Mother of ‘Miracle Baby’ Who Survived Abortion Credits God’s Intervention By Ravelle Mohammed

As the nation marks January as Sanctity of Life Month and thousands gather to march for the unborn, Tina Torry, whose baby survived an abortion, shares her story of how “divine intervention” saved her daughter’s life.

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  PHOTO/Tina Torry
  Tina Torry, the mother of an abortion survivor, says ‘Divine Intervention’ saved her daughter.

It was 1978 when Tina Torry, 17 at the time, became pregnant. Her boyfriend, family, and health care professionals were adamant that she have an abortion – as it was legal at the time, she told The Christian Post.

“I had no moral support to keep the child,” she said. “From day one, I was pointed to an abortion clinic. They never said consider adoption.”

According to Torry, sitting in the Charleston, S.C., abortion clinic was “unreal.” She recalled looking at the women in the waiting room, and one in particular appeared to be at least six months pregnant. It was then that the enormity of the situation dawned on her.

“It just hit me so hard,” the 51-year-old shared. “I had to sign all of these waivers and no young girl really takes the time to read all of the fine print. They never counseled me on the procedure, the side effects, or what can happen. Nothing.”

Torry, who was about 3 months pregnant, told CP that there were complications during her suction abortion, described as a common first trimester abortion method. The procedure involves the amniotic fluid and placenta, followed by the fetus, being suctioned from the woman’s womb through a tube. However, something did not feel right during her operation, Torry said.

 

“Finally when it was over – in the recovery room all of these girls were laying on cots and a lot of them were crying and doubled over,” she recalled. “A nurse came by and she said ‘you know that’s strange, you’re not even bleeding.’”

Not having any prior knowledge on what a suction abortion entailed, Torry shared that this news did not raise any alarms. Regardless, the nurse prescribed her antibiotics and birth control pills. It was not until two months later that she realized something was still very wrong. Torry was sick all the time – a result of the birth control she thought, for she had never been on the pills. However, a visit to her local gynecologist revealed that she was still pregnant and it was considered “high-risk.”

“I was always at the hospital running numerous tests,” the Arizona resident stated. “There was no amniotic fluid so [doctors] couldn’t really give me a due date. But finally they said Nov. 9 you’re going to have this baby.”

The 51-year-old said that by this time, the relationship with her boyfriend had deteriorated and her father had completely disowned her. “I had nobody. I was just so outcasted,” Torry stated. “I was living with my mom and [over time] she finally accepted it and started getting excited about it.”

According to Torry, it was her social worker who first said she should keep her child. “She looked at me and said, ‘You know for some reason – I don’t usually say this to a young girl – but I feel like you should keep this baby.’”

Torry recalled that her labor had to be induced and that she “never went into hard labor.” She was at the hospital all night – “alone, no mother, nobody.” The doctors eventually had to perform an emergency Caesarean section.

“I was really upset, just crying and finally when I woke up my doctor told me, ‘You know Tina this was a miracle – a little 3-pound, 3-ounce baby girl.’ ” According to Torry, her daughter, Heidi, was so tiny that she had to be rushed into the intensive care nursery. She was in the hospital for eight days after her delivery, while Heidi remained there for one month.

Torry told CP that the suction machine removed the placenta and amniotic fluid, but it did not take her baby. “The nurses would say ‘it’s a miracle baby,’ but I wasn’t a Christian then so I did not [understand]. When someone speaks that kind of language and you don’t know God, you don’t understand it.”

There was a lot of confusion about why Heidi lived, Torry said, relating her confusion to the absence of God in her life. “I didn’t know the reason she lived. There’s a lot of ‘whys,’ but then it all came to fruition and its like now I see. Now I see why.”

Torry recalled it was not until around the age of 20 when she had become frustrated and dissatisfied with her life that she encountered God. “I [along with Heidi] went to live in New Jersey with my aunt and uncle. And one of the rules was if you live here you go to church. So I had to go to church and that’s when I found the Lord. My whole life was transformed.”

According to Torry, she was “anointed by God” and finds it amazing “that He was with me even though I wasn’t acknowledging Him.” She pointed out that she was just living for herself, but there was a bigger plan of which only the Lord knew. “It was divine intervention. He intervened in my life [and] stopped this abortion because he wanted to use me to spread this message [of forgiveness].”

Connecting with God, this life-altering relationship is what Torry says enabled her to share her story with young girls and women in similar situations. She moved back to South Carolina and became heavily involved in inner-city ministries and helping teen girls and mothers. The 51-year-old told CP that “to stand up before the world and share this kind of testimony is not an easy thing to do.”

“If you look at it, I’m telling all the wrong things in my life, but for those of us who are believers they seek God’s way,” she stated. “God has a plan and he anointed me for his mission – to carry it out.”

“It has touched so many lives. I won’t know the full impact until I go to heaven.”

Tina Torry has been sharing her story whenever the opportunity arises – whether it be interviews or on a more personal level. She told CP that girls have personally sought her out. “Women open up about their abortions and I share with them in that way,” she sad.

According to the most recent statistics from the Guttmacher Institute (AGI), about 1.21 million abortions took place in the U.S. in 2008. However, this number is down from an estimated 1.29 million in 2002. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) also found that between 2000 and 2007 the number of annual abortions decreased by 2 percent. Worldwide, about 115,000 babies are aborted every day, the AGI reports.

“Sharing my story is going to save babies and help people affected by abortion,” Torry told CP. “I see how important it is for there to be grace and mercy for women who have done this. It affects everything. If they’re not healed, it rolls over into every aspect [of their lives].”

Torry’s daughter, Heidi, is currently in her 30s and is married with three children. Torry shared that her daughter has always wanted to be a mother. “She’s doing what she wants to do – raise children. She loves kids,” she said.

Short of a Miracle: Tina Torry’s Story of Hope in the Midst of Tragedy, by Crystal Pitrois, documents Torry’s amazing story of life and forgiveness in finding God’s grace.

http://www.christianpost.com/news/mother-of-miracle-baby-who-survived-abortion-credits-gods-internvention-67705/

‘Suing the Devil’ Filmmaker Alleges Online Atheist ‘Mob Attack’ By Katherine Weber

Christian film “Suing the Devil” has met some challenges since its release, having suffered an online atheist “mob attack” and heavy pirating. However, the film’s writer/director Tim Chey says the attacks and theft are worth it and that it is all in a day’s work for the evangelist.

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  (Photo: RiverRain Productions)
  Christian film “Suing the Devil” has met some challenges since its release, having suffered an online atheist “mob attack” and heavy pirating.

Chey told The Christian Post that recently the producers of the film received an email from a group called “anonymous Atheists,” who said they would “mob attack” the film on IMDb, the largest film site on the Internet.

Within three days, the film’s score dropped from seven to four.

“We tried contacting IMDb, but they turned deaf ears to us. The problem with a low score is it stigmatizes the film,” Chey said, pointing to other Christian movies that have also received an unwarranted bad review. Some of these include “Courageous” and “Facing the Giants.”

Many of the comments accompanied by low ratings on IMDb do not focus on the film’s cinematographic merit or the deeper message, but rather bash those who view the film, referring to them as “Bible-thumping God botherers,” and the “born-again loser crowd.”

Chey ascertains that he and the producers responded to this attack in the same way Jesus Christ would: love thy enemy.

 

“Leave the vengeance to the Lord. The world is blind. They pick on the only film in Hollywood that brings ‘light’ to a ‘dark’ world. But we don’t battle against flesh and blood, but against the principalities of the enemy,” Chey said.

Chey admits that he himself was once a nonbeliever, converting to a life with Jesus Christ in his mid-thirties. Due to his experience as a non-believer, Chey argues that “mob threats” such as the one on his film do not intimidate him.

“We had over 72 people come forward to accept Christ after a screening of the film and that made me rejoice. I told my wife it was well worth all the attacks,” Chey told CP, pointing to Paul the Apostle, who also suffered attacks from judgmental critics for his faith in Jesus Christ.

Just this past week, The Los Angeles Times announced that “Suing the Devil” had been illegally downloaded “100,000 times on more than 50 illegal sites,” making it one of the most heavily-pirated films on the internet.

According to the Film’s Facebook page, the slanderous IMDb attack came from “a group of atheists who illegally downloaded the movie,” as the movie does not come out on DVD until April 2012.

Although most would express chagrin at this loss of profit, Chey confirms that the pirating is, in fact, the work of the Lord.

“The story and title of ‘Suing the Devil’ appeals to the secular masses. They watch the film expecting a horror film and they’re hit with the Gospel,” Chey said.

“I love 1 Corinthians 9:22: ‘I become all things to all men to win some to Christ.’ I’ve become a filmmaker to win some to Christ,” he added.

This is not Chey’s first film success. His previous production, “The Genius Club,” reached over 89 million homes when aired on national television.

“That’s evangelism!” Chey exclaimed.

“Suing the Devil” is an independent Christian film which was released in theaters in August 2011. It stars the character Luke O’Brien, a down-and-out law student who sues Satan for $8 trillion dollars. The movie portrays the “spiritual battle” between good, represented by O’Brien, and evil, represented by Satan (Malcolm McDowell) in a courtroom setting.

“Suing the Devil” has won a 5-Dove Award, the highest possible review by the Christian film review association. It also held the second highest grossing average of any independent film in the United States, and was America’s number one Christian movie for two weeks straight in August 2011.

http://www.christianpost.com/news/suing-the-devil-filmmaker-alleges-online-atheist-mob-attack-67910/

Should I Marry a Man With Pornography Struggles? By Russell D. Moore

A couple of months ago, I posted a question about an ethical dilemma a recently engaged woman is facing. She just found out that her spouse to-be has had “ongoing struggles with pornography.” She isn’t sure what to do, or how to make sure the issue is sufficiently addressed. You gave your thoughts on the issue, and here are mine.

• 

Dear Engaged and Confused,

Far too many women are watching “The Notebook” or “Twilight” for indicators on what kind of man they should marry. Instead, you probably should watch “The Wolf Man.”

Have you ever seen any of those old werewolf movies? You know, those in which the terrified man, dripping with sweat, chains himself in the basement and says to his friends, “Whatever you do, no matter what I say or how I beg, don’t let me ought of there.” He sees the full-moon coming and he’s taking action to protect everyone against himself.

In a very real sense, that’s what the Christian life is about. We all have points of vulnerability, areas of susceptibility to sin and self-destruction. There are beings afoot in the universe who watch these points and who know how to collaborate with our biology and our environment to slaughter us.

Wisdom means knowing where those weak points are, recognizing deception for what it is, and warring against ourselves in order to maintain fidelity to Christ and to those God has given us.

 

What worries me about your situation is not that your potential husband has a weakness for pornography, but that you are just now finding out about it. That tells me he either doesn’t see it as the marriage-engulfing horror that it is, or that he has been too paralyzed with shame.

What you need is not a sinless man. You need a man deeply aware of his sin and of his potential for further sin. You need a man who can see just how capable he is of destroying himself and your family. And you need a man with the wisdom to, as Jesus put it, gouge out whatever is dragging him under to self-destruction.

This means a man who knows how to subvert himself. I’d want to know who in his life knows about the porn and how they, with him, are working to see to it that he can’t transgress without exposure. I’d want to know from him how he plans to see to it that he can’t hide this temptation from you, after the marriage.

It may mean that the nature of his temptation means that you two shouldn’t have computer in the house. It might mean that you have immediate transcription of all his Internet activity. It might be all sorts of obstacles that he’s placing in his way. The point is that, in order to love you, he must fight (Eph. 5:25; Jn. 10), and part of that fight will be against himself.

Pornography is a universal temptation precisely because it does exactly what the satanic powers wish to do. It lashes out at the Trinitarian nature of reality, a loving communion of persons, replacing it with a masturbatory Unitarianism.

And pornography strikes out against the picture of Christ and his church by disrupting the one-flesh union, leaving couples like our prehistoric ancestors, hiding from one another and from God in the darkness of shame.

And pornography rages, as Satan always does, against Incarnation (1 Jn. 4:2-3), replacing flesh-to-flesh intimacy with the illusion of fleshless intimacy.

There’s not a guarantee that you can keep your marriage from infidelity, either digital or carnal, but you can make sure the man you’re following into it knows the stakes, knows how to repent, and knows the meaning of fighting the world, the flesh, and the devil all the way to a cross.

In short, find a man who knows what his “full moon” is, what it is that drives him to vulnerability to his beastly self. Find a man who knows how to subvert himself, and how to ask others to help.

You won’t find a silver bullet for all of this, but you just might find a gospel-clinging wolf man.

http://www.christianpost.com/news/should-i-marry-a-man-with-pornography-struggles-67895/

Atheist Billboard ‘Bad Manners,’ Says Christian Research Fellow By Michael Gryboski

As a Colorado atheist group purchases space for three billboards in major cities in Colorado, one Christian research fellow refers to their efforts as “bad manners.”

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  Photo Courtesy Marvin Straus of The Boulder Atheists.
  The design of the three billboards set up in Denver and Colorado Springs, Colorado by The Boulder Atheists, a group that is part of the Colorado Coalition of Reason.

“They say their ad is intended to spark dialogue with people of faith on the existence of God, but you don’t draw people into conversation by poking fun of the beliefs,” Glenn Stanton, director for Family Formation Studies at Focus on the Family in Colorado Springs, told The Christian Post.

Stanton was referring to a billboard sponsored by Boulder Atheists that states, “God is an imaginary friend; Choose reality, it will be better for all of us.”

“Pew reports that 92 percent of Americans believe in God or some higher being,” Stanton pointed out. “And more than 70 percent say they have a firm, confident belief in God. And this atheist group equates that very widely-held belief to a small child having an imaginary friend to play with.”

But the “real bummer” about the atheist billboard, according to Stanton, was that it replaced a billboard “of our area’s beautiful Royal Gorge” with a “poor graphically-challenged ad.”

The Boulder Atheists’ ad will be posted on three billboards in Denver and Colorado Springs.

 

Marvin Straus, cofounder of Boulder Atheists, which is part of the Colorado Coalition of Reason, told CP that the purpose of the billboards is to “increase communications” between them and the general public.

“The goal of the billboards is to increase communications between The Colorado Coalition of Reason groups and the public, both believers and nonbelievers,” said Straus.

According to Straus, Boulder Atheists did not have Focus on the Family in mind when they decided to have a billboard in Colorado Springs, where FOTF is based.

“If our budget had allowed, we would have had a billboard in every major city in Colorado,” said Straus.

“We told the advertising agency the limits of our budget, agreed to take any locations they had, and that was the result.”

Stanton of Focus on the Family explained that his organization had no plans to act against the billboards, saying “such things don’t merit serious response.”

The announcement of Boulder Atheists that they soon will be erecting these billboards has caused much conversation and some negative responses from Coloradans.

Many, both in interviews to local media and with comments to reports, have expressed their disgust with the conclusions of the billboard but nevertheless believe the group has a right to do what they are doing.

This is not the first time COCORE has stirred controversy through billboard advertisements. Over the past couple years the organization has purchased billboard space with similar atheistic messages.

In 2010, COCORE set up three billboards in Denver that protested a nativity scene that was put on government property, demanding that it be moved to a church instead.

http://www.christianpost.com/news/atheist-billboard-bad-manners-says-christian-research-fellow-67872/

N.T. Wright: The Gospels Have Been Taken Too Lightly By Chris Strong

N.T. Wright stormed the gates of Calvin College in Michigan to deliver the message that the Gospels have been taken too lightly.

The renowned theologian was the final speaker of Calvin College’s annual January Series on Tuesday, and drew an overflowing crowd of 1,400 people.

“The upshot of the talk was to say that for too long Jesus’ life has been skipped. In terms of faith, we treat the Gospel stories too lightly,” Scott Hoezee, the director of the Center for Excellence in Preaching at Calvin College, told The Christian Post on Wednesday. “We cannot understand the Gospels overall arch and its details unless we understand that it’s a continuation of Israel‘s story.”

Most of Wright’s talk was about his upcoming book, How God Became King: The Forgotten Story of the Gospels. Western Christianity has squeezed between faith based on incarnation and the cross. Wright argues that the current understanding of Jesus is connected with what we, as individuals, know to be true about him.

“He conveyed a clear message and was very thorough and to the point,” Hoezee said, “Basically the Gospels work like a quadraphonic system where each speaker would play a different musical instrument, all turned up to hear the full volume of the Gospels.”

Wright compares the Gospels to that of listening to a symphony – no one Gospel can be turned down otherwise everything sounds unclear, according to The Grand Rapids Press.

 

Two Gospels have had the volume turned up way too loud, while the other two have been played too softly, according to Wright.

“Heard in full sound, the Gospels tell about the establishment of a theocracy, and portray what theocracy looks like with Jesus as king,” Wright states, according to The Grand Rapids Press. “The body of the texts – the parts between Jesus’ birth and death – present an entire agenda for renewed humanity.”

The question of Jesus’ divinity also surfaced as Wright compared Jesus to a social worker, one that is kind and caring to all he loves, saying that orthodox Christians don’t want Jesus to come with any baggage.

“While some who downplay Christ‘s divinity have imagined Jesus as a great social worker ‘being kind to old ladies, small dogs and little children,’ orthodox Christianity has not wanted Jesus to have a political message,” Wright said.

“He overemphasized the fact that Jesus’ divinity, the way he lived his life comes into question, was it truly divine?” Hoezee told CP. “It’s hard to understand when the picture isn’t clear.”

Calvin College begins its annual Worship Symposium this week, marking their 25th Anniversary hosting the event that includes full worship services and over 150 international guests from 30 different countries, including N.T. Wright.

http://www.christianpost.com/news/n-t-wright-the-gospels-have-been-taken-too-lightly-68067/

5 Signs You Are Part of an Unhealthy Church By Marielle Thomas

There is no such thing as a “perfect” church. Honestly, there will never be a perfect church because the people who occupy the church are imperfect. The only thing perfect in church is the message and purity of the Gospel. Though there is no perfect church, there are healthy and unhealthy churches. I have been in church literally my entire life, so I have seen the great, the good, the bad and the downright ugly. After witnessing and having endless discussions about the church culture, I have compiled a list of 5 signs that signal you are a part of an unhealthy church.

1. Leadership Does Not Have A Clear Vision Proverbs 29:18 states, “Where there i  no vision, the people perish.” A church whose leadership has not explained or formed a vision that states: “this is who we are, this is where we’re going and this is how we’re going to get there” is unhealthy in the highest form. How can a church or any organization function or truly exist without vision? Jesus was the ultimate vision-caster. He stated his vision for not only what the church should look like but ultimately, what the role of the church is and its purpose. Unfortunately, I have seen churches that had no mission and absolutely no vision and scripture is 100% correct, the people did perish. If you don’t know what the mission and vision is of your church, chances are you are in an unhealthy church. Additionally, if your church has a mission and vision statement but you don’t see the mission and vision being executed within the church’s set up and organizational structure, programs and/or ministries that are offered, you are probably in an unhealthy church.

2. Leadership Can Never Be Challenged If you are part of a church where leadership can never be questioned or challenged, run! I have witnessed this and I can tell you this will not end very well. Please remember, church leaders are there to cast vision and to steer the church in the direction to which God is leading. Church leaders are not and should not be dictators. What I mean is this; members should never fear asking a question against a proposed idea or direction from leadership in the church. With that being said, there should also be a level of respect given when challenging church leadership. The key is to be concerned not confrontational. Ultimately, you should be able to ask questions regarding where your church is headed, without feeling fearful of church leadership.

3. You Are Comfortable but Never Convicted If you are attending a church and you have a) never been convicted or b) never offended in your sin when the Gospel is preached or taught, hightail it out of there! It is very dangerous when a church’s preaching and teaching team operates in what I call the “Ren and Stimpy” Theology. What I mean by this is every sermon and lesson that comes from the preaching/teaching team is always “happy happy joy joy,” but there are never heart-piercing, convicting messages that will challenge people.

Church shouldn’t be designed to just make you feel warm and fuzzy on the inside but church should be there to bring conviction through the Word of God to bring correction in a person’s life. Additionally, if your church is not balanced in its teaching, your walk with God becomes stunted; you will not grow.

If you have ever had to go to a hospital to get better, then you know most times in your healing process, there is pain involved. It’s the same thing with church, your healing process won’t be joyful all the time, there will be and should be times you are broken, convicted and offended in your sin.

 

4. Congregants Are Content With Being Pew Warmers I can generally tell if a church’s culture is unhealthy if its congregants are content with being pew warmers. What is a pew warmer? A pew warmer is a person who does not get involved in their church; they only attend church on Sundays and they are content in doing so. When a church is healthy, people are excited about lending their gifts to the up-building of their local church and the Body of Christ as a whole. However, if the only time a church sees a rise in volunteerism is when the pastor lays a huge guilt trip on his or her congregation, something is wrong. When a church’s environment is a healthy one, you should never have to inflict guilt upon people in order to get them involved. They will have a heart to serve, not out of guilt but out of desire.

5. Outreach is Never Planned or Preached

A church that never plans or even preaches outreach is unhealthy. When a church feels no need or desire to not only preach helping those outside of the four walls, but never does anything in its surrounding community, it speaks volumes. Outreach was and is the heart of Jesus. Simply having worship on Sundays is not church; it’s simply a meeting. The work that is done in the community to show God’s love is church. It is one thing to talk church, but it’s another thing to actually BE the church. If the church that you attend never preaches or plans outreach in the community, country or world, you are definitely part of an unhealthy church. Real church takes place by rendering service; usually outside the four walls of a building.

http://www.christianpost.com/news/5-signs-you-are-a-part-of-an-unhealthy-church-67966/

Cynthia Nixon Gay ‘Choice’ Comments Anger Homosexual Activists By Brittney R. Villalva

Sex and the City actress Cynthia Nixon, who decided to publicly announce that she was lesbian in 2004, has now said that being gay is a choice.

The gay community has expressed dissatisfaction with Nixon for suggesting that being gay is a choice. Nixon has made the comment twice, once in a speech and once in a New York Times interview, causing a backlash from the gay activists, who do not want homosexuality to be depicted as a choice.

“I gave a speech recently, an empowerment speech to a gay audience, and it included the line ‘I’ve been straight and I’ve been gay, and gay is better,” the actress told the New York Times. “And they tried to get me to change it, because they said it implies that homosexuality can be a choice.”

(Photo: Reuters/Kieran Doherty)

Actress Cynthia Nixon poses for photographers at the premiere of “Sex and the City 2″ in Leicester Square, London May 27, 2010.

Joy Behar, a co-host of the View, expressed confusion about the decision to be gay last year. “I don’t know how to respond to that, I mean I don’t think that anybody in this world wants to be gay, considering all of the vilification that is brought upon someone who is gay. Why would you choose that?”

But Nixon questions why being gay shouldn’t be a choice. “I am very annoyed about this issue,” she said in the Times interview. “Why can’t it be a choice? Why is that any less legitimate?”

Randy Thomas is the executive vice president of Exodus International, one of the world’s largest outreaches to those affected by unwanted homosexual attraction. He supports that being gay is a choice, after overcoming his battles with homosexuality.

 

“If they prove that a ‘gay gene’ exists in my DNA, why then aren’t those genes controlling my life now?” Thomas posed in a column on WorldNetDaily. He has remained straight for the past 15 years, and is married with three children.

Alan Chambers, president of Exodus International and a former homosexual, also agrees that being gay is a choice. “We all have the freedom to choose,” Chambers told AP News.

The actress proclaimed that she chose to be gay a year after she ended her 15 year relationship with Danny Mozes, with whom she has two kids. She began a relationship with Christine Marinoni in 2004 and the two became engaged in 2009. Last year Marinoni gave birth to a son, after the couple asked a male friend to help them have a child.

In 2009 Meredith Baxter also came out as lesbian, following three marriages and five children. “It was a later in life recognition,” she told Matt Lauer on the “Today” show.

Homosexuality is a divisive topic in society, and biblical interpretation of the issue for thousands of years has suggested that homosexuality is a sin. Others also criticize the homosexual lifestyle as not conducive to family values. “The potential to produce children naturally is unique to opposite-sex relationships. It is not the law that “discriminates” based on “sexual orientation”–it is nature,” Tony Perkins wrote in a report for the Family Research Council titled, “Is the Defense of Marriage Act Constitutional?”

He suggests that “it is the powerful dynamic of a mother, father, and children that creates those bonds of family that form the bedrock of all societies and provide the best environment for raising children–as social science has clearly demonstrated.”

http://www.christianpost.com/news/cynthia-nixon-gay-choice-comments-anger-homosexual-activists-67835/

The Obama Administration’s Attack on Roe v. Wade and Doe v. Bolton (Advancing Religious Liberty )

Thirty-nine years ago, the United States Supreme Court recognized that medical  professionals, let alone others, have a right not to assist in abortions in  violation of their conscience.  What’s that?  Yes, I do have the date right.   I’m talking about Roe v. Wade and Doe v. Bolton.  While those  cases held, wrongly, that women and their doctors have a fundamental  constitutional right to kill an unborn child, they also recognized as important  predicates to those decisions the right NOT to participate in abortion in  violation of one’s conscience.  Friday’s  announcement that the Obama Administration would force employers – including  nonprofit religious employers – to pay for their employees’ contraception and  abortifacients is just the latest example of how the abortion industry and its  friends in the Obama Administration are attacking these well established rights  of conscience in ways even the authors of Roe and Doe did not  envision.

Even at the time of  Roe, some were concerned that legalized abortion would lead to  compelled participation in abortion, a concern that was not misplaced as ACLU  attorneys were working in Montana to force Catholic hospitals to perform  sterilizations.  The Supreme Court acknowledged but dismissed that concern,  holding only that “the attending physician, in consultation with his  patient, is free to determine, … the patient’s pregnancy should be  terminated.”  The Court cited favorably the resolution of the AMA House of  Delegates stating:

RESOLVED, That no physician or other professional personnel shall be  compelled to perform any act which violates his good medical judgment. Neither  physician, hospital, nor hospital personnel shall be required to perform any act  violative of personally held moral principles. In these circumstances, good  medical practice requires only that the physician or other professional  personnel withdraw from the case so long as the withdrawal is consistent with  good medical practice.

Similarly, in Doe v. Bolton while the Supreme Court struck down some  parts of a Georgia abortion law, it left standing a provision that allowed any  medical professional or hospital to decline to participate in abortions, saying  that this provision was an “appropriate protection to the individual and to the  denominational hospital.”  Thus, in the seminal abortion decisions that  President Obama and the abortion industry celebrate this weekend, the same Court  acknowledged the right NOT to assist in abortions in violation of  conscience.

To be absolutely sure however, the U.S. Congress passed the Church  Amendments, turning back ACLU efforts to treat Catholic hospitals receiving  Medicare funds as public hospitals and force them to perform sterilizations (and  ultimately abortions), and prohibiting recipients of certain federal funds from  requiring medical professionals or any person to participate in abortions,  sterilizations, or other procedures in violation of conscience.  This was so  uncontroversial it passed with only a single vote against in either house – a  vote total unthinkable even for a bill to honor mom and apple pie today.  In  fact, noted right wing extremist Senator Ted Kennedy spoke in favor of the law  on the floor of the Senate, saying that it protected the constitutional right  not to participate in abortion and he supported the “full protection to the  religious freedom of physicians and others.”  In 1973, as the opinions reflect,  there was no doubt that whatever right the penumbral emanations of the  constitution gave to women and doctors to participate in abortions, it certainly  protected the right not to participate in abortions or other medical procedures  that violated one’s conscience.

It is in the face of this history that the Obama Administration announced on  Friday that it will, with only a 1 year reprieve, fine virtually every  faith-based ministry in the country that does not pay for contraception and  abortifacients (Plan B, Ella, IUD, etc. included).  This decision is certainly  an affront to religious liberty –perhaps the greatest in our nation’s history.   But it is also completely unsupported, indeed rejected by the very cases that  the Obama Administration would use to support its cause.  Roe and  Doe, as bad as those decisions are, reject the Administration’s claim  that a woman’s “right” to contraception and abortifacients justify the federal  government compelling Christ-centered ministries to violate their conscience by  buying these for them.  When you hear abortion industry supporters rely upon  those decisions to justify this assault on conscience, don’t believe it.  Even  Roe itself is conservative compared to the radical anti-life advocacy  of the present Administration.

http://blogs.christianpost.com/liberty/2012/01/the-obama-administrations-attack-on-roe-v-wade-and-doe-v-bolton-26/

How Can I Trust in God’s Faithfulness When I’m Suffering? by Mark D. Roberts

Lamentations 3:1-30

The memory of my suffering and      homelessness is bitterness and poison. I can’t help but remember      and am depressed. I call all this to mind—      therefore, I will wait. Certainly the faithful love      of the LORD hasn’t ended;      certainly God’s compassion isn’t through! They are renewed every morning.      Great is your faithfulness. (CEB)

Lamentations 3:19-23

In yesterday’s reflection on Lamentations 3, I asked, “What enables us to keep on trusting in God’s faithful love when our lives are stung by suffering?” Today, I’d like to consider that question with you.

To be sure, there are no easy answers to the problem of suffering. Christians believe in a loving, gracious, all-powerful God. We also affirm the reality of suffering. Thus, we are caught between affirmations that are hard to reconcile.

Moreover, it’s one thing to wrestle with the problem of suffering from a distance and quite another thing to do so when you’re in the midst of great pain. Even the best philosophical responses to the problem of pain can fail to satisfy when our bodies are aching or our hearts are breaking. I know this both from my own experience and from my years as a pastor.

I do believe, however, God has given us resources to help us when we wrestle with suffering. I will mention one of these today and pick up the discussion where I leave off on Monday.

One of the greatest resources God gives us when we suffer is the Bible. Though this book does not offer easy answers, and though it does not provide philosophical proofs, it provides insights and testimonies that guide us in our thoughts and comfort us in our lamentations. For one thing, the Bible testifies to the fact of suffering. We see this in Lamentations, of course, but also in so many other biblical books. Scripture teaches us that suffering is not imaginary, but rather an inescapable part of existence in a world broken by sin.

The Bible also affirms that suffering is not part of God’s good intentions for us. Though God can certainly use suffering for good, he did not create the world as a place of pain (see Genesis 3, Romans 8). So, we rightly sense that suffering reveals that the world is broken. And we rightly long for the day when God will wipe away every tear. In the meanwhile, those tears are an unavoidable part of our lives.

Scripture also offers words of assurance when we hurt or doubt. We rightly receive for ourselves the promise once given to Israel: “Don’t fear, because I am with you; don’t be afraid, for I am your God. I will strengthen you, I will surely help you; I will hold you with my righteous strong hand” (Isa. 41:10). As Jesus said to his first disciples, so he says to us today: “Look, I myself will be with you every day until the end of this present age” (Matt. 28:20).

QUESTIONS FOR FURTHER REFLECTION: What helps you to understand suffering? What has helped you to remain faithful when life has been hard? What passages of Scripture have been particularly encouraging to you as you have experienced pain in life?

PRAYER: Gracious God, sometimes it is hard to believe in you, or to believe that you are a good, loving God. The problem of suffering is one of the toughest for our minds to fathom. And the experience of suffering can batter our faith like a devastating hurricane.

I thank you, Lord, for not leaving us without help…though, honestly, there are times when I wish your help was more obvious. Still, I thank you for the gift of Scripture, for the clear affirmation in your Word of the reality of suffering and your plan to ultimately abolish it. Thank you for passages that offered hope to your people long ago, even as they continue to give me hope today.

Help me, Lord, to hang on to your Word no matter what. I pray in the name of Jesus, the Word Incarnate. Amen.

http://www.thehighcalling.org/reflection/how-can-i-trust-gods-faithfulness-when-im-suffering

God’s Heart for Parents · Max Lucado

God’s Heart for Parents · Max Lucado.