by Daniel T. Zanoza, Executive Director
"Thou Shalt Not Kill." This law was given to Moses by God as part of the Ten Commandments. Jesus Christ Himself said everyone should follow this law, Jew and Gentile alike. Indeed, one of Christ's most important messages was to love our neighbor, especially our enemies, and He told us to pray for those who do evil. Therefore, any Christian who tries to live a Christlike life, is obliged to adhere to these teachings.
However, in all honesty, when I first heard about the murder of Dr. George Tiller, at best, my reaction was ambivalence. What came to my mind was Tiller's murderer had damaged gains made by those who fight for the lives and rights of the innocent unborn. I thought about how pro-abortionists would paint the pro-life community with a broad brush of condemnation, essentially saying we are all right-wing fanatics and terrorists.
But the second thought which entered my mind concerned Tiller's thirty-five year career, while he performed over 60,000 late-term abortions. Before the death of Tiller, there were only three so-called physicians, including Tiller, who were willing to partake in this evil practice and that number has now been reduced by one. I won't apologize for thinking about the innocent tens of thousands of babies who faced death just before experiencing life.
Here is a description of how Tiller did his "work". A woman, according to Kansas law, could claim she needed an abortion because of "mental distress". Tiller, in order to perform one of these procedures would inject a saline solution into the mother's womb. This chemical cocktail would literally burn the child within--before the baby succumbed to suffocation. Then the woman was induced into labor and instructed to sit on something most of us would describe as a toilet. The abortion was completed when the baby was delivered by the mother, who was quickly ushered out of the area, so she wouldn't see the results of Dr. Tiller's labor and what should have been her own.
If anyone is offended by my description of what Tiller did, while making millions of dollars in the process, you should be! Of course, there are other horrific methods, used by so-called doctors like Tiller, including partial-birth abortion which are even more horrific--if that's possible. Though not connected with Tiller, former nurse Jill Stanek, who worked at Christ Hospital in Oak Lawn, Illinois told America about what became known as live-birth abortion. This bit of horror included the occasional birth of live babies who survived botched abortions. These children were left to die, while medical staffers stood by watching these children of God gasp for their last breath. In fact, thanks to Stanek, something that we only could envision in a nightmare was exposed. The hospital then instituted something they called "comfort care" which allowed hospital staff to at least hold and "comfort" these unwanted babies until they died. Before this so-called expression of humane treatment, Stanek told of babies left alone to die in dirty linen closets, a fate which even mass murderers would not face at their time when justice was administered. NOTE: Then Illinois state Senator Barack Obama voted against legislation (Born Alive Infants Protection Act) which would have protected these children from a terrible death.
At the same time, my thoughts and prayers were centered on the family of Tiller. Like the babies he killed, these were innocent victims of the killer's actions. Of course, the latter should have been my lone Christian response. Although I hoped and prayed that before Tiller met his fate, he had asked for forgiveness from the Lord regarding the lifetime of carnage which he wrought on thousands of babies.
I cannot stand in judgment of Tiller as a Christian because Christ said, "Judge not, lest ye be judged." And, most certainly, I am a sinful human being, only deserving of salvation because of the blood shed by Christ on the cross.
Yet my reaction to the killing of Tiller was human. The fact Tiller was murdered in a church is ironic to the utmost degree. A man performed a great act of evil in a place of worship. We don't know what was in the mind of the murderer. Was he driven by passion? Whatever the case or excuse, contrary to the thinking of those who support abortion, the ends never justify the means.
But, for a moment, and just for a moment, what would have been our reaction if we were God-fearing Germans, alive and aware of the "Final Solution" Hitler planned for the Jews during World War II? As Christians, what should have been our reaction if we learned of the murders by Nazis--which eventually totaled six million Jews and four million other human beings? At the time, the persecution of innocent human beings--in a nation gone mad--was totally within the law. What if Joseph Goebbels, SS Chief Heinrich Himmler, Adolph Eichmann, Hermann Goering or Adolph Hitler himself were murdered during their reign of terror between 1933 and 1945? Now before you respond, remember the persecution of Jews and other human beings defined as "undesirables" by the German state was legal, completely within the law. It was the same situation which Christians faced during their persecution under Nero, Caligula and other Roman Emperors. In the early years of America, blacks were not considered human beings, they were considered property. Indeed, a U.S. Supreme Court decision titled "Dred Scott" upheld this abhorrent notion--until a civil war was fought, resulting in the deaths of over 600,000 people. Again, in the South, slavery was legal and anyone who disregarded the law was subject to the harshest of penalties, including blacks themselves--who sought their freedom.
Now, there are those who believe unborn babies are human beings, deserving of rights accorded to everyone. However, due to a Dred Scott type decision, handed down by our nation's highest court, titled Roe v. Wade, unborn babies have less rights than the slaves had--before their emancipation.
These facts do not justify the murder of George Tiller. However, these facts should present a moral dilemma within us all. To some, John Brown, the radical abolitionist was a hero to millions, before he was hung. There is still a debate over whether Brown was a visionary or a murdering madman who operated outside the law. Brown's actions were outside the law, but the morality of his crusade is still debated by historians today.
Once again, so I am not misunderstood, according to my faith and the law, I cannot condone or justify murder under any circumstance and all reasonable pro-lifers, like myself, will agree.
However, contrary to the mainstream media, Tiller is not and should not be considered a hero or a defender of women's rights. In an interview, one of Tiller's neighbors said, "I admired his work. He was a true advocate for all women." If this individual would have seen the results of Tiller's work, she would have thrown up on the spot. But political correctness has sanitized the practice of abortion. In fact, political correctness leads our society to refer to the deadly procedure as a "choice" and not what it really is--the taking of innocent human life.
Just 36 years ago, abortion was illegal in America. During America's entire existence, until a questionable Supreme Court ruling relegated the innocent unborn to mere property, the practice was considered as abhorrent as the misguided and sinful murder of an abortion doctor in Kansas.
Hopefully, Tiller's murderer will receive the justice he deserves. In the same breath, we can all pray one day the innocent unborn will receive the justice and life they deserve as well.
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At what point..? 136,000 slaughtered babies a day.
At what point...? 1.8 billion methodical executions of babies in 36 years.
At what point....? When is enough enough? Is this Christian, Muslim, humane?
At what point...? do we stop looking the other way...? And pretend.
Chip
Posted by: Chip Seiple | June 03, 2009 at 11:24 PM