File Name: 3156.txt Ä Area: A_THEIST: A_T ÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ Msg#: 78 Date: 05-23-95 21:02 From: Randy Edwards Read: Yes Replied: No To: All Mark: Subj: Re: [5 of 7] Know Thy Ene ÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ * Original Message Posted via ANEWS * Date: 22 May 95 17:17:48 * From: Randy Edwards @ 1:325/805 * To: All * Forwarded by: Christopher Baker @ 1:374/14 * Message text was not edited! @MSGID: 1:325/805 019b6bae @SPLIT: 22 May 95 17:17:48 @325/805 29760 05/07 +++++++++++ Some might object that the action suggested in this paper isn't loving. The truth is that if we love Him we will keep His commands to defend innocent life. Another might say this isn't in the Christian spirit of meekness and gentleness. In order for an action to be right, it must proceed from the right motive and the just biblical standard. These objections focus on the motive of the one taking an action. It is true that all action to protect life must be from a humble heart of self-denial and zealous love for our neighbors. Yet from this motive we must act by God's objective standard to protect life as summarized in the Sixth Commandment. Biblical Christianity has always held in highest esteem the true Christian soldier. The Christian soldier (while preferring the joys of domestic tranquillity) is willing to temporarily lay them aside to self-sacrificially respond to the call of duty to protect life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. The Christian soldier may, therefore, with love and humility, take guilty life to defend innocent life from unjust harm. Objection 6: What If Church Leaders Oppose Defensive Action? Another likely objection is, "My church leaders oppose taking all just action necessary to protect innocent life." When lawfully constituted authority in family, church or state opposes an individual, that individual must weigh the issues involved seriously and humbly. The Bible summarizes its teachings on an individual's responsibility to authority in the Fifth Commandment. The Westminster Shorter Catechism tells us what duties are required in the Fifth Commandment: "The Fifth Commandment requireth the preserving the honor, and performing the duties, belonging to everyone in their several places and relations, as superiors, inferiors, or equals." Therefore, it is the individual's responsibility to both preserve the honor of his superiors and to perform the various duties he owes to them. If he finds it his duty to oppose those in authority over him, he must do so in a way that preserves the honor of the one in authority. That an individual should, under some circumstances, disobey authority has been previously proven from Acts 5:29. The biblical position is that we are never permitted to sin even though someone in authority over us requires us to. If an individual's authority is merely in error but not forcing that person to sin, he may use constitutional means to seek to rectify the error. If an individual's authority requires him to sin, he must resist it utterly and at once. Apart from these principles, those in authority could rule wickedly with little or no fear of contradiction. Church leaders must, however, do much more than merely allow their members to defend the unborn. They must do what leaders are supposed to do and lead the people. They must do so even if they lose some followers. This calls for men who love the truth and are willing to swim against the tide. Jesus affirmed this in Matthew 10:38, "And he who does not take his cross and follow after Me is not worthy of Me. He who has found his life shall lose it, and he who has lost his life for My sake shall find it." We should not be surprised to encounter opposition to these truths from the church. Before World War II the church in Germany also shrank from resisting the evils of an unjust, oppressive government. Dietrich Bonhoeffer is an example of a church leader who, as an individual, sought to protect innocent life by plotting the death of Hitler. He is now considered a hero and his Ethics is used as a college text. A holocaust was going on and no civil leaders arose (they are hard to find under totalitarian rule). Few people today, looking back, would say that the active civil disobedience of that time should have been restrained. We can be certain that the counsel of restraint today will be regretted by those who look back on it in the future. Objection 7: Everyone Can't Take Defensive Action Some well-intentioned person may ask, "Should everyone take the most drastic defensive action? The answer is "No." One of the rules for the right understanding of the Ten Commandments in the Westminster Larger Catechism is as follows, "That what God forbids, is at no time to be done; what he commands, is always our duty; and yet every particular duty is not to be done at all times." Although we have the duty to protect innocent life, there are many valid ways we may do so. We also have other important duties summarized in the Ten Commandments. We must use wisdom to know which duty is to be done at what time and in what way. One of the major functions of wisdom is to direct us as to when and how we are to carry out our various duties. Consider this maxim of wisdom, "One may at times postpone a good deed to pursue a better one." We may deduce from this maxim that there are many duties we may justly postpone in order to come to the aid of our innocent children who are daily being killed in staggering numbers. For lesser duties than stopping abortion men have left their families and occupations to fight and die in World War II and the Civil War. Objection 8: Judge And Jury Are Necessary For Defensive Action Some may object and assert that a judge and jury are necessary before someone may be killed justly. Others object that the killing of Dr. Gunn was premeditated and not spontaneous self-defense. These and similar objections have excellent answers if one compares the killing of Dr. Gunn to the theoretical killing of the notorious Dr. Mengele who practiced at Auschwitz. We are told that Dr. Gunn was a hardworking man who traveled widely so as to kill as many of the unborn in a given week as could be reasonably expected. Who knows how many of the 30 million unborn killed in America were literally torn limb from limb at his hands? Dr. Mengele is considered to have been responsible for the death of 400,000 Jews. He conducted every type of inhuman torturous "experiment" to determine how long people could survive under various torturous conditions, mutilations and injections of chemical substances. The flick of his finger indicated to guards which newcomer to Auschwitz would be gassed and which would be spared for such ghastly experimentation. The reader can resolve the objections raised above and many others through the use of this and similar analogies. Objection 9: Many People Oppose Defensive Action The beliefs and duties outlined in this pamphlet are so entirely contrary to popular opinion and practice that opposition is to be expected. Many who will eventually take defensive action -- MPost/2 v1.1 @ Origin: Spartacus Lives! * Home of ANEWS * Venceremos! * (1:325/805) *PATH: 325/805 3615/50 374/1 98 14 -!- GenMsg [0002] (cbak.rights@opus.global.org) ! Origin: Rights On!-A_THEIST Echo Mod/Host-Titusville_FL_USA (1:374/14)