I signed . . .

The Manhattan Declaration . . . .a statement affirming life, traditional marriage, religious freedom.

I was moved, challenged, encouraged and informed as I read it. Its well written, compelling and deals thoughtfully and Biblically with issues that we've recently considered together.

(If you've been reading along for any length of time or know me at all, your aware that I have strange, but deep, convictions about the church and politics and the necessity of keeping our nationalism and our Gospel calling separate. . . . so aren't you curious to know why I'm so passionate about the Manhattan Declaration?)

So earmark 1/2 hour in your busy life and take the time to read it slowly and carefully. Read it with your spouse and your children. Join me in signing it, if you feel led.

I've included the Preamble below to prime your pump . . . it alone fired me up and reminded me of our rich Christian history and Biblical calling . . .

PREAMBLE
Christians are heirs of a 2,000-year tradition of proclaiming God's word, seeking justice in our societies, resisting tyranny, and reaching out with compassion to the poor, oppressed and suffering.

While fully acknowledging the imperfections and shortcomings of Christian institutions and communities in all ages, we claim the heritage of those Christians who defended innocent life by rescuing discarded babies from trash heaps in Roman cities and publicly denouncing the Empire's sanctioning of infanticide. We remember with reverence those believers who sacrificed their lives by remaining in Roman cities to tend the sick and dying during the plagues, and who died bravely in the coliseums rather than deny their Lord.

After the barbarian tribes overran Europe, Christian monasteries preserved not only the Bible but also the literature and art of Western culture. It was Christians who combated the evil of slavery: Papal edicts in the 16th and 17th centuries decried the practice of slavery and first excommunicated anyone involved in the slave trade; evangelical Christians in England, led by John Wesley and William Wilberforce, put an end to the slave trade in that country. Christians under Wilberforce's leadership also formed hundreds of societies for helping the poor, the imprisoned, and child laborers chained to machines.

In Europe, Christians challenged the divine claims of kings and successfully fought to establish the rule of law and balance of governmental powers, which made modern democracy possible. And in America, Christian women stood at the vanguard of the suffrage movement. The great civil rights crusades of the 1950s and 60s were led by Christians claiming the Scriptures and asserting the glory of the image of God in every human being regardless of race, religion, age or class.

This same devotion to human dignity has led Christians in the last decade to work to end the dehumanizing scourge of human trafficking and sexual slavery, bring compassionate care to AIDS sufferers in Africa, and assist in a myriad of other human rights causes – from providing clean water in developing nations to providing homes for tens of thousands of children orphaned by war, disease and gender discrimination.

Like those who have gone before us in the faith, Christians today are called to proclaim the Gospel of costly grace, to protect the intrinsic dignity of the human person and to stand for the common good. In being true to its own calling, the call to discipleship, the church through service to others can make a profound contribution to the public good.

the death of outrage

Shocking, shocking post over at the Desiring God blog. . .

Bombing, Abortion, & Down Syndrome

Thinking about the Sanctity of Life, #5

Here's another awesome article that will make you think about the stewardship and unintended consequences of reproductive technologies . . .

Noah and the Flood

HT: Kevin Heldt, who informed me this was Colson's Breakpoint this morning.

Thinking about the Sanctity of Life, #4

Here's one more about the early detection of Down's Syndrome. . .

Down Syndrome Now Detectable in First Trimester: Early Detection Leaves More Time for Decisions.

Read carefully and then think about the implications. If we believe Psalm 139 then there are no such things as birth defects. In the womb, ultra-sound screening is an invitation to play God. It is not just for information, it is for elimination.

Thinking about the Sanctity of Life, #3

Here's the third in a series of Sanctity of Life related articles I am posting this week for Growth Group discussion and for all following the Sanctity of Life Sunday . . .

Changing Abortions Pronoun

Post-abortion syndrome has been well documented among women, but little has been written about the impact of abortion among the impregnating men. This L.A. Times article says that this is changing.

Like the emergence of ultra-sound technology, real life testimony seems to be one of the things
shifting the debate.

I hope you're taking the time to read these important articles. Being informed is just one of the many ways we can affirm the Sanctity of Life.

Thinking about the Sanctity of Life, #2

Here's another really encouraging article about the apparent turning of the tide in Hollywood's handling of sanctity of life issues. . .

The Plots Thicken

Your feedback and comments are welcome.

Thinking about the Sanctity of Life

This last Sunday was Sanctity of Life Sunday. Sometimes we think too narrowly about the Sanctity of Life, reducing this issue as having to do only with abortion related issues. I am concerned that we think more broadly about this Biblical issue.

Tim Borland, came and shared about his "63 marathons in 63 days" A-T Cure Tour to raise awareness and funds for a cure for Ataxia-telangiectasia,a rare degenerative disease that affects children.

Listen to Tim's Sunday message HERE.
Watch some videos about Tim's adventure HERE.

In my intro, I suggested this partial list of ways we can get personally involved. . .

• Have our own children and raise them well.
• We can adopt needy and unwanted children
• We can create a church community that affirms life at every age and stage of development.
• We can care well for our elderly family members.
• We can be informed and actively vote our conscious on these issues.
• We can make careful and prayerful choices in our own personal lives. . . .
• We can support and volunteer at crisis pregnancy centers, with special needs children and at elderly rest homes.

What other ideas have you got?

This week our Growth Groups are thinking and praying about these issues and as one of our disussions questions this week I pointed them here to Life Together, where I promised I would post some recent articles related to the Sanctity of Life for additional reading.

So here's the first. . . and I will keep posting them this week as I dig them up. This first article I noticed this morning on the front page of World on the Web.

Cloner's Make New Claim

What is your reaction to this story?

good for him

Regardless of what you think of the President and his handling of the war (I think I'll stay away from that issue!), he's to be commended for his bucking what they say is the majority of Americans on this embryonic stem cell research issue. Here's the story of his latest veto. . .

SanLuisObispo.com 06/21/2007 Bush vetoes embryonic stem cell bill

My understanding based on my light reading on the subject is that there are a variety of other very promising stem cell therapies that are not "embryonic" and therefore do not cause the killing of a child. The president is rightly encouraging research of these alternative therapies.

Unfortunately the media is not usually great at drawing these important distinctions and paints the president with a broad brush as opposed to stem cell research. He is supportive of stem cell research, but opossed to embryonic stem cell research. Important distinction.

The Biblical doctrine of the sanctity of life guides us in these matters. It is not right for us to take a human life in order to save another one. These matters of life and death are in God's hands.

What say you?

quadruplets!

Did you see this article about the local couple pregnant with quadruplets in Sunday's Tribune?

SanLuisObispo.com 05/27/2007 A, B, C, D. . . gee!

I had a chance to meet them as they visited our church yesterday, the same day of the article. How cool is that?

Don Maas, one of our faithful ushers brought them to me to introduce them, as he often does. I said, "You were the couple on the front page of paper this morning." They said, "That's us."

How cool is that?

The article says they just moved to SLO. If they choose to make Grace their church home, we will have a wonderful opportunity to affirm the sanctity of life and also reach out and love this family and their 4 new little girls.

These are crucial days . . . be praying for Isaac, Carmen, big sister, Leonor, and baby girls, A, B, C and D!

22 week old Amilla

Nate Moss sent me this article about little Amillia, a premature baby only 22 weeks old and only 10 oz who survived.

Born at Less that 22 weeks!

I liked the way the short article ended . . .

Amillia's incredible story will reignite the debate over Britain's abortion laws, which campaigners say must be updated in the light of recent medical advances.

Babies can still be aborted for non-medical reasons at up to 24 weeks. Recent evidence shows that, of those born at 25 weeks, half of them manage to live.

Lets not just update those laws, but eliminate them!

Choosing Tomorrow

Yesterday's post featured several books by Nigel Cameron. Nigel is a committed evangelical Christian, but also a significant player in the fields of bioethics and emerging technologies.

Here's a brief bio . . .

Nigel Cameron is Director of the Center on Nanotechnology and Society at the Illinois Institute of Technology, and President of the Institute on Biotechnology and the Human Future. His chief interest lies in the implications of emerging technologies for policy and human values. He is a member of the United States National Commission for UNESCO, and of the advisory boards of the Converging Technologies Bar Association, the Nano Law and Business Journal, and 2020Health (UK). Cameron has been Scholar-in-Residence at UBS Wolfsberg, and given expert testimony to committees of the US Congress and the European Parliament. He has been a featured speaker at the Aspen Ideas Festival and the World Healthcare Innovation and Technology Congress. His co-edited book, Nanoscale: Issues and Perspectives for the Nano Century, is in press with John Wiley, and he is currently working on his next book Choosing Tomorrow.

I just discovered that Cameron has started a blog called ChoosingTomorrow. It's obvious that Cameron is trying to create a platform for cultural engagement. His faith is not in the forefront of his blog, but rather informs completely how he sees the world. (I've added it to my blogroll on the right.)

As I referenced, I have heard Nigel speak about these areas on Mars Hill Audio Journal, of which he is a frequent guest. (You can hear him, too, by checking out some Mars Hill CDs from the church library!) The guy is always informative and challenging.

To give you a feel for Cameron's blog, here's a great sample post, entitled "The Death of Down's Syndrome (People)", which relates to much of what I said in last Sunday's message. This stuff is real and I'm not making it up . . .

A striking op-ed in the Washington Post offers a chilling comment on the eugenicism that continues to drive uses of pre-natal (and indeed pre-implantation) testing. Patricia Bauer's sad reflection on the new recommendation that every pregnant woman be "screened" for Down's is potent not least for its setting this discussion outside the parameters of the "pro-life v. pro-choice" context in which it is more typically found. I shall just let her speak for herself:

The ACOG news release notes that the recommendations are based on consistent scientific evidence and will allow obstetricians and gynecologists to best meet their patients' needs. Until now, women 35 or older were automatically offered genetic testing for Down syndrome; under the new guidelines, less invasive and earlier screening options will be extended much more broadly.

What's gone undiscussed in the news coverage of the guidelines seems to be a general assumption that reasonable people would want to screen for Down syndrome. And since nothing can be done to mitigate the effects of an extra 21st chromosome in utero, the further assumption is that people would be reasonable to terminate pregnancies that are so diagnosed.

Certainly, these recommendations will have the effect of accelerating a weeding out of fetuses with Down syndrome that is well underway. There's an estimated 85 to 90 percent termination rate among prenatally diagnosed cases of Down syndrome in this country. With universal screening, the number of terminations will rise. Early screening will allow people to terminate earlier in their pregnancies when it's safer and when their medical status may be unapparent to friends and colleagues.

I understand that some people very much want this, but I have to ask: Why? Among the reasons, I believe, is a fundamental societal misperception that the lives of people with intellectual disabilities have no value -- that less able somehow equates to less worthy. Like the woman in the park, we're assigning one trait more importance than all the others and making critical decisions based on that judgment.

In so doing, we're causing a broad social effect. We're embarking on the elimination of an entire class of people who have a history of oppression, discrimination and exclusion.

Tell me that's not scary and so sad.

Finally, here's some audio of Cameron for your listening pleasure. . . .

Therapeutic Cloning: Why we need a global ban?

Thirteen Bioethics Books

Lifted fom Bill Muehlenberg's blog, "Culture Watch", here's a list of Top Twelve Bioethics Books plus a brand new one at the top of the list that I've heard a bunch about.

1. Cameron, Nigel and Tada, Joni Erickson, How to be a Christian in a Brave New World, Zondervan, 2006.
   
   
2. Cameron, Nigel de S., The New Medicine: Life and Death After Hippocrates. Crossway, 2001.
   
   
3. Cameron, Nigel de S., ed., Bioengagement. Eerdmans, 2000.
   
   
4. Colson, Charles and Nigel de S. Cameron, eds., Human Dignity in the Biotech Century. InterVarsity Press, 2004.
   
   
5. Foreman, Mark, Christianity and Bioethics. College Press Publishing, 1999.
   
   
6. Kass, Leon, Life, Liberty and the Defense of Dignity. Encounter Books, 2002.
   
   
7. Kass, Leon, Toward a More Natural Science: Biology and Human Affairs. The Free Press, 1985.
   
   
8. Kilner, John, et.al, eds., Cutting-Edge Bioethics. Eerdmans 2002.
   
   
9. Meilander, Gilbert, Bioethics: A Primer for Christians. Eerdmans, 1996.
   
   
10. Peterson, James, Genetic Turning Points. Eerdmans, 2001.
    
    
11. Rae, Scott and Paul Cox, Bioethics. Eerdmans, 1999.
    
    
12. Smith, Wesley, Consumer’s Guide to a Brave New World. Encounter Books, 2004.
    
    
13. Wyatt, John, Matters of Life and Death. InterVarsity Press, 1998.

I don't know much about Bill, but I do know several of these books and recognize some of the other authors, so I feel pretty confident in referring you to the whole list.

On #1, #2, #3 and #4. I have listened to Nigel Cameron on this subject on Mars Hill Audio Journal and have been challenged by his thoughts. Colson is always good.

#9 I have in cassette tape format. I'll try and put it in the church library. I think Pastor Steve mentioned it also on the college blog this week.

#11 Both these guys are professors at Talbot School of Theology, the seminary I attended. I called Scott Rae to speak on Sanctity of Life Sunday, but he was unavailable. Another time.

How about reading just one in 2007? I'd recommend #1 as a starting point.

in the womb

In last Sunday's message focussed on the Sanctity of Life, I mentioned the use of ultrasound machines in helping convince undecided mothers to keep their babies.

Matt Esswein, one of our bright, passionate college students sent me this referral to Colson's Breakpoint Ministry which did a spot yesterday on the Sanctity of Life which touches on in the womb viewing technology and refers to a new National Geographic resource entitled "In the Womb."

It's just a couple of minutes long and worth a listen/read. (Thanks, Matt!)

Here's the audio version. Publish

Here's the text version. (In case you're at work and can't listen!)

Here's a teaser paragraph.. . .

Today, thirty-four years after Roe v. Wade, we can see into the womb with detail that was unimaginable in 1973. Now, 3-D and 4-D scans—scans that literally piece together images to show a baby in motion in the womb—have brought the miracle of life into new focus. In the Womb author, Peter Tallack, calls this new technology the medical equivalent of the Hubble Space Telescope. And the images it zooms in on during the odyssey of pregnancy may change the minds of women contemplating abortion and ordinary men and women who have not reflected deeply on abortion’s horrors.