abortion?
As a practical matter, this paper cannot settle the question of whether abortion is
predominantly an ideology or a commercial enterprise. To some degree, it is both. It will
instead focus on industrial sectors whose origin and growth are a result of legalized abortion.
The culture of abortion is multifaceted. Its influence has permeated countless segments of
society. It has created new commercial markets and molded existing ones. While it fulfills the
definition of an ideology, particularly in those who inhabit its two extreme positions, economic
revelations that underlie the abortion industry may affect the thinking of those less resolved
individuals inhabiting the more moderate center.
Little is widely known about the business aspects of the abortion industry that relate to its
function of supplying electively-aborted fetuses to industries that exploit them for economic
gain. An unintended consequence of the essentially unencumbered right to abortion has been the
creation of a vast and lucrative market in fetal tissue, fetal organs and fetal parts.
This paper will attempt to follow the money trail in an effort to expose those special
interests that contribute to abortion‟s control over the American culture and the American
6
economy. It will examine some industries connected with and profiteering from the abortion
industry, some directly and some more remotely.
Chapter 1 will look at general foundational aspects of abortion. Chapter 2 delves into the
social, commercial, political and juridical systems that make the abortion industry itself
profitable. Chapter 3 examines the fetal parts industry, an industry that could not have
developed without a legal and protected abortion structure. Chapter 4 follows fetal-tissue
technology into the pharmaceutical industry. Chapter 5 reveals how fetal-tissue supply and
demand shape the cosmetics industry. Finally, Chapter 6 analyzes the ethical implications of the
practices taking place and why it is necessary to shine a light on these practices. The scope will
generally be limited to the United States, except in cases involving worldwide markets.
7
Chapter 1
FOUNDATIONS OF ABORTION
Who profits from abortion? Abortion does not affect just one person. It impacts
individuals, families, businesses and society at large. Thus, many people and entities can
potentially be involved not only in abortion‟s choice and execution, but also in its aftermath---the
disposition of the fetus.
1.1. Individual Impact
The terminated fetus would seem to profit least from abortion. There may be cases where
he is spared a life of hunger and pain, suffering and sorrow; however, this is a decidedly
nihilistic view of mankind. Not only does it discount the possibility of the experience of pain by
the fetus during abortion, but it also avoids the larger question of the purpose and value of human
life and existence in general. As a philosophical tenet, most would agree that it is better to be
than not to be.
Whether the mother benefits from abortion has been the subject of considerable debate.
The pro-choice community points to the relief experienced by the woman who escapes an
undesirable situation, her crisis pregnancy. She is restored the ability to control her body and her
future. The pro-life community cites a not insubstantial body of evidence that documents a
woman‟s feelings of guilt and pain, as well as the physical and emotional distress that can
accompany abortion.
3
Pro-choice advocates point out that the father, if he knows, may also
experience relief on emotional and economic levels---often more so than the mother. But men
too have been shown to suffer as a result of abortion and regret the loss of fatherhood. Some
have voiced frustration at a legal system which gives the woman sole control over determining
the fate of their child.
4
3
V. THORNE, “Manifestations of Abortion‟s Aftermath in Women”, in http://www.noparh.org [6-2-2009]. D. M. FERGUSSON - L. J. HARWOOD - J. M. BODIN, “Reactions to Abortion and Subsequent Mental Health”, The British Journal of Psychiatry 195 (2009), 420-426.
4
G. CONDON - D. HAZARD, Fatherhood Aborted, CareNet U.S.A. 2001, 31.
8
Compared with the volumes written about the post-abortive woman and the terminated
fetus, remarkably little has been written about the third necessary participant in abortion---the
abortionist. Doctors who have the training and vocational calling to perform the procedure are
crucial to the abortion industry‟s ability to provide abortion access to women. Besides impacting
the doctor, a facility‟s medical and administrative staff is affected by its proximity to abortion.
The staff closely participates in that it counsels the women, prepares them for the operation,
assists during surgery and recovery, and disposes of fetal remains.
In Necessity and Sorrow, pro-choice author Magda Denes chronicles her research
evidencing the conflicts experienced by abortionists. One abortionist confessed, “As a
physician, I‟m trained to conserve life… I guess I feel guilty because according to the Hippocratic Oath5 you‟re not supposed to do abortions.”6 But others are dedicated to the field.
The Executive Director of the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists says, “By
and large, [abortion doctors] are zealots who are strongly committed and who believe, in most instances correctly, that if they don‟t provide the service, no one will.”7
While many doctors enter the field on ideological grounds or based on a belief that this
area of medicine is underserved, abortion is also a lucrative business. Doctors can earn
significantly more money performing abortions than they can by practicing other kinds of
medicine. Although the chargeable fees and reimbursements available for a routine first-
trimester abortion are generally low, the per-procedure fees are more than offset by the high
volume of abortions that can be performed in a single day.
8
This is particularly true since many
women below the poverty level, who might not otherwise be able to pay for an abortion, are
subsidized through state Medicaid programs.
5The Hippocratic Oath, as originally formulated in the latter half of the fourth century BC, contained the following prohibition: “I will not give a woman as pessary to cause an abortion.”
6
M. DENES, In Necessity and Sorrow, Basic Books, Incorporated, New York, 1976. 7
W. H. PEARSE, M.D., American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, New York Times (8-1- 1990).
8
M. CRUTCHER, Lime 5: Exploited…, 189.
9
1.2. Socio-Economic Impact
An early argument advanced in favor of legal abortion was that it would contribute to the
common good by solving prevailing social problems: child abuse, violence against women,
single-parent households, poverty, etc. “Every child, a wanted child,” was a popular slogan.
However, these social ills would seem to remain notwithstanding the elimination of millions of
presumably unwanted children. As to child abuse, studies indicate a reverse trend. A prior
history of abortion has been shown to produce more child abuse, not less, in subsequent
pregnancies.
9
Some claim that one ideology underlying abortion is eugenic in nature.10 Demographic
data points to a disproportionate concentration of abortion facilities located in economically-
disadvantaged black and ethnic neighborhoods. According to a 2008 study performed by the
Alan Guttmacher Institute and reported in The Washington Post, “While the overall number of
abortions has been falling in recent years, black and Hispanic women are making up a larger
percentage of those receiving them. A large racial disparity was evident. Non-white women
have the procedure at three to five times the rate of white women, the study found.”
11
Currently,
36% of abortions performed in the U.S. are performed on African-American women, although
black women of child-bearing age account for less than 13% of the population.12
Has the common good benefited from legal abortion? More women have taken the
opportunity to complete their education, enter the workforce and leave the welfare roles. From
an environmental standpoint, the collective “carbon footprint” may have been reduced and there
may have been lower consumption of natural resources, both nationally and globally. But after
9
P. NEY - T. FUNG - A. R. WICHETT, “Relationship Between Induced Abortion and Child Abuse and Neglect: Four Studies”, Pre- and Perinatal Psychology Journal 8/1 (1993), 43-63.
10Margaret Sanger founded the American Birth Control League in 1916, which eventually became Planned Parenthood. According to the Birth Control Federation of America‟s “Margaret Sanger Papers Project”, she supervised the “Negro Project” which assembled clinical data to influence the adoption of clinics and contraceptive techniques primarily in the black communities of the South.
11
UNITED PRESS INTERNATIONAL, INC., ”Abortion Demographics Show Big Changes”, The Washington Post (23-9-2008).
12
C. H. CHILDRESS, JR., “The Dawning of a King‟s Dream” (2003), in http://www.blackgenocide.org/king.html [6-15-2009].
10
nearly fifty million legal U.S. abortions between 1973 and 2009, the data is inconclusive or
dubious at best. Born in 1973, Caleb King, pastor at the Assembly of God‟s New Life Christian
Center in Novato, California, lamented, “There is a growing sense in my generation that there are
a lot of us missing, a lot of people with great potential.” The logical question flowing from this
is whether society has benefited from the largely unregulated, uncontrolled and uncontrollable
abortion industry. This question has gone largely unasked and almost completely unanswered.
The answer may be a function of economics.
Commerce, defined as “the exchange or buying and selling of goods, commodities or
property,”
13
capitalizes on opportunity. It looks for utility in things that would otherwise be
wasted and searches for innovative business ideas. Maximization of profits is the ultimate goal. Markets are created by exploiting supply and demand.14 The choices the public exercises
regarding the sort of markets it allows to be created are important. These choices create the kind
of world in which we live. They define the ethics of a society.
When abortion became legal in the United States, no one anticipated that it would give
rise to a tremendous market in fetal parts, tissues and cells. Campaigns advocating for a
woman‟s right to choose never looked beyond the stated motivation---a desire for legal access to
abortion---to the collective forces representing the creation of emerging markets.
Abortion became legal throughout the United States in 1973 with the Roe v. Wade
Supreme Court decision. Until that time it was controlled by state law. Each of the fifty states
regulated the practice to varying degrees. In Roe v Wade, the Justices ruled that abortion could
not be restricted at all in the first trimester of pregnancy. Second-trimester abortion could be
regulated only for reasons of the mother‟s health. During the third trimester, after viability,
abortion could be prohibited except when necessary to preserve the mother‟s life or health.
15
Thus, the definition of “health” became all-important in determining the parameters of legal
13 Merriam-Webster's Dictionary of Law, Merriam-Webster, Inc. 1996. 14Supply and demand is an economic model based on price, utility and quantity in a market. It concludes that in a competitive market, price will function to equalize the quantity demanded by consumers and the quantity supplied by producers, resulting in an economic equilibrium of price and quantity.
15 Roe v. Wade, 410 U.S. 113, 160-165 (1973).
Monday, March 14, 2011
Please, as you read this, understand that i’ve chosen not to spend much time saying things like, “In most cases, not all, but most, or otherwise qualifying the things that are said!! Maybe a little more that sort of thing would have fit, but it also might have distracted the reader from what is being said!!
This was read out loud in class, and you wouldn’t believe the negative reaction i got from some of the wives!!
HERE WE GO.... This morning, we will be dealing with one of the most important issue we have looked at in a long time. It brings together a number of ideas, not the least of which would be; grace, fellowship, holiness, righteousness, marriage and family, quality of our relationship to God, prayer, the power and witness of the church.. If indeed God has wanted me to teach, He most certainly would give any teacher a sense of urgency about what happens in the class room. If any of that is true, i, at this point think, that the things we will discuss this morning may be the most important we have ever dealt with.
The God of heaven has been dealing with me for 10 or 12 years about this.
We spoke of David’s polygamy and that it was tolerated but not good. It was certainly counter productive in his case.
I then asked if there were any such things that were going on today that were tolerated, accepted but not good. Nothing much came of that.
Last week we were talking of the fact that as Christians and citizens we have rights, but we may not have the right to exercise our rights.
We closed the class with Karen saying that is true, but we (I’m assuming that she meant women, though that certainly does not exclude men) have needs that we deserve to have met. This class is about that very fact.
Please let me say that i have been dealing with this issue, thorough for years i did not realize it. I wanted a closer relationship to God. I wanted to know what God thought of me as a servant. I certainly wanted a more powerful prayer life. I have been a tolerable husband. We’ve been married for 25 years.
I do not think that God brought us into this world to be "tolerable" at anything. Least of all as spouses. He did not give a “tolerable” gift to us. He gave the very best that He had. Jesus did not tolerate His role. He looked at us, our need, our helplessness and gave the performance of an eternity.
. Please let me qualify this statement by saying that i have been watching the church for nearly 30 years and have seen the working of these things run through every pew, marriage and church i have ever been a part of. Nothing is unique to this church or any of you all.
Read:
25 Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself up for her, 26 so that He might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, 27 that He might present to Himself the church in all her glory, having no spot or wrinkle or any such thing; but that she would be holy and blameless.28 So husbands ought also to love their own wives as their own bodies He who loves his own wife loves himself;
If we as husbands put ourselves under the load of that Scripture portion, our churches, families, prayer and relationship to God would be stronger and vastly more Christ like. We must put ourselves under the load of Scripture to receive the grace that is inherent in a fully formed Christian walk. To the degree that we delude ourselves in to believing that some thing else or less is enough, we will find ourselves and our churches not to mention our marriages weakened.
Christ like closeness to God comes from Christ like behavior. Jesus did not have that intimacy with His Father, because it was handed to Him. He had it because He earned it. He earned it by; obedience and great attention to detail. Christ Jesus cherished us as His church, His “bride” if you will. With incredible patience and persistence He saw our needs and went systematically, thoughtfully about meeting them.
Most of us, as men, have been decent fathers, arguably passable husbands. We have for the most part done our best to provide for our families financially and physically. We have taken out the trash. We have been faithful, we have, only rarely looked at other women. We have prayed, read our Bibles, take our families to church. We have given. We have filled a host of other needs/wants as they arose.
Have we tenderly, like Christ cherished us, cherished our wives? Have we given ourselves up for her as He gave himself up for us? In an effort to see her blossom and grow have we learned what is important to her? I’m not yet sure how to handle verse 27, but i know that it speaks of thorough, through and through preparation for her crowning moment! When Jesus presents His church to Himself before all of creation and His Father. So that as all of Adams race, the angels, creation and the Father look on, He will carefully, ever so carefully, brings us gloriously on to center stage. Presenting to Himself, His most prized possession, “without spot or wrinkle, in all her glory, that she would be seen to be Holy and Blameless” Have our wives seen that devotion in us?
So husbands ought to love their own wives as their own bodies. He who loves his own wife loves himself.
There are all kinds of issue that are raised here. Let us neither joust with windmills nor ride off in all directions. Karen said last week that “we have a right to have some needs met. What are those needs? Where do they come from?
Are our wives different than us? Yes, emotionally and physically She brings with her, as she was created, (yes i know about the fall) things that are embedded in her as deeply as her need to breath, needs like;
An overwhelming desire to feel connected to her mate.
A certain need for order, beauty and sensitivity
Sometimes she needs to talk about details that you and I never dreamed of.
Sometimes she wants us to hold her intimately, closely, without interference and sometimes without sex.
She, sometimes, wants wild passion from us. Sometimes to be the focus of all of our senses
She needs us to look at her and what she brings to our lives.
No, we will probably not be able to meet all of her needs. But as followers of Christ, we are called to pray and allow God to lead us. If we want Christ like intimacy with the Father, then we will have to bring Christ like thinking inside our marriages.
“Christ also loved the church and gave Himself up for her” sometimes being a Christian is about doing things that we probably would rather not have to do, at least an first.
“that He might present to Himself the church in all her glory” This speaks of ultimate care, and commitment. When our wives find it, in us, for them, we will be able to see the results. The whole world will see. God will make sure that all of creation will see!!!!
Let me ask you a question; “Where does the gossip weed grow?” It grows where there is a need for someone to feel like they are on the inside rather than the outside. It grows where someone has a need to feels more important. Some times it grows where someone hurts so badly that they see to it that some one else hurts as well. May i ask you another question? “Why is there always such a problem with gossip in the church?”
There are a host of other things that we could mention here. All women are not the same. Some of these things apply more at one time or another. But they are all, part of what God has made her. She brings them to us, hoping that we will understand. She reads the same Bible that you and I read. Yet my guess is that, in her thinking, something is lost as it is translated by us as husbands. There is sort of an eclipse as we walk between her and the light of the gospel. There is a dynamic she can’t see but she can feel! When she reads passages like the one in Ephesians and Prov. 5:15-18, Malachi 2:13-16, Pet 3:7. She doesn’t know for sure what it is, but it happens. Something isn’t right. Year after year, something isn’t right. She wants to talk, but were not available.
What I’m about to say is powerful stuff. It could bring up painful issues for some. It may apply in some cases and not in others. There are all kinds of factors that enter in at this point. But the fact remains that sometimes the following applies;
Why do so many of our wives struggle with their weight? Could it be because they find that what is in the refrigerator is more satisfyinthan what’s in their relationship to us? Could that possibly be the case.
, “Is there anything, today, that we tolerate, that is counter productive but for some reason it lives on?” I say that there is. I think, that in some ways it can take on some of the flavors of polygamy. No, we do not have multiple wives, but it smells a bit of something that God detests and it is in part, the reason that the church is so powerless today.
The woman that married into the polygamous situation said that “He goes where he wants and you don’t ask questions.” Could it be that our wives core needs, are so far down our list of priorities that she feel a bit like they are part of a harem and that if they don’t get it just right, those needs may never be met. The message that we send her is; “Your needs are excessive, and out of control.”
The verses that follow might be read in such a way that we could easily trick ourselves in to thinking “this doesn’t apply”!! That could be dangerous for both of us. They all speak of treating our wives with great tenderness and taking care of business.
1 Peter 3:7
In the same way, husbands must always treat their wives with consideration in their life together, respecting a woman as one who, though she may be the weaker partner, is equally an heir to the generous gift of life. This will prevent anything from coming in the way of your prayers.
Prov5: 15-19
15. Drink water from your own cistern, And fresh water from your own well.16. Should your springs be dispersed abroad, Streams of water in the streets?17. Let them be yours alone, And not for strangers with you18. Let your fountain be blessed, And rejoice in the wife of your youth 19. As a loving hind and a graceful doe, Let her breasts satisfy you at all times; Be exhilarated always with her love.
Mal 2:13-16
13. "And this is another thing you do: you cover the altar of the Lord with tears, with weeping and with groaning, because He no longer regards the offering or accepts it with favor from your hand.
14. "Yet you say, `For what reason?' Because the Lord has been a witness between you and the wife of your youth, against whom you have dealt treacherously, though she is your companion and your wife by covenant.
15. "But not one has done so who has a remnant of the Spirit. And what did that one do while he was seeking a godly offspring? Take heed then, to your spirit, and let no one deal treacherously against the wife of your youth.
16. "For I hate divorce," says the Lord, the God of Israel, "and him who covers his garment with wrong," says the Lord of hosts. "So take heed to your spirit, that you do not deal treacherously."
Somehow i need to live the life of the one who has been forgiven the unforgivable debt. That means that I should show graciousness, at every turn. Not to the point of pollyannish naiveté, but nearly every time I get a chance, and my wife should get the freshest and most liberal helpings of that grace! That isn’t rhetoric it is fact!! God would not waste His time or ours by having spend year after year with our spouses and not use them to teach us. To think that we can compartmentalize the relationship between God and our wives is nonsense!! “The two shall become one flesh” My wife’s needs are my needs!! Certainly there are some spouses who bring things that aren’t healthy to any marriage but by and large her needs are mine!!! What God wants from and for us is what our wives want!
If we want to grow, we need to get our priorities strait! How could it be any other way!! Life is too short and we are tooooo slow to learn how to love God in one place an our mates in another. All of this needs to made cultural. By that i mean we need to create a culture of graciousness when it comes to God and our mates!! All of the men in the church need to be involved in and praying toward that end!!! The reverse seems to be the norm, and we can prove it by looking at the divorce rate in the church!! Which are now ................!!!!!!!
I really do not enjoy writing this sort of thing because i live so far below what God wants. Many of us do and in the church we stroke each other pretending that these things don’t exist. The net effect, is an environment that emotionally mimics polygamy. The mechanism for this is our lousy priorities. Our wives come so far down our list of priorities, “darned statistics can be so embarrassing”!!
These things are virtually impossible to accomplish, this wonderful gracious marriage style that is advocated here, APART FROM A HEALTHY CHURCH THAT HAS COMPLETELY BOUGHT INTO THE IDEA!! “It takes a village to raise a child!!!??, how about keeping your wife and loving God” In the place of the polygamous aromas that permeate the halls and homes of our churches we need the crisp clean, rain washed mountain air the blows in from the throne of God!!
My life has been shot through with a make-your-own-trail ignorant kind of thing. It is really not far from pathological selfishness. Having finally discovered how much i really need the fellowship of Christian brothers, i’m finding that they are as caught up in the thing as i have been!! We are running around bumping into this thing constantly, like birds flying into glass that can’t see and the effectiveness of the church continues to plummet!!
This “soulmate” is forced to think that she shouldn’t ask to many questions like the woman in the harem. It is culturalized and sanctified by the church because FOR THE MOST PART, NOT ALWAYS, BUT FOR THE MOST PART were busy denying it pretending that it doesn’t exist!!!, BUT WEEK AFTER WEEK, YEAR AFTER YEAR IT GOES ON SHE KNOWS IT!!! AND GOD KNOWS IT!! Many self respecting women won’t put up with it or simply can’t take it, “Oh those_statistics”! (an aside for sure)!
This was read out loud in class, and you wouldn’t believe the negative reaction i got from some of the wives!!
HERE WE GO.... This morning, we will be dealing with one of the most important issue we have looked at in a long time. It brings together a number of ideas, not the least of which would be; grace, fellowship, holiness, righteousness, marriage and family, quality of our relationship to God, prayer, the power and witness of the church.. If indeed God has wanted me to teach, He most certainly would give any teacher a sense of urgency about what happens in the class room. If any of that is true, i, at this point think, that the things we will discuss this morning may be the most important we have ever dealt with.
The God of heaven has been dealing with me for 10 or 12 years about this.
We spoke of David’s polygamy and that it was tolerated but not good. It was certainly counter productive in his case.
I then asked if there were any such things that were going on today that were tolerated, accepted but not good. Nothing much came of that.
Last week we were talking of the fact that as Christians and citizens we have rights, but we may not have the right to exercise our rights.
We closed the class with Karen saying that is true, but we (I’m assuming that she meant women, though that certainly does not exclude men) have needs that we deserve to have met. This class is about that very fact.
Please let me say that i have been dealing with this issue, thorough for years i did not realize it. I wanted a closer relationship to God. I wanted to know what God thought of me as a servant. I certainly wanted a more powerful prayer life. I have been a tolerable husband. We’ve been married for 25 years.
I do not think that God brought us into this world to be "tolerable" at anything. Least of all as spouses. He did not give a “tolerable” gift to us. He gave the very best that He had. Jesus did not tolerate His role. He looked at us, our need, our helplessness and gave the performance of an eternity.
. Please let me qualify this statement by saying that i have been watching the church for nearly 30 years and have seen the working of these things run through every pew, marriage and church i have ever been a part of. Nothing is unique to this church or any of you all.
Read:
25 Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself up for her, 26 so that He might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, 27 that He might present to Himself the church in all her glory, having no spot or wrinkle or any such thing; but that she would be holy and blameless.28 So husbands ought also to love their own wives as their own bodies He who loves his own wife loves himself;
If we as husbands put ourselves under the load of that Scripture portion, our churches, families, prayer and relationship to God would be stronger and vastly more Christ like. We must put ourselves under the load of Scripture to receive the grace that is inherent in a fully formed Christian walk. To the degree that we delude ourselves in to believing that some thing else or less is enough, we will find ourselves and our churches not to mention our marriages weakened.
Christ like closeness to God comes from Christ like behavior. Jesus did not have that intimacy with His Father, because it was handed to Him. He had it because He earned it. He earned it by; obedience and great attention to detail. Christ Jesus cherished us as His church, His “bride” if you will. With incredible patience and persistence He saw our needs and went systematically, thoughtfully about meeting them.
Most of us, as men, have been decent fathers, arguably passable husbands. We have for the most part done our best to provide for our families financially and physically. We have taken out the trash. We have been faithful, we have, only rarely looked at other women. We have prayed, read our Bibles, take our families to church. We have given. We have filled a host of other needs/wants as they arose.
Have we tenderly, like Christ cherished us, cherished our wives? Have we given ourselves up for her as He gave himself up for us? In an effort to see her blossom and grow have we learned what is important to her? I’m not yet sure how to handle verse 27, but i know that it speaks of thorough, through and through preparation for her crowning moment! When Jesus presents His church to Himself before all of creation and His Father. So that as all of Adams race, the angels, creation and the Father look on, He will carefully, ever so carefully, brings us gloriously on to center stage. Presenting to Himself, His most prized possession, “without spot or wrinkle, in all her glory, that she would be seen to be Holy and Blameless” Have our wives seen that devotion in us?
So husbands ought to love their own wives as their own bodies. He who loves his own wife loves himself.
There are all kinds of issue that are raised here. Let us neither joust with windmills nor ride off in all directions. Karen said last week that “we have a right to have some needs met. What are those needs? Where do they come from?
Are our wives different than us? Yes, emotionally and physically She brings with her, as she was created, (yes i know about the fall) things that are embedded in her as deeply as her need to breath, needs like;
An overwhelming desire to feel connected to her mate.
A certain need for order, beauty and sensitivity
Sometimes she needs to talk about details that you and I never dreamed of.
Sometimes she wants us to hold her intimately, closely, without interference and sometimes without sex.
She, sometimes, wants wild passion from us. Sometimes to be the focus of all of our senses
She needs us to look at her and what she brings to our lives.
No, we will probably not be able to meet all of her needs. But as followers of Christ, we are called to pray and allow God to lead us. If we want Christ like intimacy with the Father, then we will have to bring Christ like thinking inside our marriages.
“Christ also loved the church and gave Himself up for her” sometimes being a Christian is about doing things that we probably would rather not have to do, at least an first.
“that He might present to Himself the church in all her glory” This speaks of ultimate care, and commitment. When our wives find it, in us, for them, we will be able to see the results. The whole world will see. God will make sure that all of creation will see!!!!
Let me ask you a question; “Where does the gossip weed grow?” It grows where there is a need for someone to feel like they are on the inside rather than the outside. It grows where someone has a need to feels more important. Some times it grows where someone hurts so badly that they see to it that some one else hurts as well. May i ask you another question? “Why is there always such a problem with gossip in the church?”
There are a host of other things that we could mention here. All women are not the same. Some of these things apply more at one time or another. But they are all, part of what God has made her. She brings them to us, hoping that we will understand. She reads the same Bible that you and I read. Yet my guess is that, in her thinking, something is lost as it is translated by us as husbands. There is sort of an eclipse as we walk between her and the light of the gospel. There is a dynamic she can’t see but she can feel! When she reads passages like the one in Ephesians and Prov. 5:15-18, Malachi 2:13-16, Pet 3:7. She doesn’t know for sure what it is, but it happens. Something isn’t right. Year after year, something isn’t right. She wants to talk, but were not available.
What I’m about to say is powerful stuff. It could bring up painful issues for some. It may apply in some cases and not in others. There are all kinds of factors that enter in at this point. But the fact remains that sometimes the following applies;
Why do so many of our wives struggle with their weight? Could it be because they find that what is in the refrigerator is more satisfyinthan what’s in their relationship to us? Could that possibly be the case.
, “Is there anything, today, that we tolerate, that is counter productive but for some reason it lives on?” I say that there is. I think, that in some ways it can take on some of the flavors of polygamy. No, we do not have multiple wives, but it smells a bit of something that God detests and it is in part, the reason that the church is so powerless today.
The woman that married into the polygamous situation said that “He goes where he wants and you don’t ask questions.” Could it be that our wives core needs, are so far down our list of priorities that she feel a bit like they are part of a harem and that if they don’t get it just right, those needs may never be met. The message that we send her is; “Your needs are excessive, and out of control.”
The verses that follow might be read in such a way that we could easily trick ourselves in to thinking “this doesn’t apply”!! That could be dangerous for both of us. They all speak of treating our wives with great tenderness and taking care of business.
1 Peter 3:7
In the same way, husbands must always treat their wives with consideration in their life together, respecting a woman as one who, though she may be the weaker partner, is equally an heir to the generous gift of life. This will prevent anything from coming in the way of your prayers.
Prov5: 15-19
15. Drink water from your own cistern, And fresh water from your own well.16. Should your springs be dispersed abroad, Streams of water in the streets?17. Let them be yours alone, And not for strangers with you18. Let your fountain be blessed, And rejoice in the wife of your youth 19. As a loving hind and a graceful doe, Let her breasts satisfy you at all times; Be exhilarated always with her love.
Mal 2:13-16
13. "And this is another thing you do: you cover the altar of the Lord with tears, with weeping and with groaning, because He no longer regards the offering or accepts it with favor from your hand.
14. "Yet you say, `For what reason?' Because the Lord has been a witness between you and the wife of your youth, against whom you have dealt treacherously, though she is your companion and your wife by covenant.
15. "But not one has done so who has a remnant of the Spirit. And what did that one do while he was seeking a godly offspring? Take heed then, to your spirit, and let no one deal treacherously against the wife of your youth.
16. "For I hate divorce," says the Lord, the God of Israel, "and him who covers his garment with wrong," says the Lord of hosts. "So take heed to your spirit, that you do not deal treacherously."
Somehow i need to live the life of the one who has been forgiven the unforgivable debt. That means that I should show graciousness, at every turn. Not to the point of pollyannish naiveté, but nearly every time I get a chance, and my wife should get the freshest and most liberal helpings of that grace! That isn’t rhetoric it is fact!! God would not waste His time or ours by having spend year after year with our spouses and not use them to teach us. To think that we can compartmentalize the relationship between God and our wives is nonsense!! “The two shall become one flesh” My wife’s needs are my needs!! Certainly there are some spouses who bring things that aren’t healthy to any marriage but by and large her needs are mine!!! What God wants from and for us is what our wives want!
If we want to grow, we need to get our priorities strait! How could it be any other way!! Life is too short and we are tooooo slow to learn how to love God in one place an our mates in another. All of this needs to made cultural. By that i mean we need to create a culture of graciousness when it comes to God and our mates!! All of the men in the church need to be involved in and praying toward that end!!! The reverse seems to be the norm, and we can prove it by looking at the divorce rate in the church!! Which are now ................!!!!!!!
I really do not enjoy writing this sort of thing because i live so far below what God wants. Many of us do and in the church we stroke each other pretending that these things don’t exist. The net effect, is an environment that emotionally mimics polygamy. The mechanism for this is our lousy priorities. Our wives come so far down our list of priorities, “darned statistics can be so embarrassing”!!
These things are virtually impossible to accomplish, this wonderful gracious marriage style that is advocated here, APART FROM A HEALTHY CHURCH THAT HAS COMPLETELY BOUGHT INTO THE IDEA!! “It takes a village to raise a child!!!??, how about keeping your wife and loving God” In the place of the polygamous aromas that permeate the halls and homes of our churches we need the crisp clean, rain washed mountain air the blows in from the throne of God!!
My life has been shot through with a make-your-own-trail ignorant kind of thing. It is really not far from pathological selfishness. Having finally discovered how much i really need the fellowship of Christian brothers, i’m finding that they are as caught up in the thing as i have been!! We are running around bumping into this thing constantly, like birds flying into glass that can’t see and the effectiveness of the church continues to plummet!!
This “soulmate” is forced to think that she shouldn’t ask to many questions like the woman in the harem. It is culturalized and sanctified by the church because FOR THE MOST PART, NOT ALWAYS, BUT FOR THE MOST PART were busy denying it pretending that it doesn’t exist!!!, BUT WEEK AFTER WEEK, YEAR AFTER YEAR IT GOES ON SHE KNOWS IT!!! AND GOD KNOWS IT!! Many self respecting women won’t put up with it or simply can’t take it, “Oh those_statistics”! (an aside for sure)!
Tuesday, October 26, 2010
The SUN IS SETTING on western civilization; ominous shadows fall across politics, family life and education. We live with a growing sense that things are winding down, and somehow freedom, justice and order are slipping away. Scandal and scams are commonplace as men and women trade character for cash and sacrifice commitment on the altar of selfishness. Divorce, drugs and easy sex create an environment of abuse for much of our youth. We are living on the edge of chaos. We stand on the brink of an new dark age.!
Charles Colson says the following in his book, Against the Night (Ann Arbor, Mich: Vine Books 1991 .dust jacket)
Saturday, April 24, 2010
Joined: Sun Nov 02, 2008 6:51 am
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Favorite Hi-Point: C9
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I did get a chance to shoot yesterday. This thing rocks. Acquiring targets is super fast and easy. It's like a combo between open sights and the ghost ring. Even Dad could tell the difference. I just have mine painted all black and it was still nice and easy to shoot with. Follow-up shots seemed to be easy and quicker to obtain also.
Guys, this sight is awesome. I was skeptical at first on how different it could be, but it really does make a difference. Buy one, buy one for each of your Hi-Points, and buy them now, or as soon as you can anyway.
_________________
1. "If you force me to do violence, I shall be so savage and so cruel, and hurt you so badly that the thought of revenge shall never cross your mind." -Machiavelli (1469-1527)
2. "Before all else, be armed." -Machiavelli (1469-1527)
3. "Hence it comes about that all armed Prophets have been victorious, and all unarmed Prophets have been destroyed." -Machiavelli (1469-1527)
4. "If an injury has to be done to a man it should be so severe that his vengeance need not be feared." -Machiavelli (1469-1527)
5. "Men shrink less from offending one who inspires love than one who inspires fear." -Machiavelli (1469-1527)
6. "The more sand has escaped from the hourglass of our life, the clearer we should see through it." -Machiavelli (1469-1527)
7. "There is no avoiding war; it can only be postponed to the advantage of others." -Machiavelli (1469-1527)
8. "When you disarm the people, you commence to offend them and show that you distrust them either through cowardice or lack of confidence, and both of these opinions generate hatred." -Machiavelli (1469-1527)
9. "When the rich wage war it's the poor who die." - Jean-Paul Sartre (1905 - 1980)
Feel free to use these quotes as you see fit.
Sunday, November 8, 2009
Grace Faith and Fellowship
Taking notes I was on the video of Sunday:
Faith is the way we move toward Grace.
Loved this
"Faith is not a pry bar to move God"
My thoughts:
In Jesus we have received grace upon grace upon grace.
John 1:16-18
16 For of His fulness we have all received, and grace upon grace. NASB
Would say two things;
1 The last few years it seems to me that faith is becoming more a corporate function (which fits nicely with "connections")
2 The corporate aspect is becoming more important than almost any other aspect
3 The most child like way to look at "grace" is shown in John 1
John 1:16-18 16 For of His fullness we have all received, and grace upon grace. 17 For the Law was given through Moses; grace and truth were realized through Jesus Christ. NASB
You were saying, " faith is "Moving toward grace"
It seems to me that in those verses in John 1:14-16
Grace is how we move toward faith!
The fellowship, the corporate, the "we can do this together" component , is to be the spine of the church. Man o man the Lord really used you to minister to me. The older I get the more I find needs for an all encompassing fellowship.
Our relationship to Christ is to be a full contact event. No pulling of punches, no fluff and definitely NO lonliness or maybe we should say "alone ness"
The eyes, ears and lips of Jesus (his humanity) is a premiere means of grace. Those eyes ears and…lips become point of contact between the resources of heaven and our needs. Jesus has gone back to heaven, but His body is still here. NOW I have your eyes ears and lips to meter grace to me. They are the same you know. Your humanity is the same as His and mine. There is where the grace upon grace upon grace upon grace comes from. How much more of resource do we need than is supplied by
John chapter 1 verse 14
And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth. NASB
Much of the preaching i've heard for the last few years makes grace and faith a solitary pursuit! Obscure, terribly difficult, largely something that happens only in the presence of God, remote and difficult!! The presence of God part i like, because that is what we are to be, in our fellowship, the presence of, the actual body of Christ!! Please, please continue on just a bit!!
The church is to be an swirling daily cultural milieu faith and grace.
We become what our friends are, what our peers are. The Church is to be the body of Christ in nearly every conceivable way. It is tightly focused, powerful and daily acted out in each others presence. All around us we should see others involved in the same pursuits. dealing with the same issues. Having similar priorities moving toward the
Some of my CAD software (which I own, having no pirated software) will allow me to create a virtual representation of the thing I'm designing. It's called solid modeling. I recently designed something, presenting the idea to my boss. I think what sold him on the idea was "beauty" of the virtual representation. He had a traveler created and had me pick a part number. It is now a legitimate part that I've actually designed and manufactured with all the "blessings" of my boss.
The virtual sold him on the actual. The virtual lubed the ramp to the actual! Grace is what we need. Fellowship is one of the major means of grace. It is not good for man to be alone, said God in the garden. I need those around me to model the grace and mercy of Jesus. Their modeling sells me, motivates me to move on toward the actual. When they do, grace abounds!!!!! John1:14 "And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth". "Now you are Christ’s body, and individually members of it." Faith is ultimately realized when we stand before God and hear Him say, "Well done thou good and faithful servant" I'm motivated to be more faithful by the gracious lives of those around me. The premiere means of Grace was the humanity of Jesus. Shall i abandon that model now in these latter days??? It worked for the God head. It will work for you and me!!! 'For by Grace we are saved..." Eph 2:8,9
Thanks my sore friend, hope you are feeling better soon!!!
The other guy who loves coffee!!!!
David
Saturday, September 12, 2009
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