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Better Off Dead

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There are those who would have defended and encouraged a decision to kill me at birth. Of course, they would have preferred it happen before birth; but, whatever it takes.

I was born in the 60’s with spina bifida to a 16-year-old unwed mother before it was legal to kill unplanned, unwanted, and/or damaged children. I was all three. But “killed” isn’t a nice word, so, maybe I should modify my terminology like a recent couple who claims to have aborted their 22-week-old daughter with spina bifida, out of a “desire to free [her] from a life of likely suffering.” They claim to have made the decision “entirely for her.”

But straight up abortion isn’t the only life or death issue going on today. The monster is growing.

The Frozen Chosen…or Not

In vitro fertilization (IVF) seems like an ideal answer for couples struggling with fertility issues. Doctors can take the sperm of the father and the egg of the mother and manipulate the two in order for conception to occur in a petri dish. Multiple lives can be conceived together at once before they are placed (or not) safely in their mother’s womb to grow and develop.
The problem is that most of these couples don’t want “multiple embryos,” especially not all at once. No room in the womb. So, these tiny lives are either frozen for possible later implantation, used for scientific experimentation, or simply destroyed.
“Official statistics show that almost half of embryos used to help a woman conceive through in vitro fertilization were thrown away during or after the process. The embryos are created from female eggs and male sperm during the IVF process, with some introduced into the womb, put into storage, discarded as unwanted, or used in scientific experiments.” ~Andrew Hough, The Telegraph

Genetic Selection

Lately, IVF is being used in even scarier ways. Recently, genetic selection is becoming the new thing. Now doctors can examine the DNA of each embryo, allowing parents to select the children they want. While some recognize the possibility of frivolous abuses (“We’d like a blond baby with blue eyes, please”), this practice is being viewed as a great mercy to families who have loved ones suffering from horrendous hereditary diseases like Huntington’s.

Couples with the Huntington’s gene who previously remained childless out of fear of passing on the disease to their children, can now select only the “clean-gene” embryo and destroy those with the dreaded disposition before anyone gets hurt…well, except for the child(ren) destroyed in the petri dish. We need to recognize the dangerous Pandora’s box we’re opening!

I mean, what sane person would have chosen me to be the “embryo” that lived? And what about children with Down Syndrome, dwarfism, or any other number of birth defects? Further, what about those in oppressive religions or economic philosophies who only want the prized “boy” child?

In fact, given this sort of choice, what parent would select the “damaged” embryo over the seemingly flawless? My sweet cousin, Lauren, who happens to have the dreaded Huntington’s gene, said it well when she said, “In this case, to select one, you have to ‘de-select’ another. It’s like playing God.”

And the fact is that God has ordained each precious life for a purpose! Whether the miracle of conception happens in the womb or it is biologically manipulated in a dish, if conception happens, it is only because God breathed life into an eternal soul – a life fearfully and wonderfully made! What a terrifying and repulsive thought to contemplate selecting only our own children we see as worthy to live.

Translation: “60 000 RM is what this person suffering from hereditary illness costs the community in his lifetime. Fellow citizen, that is your money too. Read Neues Volk. The monthly magazine of the Office of Racial Policy of the NSDAP.”

A Perfect Race of Humans

But history is no stranger to this evil concept. During Hitler’s reign, Nazi eugenics deemed certain people “unworthy of life.” This included prisoners, dissidents, and “unclean” races, but it also included those with learning disabilities, mental illnesses, physical deformities, and those with handicaps.

Nazis didn’t kill only Jews and rebellious foreigners, they killed their own “flawed” countrymen! Today, we have our own eugenics (meaning “well born”) philosophies going on. And, for many, it involves their own children!

I have a shocking revelation for you. Are you ready? Today’s leaders who support the bloody atrocity of abortion on demand, even to the point of promoting the cold-blooded whim-killing of a perfectly healthy infant moments before birth, go beyond what even Hitler promoted! Yes, today’s abortion practices are even worse than those of the Nazis!

While Hitler would have preferred me dead (and possibly required it), he would have condemned the abortion of babies he viewed as physically and mentally fit. His insane obsession with a pure and unblemished race indeed led him to the killing of innocents, but his murder spree was limited to his own warped perception of the worthy vs. the unworthy (“unclean races,” “deformed children,” “physically disabled,” and “feeble-minded”).

“The exposure of the sick, weak, deformed children, in short, their destruction, was more decent and in truth a thousand times more humane than the wretched insanity of our day which preserves the most pathological subject, and indeed at any price, and yet takes the life of a hundred thousand healthy children in consequence of birth control or through abortions, in order subsequently to breed a race of degenerates burdened with illnesses.” ~Adolf Hitler (Social Darwinism in European and American Thought by Mike Hawkins)
In other words, he was all for the evil practice of killing babies—as long as the babies were those he viewed as worthless. But, it was illegal for an Aryan woman to abort her child, a practice he described as “wretched insanity.”
In 1942, Adolf Hitler declared:
“In view of the large families of the Slav native population, it could only suit us if girls and women there had as many abortions as possible. We are not interested in seeing the non-German population multiply…We must use every means to instill in the population the idea that it is harmful to have several children, the expenses that they cause and the dangerous effect on woman’s health… It will be necessary to open special institutions for abortions and doctors must be able to help out there in case there is any question of this being a breach of their professional ethics.”

Whether we’re talking about abortion, euthanasia, genetic selection, or genocide, it all boils down to whether or not we value human life for the sake of it being a human life—no qualifiers.

Like the “women in white,” drunk on their own power, Hitler practiced choice—that is, as long as the choice was his. Millions of carefully indoctrinated young people memorized the party line and blindly hung on Hitler’s every word. “Choice” is a word that is flippantly thrown around as some sort of virtuous proof that women are valued; and it may sound perfectly humane, unless you happen to be on the other side of the knife.

The “Women in White” at President Trump’s 2019 State of the Union Address

Human perfection is a delusion. Regardless of what we look like, all of us were born with the fatal flaw of Adam’s sin running deep in our DNA (Romans 5:12), but Jesus came to redeem us—the genetically broken, the impure, the deformed, the feeble, and the unworthy (Romans 5:19). If we trust fully in Him, His blood cleanses us. “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” (1 John 1:9)

Since Roe vs. Wade, millions of infants have been murdered in the womb for various reasons. None of which were good enough. When we begin the descent into the abyss of qualifying human life—human worth, we embrace the same madness that drove innocent lives into gas chambers.

I am here to tell you that you are invaluable! You are irreplaceable! You matter! If someone would have been shortsighted enough not to have “selected” you to live because of their own fear, confusion, or personal burden, we would have all been the poorer because of it. The world would have lost a spring of inestimable potential and beauty. In my lifetime alone, we have been robbed of over 61 million beautiful souls made in the image of God.

Life is precious. Not because of how great we are, but because of how great the God is who created us in His image. Yes, we’re broken because of sin. But instead of that nullifying our worth, God demonstrated it all the more by sending His only Son to die on a cross in our place, so that we, the flawed, could be redeemed, restored, and sanctified. Perfect redemption.

“For by a single offering
He has perfected for all time
those who are being sanctified.”
~Hebrews 10:14



Standing for the Right to Live

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Psalm 139:13-16: For You formed my inward parts; You covered me in my mother’s womb. I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; marvelous are Your works, and that my soul knows very well. My frame was not hidden from You, when I was made in secret, and skillfully wrought in the lowest parts of the earth. Your eyes saw my substance, being yet unformed. And in Your book they all were written, the days fashioned for me, when as yet there were none of them.

‘Some people say that life begins at birth. Others say that it begins at conception. But my God is so pro-life that He said “I knew you before I formed you in your mother’s womb.”‘ – Pastor Luke J. Robinson

January 22, 1973 brought a sinister welcome to abortion on demand in America. The Supreme Court decision of Roe v. Wade was a wake up call for the church. Demonstrations and organizations sprung up like the spring grass. But, in the 37 years that have passed, it seems many don’t bother themselves with the disturbing fact that children are being murdered in our backyards. Protests take time. Volunteering to pray in front of abortion mills is embarrassing. Life Chain Sunday usually interferes with a good football game. And it is just too cold to march in January on the anniversary of the Roe decision.

To me, the apathy is appalling. Human life is precious. Most Christians say they are “pro-life,” but what are they doing to stand against the tide? Can we not see the impact of the proverbial “slippery slope” on our culture? How can we forget the demise of the children? Why do so many pastors ignore preaching on this issue? Who will defend the weak?

If we continue to ignore what is happening, there may come a day when doctors evaluate the value of live births. They may come up with a quantitative way to assess whether or not a child is worthy to live:

-A child’s home life (HL)
-Potential contribution to society (CS)
-Physical natural endowment and physical condition at birth (NE)

They may combine these factors into some bizarre mathematical equation and come up with a Quality of Life Index (QL). If a child scores above this mark, they may then be deemed worthy to live. Fall below that mark, and they will be left to die.

Science fiction? Think again. Such a formula [(HL + CS) * NE = QL] was used by Children’s Hospital of Oklahoma, in Oklahoma City from 1977 to 1982 to evaluate children born with Spina Bifida. During this period, 24 children were determined to be better off dead. And they were left to die.

This story is important to me. You see, my wife, Stacy, was born with Spina Bifida in the 60’s, the day after her birth mother, Ginger, turned sixteen. Ginger, was one of eight children-the oldest in the household. No doubt being brought up in a home full of little ones helped develop in this young mother an understanding and appreciation for the life growing within her womb-because when faced with a crisis pregnancy, what she chose for Stacy was life. Granted, the choice was made a little easier by the fact that it was still illegal to murder a child in the womb. But even in that day there were ways to “terminate a pregnancy,” code word for killing a child. But, Ginger chose life for the baby she carried!

Ginger was allowed to hold and rock Stacy during brief visits to the hospital during her infancy. My wife was even baptized in her birth mother’s christening gown. Sadly, because Stacy was so young, she has no recollection of these short meetings.

Stacy was placed into the family of her adoptive parents when she was two years old. By God’s grace, this young couple chose to take on a child who was past infancy, loaded with hefty medical bills, and facing future difficult surgeries. Yet, despite all that, they brought Stacy home and called her their own. Years later, when God captured the heart of my wife, He revealed to her the providential Hand that had protected and guided her throughout her life.

Soon after her twenty-first birthday, after a series of incredible events, Stacy was introduced to her birth grandparents and all of her birth mother’s siblings, nieces, nephews, aunts, and uncles. She even had the opportunity to know her great-grandmother. Stacy was not able to meet her birth-mother. Ironically, Ginger was twenty-one years old when she died in a tragic automobile accident – the same age Stacy was when she was reunited with her birth-family.

Since that time, not only has Stacy grown to appreciate her adoptive parents in new ways, she has also grown close to her birth family-especially her grandparents. When asked about her thoughts on God’s providential hand in her life, she says this:

“I stand amazed and humbled that God spared my life; and, by His grace, He gave me the chance to raise ten beautiful children for His glory.”

When I gaze upon our children, I marvel at the way God weaved His thread of Providence throughout the intricate fabric of Stacy’s life. And yes, I am thankful for the precious gift of that life-a gift that is continuing into future generations.

This gift of life, given by God, is stolen from so many. In our human deception, we are too often convinced by the Enemy that some precious souls are not fit to live. Some children are conceived during an “inconvenient” time of life; and, since the child is often not even considered human yet, murder is treated as a form of “birth control.” Other times, we are persuaded to believe that the life of the mother is more important than the life of the child, and a precious life is snuffed out. Other times, even live babies outside the womb-at least partially outside-are not safe, and children are butchered as they are being delivered.

May we continue to fight for the sanctity of all life. May we view it in the pre-born, the handicapped, the elderly, the helpless, and the infirmed as a gift from the Lord. It is the God-breathed spirit of our Heavenly Father (Genesis 2:7) that gives quality to life. Such worth is not determined by a doctor or by the state. And it cannot be stolen from them without consequence – for their blood cries out to God (Genesis 4:10).

This Sunday marks the annual Life Chain, a silent protest against the practice of abortion on demand. It only takes an hour of your time to stand, side by side, with others in prayer against this national holocaust. Are you willing to make this investment for life?