Thursday, April 17, 2008

I wanted to post a few lyrics from Relient K's song Death Bed. It is a beautiful song/story about redemption.

[Jon Foreman of Switchfoot sings, as the voice of Jesus:]
I am the Way
Follow Me
And take My hand
And I am the Truth
Embrace Me and you'll understand
And I am the Light
And for Me you'll live again
For I am Love
I am Love
I, I am Love

(thanks to http://www.findlyrics.com/relient_k/death_bed/)

It is a long song, almost 11 minutes, but well worth it. It is so well written.

Sunday, April 13, 2008

The face of abortion

In 1970, three years before Roe vs. Wade knocked down all laws against abortion in the United States, California had already legalized abortion. Sarah’s mother, Betty, had an abortion in Los Angeles. Neither she nor the the abortionist realized she was carrying twins. As a result, one of the twins--Sarah--survived the abortion.

"Somehow, miraculously, I survived!" says Sarah. "My twin brother wasn’t so lucky. Andrew was aborted and we lost him forever. Several weeks later, my mother was shocked to feel me kicking in her womb. She already had five children and she knew what it felt like when a baby kicked in the womb. She instantly knew that somehow she was still pregnant." Sarah’s mother went back to the doctor and told him she was still pregnant, that she had made a big mistake and that she wanted to keep this baby.

"To this day, my mother deeply regrets that abortion," says Sarah. "I know the pain is unbearable for her at times when she looks at me and knows she aborted my twin brother. Mom says ‘the protective hand of Almighty God saved my life,’ that God’s hand covered and hid me in her womb, and protected me from the scalpel of death."

Sarah survived the abortion, but was born with bilateral, congenital dislocated hips and many other physical handicaps. Nine days after her birth she was taken to an orthopedic surgeon who applied a cast to each of her tiny legs. "My mom would remove these casts with pliers every Monday morning and take me to the doctor to have new casts put on," she recounts. "At six weeks I was put into my first body cast. Many surgeries and body casts followed over the next few years."

Sarah’s life has been painful in many ways, and her future holds more painful surgeries for her. Yet Sarah says she continually thanks God she survived the abortion. But the pain is not hers alone and not merely physical. The emotional pain continues, she says, for everyone in her family. "In memory of my brother Andrew, we bought a memorial gravestone and placed it in a cemetery in Southern California. It reads: Andrew James Smith, Twin Brother of Sarah - in our hearts you’ll always be alive - November 1970."

On April 24, 1996, Sarah Smith delivered a powerful address at the international "Congress for Life" in Rome, organized by the Legionaries of Christ to celebrate the first anniversary of Pope John Paul II’s encyclical letter Evangelium Vitae - The Gospel of Life. Sarah told the conference how she came to discover the dreadful secret that she had somehow intuitively felt:

"I did not know of the abortion until I was 12 years old. I grew up feeling that I was the same as my friends, except for having numerous surgeries and physical complications. The only difference I felt was an incredible loneliness and a knowledge that something was missing. I never felt whole.

"I battled with severe depression and found myself dying of anorexia nervosa at age 12, when my mother knew it was time to tell me the truth. She sat next to me and took my hand and looked me in the eyes and said, 'Sarah, you are a twin. I aborted your twin brother and tried to abort you. Please know I did not know what I was doing and I pray someday you are able to forgive me. I love you and need you to know that you are a welcome part of our family.'

"At that moment I knew what I had been missing all my life and that I was called to something much greater than I had knowledge of. Immediately I felt the overwhelming pain of the knowledge that I should be dead.

"As I stand before you today," Sarah told her Rome audience, "I am painfully aware that this is only possible because my twin brother took a scalpel for me, and I stand in his place and memory, giving him honor and a face. Statistics are coldly impersonal and cannot convey the human tragedy of the abortion slaughter. Thirty-two million babies [have been] killed in the United States alone. Yet every one had a face, a life, a Creator who loved them and created them in His image. As you look at me today, you realize that I am no different than you, yet I stand before you today a representative of the dead - a representative of the innocent lives who today may lose their lives. Who will speak for them?"

Friday, April 04, 2008

politics

What is wrong with people? Why do so many people feel you can only support animals or humans and not both? This isn't Sophie's choice. It is quite possible to dedicate half your time,money and effort to both causes. Must animals suffer just because humans do? I poise this question to both animal rights activists and pro-life activists. You are both, generally, hypocritical and inconsistent. Animal rights activists: Please consider the basic right of unborn humans to live. Also, consider the welfare of the mother. Abortion isn't the easy choice. There are women who suffer physically and/or mentally from abortion. To pro-life activists: Stop this insane crusade against animals. Especially, those of you who are religious. Take a moment to actually read your bible and consider the fruits of the spirit in Galatians: "For the fruit of the spirit is love, joy,peace,patience,kindness,gentleness and self control. Against such there is no law"
and to all: Don't blindly swallow the common thoughts of those around you. Don't blindly swallow anything I have to say either. Use criticial thinking. USE YOUR BRAIN.

Though I do not agree with 100% of the content on these websites here are some good links:
"Abortion and Animals rights: The connection"
http://www.all-creatures.org/discuss/abor-ar.html
"Coming to terms with Abortion and animal rights"
http://www.notmilk.com/abortion2.html
pro-life vegan group on livejournal
http://community.livejournal.com/prolife_vegans/