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abortion

Is a Fetus Really a Person? Scientific Facts from a Christian Neurosurgeon

by Roger Barrier & Brie Barrier Wetherbee October 21, 2024

written by Roger Barrier & Brie Barrier Wetherbee

Is a Fetus Really a Person?

Scientific Facts from a Christian Neurosurgeon

At the young age of 35, Dr. Timothy Cheves is a force of nature. He’s earned multiple doctoral degrees from Yale University, Emory University, University of Arizona and Butler University. He’s worked in 15 hospitals and eight clinics, including a long-term stint fighting COVID in NYC at the height of the pandemic. Tim has also completed an estimated 64,000 patient visits, and he now serves as a neurosurgeon in Tucson, Arizona.

Roger and Julie have known Tim since he was a young kid, growing up at Casas Church with Roger as his pastor. He is our guest author for “Ask Roger” this week, along with some additional content added by Brie Barrier Wetherbee. Please note that Tim included some excellent references within his arguments. They are listed at the bottom of this article along with some further recommended resources.

Hi Roger and Tim,

In my heart, I know that abortion is wrong. I see babies move on sonograms; I even spent time in the NICU when my daughter was born at 29 weeks. That’s barely in the third trimester. I can’t imagine how people can make the argument that she—or any other pre-born child—isn’t really a person. My daughter was and is. I want to be able to talk about abortion with truth and compassion, not emotion and anger. Will you help me?

Love,

Eva

Hi Eva,

This is Tim. I recently sought to answer whether abortion could be morally and ethically acceptable, focusing on the concepts of personhood and human rights.

My goal was to determine whether personhood and the associated human rights apply to a fetus. To approach this, I believe a stepwise method is essential. First, for abortion to be morally wrong, a fetus must possess the right to life. For a fetus to have a right to life, it must first be shown to be a person. And to be considered a person, it must be established as a living human being.

This creates four fundamental questions in which the arguments for or against abortion hinge:

Is the fetus a living human being?

Is it a person?

Does it have a right to life?

Can we morally take away that right?

Let’s begin:

1) Does an unborn fetus qualify as a living human being?

For something to be deemed “alive,” biologists came up with seven characteristics that must be met. It is with these same characteristics that astronomers look for life on other planets, botanists look for life in phytology, and microbiologists look for life on their slides.

While some resources only call for the presence of metabolism and motion, most others call for seven postulations which can vary in terminology. (1,2) A living thing must (3):

– be composed of a cell or cells

– have order

– utilize energy

– grow and develop

– have reproductive potential

– respond to their environment

– adapt to that environment.

Without going into great detail (as this is not the overall aim here), I find even a zygote, the unicellular antecedent to a fetus, fulfills all these stipulations.

One could argue that a fetus has no reproductive potential, however, by just 16 weeks a female fetus not only has formed genitalia, but her own oocytes. (4) The fetus is indeed alive, even at the start of fertilization. In fact, it is this moment that in vitro fertilization (IVF) specialists try to re-create. It isn’t the isolation of the sperm or ovum. It isn’t creating a multi-cellular blastocyst. It’s the moment of conception they work toward. Without it, there is no life. With it, there is life instantaneously. A functioning, living sperm meeting with a functioning, living ovum can only do one thing: continue that life as a functioning, living human.

Now that we know when life begins, turning this biology-related debate into more of a philosophical one where the question now asks, “Is this a person”?

2) Does the fetus qualify as a “person”?

In the context of abortion, personhood is the defining requirement for individual rights. A Princeton philosopher, Peter Singer, holds the view that abortion is acceptable since the fetus is not a person, which he defines as someone who is rational, conscious, and self-aware. (5)

However, this definition is severely lacking. Under this definition, every time I go to bed at night, I cease to be a person. When someone is stressed in traffic and drives unsafely in a moment of irrational thought, they too cease to be a person. No, Singer’s definition lacks consideration of the nature of the entity in question.

An embryo can’t rationalize, be conscious, or self-aware (at that moment), but that’s due to how old it is, not what it is. An amoeba, on the other hand, can’t exhibit any of these sentient aspects either; not because it hasn’t developed them yet, but because it’s not in its nature to. With the embryo, it is in its nature to rationalize, be conscious, and self-aware.

After the atrocities of the Holocaust, the United Nations proclaimed the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. (6) Along with the preamble, which states human rights are the “rights of all members of the human family”, Article 3 explains “Everyone has the right to life, liberty, and security of person.” Article 6 declares “Everyone has the right to recognition everywhere as a person before the law.” Lastly, Article 7 says “All are equal before the law and are entitled without any discrimination to equal protection of the law.”

The fact that you are human automatically assigns you human rights. When speaking of animal rights, the necessary requirement is to be an animal. Women’s rights call for the person to be a woman. Would it not logically follow that all that’s needed for human rights is for you to be human? Therefore, it is what you are that defines your personhood (and human rights) not when (how old) you are.

However, one can easily argue a separate definition of personhood altogether. I found many to consider the fetus void of personhood by defining a person as someone who displays intentional, goal driven action. (7) This agent must show deliberate action in line with their own reflection and desires.

Nevertheless, science shows a fetus to fulfill this definition as well. By 14 weeks, the unborn child shows goal-driven movements. As the limbs reach its target, there is marked deceleration; a hallmark of intentional action. Other studies show an exploratory and sensation seeking nature of the child as early as 10 weeks’ gestation. (9)

Using real time ultrasonography, researchers saw the lips, cheeks, ears, and parietal bone (areas rich in innervation) frequently being touched by the hands (also richly innervated). Fetuses were also observed to explore the boundary between innervated and non-innervated regions of the developing body. As the nervous system grows and boundary lines change, so too does fetal exploration of these boundaries. Even with the new definition of personhood, findings show fetal humans to be persons.

Yet, what of the mother’s rights? Isn’t it her body, isn’t the fetus part of her body?

3) Does the fetus have a right to life?

Some argue because the baby is grown inside, dependent on, and therefore part of the mother, she has her own human rights that supersede that of the baby’s. Along these same lines, another argument has also been made: The fetus is not attacked by the mother’s immune system; therefore, it must BE the mother’s body.

Normally, when someone has a foreign body in them, their immune system is activated to fight it off. If the fetus is a biologically separate entity, then wouldn’t it be destroyed as well? We all know this not to happen, so we may conclude that the fetus is, in fact, not its own biologically separate entity. These are fair arguments, but, again, ones that science does not support.

The answer lies in a structure called the decidua. Along with the fetus having its own separated blood supply, unique DNA, digestive system, et cetera; the decidua is a specialized protective layer around the fetus functioning to blind the mother’s immune response. The presence of the baby literally changes the cells’ genes in this area to inactivate the inflammatory markers that bring about immune response. (10) When this decidua is defective, the mother’s immune cells will attack.

This proves the fetus to be its own entity; from, not of, the mother. As such, the baby has his or her own rights (rights professed and upheld by the United Nations) that are to be held at the same level of the mother.

4) Is it morally acceptable to take that right away?

Going back to our stepwise argument, the unborn child fits the seven characteristics of life used by all scientific disciplines. The child also attains personhood, found not only in what they are, but in exhibiting goal driven actions. In consequence, the child is worthy of human rights by definition of personhood, as well as the defining proclamations given to the world by the United Nations. With life, personhood, and human rights status achieved, the only rational conclusion to the abortion debate is this:

It is morally and ethically wrong in every stage of life. It steals away the individual’s innate human rights, objectifies the personhood out of the individual, and dehumanizes an unmistakable human being.

Eva, this is Brie. Now that Tim has shared some undeniable truths from science, I’d like to close with a corresponding biblical truth you may find helpful. I used to have tons of conversations with my dad (Roger) about how much our Creator God loves His creation.

Take a look at one of our favorite Scripture passages:

For You made the parts inside me. You put me together inside my mother’s womb. I will give thanks to You, for the greatness of the way I was made brings fear. Your works are great and my soul knows it very well. My bones were not hidden from You when I was made in secret and put together with care in the deep part of the earth.Your eyes saw me before I was put together. And all the days of my life were written in Your book before any of them came to be. (Psalm 139:13-16)

This absolutely blows my mind. The infinite God of the universe, the one who placed the stars in space and molded the mountains with His hands, knows every part of you and me before we’re born. He knit us together. He planned every day of our lives.

We have exceptional worth in His eyes … and so should every child, born or unborn.

Well, Eva,

I hope that this article helps you understand more about the personhood of the pre-born … and gives you helpful ways to discuss this extremely difficult issue with family and friends. May God bless your words!

Love,

Roger, Tim, and Brie

Citations:

1. McKay CP. What Is Life—and How Do We Search for It in Other Worlds? PLoS Biology. 2004;2(9):e302. doi:https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pbio.0020302

2. Phoenix Mars Mission – Education – Mars 101 – Habitability and Biology. Arizona.edu. Published 2019. http://phoenix.lpl.arizona.edu/mars141.php

3. NASA Astrobiology. astrobiology.nasa.gov. https://astrobiology.nasa.gov/…/characteristics-of-life/

4. Hill M. Timeline human development – Embryology. Unsw.edu.au. Published 2018. https://embryology.med.unsw.edu.au/…/Timeline_human…

5. Marquis D, Singer P. Abortion and Infanticide: A Critique of Peter Singer’s Views – Princeton University Media Central. Media Central Princeton University. https://mediacentral.princeton.edu/media/Abortion and InfanticideA A Critique of Peter Singer%27s Views/1_440ax19m/13495602. Published March 29, 2006. Accessed October 26, 2017.

6. United Nations. Universal Declaration of Human Rights. United Nations. Published December 10, 1948. https://www.un.org/…/universal-declaration-of-human-rights

7. Martin J, Sugarman JH, Hickinbottom S, Springerlink (Online Service. Persons: Understanding Psychological Selfhood and Agency. Springer New York; 2010.

8. Castiello U, Becchio C, Zoia S, et al. Wired to Be Social: The Ontogeny of Human Interaction. Rustichini A, ed. PLoS ONE. 2010;5(10):e13199. doi:https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0013199

9. Piontelli A, Springerlink (Online Service. Development of Normal Fetal Movements : The First 25 Weeks of Gestation. Springer Milan; 2010.

10. Nancy P, Tagliani E, Tay CS, Asp P, Levy DE, Erlebacher A. Chemokine Gene Silencing in Decidual Stromal Cells Limits T Cell Access to the Maternal-Fetal Interface. Science. 2012;336(6086):1317-1321. doi:https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1220030

October 21, 2024 0 comments

Articles

What Happens When People Cheer for Abortion

by Russell Moore May 6, 2022

written by Russell Moore

Many were alarmed and dispirited by footage of raucous cheering in the New York State Senate chamber. The “Happy Days Are Here Again” sort of celebration wasn’t for a bill to guarantee health care or repair roads or to reform the government. The applause and laughter was instead for a bill to remove any protections as persons from unborn children at any stage of pregnancy. While this video does indeed tell us much about the culture in which we live right now I actually think another piece of footage tells us more.

A few weeks ago, I watched an episode of a video series in which children ask questions of an adult. One episode featured an adult who was a mortician, for instance, in order to talk about death and grieving. This particular episode was a conversation between children and a woman who has had an abortion. What struck me the most is that it was a kind of Sunday school.

As someone who believes strongly in Sunday school, I’ve always bristled at the use of the term “Sunday school answer.” I get what the term is meant to imply: a shallow, surface-level answer that is given by children because they know what the adults around them expect. An old pulpit cliché would often talk about the Sunday school teacher who, about to tell a story about a squirrel, asked children what was furry, with a bushy tale, climbed trees, and stored up nuts for the winter. One child is said to have replied, “I know the answer is ‘Jesus,’ but I’m just trying to figure out how to get there.” The point of the cliché is that there’s a real answer, but then there’s the answer one is supposed to give.

That’s what appears to have happened in this interview between the abortion-rights activist and the children. The children seem to be trying to give the “right” answer. One says that abortion is okay, as long as it for “good reasons.” This answer is obviously the wrong one, as the adult seems to chastise him for differentiating between “good” reasons and “bad” reasons. Children keep using the word “baby” in reference to the “choice” that abortion is supposed to be about. The activist, whenever encountering some moral hesitation about abortion, asks the children whether their families are religious, as if to explain some irrational repression. The children seem to be trying to find what it is the adults want them to say, but there are some moral realities they can’t help but bump into along the way.

That’s both the good news and the bad news for those of us who believe in human dignity and the protection of human life, regardless of age, size, or vulnerability. In order to see the realities around us, we must have a thick Augustinian vision of both human createdness and human fallenness.

The fallen nature of humanity is evident. Who could cheer the potential to stop the beating hearts of children who are, in some cases, just weeks away from birth? And the closer one gets to the issue, the more one sees just how blinded by injustice people can get. Some who claim to be about protecting the weak from the strong are able to nonetheless completely ignore those, the unborn, who are politically unpopular in their tribe. And others, who are allegedly “pro-life,” are sometimes viciously antagonistic to the lives of others who are similarly politically unpopular in their mirror-image political tribes. The culture of death means that life is valued in terms of its power, and that is far deeper, and more dangerous, than just a momentary culture war.

If all we could see was the psychic wreckage of the Fall, we would be tempted toward despair, not only about justice for the unborn but about every aspect of the call for justice for the weak, a call for justice mandated by the life of Christ himself (Ps. 72:1-14). But the Fall is not the end of the story, nor is it the beginning.

People are created in the image of God, endowed not only with certain unalienable rights, as Mr. Jefferson correctly put it, but also with consciences that, in moments when not protected by the sin nature, can perceive the goodness of creation and the inevitability of judgment (Rom. 2:15-16). We speak about those the world doesn’t want to hear about—whether they are unborn children or abused women or neglected elderly or scapegoated migrants—not because we are “winning” on the issue at the moment, but because we must speak, conscience to conscience, with Judgment Day in view.

A sense of God’s creation keeps us from despair. A sense of the human Fall keeps us from triumphalism. In holding both together, we see the City of God and the City of Man together, one hurtling toward death, but the other Marching to Zion. Some of the consciences cheering on abortion, or slavery, or racism, or a multitude of other ghastly injustices may well be turned around, and may in good time lead in the cause of life and dignity and justice. Others will not. But whether we “win” or “lose” in the short-term, we see the full picture. We know, as Father Zosima put it in Dostoevsky’s Brothers Karamazov, “Your work is for the whole; your deed is for the future.”

The pro-life, pro-human dignity work is a long arc, and the more people know what we are talking about, the more will oppose it. We speak still, and, ultimately, we win. I suppose what I mean to write here is a Sunday school answer, one that is both true and beautiful.

I know the answer is “Jesus.” We’re just watching to see how to get there.

May 6, 2022 0 comments

Ask Roger

Who Decides the Value of a Life During a Pandemic?

by Roger Barrier May 15, 2020

written by Roger Barrier

Dear Roger,

Many factors determine who should receive treatment during a world-wide health crisis. Who lives? Who dies? Who receives life-giving treatments? Essential workers, health workers, the elderly have been chosen first in our own country. The most vulnerable are receiving help before others. But that is not always the case in our world.

Ken Turnage, a planning commissioner in Antioch, California is quoted as saying:

“Just as a forest fire clears dead brush, the sick, the old, the injured should be left to meet their ‘natural course in nature’ during the coronavirus outbreak. He characterized the …”elderly, the homeless and people with weak immune systems as a drain on society who should be left to perish.”

He confided, “If we were to live our lives, let nature run its course, yes we will all feel hardship, we will all feel loss,” but as a species the deaths would alleviate strain on the country’s healthcare and Social Security systems and free up jobs and housing. “As for “our homeless and other people who just defile themselves by either choice or mental issues, the virus would fix what is a significant burden on our society.” He was subsequently fired.

“Even 70-year-old Dan Patrick, lieutenant governor of Texas, offered himself up as a sacrificial lamb, saying if more people have to die to save the economy for future generations, “I’m all in.” And California Gov. Gavin Newsom initially advised hospitals to prioritize younger people for care during the pandemic, although those guidelines were later retracted.”

Many would say such views are extreme. But the pandemic is bringing out our best instincts and our worst, as well. How do we stop this terrifying trend of determining who lives or dies?

Sincerely,

Julie

Dear Julie,

Your observations about COVID-19 pose many questions. What is a human life worth? How are we responding unselfishly, compassionately? Are we seeing a Darwinian “survival of the fittest” mentality? How can we respond in a godly way?

ABORTION AS AN ESSENTIAL BUSINESS

Currently, 61% of Americans say abortion should be legal in all or most cases, while 38% say it should be illegal in all or most cases. During the pandemic, The National Abortion Federation declared abortion clinics should be considered “essential businesses.” Many states have fought to oppose this ruling.

Abortion contradicts the basic premise that God loved each child before birth. He planned every day of their lives:

“For You made the parts inside me. You put me together inside my mother’s womb. I will give thanks to You, for the greatness of the way I was made brings fear. Your works are great and my soul knows it very well. My bones were not hidden from You when I was made in secret and put together with care in the deep part of the earth.Your eyes saw me before I was put together. And all the days of my life were written in Your book before any of them came to be.” Psalm 139:13-16 NLV

No child’s life, born or unborn, should be devalued. Ever!

EXPENDABLE ELDERLY

Many over-crowded hospitals here and abroad have the impossible dilemma of determining which patient will receive a ventilator: a 40-year old patient or an 80-year old patient with underlying conditions. Tough, agonizing choice!

Steve Lopez of the LA Times writes: “It’s no accident that nursing homes — with too few supplies and resources for patients and employees — have become killing fields in a nation that has underfunded public health and failed to provide proper state and federal oversight of profiteering eldercare companies. Some see the elderly as expendable.” He continues, “we all want a return to something resembling normal, because people are hurting, they’re broke and they’re restless.”

‘You shall rise before the gray-headed and honor the aged, and you shall fear your God [with profound reverence]; I am the Lord. Leviticus 19:32 AMP

“Gray hair is a mark of distinction, the award for a God-loyal life.” Proverbs 16:31 MSG

What is the value of the life of one of our elders? They are the generation who braved the Spanish Flu, the Great Depression and two World Wars. They have wisdom and experience to help us brave our future challenges.

MARGINALIZING MINORITIES

The CDC reports: “When the Wuhan outbreak occurred, people around the world shunned people of Asian descent. Since then, minority groups who suffer the most infections live in densely populated areas, often serve as critical workers in crowded conditions with no paid sick leave and no health insurance. Many families live in multi-generational, smaller homes where isolation is not an option.”

Hatred and fear during epidemics have often caused racism. Jews were widely blamed for the Black Death and immigrant Irish workers held responsible for cholera epidemics in the 1830s.” In the early 1900s, African Americans were supposed to cause the spread of syphilis. MERS, often called the “Camel Disease,” appeared in the Middle Eastern population. African citizens were blamed for spreading Ebola and HIV.

Fear can devalue human life. Racism and superstition can prevent needed health care and foster distrust between us, just as we need each other the most!

The Samaritan woman at the well in John 4 is a perfect example. Jesus chose to reveal His Messiahship to a woman (a de-valued member of society), a Samaritan (despised by the Jews). She believed a different religion, and she was of questionable moral character.

Christians believe that all humans are made in God’s image, and are therefore sacred.

Jesus spent His ministry loving people of other races, socioeconomic and cultural backgrounds. We should love them in the same way.

IGNORING THE POOR

We must not ignore the poor, the hungry or the unemployed. Dire times require great sacrifice and selflessness!

Since March, 23.1 million Americans are unemployed. As America opens, we hope to see an uptick in our economy. But people are hurting and we cannot turn a blind eye.

Compassion and generosity is perfectly captured in Proverbs 14:31:

“Whoever is kind to the needy honors God.” NIV

Look at the Lord’s words about the goodness of King Josiah in Jeremiah 22:16:

“He defended the cause of the poor and needy, and so all went well. Is that not what it means to know me, declares the LORD?” NIV.

Jesus said, “Let me give you a new command: Love one another. In the same way I loved you, you love one another. This is how everyone will recognize that you are my disciples—when they see the love you have for each other.” John 13:34-35 MSG

EXPANDED EUTHANASIA

When do we turn off someone’s ventilator? Do we turn away patients needing care because hospitals have no room for infected patients? Will we, like other nations, determine euthanasia is an easy way out?

Ten countries and six states have legalized euthanasia. A new Dutch law was passed on January 1, 2020 stating that a person may be euthanized for mental illness or dementia as well as terminal health conditions. Here’s a chilling example: A psychiatric diagnosis is a more of a subjective assessment. Indeed, an otherwise healthy Dutch woman was euthanized 12 months after her husband’s death for “prolonged grief disorder.”

Rabbi Pinchas Winston made some astute observations: “Abortions and assisted suicides are both prohibited by the Noahide Law that prohibits the spilling of blood.”

“Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed; For in His image Did Jehovah make man.” Genesis 9:6

“It is unthinkable but many of these cases require a child giving permission to kill their parent,” Rabbi Winston said.

“Society seems to be moving in this direction as the connection between parent and child falls by the wayside. Abortion is a mother rejecting her child and euthanasia may be a child rejecting their parent.”

King Solomon declares, “No man has power over the wind to contain it; so no one has power over the day of his death.” Ecclesiastes 8:8 NIV

God has the final say over death (see 1 Corinthians 15:26, 54–56; Hebrews 2:9, 14–15; Revelation 21:4). Euthanasia and assisted suicide are man’s attempts to usurp that authority from God.

Pope John Paul II’s edict states:

“Nothing and no one can in any way permit the killing of an innocent human being, whether a fetus or an embryo, an infant or an adult, an old person, or one suffering from an incurable disease, or a person who is dying. There is a ‘culture of death’ in modern society, and said that human beings should always prefer the way of life to the way of death.” This means that suffering and pain do not stop life being valuable, and are not a reason for ending life. The church believes that each person should enter the dying process with all its mysteries with trust in God and in solidarity with their fellow human beings; they should die with the dignity of letting themselves be loved unconditionally.

“True compassion leads to sharing another’s pain; it does not kill the person whose suffering we cannot bear.”

“We must that each human life is a manifestation of God in the world, a sign of his presence, a trace of his glory. “The life which God offers to man is a gift by which God shares something of himself with his creature.”

So how do we determine the value of a human life? God did that for us. He told us we were made in His image. Further, He sent His only Son to die for all of the darkness and selfishness inside of every man. Jesus said, “Greater love has no man than this, that he lay down his life for His friends.” Jesus modeled that unconditional, selfless love. We must do no less.

I hope this helps.

Love,

Roger

May 15, 2020 0 comments

Ask Roger

Same-Sex Marriage: My Perspective

by Roger Barrier June 11, 2019

written by Roger Barrier

Dear Roger,

What do you think about gay marriage? I’d like your take on the issue.

Sincerely,

The Many Who Have Asked Me About Gay Marriage,

First, let me say that my wife Julie and I disagree about some of the things that I intend to share. That’s okay. There are many ways to look at this issue. She thinks one way; I think another way; and we both think we’re right.

These are the eight perspectives from which I look at this important, charged topic.

1. Jesus Never Wavered from His Top Priority

“I came to seek and to save those who were lost.”

“The good shepherd loves his sheep and gives up his life for them.”

“The good shepherd leaves behind his 99 lambs in order to search for one that was lost.”

“Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”

We must remember that winning gay couples to Christ is more important to Jesus than whether or not the law of any land allows them to marry.

2. JESUS NEVER ALLOWED CURRENT-DAY POLITICAL ISSUES TO DISTRACT HIM FROM HIS MAIN MISSION

You would think that with one-third of the people in Jesus’s day enslaved, he would have something to say about slavery. But he never mentioned it.

This in no way means that we should avoid the political arena. It does mean that when we enter the political arena nothing may take precedence over saving lost souls. Why? Because Jesus told us so.

In fact, he told the people to “give to Caesar what was Caesar’s, and to God what was God’s.” Instead of encouraging his followers to overcome the evil government, he encouraged them to pay taxes to it.

It does mean that when we do enter the political arena, we must be careful.

Circumstances may demand that we enter the political arena and fight for those in danger.

“Rescue those who are being taken away to death; hold back those who are stumbling to the slaughter. If you say, “Behold, we did not know this,” does not he who weighs the heart perceive it? Does not he who keeps watch over your soul know it, and will he not repay man according to his work?” (Proverbs 24:11-12).

So we battle against abortion in every arena possible to stop the murder factories killing children in America.

We fight for those who can’t fight for themselves.

Pedophiles need to be in prison. They are never cured. Once out of prison, statistics show that most return to their pedophilia within weeks, or months. Laws are needed to deal with issues like these.

Who could ever have imagined that Boy Scouts would allow gay male Scout leaders?

Some battles are worth fighting in the public arena. Some battles are just distractions. May Christians have wisdom to know the difference.

Jesus spoke harshly to the legalistic, judgmental Pharisees: “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites…. You serpents, you brood of vipers, how are you to escape being sentenced to hell… You blind men!… You shut the kingdom of heaven against man; for you neither enter yourselves, nor allow those who would enter to go in.” (Matthew Chapter 23).

If we are not careful, we pastors and church leaders can become “ministers of condemnation.”

The trend is downhill. George Barna’s research reveals that 78% of Americans surveyed think that the evangelical Christian church is the most judgmental segment of American society.

There’s nothing wrong with preaching about the reality of judgment as long as we’re doing it with broken hearts.

How often I hear Christians speak strongly against folks who are gay with words somewhat like these: “I hate the sin, but I love the sinner.”

I don’t believe you. That doesn’t fool anybody. It’s hard to love someone you don’t even know.

I love and admire Jeff Jones’s instructions to his staff at Chase Oaks Church: “You may not enter into the gay marriage discussion until you know at least one homosexual as a friend.”

I was speaking on homosexuality to an adult Bible study. At one point several people got on their high horses, and began to express their intolerance for gay people. As they saw it, homosexuality was a choice and those involved could choose to unchoose it if they wanted.

I glanced at a woman who was crying quietly near the back of the room.

“You’re hurting, aren’t you?”

“My youngest son is gay.”

No one said a word. To criticize in the theoretical abstract is easy. It is quite different when it’s your own son or daughter or a person you know, or the child of someone you know.

I recall sitting in a staff meeting when one of our pastors’ wives began talking about homosexuality. She made it quite clear that “those people” needed to be judged, condemned, and obliterated by the wrath of God as described in Romans chapter six.

Her husband sat quietly, not looking at his wife. She finally finished. He said, “My college roommate was gay.” She quickly changed her tune… but it was too late.

4. IT’S TIME TO ACKNOWLEDGE THAT SOME MEDICAL DATA – GENETICS, RESEARCH, AND ANATOMY – SUGGEST THE NATURAL VULNERABILITY OF SOME TO HOMOSEXUAL BEHAVIOR

Scientific research is producing more evidence that the gay attraction may very well be hard wired into both the anatomical and chemical makeup of some brains.

The anatomy of the homosexual brain is slightly different from heterosexual brain. For example, the hypothalamus of the homosexual brain is about 2/3 the size of a heterosexual one.

The thickness of the Corpus Callosum, a web of neurological bundles that send interacting signals between the left and right sides of the brain, for homosexuals is midway in size between heterosexual male and female sizes.

The tendency to be homosexual or heterosexual is influenced by the amount of testosterone produced in mother’s womb during pregnancy. With each succeeding male child, mom produces less and less testosterone. This means that the third-born male with a genetic disposition to homosexuality has a slightly increased chance of becoming a homosexual—3% to 4%.

As a general rule, each successive son born to mom statistically has less birth weight than the brothers born earlier. There is a direct correlation between low-birth weight and the propensity toward homosexuality.

By the way, males can get an approximate value of the amount of testosterone present in mother’s womb during their prenatal days by measuring the proportionate size between their ring and index fingers. The shorter the index finger is in proportion to the ring finger, the less testosterone was mother’s womb—and the more tendency to be effeminate.

Don’t get me wrong. Homosexual behavior is a sin at any level.

To those with homosexual leanings, God says, “Control yourself!” No one can close the spiritual gap from where they are to an intimate relationship with Jesus Christ while acting out homosexual behavior. Neither can heterosexuals who are involved in sexual behaviors outside of marriage. God says to them as well, “Control yourself!” We will never close the spiritual gap from where we are, to an intimate relationship with Christ while involved in heterosexual or homosexual behaviors outside of marriage.

In 1 Corinthians chapter 7 Paul discussed the positive aspects of singleness.

It is not a sin to have gay or lesbian feelings. It is a sin, according to Paul, to act upon them (the celibate lifestyle is not impossible. Many singles and church leaders have practiced it well for the glory of God).

5. FIGHTING AMONGST OURSELVES CERTAINLY DOESN’T HELP

Paul: “But I brethren, could not address you as spiritual men, but as babes in Christ…. For while there is jealousy and strife among you, are you not behaving like children?” (1 Corinthians 3:1-3).

Jesus: “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; even as I have loved you, that you also love one another by this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you have one love for one another” (John 3:34-35).

When I was a young pastor, my wife and I attended the Southern Baptist denomination annual meeting in Houston. There was a lot of controversy that year between the Conservatives and the Liberals. During the program time shouting and pushing broke out. Julie and I swore that we’d never go back again. The sight of Christians pushing and shoving was ugly. It’s always ugly and unattractive when Christians fight.

Why in the world would anyone want to spend time with people who often fight with each other?

I often ask two questions when I’m teaching a group. “How many of you came to Christ because you were afraid of going to hell (God’s judgment)?” A few hands raise. Then I ask, “How many of you were loved into the kingdom by someone’s compassion, care and attention?” The rest of the hands go up.

Please note that there is no yelling or condemnation recommended by Jesus. The only critical yelling he did was announcing “ten woes” to the Pharisees.

Our marching orders are to love our neighbors including the Lost, which includes the sinners, gays, drunkards, adulterers and thieves.

7. STILL, NO MATTER HOW MUCH WE TALK ABOUT LOVE AND ACCEPTANCE, GOD’S WRATH COMES STRONGLY INTO PLAY

Compassion and wrath intertwine at the cross.

John 3:18 is the judgment: “He who believes in Jesus is not condemned; he who does not believe is condemned already: because he has not believed in the name of the only son of God.”

John 3:16-17 is the love: “For God so loved the world that he gave his only son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God sent his son into the world, not to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through him.”

Romans chapter one gives a graphic picture of a society caught up in every known act of sin and debauchery. Those who practice homosexuality appear to top the list. In a downward spiral of the wrath of God, Paul tells us how God gave them over to sexual impurity, shameful lusts and depraved minds. Those involved in these despicable actions are under the wrath of God.

There can be little doubt that our United States is now experiencing the wrath of God.

We don’t need to wait for bombs and war to experience his wrath. There is a time when God finally removes Himself from a society and abandons it to its own degradation and sin. We are experiencing his wrath in the devolution of the values, morals and activities of our present culture.

Paul observed in Romans 1:24-27:

“Therefore, God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another. …Even their women exchanged natural relations for unnatural ones. In the same way the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another. Men committed indecent acts with other men, and received in themselves the due penalty for their perversion.”

“Sinful desires” is the Greek word, Epithumia, which described a “reaching out after pleasure that defies all reason.” It’s like Paul was saying, “What in the world are they doing?”

Paul also avoided using the normal word for “women” and chooses to use the word for a female animal (thelus). He also avoided using the normal word for male (anthropos or aner) and chooses to use the word for a male animal (arosen). Paul pictured a society which turned their backs on God, who turned them loose to act like animals.

What do we do for the individuals now living in the throes of God’s wrath? We remember that our top priority is to love them into the kingdom where their sins are forgiven and their hearts are turned toward God.

8. “Who Left the Barn Door Open?”

Regarding gay marriage as law, the horse is out of the barn. We lost. Oh, there will still be some skirmishes here and there across the country, but for all practical purposes the struggle is over and we came in second.

Instead of standing in judgment and waiting for people to burn, we’d best do our best to help those under God’s wrath come into the kingdom. We do it with love, not by yelling and calling them names.

The best we can do is to pray earnestly and once again become the people who love God and love each other in hopes of reaching lost hearts.

Love,

Roger

June 11, 2019 0 comments

Ask Roger

15 Pro-Life Truths to Speak

by Roger Barrier January 29, 2019

written by Roger Barrier

“You will know the truth and the truth will set you free.” – Jesus Christ

1. Existing fetal homicide laws make a man guilty of manslaughter if he kills the baby in a mother’s womb (except in the case of abortion).

2. Fetal surgery is performed on babies in the womb to save them while another child the same age is being legally destroyed.

3. Babies can sometimes survive on their own at 23 or 24 weeks, but abortion is legal beyond this limit.

4. Living on its own is not the criterion of human personhood, as we know from the use of respirators and dialysis.

5. Size is irrelevant to human personhood, as we know from the difference between a one-week-old and a six-year-old.

6. Developed reasoning powers are not the criterion of personhood, as we know from the capacities of three-month-old babies.

7. Infants in the womb are human beings scientifically by virtue of their genetic make up.

8. Ultrasound has given a stunning window on the womb that shows the unborn at eight weeks sucking his thumb, recoiling from pricking, responding to sound. All the organs are present, the brain is functioning, the heart is pumping, the liver is making blood cells, the kidneys are cleaning fluids, and there is a fingerprint. Virtually all abortions happen later than this date.

9. Justice dictates that when two legitimate rights conflict, the limitation of rights that does the least harm is the most just. Bearing a child for adoption does less harm than killing him.

10. Justice dictates that when either of two people must be inconvenienced or hurt to alleviate their united predicament, the one who bore the greater responsibility for the predicament should bear more of the inconvenience or hurt to alleviate it.

11. Justice dictates that a person may not coerce harm on another person by threatening voluntary harm on themselves.

12. The outcast and the disadvantaged and exploited are to be cared for in a special way, especially those with no voice of their own.

13. What is happening in the womb is the unique person-nurturing work of God, who alone has the right to give and take life.

14. There are countless clinics that offer life and hope to both mother and child (and father and parents), with care of every kind lovingly provided by people who will meet every need they can.

15.Jesus Christ can forgive all sins, and will give all who trusts him the help they need to do everything that life requires.

www.desiringgod.org.

January 29, 2019 0 comments

Articles

15 Pro-Life Truths to Speak

by John Piper January 29, 2019

written by John Piper