Wednesday, July 29, 2015

Suffering, Research, and Baby Parts

Unless you live under a rock, you have seen the horrifying news and videos about abortion providers selling the organs, limbs and other tissues of pre-born babies to labs for medical research. As believers, we are heartbroken over this news. Psalm 139 tells us that we were knit together in our mothers’ wombs, and that we are fearfully and wonderfully made. These tiny babies are being ripped apart as their mothers’ hearts (whether they admit it or not) break in agony over their decision. How our Lord must weep over these things! As we grieve this tragic and horrific development, we can only imagine how grieved our Creator must be.

What is the excuse these individuals give for their egregious behavior? “Research.” Stem cells, fetal tissues, chorionic villi, and whatever other bounty they are after, are all to be used for medical research. Their reasoning goes something like this: If we can improve the lives of those who are already born and suffering with MS, spinal cord injury, ALS, and countless other diseases, and these babies are being aborted anyway, what is the harm in harvesting whatever will help us improve the prognoses of individuals who are already here?

While this argument may sound plausible on first hearing, we as believers know that it is a lie from the pit of Hell. These tiny humans who are being aborted are no less “already here” than the forty-year-old man with ALS. The abortionists and researchers have made one terrible error in their thinking: They have believed a lie about what constitutes life. Here is the truth: Life begins at conception. Body and soul are joined together at that moment, and when you take that life, whether at 6 weeks, 12 weeks, or 24 weeks, you have taken the life of a human being who is already here.

If you suffer from a genetic disorder, spinal cord injury, or any other affliction from which these researchers hope to deliver you through fetal tissue study, you may have thought twice about whether this type of research is ok. As you suffer pain, disability, and the loss of so many things, it is only natural to desire healing and relief. In moments of desperation, you may have rationalized, as the abortionists do, that since this is being done anyway, why not use the tissues to help people? Some have even invoked the Scripture, “What Satan intends for evil, God can use for good,” (Genesis 50:20) to assuage their guilt over giving their assent to these procedures.

But you should know that the research argument is what the abortionist will use to comfort mothers who are agonizing over whether to have the abortion in the first place. They are told that their baby’s tissue may one day save many people from genetic disease, or bring about a cure for spinal cord injuries. For some, this must be the tipping point in their decision.

But, my believing friend, this cannot be our rationale. The abortionists have woven a web of lies, and many have fallen into it. It will never be ok to murder one person for the betterment of another, even many others, even others who are suffering terribly. In the economy of human life, there is no fair trade. A human being is a human being, and until we as a society wake up and embrace this truth, people will be murdered in the name of research. The bodies of the tiniest, most vulnerable members of our society are being carefully torn from their souls so that their liver tissue can be preserved and sold to the highest bidder.

If you suffer from chronic disease or injury, you have a unique opportunity to speak truth to those who ask you, “If research on aborted fetal tissue could heal your disease, would you give your approval?” Your answer must be a resounding, “NO! My life is no more precious than the person whose life was taken for the research that might heal me or ease my pain. The Creator and Sustainer of the universe, who created me and ordained my disease will also comfort and strengthen me to endure it without killing anyone else to make it better.”

My dear, suffering friends, you have an incredible opportunity here. Speak the truth, and speak it loudly. Tell everyone you can that you would never desire a cure that would require the horrors that we are seeing today. Your testimony, as one who suffers from the very affliction they use to defend this practice, could be a powerful tool for change. Volunteer at a crisis pregnancy center, speak out on social media, and pray for these precious babies and their moms. You have suffered, and God has heard your prayers. You have begged Him to redeem your pain, to use it for His glory. Perhaps He has brought you here for such a time as this.


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