Answering, "As a follower of Christ, I cannot give my
vote to either Bush or Kerry!"
Ramesh C. Reddy
Pittsburgh Standard
PART II:
The issue of abortion:
A
detailed analysis is added here to supplement
PART II of ‘Answering the claim that neither candidate is going to
bring us closer to God.’
“And
for your lifeblood I will surely demand an accounting. I will demand an
accounting from every animal. And from each man, too, I will demand an
accounting for the life of his fellow man. "Whoever sheds the blood of
man, by man shall his blood be shed; for in the image of God has God
made man.” (Genesis 9:5-6, NIV)
In this
verse, the Lord tells Noah,
‘I will demand an accounting for the life of his fellow
man.’
I
thought about what is considered ‘life of his fellow man’?
A life
of his fellow being is what came to mind. A being is someone in
existence. God will demand an accounting for harming that ‘someone in
existence’.
Premise
1 is ‘Someone in existence.’
Premise
2 is ‘Life begins at conception.’
If life
begins at conception and someone in existence is considered to be life
then the unborn who were allowed to grow inside the mother’s womb
without any harm coming to them will be a living being inside and
outside the mother’s womb.
“For
you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother's womb. I
praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are
wonderful, I know that full well. My frame was not hidden from you when
I was made in the secret place. When I was woven together in the depths
of the earth, your eyes saw my unformed body. All the days ordained for
me were written in your book before one of them came to be.” (Psalm
139:13-16, NIV)
To kill
a living being inside a mother’s womb or outside a mother’s womb is
considered ‘shedding the blood’ of a living being.
Have you ever seen an
abortion performed or a botched abortion?
Have you ever seen how much
blood of the unborn is shed everyday?
When
Cain murdered Abel, God demanded an answer from Cain but God had not
given the law yet but expected Cain to know ‘the taking of a life’ is
wrong.
“Then the LORD said to Cain,
‘Where is your brother Abel?’ ‘I don't know,’ he replied. ‘Am I my
brother's keeper?’ ‘The LORD said, ‘What have you done? Listen! Your
brother's blood cries out to me from the ground. Now you are under a
curse and driven from the ground, which opened its mouth to receive your
brother's blood from your hand.’ (Genesis 4:9-11)
How many
doctors have stained their hands with the innocent blood of the unborn!
Their blood cries out but it is too late for them. But it is not too
late for those who are going to be aborted. Abort means to terminate,
call off, put an end, cancel, abandon, call a halt, and stop midstream.
This is what doctors are doing to the life of the unborn like they were
trash being pulled from a mother’s womb and thrown out.
Rather
than thinking there is nothing we can do, the Lord has given us a voice
for the unborn. Many times that voice has to be used in legislation but
for legislation to work and come up, we need to put the right people in
office for that legislation to come up.
Right
now among Bush and Kerry, Bush is the only candidate that has spoken
consistently about promoting ‘a culture of life’ and being there for the
cries of the unborn. Bush has already signed some legislation that
recognizes the life of the unborn but more needs to be done. The sad
thing is that Kerry believes life begins at conception but he also
believes it is up to the woman to choose to take the life of her unborn
or not.
Some of
you maybe thinking, ‘Bush says he promotes ‘a culture of life’ but the
Iraqi War contradicts that.’ I intend to address that issue later but
wanted to focus on abortion here.
Are we as followers of Christ
just going to sit out this election because we don’t agree with both
candidates coming close to upholding biblical values?
I hope
not! When it comes to the life of the unborn, having Pres. Bush in
office for four more years could bring us a little closer to having Roe
v. Wade overturned. The next president is more than likely to appoint
3-4 Supreme Court Justices. If we have Bush in office, it is possible
that Roe v. Wade can be overturned. This is why too so many people are
anti-Bush rather than for Kerry. It is there hatred for Bush that is
driving them to Kerry.
As
followers of Christ, rather than voting for Bush or Kerry some may want
to just sit it out this election. If that happens and so many people who
are for the life of the unborn decide not to vote, then Kerry could win
because those who are left-wing liberals are going to vote for Kerry.
Even if
we do not agree with Bush and those who are right-wing, let us agree
that the life of the unborn is worth saving. Our vote can be for the
life of the unborn even if it is not for Bush by voting for Bush. I like
to think that I am voting for the innocent life of unborn to have a
future. For that to happen, the presidential candidate that comes closer
to that is Bush.
“Have nothing to do with a false
charge and do not put an innocent or honest person to death, for I will
not acquit the guilty.” (Exodus 23:7, NIV)
Let us
not put another innocent person to death by voting for Kerry. We need to
pray and do our part in this election seeking the Lord and going out in
prayer. For me I feel that there are some clear cut things. Saving the
life of the innocent unborn is the most important thing because first of
all they have been formed by God and what God made we have no right to
destroy if it goes against God’s Word.
“Do not give any of your
children to be sacrificed to Molech, for you must not profane the name
of your God. I am the LORD.” (Leviticus 18:21, NIV)
“If the people of the community
close their eyes when that man gives one of his children to Molech and
they fail to put him to death, I will set my face against that man and
his family and will cut off from their people both him and all who
follow him in prostituting themselves to Molech.” (Leviticus 20:4-5, NIV)
The Lord wanted the ‘people of the community’ not to close their eyes
when their children were given to the Ammonite deity Molech for child
sacrifice. The Lord wants the people of the community to stand up to
anyone who are responsible for the sacrifice of children.
Whether
people like to acknowledge it or not, abortion is the sacrifice of the
unborn to the deity of convenience majority of the time. As followers of
Christ, we can open our eyes for the life of the unborn by keeping Bush
in office and waiting on the Lord.
By
voting for Kerry or not voting at all, Bush may not come into office and
it could hurt the unborn who already have become a casualty of 40
million. In those days sacrifice to Molech continued until the right
king came along.
"He [King Josiah] desecrated
Topheth, which was in the Valley of Ben Hinnom, so no one could use it
to sacrifice his son or daughter in the fire to Molech.” (2 Kings 23:10,
NIV)
"If
anyone takes the life of a human being, he must be put to death.”
(Leviticus 24:17, NIV)
In the
Ten Commandments, the first four commandments deal with our vertical
relationship with the Lord but the next six commandments deal with our
horizontal relationship with mankind. Of those six commandments, the
first commandment to start out with ‘Thou shall not’ has to do with
murder.
I
believe when the opportunity arises, Bush will protect the life of the
unborn if he is in office. All the laws that have been passed to protect
the unborn could be repealed if Kerry gets into office.
I do not
vote for Bush for my sake but for the sake of the unborn as I trust in
the Lord. I love a poem called
‘God and the Baby’ written by a Pitt student.
PART III:
|
