Author: vchininin

The Unplanned Political Pregnancy – When Your Candidate Doesn’t Win

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Angela Chininin Buele

When the votes are all counted and the concession has been made, the supporters of one candidate will breathe a sigh of relief, give a shout of victory, and start figuring out how to realize all of those campaign promises.

And what about the other side(s)?  Well, hopefully those candidates and their supporters will be grateful for the opportunity to take a vacation and catch up on sleep.

As for those of us in the middle of two awful choices, our response should be the same upon hearing of victory proclaimed in either camp – prayer.  We are called to pray for our leaders whether or not we voted for them.  We are called to respect them, whether or not they act respectably.  You see, unless another candidate is able to gain enough support to upset the current nominees, people dissatisfied with both candidates – people like me – will be facing an unplanned political pregnancy beginning on November 8th.  And abortion is not an option.

Just as with physical conception of a new life, God has made no mistake.  His purpose in each and every event is to open the eyes of more and more people to see their need for Him, not for any candidate or policy.  As we see Him work, we are to ask Him to complete His perfect work of revealing the wrongs and replacing them with repentance, bringing about restoration and real change.

Perseverance.  Perseverance will be required because there will be growing pains – probably more than a few.  But God is in control, and this is a wake-up call is a gift from Him.  How?  He is sustaining us this day as He shows us the decay of “the very best” rulers we could come up with.  If we cry out for mercy and submit ourselves to His loving Lordship, He will not leave us or forsake us – not in the darkest political hour, and not in an unexpected pregnancy.

Key Question: Are you willing to put your faith in God’s sovereignty over all circumstances?

Unshakable Truth:  First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people, for kings and all who are in high positions, that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way.  This is good, and it is pleasing in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.  For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all, which is the testimony given at the proper time (1 Timothy 2:2).

God desires to save the lost.  Let us ask Him to use all of these unsavory political events to point more and more people to the one mediator between God and man – Jesus Christ.  The time is now for this desperately under-acknowledged testimony.

The Real Choice: When you cry out for salvation, will it be to your political candidate or to the King of Kings?

Partial-Birth Abortion – If You Can’t Stomach It, How Can You Support It?

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Angela Chininin Buele

Partial-birth abortion has come into the realm of fact checkers after the third presidential debate.  In showing that D&X abortions are rare, NPR fact checkers pointed us to a 10-year-old article that shows a 2000 statistic from the Alan Guttmacher Institute that reports the number of these types of abortions to be 2,200 for that year, or “about 0.2 percent of the 1.3 million abortions believed to be performed that year.”  I have not been able to locate newer statistics.

But, I want to go down a different path.  It may be rocky, but come with me.

When does life begin?  When is a new human classified as such?

Don’t make the mistake of reading on until you have answered.  If you can’t give yourself an honest answer inside your own head, that should be quite concerning.  Thinking through this, and thinking for yourself are both very important.  I don’t want you to cheat yourself in this activity.

Did you answer?

Does life begin at conception?  That is when multiplication of cells begins, with body formation and organ functionality becoming established within a few weeks.  This makes sense and is quite consistently identified as scientific fact in human biology texts like the ones from which we were taught in school.

Does life begin when the ultrasound shows the profile of a little person or when the heartbeat can be heard on the Doppler?  Is seeing believing?  Is the tree that fell when no one was there to hear really not lying around, waiting for someone to trip over it?  More importantly, is that scientific fact?

Does life begin at the point of viability?  Because of current medical advancements, babies born around the 23rd week of gestation have a fighting chance of surviving–with lots of help from loving parents and a diligent NICU team.  Unfortunately, a fighting chance is not always enough as some babies live to adulthood after being born this early while others may die after being born at the same point (or later) in gestation.  New advancements in the future may move the point of viability to an even earlier point of gestation.  A moving standard is not a solid way to determine the beginning of life.  Plus, what does this say about that life up to that point?  That it carries less worth?

Does life begin at birth?  Delivery takes place, the baby is finally seen in all of his or her glorious and unique details, and the birth certificate is completed.  This is more a political and citizenship detail.  The only scientific difference is in methods of eating and breathing.  A brand new car does not become a car when a happy buyer drives it off the lot. Any mechanic, or any observer for that matter, would testify to the fact that it was indeed a car all along.

Does life begin whenever a woman wants it to?  It does not take a lot of observation to realize that the will of a person is not really the sovereign and determinant factor over the creation of a new life. Wishful thinking does not bring about new life.  Wishful thinking and regret do not end a life once it has started.  Many strategies can be used to attempt to avoid bringing about life from sexual union. Yet, regardless of the amount of control one may believe to have over the bringing forth of new life, we are reminded of our smallness. Plans fail.  Human-made devices are not foolproof.  And that is really why we find ourselves in this predicament.  Abortion is touted as necessary because of this. Because our will does not have ultimate power in the creation of life.  It can only bring forth destruction.

 

If you keep emotions and the talk of rights out of the conversation, are you really able to argue using science that life does not begin at conception?  I don’t think so. 

Perhaps the question we should ponder is: When should life be ended, if ever? 

Is it simply a matter of possession?  If you believe that a woman who has possession of her unborn child has the right to end that life without consequence, you would have to praise the current Filipino President.  He encourages the murder of thousands of suspected criminals apart from due-process.  Yes, vigilantes are killing thousands with impunity, and no one follows up to make sure that the motive was self-defense or that there was evidence the person was even a drug dealer.

Does this sound barbaric?  It is.  It is also the exact same barbarism that abortion is in this country.  The ideal standard of abortion-rights activists here is: for any reason, at any point of gestation, anywhere, and without apology.  (Yes, they do use the words safe and rare to cool off the rhetoric).  Yet since that is law, there are people seeking and performing abortions in the last trimester of pregnancy after the point of viability has been reached. 

These are observable facts–two cells unite and multiply, organs develop marvelously and at great speed, ultrasounds can be seen, heartbeats can be heard, premature children live and breathe, babies are born, a person’s will is not sovereign.  So, let’s go to justice.  We would all agree that justice would demand that a police officer must not kill a suspect if there is any other way to apprehend him/her without jeopardizing the life and safety of all persons in the vicinity.  In such a case, justice points us to protection for all people. Similarly, the unborn child ought to be protected at all times. If the mother’s physical life is in peril, the child’s will be, too.  Therefore, it is reasonable to deliver the child alive and allow him or her the opportunity to receive medical care and the opportunity to live.  Children should never be dismembered in the womb.  This is not justice.

It is easy to list those 2,200 children killed in the year 2000 as a 0.2 statistic to label a procedure as rare.  This is not justice.  Even if only one had died in this manner.  This is not justice.  The baby is pulled all the way out except for the head.  The abortionist then kills the child, puncturing the baby’s head.  The baby is removed.  This is not justice.

Key Question: Is it ever right to kill a child instead of delivering him or her?

Unshakable Truth:  For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother’s womb.  I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.  Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well.  My frame was not hidden from you, when I was being made in secret, intricately woven in the depths of the earth.  Your eyes saw my unformed substance; in your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there was none of them (Psalm 139:13-16).

The child who grows in the womb is a human being just as unique and precious as the person who is currently reading these words.  Maybe the baby is a girl, and the mother wants a boy.  Maybe the baby has a deformity and will have a short life expectancy.  Maybe the mother already has a few children and doesn’t believe she can raise another one.  Each and every one of these children has been formed by and is known by God.  And God himself is witness to their execution.  He remembers them and mourns them.  And He will call their murderers to account.

The Real Choice:  Will you stand up for viable children to be delivered alive, or will you sit quietly as they continue to be poisoned and butchered in the womb?

Words-Myth: Debunking the Blab

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Angela Chininin Buele

When you dare to put something in writing, you are subject to a variety of consequences if your words come back to bite you.  You might face severe ridicule if you get your facts jumbled; or you could face legal action if you have committed libel against another person.

But sometimes, to my bewilderment, no one interjects to cry foul on some pretty clear cut matters.  This is what happens when we – yes, me, too – speak (or listen) to serve our own purposes instead of our Maker’s.

One of these reckless rhetoric lines is that someone is “unqualified to be President” because of his or her character flaws.  As agreeable as this standard would be, all it takes to be a qualified candidate is: being a natural born U.S. citizen, who is at least 35 years of age and who has resided a minimum of 14 years in the United States.  That’s it.  If you can get enough people to vote for you, intelligence, ethics, and manners are admirable qualities that are not constitutionally mandated.

Another, painfully common claim is that someone’s perspective or position on an issue (usually a hot topic) has “evolved.”  The term evolve has become a common replacement for both “develop” (slow transition in the same general direction) and “switch” (complete turn-around, often abrupt).  When used in the context of switching from the former standard of acceptable practice to the new wave of culture, this term can communicate compliance and spare the “evolved” party from social rejection.  However, hypocrisy is glaring when one says he/she has “evolved” on a certain issue but then accuses an adversary of having “flip-flopped” on something else.

Oddly enough, I recall having been quite sad upon hearing of the murder of Matthew Shepherd when many of my high school classmates were casually slinging around words like “f*g” and “q*eer” as the highest of insults.  Some of those old classmates, however, have testified today to their personal evolution and have been pardoned, records expunged and all.  This might flow seamlessly in many social circles, but is it really the best way forward to loosely hold to positions that bend in time with the whims of public opinion?

And then there is the statement that “the unborn person doesn’t have constitutional rights.”  Reviewing the U.S. Constitution, The Bill of Rights, and The Declaration of Independence shows that the Ninth Amendment leaves room for understood and unspoken human rights.  The Fourteenth Amendment guarantees that no State shall deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny the equal protection of the law.  The judicial maneuvers led by Justice Blackmun to redefine the meaning of a person do not make the Roe decision any less wrong.  Period.

Key Question: Are we willing to hold high the standard of truth in our words and our deeds?

Unshakable Truth: “For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths.  As for you, always be sober-minded, endure suffering, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry”  (2 Timothy 4:3-5).

The Real Choice: Do you want the truth?

 

The Talk: What I Would Ask Presidential Candidate Hillary Clinton

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Angela Chininin Buele

When a recent presidential debate took place in our metropolitan area, my husband and I actually thought that we might be able to acquire tickets to the event.  We soon discovered there were no such tickets available to locals like us who aren’t politically influential.  In fact, not even the establishment where the debate was being held was given the benefit of tickets to distribute to its employees.  Considering the desperate condition of our nation, I suppose that a town hall meeting not being authentically “locally grown” should not surprise me.

Since campaign stops are quite infrequent in my neck of the woods, and I was unable to find an option to ask the candidate a question on her campaign’s official website, I am resigned to ask the questions in this forum, hoping that someone like you might have the chance to meet Hillary Clinton on the trail and ask her one or more of these questions for me.

“When does a life begin?  Is that when Constitutional rights begin?  If not, why not?”

“Are pro-lifers part of your basket of deplorables?”

“Your campaign slogan is ‘Stronger Together.’  How would you represent the pro-life community and build togetherness?”

Key Question:  Should people be single-issue voters over abortion?

Unshakable Truth:  “See, I have set before you today life and good, death and evil. If you obey the commandments of the Lord your God that I command you today, by loving the Lord your God, by walking in his ways, and by keeping his commandments and his statutes and his rules, then you shall live and multiply, and the Lord your God will bless you in the land that you are entering to take possession of it.  But if your heart turns away, and you will not hear, but are drawn away to worship other gods and serve them, I declare to you today, that you shall surely perish. You shall not live long in the land that you are going over the Jordan to enter and possess.  I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and curse. Therefore choose life, that you and your offspring may live, loving the Lord your God, obeying his voice and holding fast to him, for he is your life and length of days, that you may dwell in the land that the Lord swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give them” (Deuteronomy 30:15-20).

The Real Choice:  Are you ready to reject death/curse/evil and choose life/blessing/good?

Adoption – Give Joy. Don’t Destroy It.

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Angela Chininin Buele

What are some of the reasons behind a woman seeking an abortion?  Poverty, abusive or ended relationship with the father, potential or confirmed disability of the unborn child, wrong time in life/career to raise children, and concern for overpopulation of the world are some that I have heard over the years.

So, how do all of those potential reasons excuse aborting instead of giving the child up for adoption?  If a woman is poor, she might already receive public aid and could receive additional help from a family eager to adopt her child.  Private assistance is also available to the women in abusive relationships, pregnant with disabled children, and career or education-focused.  These babies are wanted, and resources are available to help care for them.  And if overpopulation is a reason to abort, we find ourselves in quite the contradiction as communities cry out for no-kill shelters for animals and on-demand abortion mills for humans.

Clearly, some of the situations referenced above can cause fear, sadness, and other strong emotional reactions.  But, just as someone who is contemplating suicide needs help re-gaining perspective on the situation, women in crisis pregnancies are desperate for someone to be with them, listening and offering lasting help and a happy ending.  One thing women in a state of panic should consider is that parenting a child is a one-of-a-kind adventure that allows you to grow and learn, love and have fun just as you see your child do the same.  Adoption, on the other hand, is the option that gives women the opportunity to give life twice – once to the child, and then to a family longing for a child.

Believe it or not, there are even more reasons that women and couples might seek an abortion.  Race, sex, cleft palate, and twins instead of singleton are some of the more chilling reasons I have heard.  It is unfathomable.  The technology designed to give parents a glimpse of their eagerly awaited child(ren) is now the very scope used to ascertain their unworthiness of life.  As more and more anomalies of human behavior are deemed acceptable outside of the womb, fewer and fewer “imperfections” are tolerated among the unborn.

I know what some of you are thinking: How can you dare to require a woman to carry a child she does not want for nine months in order to give him or her up for adoption?  After all, she might face health risks, she will likely be under more stress than usual, and she will likely be asked personal questions that may make her feel uncomfortable.  These may be true, but think about this: Imagine a woman was holding her infant in her arms when an active shooter appeared. Now, imagine that the woman throws her baby down so that she can run faster to get away from the shooter. She might live, but what does she live with, and who will stand in her defense?

Key Question:  Does the trend that leans away from adoption show women as givers or takers of the life entrusted to them?

Unshakable Truth: (Jesus)“A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and he fell among robbers, who stripped him and beat him and departed, leaving him half dead.  Now by chance a priest was going down that road, and when he saw him he passed by on the other side.  So likewise a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side.   But a Samaritan, as he journeyed, came to where he was, and when he saw him, he had compassion.  He went to him and bound up his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he set him on his own animal and brought him to an inn and took care of him.  And the next day he took out two denarii and gave them to the innkeeper, saying, ‘Take care of him, and whatever more you spend, I will repay you when I come back.’  Which of these three, do you think, proved to be a neighbor to the man who fellt among the robbers?”  He said, “The one who showed him mercy.” And Jesus said to him, “You go, and do likewise” (Luke 10:30-37).

The Real Choice: Are you a merciful neighbor?

You Might Be More Like a Jehovah’s Witness That You Would Like to Admit

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Victor Chininin Buele

It’s Saturday.  I’m up in my office reading through Galatians 1, agonizing to see if this is the right section of scripture to share with a dear friend today to encourage him, to point him to Jesus. I’m questioning for the fifth time the song choices for tomorrow’s service. Will these songs help the congregation acknowledge their need for God and allow them to freely show that they love Him?

It’s also the day when I have a higher probability of being interrupted by that typical knock at the door.  Knock, knock.  Who’s there?  Are you ready for Armageddon? Oh, my dear friends, come in, come in…  And I do let them in.  It is both a hoot and the saddest thing.  The Holy Spirit confirms that I love Jesus, and I do love Jehovah.  And I am supposed to be a witness of what God has done for my soul.  So, why not?

My purpose with this is to show you how might be more like a Jehovah’s Witness than you would like to admit.

Who Says?

You know it.  You hate that knock on the door.  You practice your best line.  You open the door naked (well, maybe not).  It can become quite the fun game, “How to get rid of the Jehovah’s Witness?”  A few years ago, a dear friend of ours in Loja answered the door.  She came in after quickly dismissing our visitors.  I asked, lifting my head from the production problem of the moment, “Who was it?” “Oh, some people talking about how to have a better family,” she said.  I answered, “Who says what?”  And two things simultaneously hit me:

  1. It’s the Jehovah’s Witnesses!  Open the door, I must go chase them and talk to them.
  2. This is the one issue that matters for the whole Jehovah’s Witness system of thought–“Who says what?”

Allow me to explain.  The Watchtower Society is the only way one can understand what the Bible says.  That key statement is the most important belief in their system of logic.  It really summarizes it all.  They believe that nobody can ever understand the Bible without somebody from the organization explaining it to them, or at the very least, without using one of the officially-sanctioned publications available to you as a gift from them right there on the spot or available online in more than N number of languages.

The Christian needs not to tangle in heavy theological arguments about whether birthdays can be celebrated, whether Jesus is God, whether the Trinity is an invention of men, whether blood transfusions are allowed, whether we should vote for president. It all breaks if this key principle is false.  The entire Watchtower “theology” hinges on the belief that you are incapable of finding out the truth of the Bible without help.

How, then, might I be more like the Jehovah’s Witnesses than I would like to admit?

This is not an article about the Jehovah’s Witnesses.  Books could be written about that.  The focus here is on ourselves.  How are you like the Jehovah’s Witnesses?  I want to leave you with these questions/points to consider:

Why do you actually believe what you believe? (Don’t say you don’t believe in anything, please, because you do.  You truly do.  Even if it is “I don’t believe in anything.”)  Do you believe because others tell you?  How do you go about confirming or denying what somebody tells you?  As Abraham Lincoln said, “Don’t believe everything you see on the Internet.”

Let’s take a perhaps controversial example–

Let’s say that you believe that the economy is recovering because of the numbers you hear on the media about unemployment and GDP growth.  How do you go about knowing if that’s true?  I remember that in my first economics class in graduate school, the professor kindly asked if we really understood what unemployment figures really mean.  Very few of the students knew what I had learned from my father’s books-that the number is based on the number of people actually actively engaged in the economy.  So, if you quit looking, you’re no longer counted.  That’s skewed.  (And so are all statistics to one degree or another).  Has the number improved?  Yes, but asking why is very important.

The other day I drove through Hazelwood, MO, home of the once vital St. Louis Mills Mall, an outlet mall.  The area surrounding the mall is dead, economically speaking.  Last week I was at the Chesterfield St. Louis Premium Outlet Malls.  I thought to myself, “Hey! That’s where everything went!”  So, aren’t we going to report that they numbers look great for the region because perhaps the gain in Chesterfield surpasses the loss in the other region? Does it matter what kinds of jobs are being added?  Do you actually call it a recovery if we see a larger percentage of retail jobs being added compared to high tech jobs?  How do you know if I’m messing with you, like I did with the Lincoln “quote” above?  How do you discern truth?

Because if you aren’t watching you may just be believing something because you heard your favorite talking head say it.  Or because you read it on the Internet.

And you are doing the same level of proselytizing that the Witnesses do:

– Fritanga is a great restaurant.  We were just there last night!
– My company is a great place to work.  You must join us.
– My children are great, like our picture on Facebook.
– Stay out of my body.  It’s my choice!
– Defend the sanctity of human life
– Keep your hands off my guns
– Protect the vulnerable children of schools from gun violence
– Don’t bully
– Friends don’t let friends vote for Trump
– Down with Crooked Hillary
– and on, and on and on…

We are evangelists by nature.  It matters what our message is.  It matters how we know it’s true because we will be passionate about telling others about it.  It’s in our design.

Planned Parenthood – An Educational Tour of Their Website

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Angela Chininin Buele

My family drives by the Planned Parenthood abortion facility when we go into the city.  We have prayed passing by, and we have prayed standing on the sidewalk outside of their building.  The prayer is simply to lead people to give thanks for life –theirs and others’– and to see an end to abortion.

On one occasion, we even went inside the building to inform the staff that the state flag was hung upside-down on their flag pole.  That was a very stressful event.  Even though we were doing them a favor by letting them know, I was actually a little scared of what the reaction might be when my husband told them that we had been praying for the people in the building when he noticed the incorrectly positioned flag.  The employee questioned us curiously about our sidewalk prayer, but there was no angry escort to the door.

We have not returned since, but I recently decided to fact-check all of the information I am told about Planned Parenthood by my pro-life sources. I’d like to tell you about those findings.

The official Planned Parenthood web site is not pink, surprisingly.  As it turns out, pink is the preferred color for the side of Planned Parenthood that drives the abortion rights political activity.  The official site’s pages is mostly blue, white, and orange.

The Learn page has an alphabetical list of topics, and Abortion is the first item.  On that same list, you can find a link for the Pregnancy page.  Clicking on the Pregnancy Week by Week link takes you to a very informative chronological description of the child’s development and the common symptoms the mother may be going through at that same stage.  I was surprised to find that there are appropriate illustrations showing the child’s growth each month.  But, back on the Abortion page, descriptions are much shorter, and more vague.  And there aren’t any illustrations.  There is a video, but it is just as vague about medical facts and abortion procedures as the written material.

I see that since abortion starts with the first letter of the alphabet, it is accurately placed at the top of the list on the list of topics about which one might learn.  However, if you click on the Pregnancy Options link on the Pregnancy page, the options are given in this order: abortion, adoption, and parenting.  That seems odd to me, but the Abortion page does inform readers at the very top of the page that abortions performed in the first trimester can cost anywhere up to $1,500.  Since that money would benefit Planned Parenthood, it makes sense for their business to highlight that “service” at the top of list.  After all, adoption and parenting don’t profit PP.

The Get Care page has options for finding a PP location, getting birth control, urinary tract infection (UTI) treatment, or sexually transmitted disease (STD) testing, all online.  There is no reference to abortion here.

The Get Involved page leads you to another site that is not bi-partisan, as the official site claims to be, and is actually quite clear about who should be voted for and who should be ousted.

On the Who Are We page, “abortion” appears zero times, while the pledge to help “prevent” or “reduce” unintended pregnancies appears four times.  This makes it sound like they are a group dedicated to preventing unintended pregnancies, not the nation’s largest provider of abortion, which ends the life of a child in order to terminate, not prevent, a pregnancy.

https://www.plannedparenthood.org/learn/pregnancy/stages-pregnancy

https://www.plannedparenthood.org/learn/abortion

Key Question: What is the comprehensive cultural contribution of Planned Parenthood?

Unshakable Truth: “There is a way that seems right to man, but in the end it leads to death”  (Proverbs 16:25).

While there may be cancer screenings available at Planned Parenthood facilities, is that really a service unavailable at doctors’ offices and hospitals?  Those places accept patients with low incomes who likely qualify for Medicaid.  What else do they offer -sex education, contraceptives, and mammogram referrals?  Planned Parenthood doesn’t corner the market on any of those services.  What they do more of than any other organization is end the lives of unborn children.  But their annual report from 2014-2015 shows that only 3% of their “services” are abortions.  That does NOT say that only 3% of their revenue comes from abortion or that only 3% of the clients they see seek abortions.  I think those would be very interesting statistics to learn.

The truth is that they work to expand access to abortions.  And since I don’t imagine that any of their other services cost hundreds or thousands of dollars, increasing the number of abortions they perform would increase their profit.  It seems right to the CEO, Cecile Richards.  Some pro-abortion advocates saying abortion is right “because it’s legal” seems right to them.  The problem is that the way that seems right to them ends in death, which is, in fact, the goal of every abortion performed.

The Real Choice: Do you “stand with” some people as an abortion advocate or with all people as a pro-life advocate?

The Twisted Culture of Death: How Clowns Have Been Made The Terror Scapegoat

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Angela Chininin Buele

As a kid, I really enjoyed Halloween.  Obviously, the candy and dressing up as my current favorite character or animal were favorite traditions.  I even tested the waters of scary movies, but I couldn’t – and still can’t, or won’t – do it.

As a parent now, I wonder how the whole Halloween thing ever became widely accepted.  I mean, we spend all year teaching our kids not to walk along streets in the dark, wandering into unknown neighborhoods, taking candy from strangers.  And then, for one night, should we tell them all of that is OK.  I never thought of this as a contradiction when I was a kid, but that’s what stands out to me as a concern now.

Now, you might like to know that our kids dress up almost every day, so they get in more than their fair share of play.  And as for our porch light on October 31st, sometimes it’s on and sometimes it’s off.  Sometimes we have a bowl of candy, and once we might have had boxes of raisins.  Did you judge me just then?  Easy, now.  We don’t have a hard and fast rule against Halloween, nor do we lean into the current practices.  In fact, I’ve actually had an idea bouncing around inside my head lately about something different for our family to do this year.  I won’t bore you with the details here, but you should know that there are Christians thinking about how to meet new people during this time of year to bless them.

I guess I never thought that the cloud of terrorism would be identified as an issue surrounding the observance of Halloween.  I mean, people have been making lots and lots of money for decades on horror and gore of all kinds.  Schools have, thankfully, banned such grotesque costumes.  But the truth remains:  The skeletons, the witches, the chainsaws, and the severed body parts are all part of the celebration of death.  But, apparently this year, it’s the clown that is the real bad guy.

People have recently been dressing up and acting like the character from the 1990 movie It, and Stephen King has made a public statement trying to get them to stop.  The author who has profited from this writing for over 20 years now seems to want people to not be terrified by his work of horror.  It seems a bit audacious that he would act as a figure leading away from terror and toward security.   This seems more than a little shady to me.  And, in the meantime, poor Ronald McDonald has had to suspend public appearances because of the scary clown sightings.

The story is quite similar at Planned Parenthood.  They have been making money by dismembering unborn babies and piecing them back together for decades.  Last year, their staff members were shown to have discussed the profits and procedures behind distributing these body parts.  Then, Planned Parenthood, the leading abortion provider in the nation, presented itself as a victim, a philanthropic organization invested in saving women’s lives, and misrepresented by the videos released by The Center for Medical Progress.  Planned Parenthood can’t be proud of what they do in rhetoric and yet act as if they were victimized in the revelation of their practices.  The culture of death and darkness will be defeated.  You just have to turn on the Light.

Key Question: Are you drawn to enjoy the darkness or the light?

Unshakable Truth:  “Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life”  (John 8:12).

This verse comes at the end of the story of the woman caught in adultery.  Jesus saved her from the bloodthirsty crowd, ready to stone her for her sins.  Then, he set her free to “go and sin no more.”  There is hope, forgiveness, mercy, a warm embrace ready for those who turn from the celebration of death to the love of life.  You are welcome in the light.

The Real Choice:  Will you come into the light?

From Equal Rights to Sole Responsibility: Lies Men and Women Have Believed About Children

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Angela Chininin Buele

1.  The lie of neutrality

There is no neutrality when it comes to abortion.  If you are pro-life, you know abortion kills a human being, and you want to see the practice ended.  If you are pro-choice you may or may not know that abortion kills a human being, but you have decided that women are in the unique position to end the life of their child at any point before the rest of the world sees her face and officially records her presence on the earth.  If you have ever thought you were “pro-choice, but personally against abortion,” you have been mistaken.  You cannot be personally against people dying but politically driven to make sure other people have the right to kill them.

2.  The lie of peace

Women might be told that an abortion will make them feel so much better.  But the truth is that many women feel pain, fear, regret, and loneliness during and after and abortion.  There is no promise of peace.  There is no post-abortion counseling offered at the abortion clinic.  The goal there is to end life without offering anything to fill the void left.

 3. The lie of choice

We all make choices, and we make them in order to see certain goals realized in our lives.  We all have important choices to make, but they must all be made in the interest and protection of other people.  If one chooses not to have children, the goal would be not to conceive a child.  Getting pregnant and then taking action not to have children is impossible.  The child already exists.  Now, a decision to not parent the child and instead give her up for adoption is a choice that gives life.  This gift blesses the child and the mother.  They both receive the opportunity to live a full life, to write a happy ending. Shame and deep sadness, mourning and regret are not the first things to be included under the heading The Good Life.  To choose to abort does not prevent a woman from having a child.  It simply ends the growing child’s life.  And it leaves her empty.

4.  The lie of never growing up

Men who want to be boys think they can use women for sex and then leave.  They think they can say things aren’t working out when the woman becomes pregnant.  A man who is not willing to actively father his child negates his own manhood.  He wants authority but is not willing to care for or help others.  He is his own priority.  This attitude –this culture– is unable to bring growth, true flourishing.  It only leads to death.  And this can contribute to the fear and loneliness that drive women to consider abortion.

5.  The lie of equal rights

President Obama’s State of the Union speech in January 2013 sharply confronted deadbeat dads who leave kids fatherless.  This rebuke was warranted as so many children are born into already broken families.  What seemed disjointed about this accusation, however, was that President Obama is very outspoken in his support of abortion rights.  Under the current law, a woman who doesn’t want to give birth to her child, regardless of the father’s willingness to raise the child, is said to have goals and personal rights to abort for any reason.  The law does not protect the child’s right to live, and the law does not give the father the right to protect his child’s right to live.  Only the woman is given sovereignty to kill her child without penalty.  These are not equal rights; they are sovereign rights.  And they can contribute to the problem of fatherlessness by denying fathers the opportunity to  protect their children.

Key Question: Have you believed any of these lies?

Unshakable Truth: “Lead me in your truth and teach me, for you are the God of my salvation; for you I wait all the day long” (Psalm 25:5).

Ironically enough, the claim that abortion will help a woman feel better is not more ridiculous than hearing someone claim that becoming a Christian will make life so much easier!  When one follows Jesus, the road leads to the cross.  But when we lay down our lives so that we can be given new life in Christ, the hardest thing (surrender) leads to the very best thing (life in the light).  Here we see that the goal of the cross is to give new life.

The Real Choice: Will you reject the lies that offer death and believe the truth that gives life?

Branding and Shunning: Adult Life Today Can Be Shamefully Similar to High School, or Even Worse

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Angela Chininin Buele

I think we can all admit there are some downright shameful things taking place and being revealed on the campaign trail these days.  It is so sad to know that, in all likelihood, one of two scandalous and untrustworthy people will be elected to the office of President this November.  But I have noticed a trend in the way pundits address this situation.  They are shocked.  Some are shocked that the candidates – both of them – say rude and offensive things.  Others are shocked that investigations into past business dealings – again, of both of them – haven’t led to criminal charges and the end of a campaign (or race).

My question is: Why are we shocked?  This nation has tuned its ears and eyes to the latest buzz of both of these people for decades.  I have seen their family scandals on the evening news since I was a teenager.  From multiple marriages to multiple affairs, the news was full of gossip about both of these people, and yet they were still like brand names because we weren’t counting those sins as fatal flaws back then.  Fast forward 20 years.  Now they both want to be President, and the more we peel back each of these onions, the more pungent the aroma.  While a common reaction is to send the Presidential Sampler Platter back to the kitchen, we have, in fact, gotten what we ordered.  We first branded them, and now we want to shun them.

The cry of the culture at large has been to have a ruler that will let the people do what pleases them.  And when these two have dared to jump on the wagon and do what pleases them, they are called “unfit to serve,” “untrustworthy,” and “disastrous.”  I personally think these terms accurately describe both candidates.  However, we cannot ignore that we have centered our families, our laws and our culture around what “feels right” to us and the rejection of absolute truth.  This is how we end up tangled.  If kids are told that their own respect needs to be earned, but they are unwilling to show respect to earn respect from figures of authority in their community, there is an impasse.  One demands respect while refusing to humbly earn the respect of another person.  From another perspective, a woman is told she can abort her unborn child for any reason without question, but a rape victim who kills her attacker would still have to face some questioning to formally determine that she acted in self-defense and that no criminal charges will be filed in the death of the rapist.  So the rapist is afforded more legal protection than the unborn child who has not ever expressed any intent to harm another person.   What chaos!

Key Question: Where do you draw the line of truth – from yourself, from those around you, or from the Word of God?

Unshakable Truth:  All throughout the book of Judges we see the people of God – foolish as they were – crying out for a king to rule over them, being mistreated by the kings, and repenting and returning to the Lord.

The masses have cried out for an earthly king, and they have suffered under the reign of their ruler.  We must pray for the Lord to grant us repentant hearts, that we might turn from our idols of autonomy and to the unmatched care of the Lord.

The Real Choice: Will you bow before the King of Kings and offer yourself to Him to see His perfect will realized?