Wrestling With an Inconvenient Truth
Categories: Evergreen ConnectionTwo minutes ago, a police vehicle pulled someone over just across from the church. One minute ago, an ambulance sped by with siren blaring and lights flashing. And every seven seconds, there is a long beep coming from our fire panel that I suspect has something to do with the work Century Link is doing on the phone line hub located on the corner of our property. I’ve spent an hour trying to solve it and now must wait for the tech to call back.
The sirens and flashing lights are quite common and relatively easy to ignore, but the trouble tone from our fire system is much harder to overlook since the panel is mounted on the back side of my office wall. I have a long to-do list and I just want the incessant beeping to stop.
Another alarm arrived in the mail today, silent, but far more troubling. It was a newsletter from Clark County Right to Life. The short letter reminded me what I often forget: The lives of unborn babies are being snuffed out every day, including at the Planned Parenthood office just one mile east on Mill Plain. Our local abortion centers are like little streams of death running downhill, gradually joining with other streams across the nation, until it eventually forms one mammoth flood draining nearly a million lives from our country every year.
But you already know this. Everyone knows this. We just don’t think about it most of the time. This alarm eventually fades into the background. Some manage to silence it by adopting the view that it is not their business. It is simply an issue between a woman and her doctor and it is not ours to say what is right or wrong for another.
As Christians, the Bible pulls the cover back on this hiding place, declaring human life to be a sacred reflection of God himself and forbidding violence against people of all ages, especially the most vulnerable. But the Bible simply declares in words what virtually everyone knows intuitively, religious or not: Hurting a tiny baby is horribly wrong. If all Americans actually had to watch what happens to an unborn baby in an abortion, I cannot imagine many would walk away and say, “Yes, I need to support that.”
I suspect this is why the movie Gosnell received so little attention when it was released last October. It is the story of the trial and conviction of Philadelphia abortion doctor, Kermit Gosnell, and as the subtitle describes, it is An Inconvenient Truth. We really don’t want to think about it. It’s so unpleasant and contentious, and there are so many other important issues that need attention. You may even be irritated with me for writing about it today. I don’t blame you. I wish that beeping would stop on our fire panel. But it’s a warning that something isn’t right and urgently needs attention. That is why I am thankful there are people who are helping us remember what is happening and do what we can to help. Some of them have arranged for a screening of Gosnell at Kiggins Theater on Tuesday, January 15. The website here provides all the information. http://www.clarkrtl.org/home.aspx
Another siren just wailed by.
Pastor Toby