02 June 2009

It's Pretty Simple, Actually

Committing murder is wrong. It is sinful. It is contrary to the most fundamental natural law, and it is contrary to God's clearly revealed law.

Committing murder in the name of the sanctity of human life is not only sinful and wrong, but hypocritical and counterproductive. Sin and death beget not life, but fruits after their own kind.

It is no less hypocritical when those who defend and advocate the murder of unborn infants now decry the murder of an adult. One murder is given headline news, and the pundits pontificate, while thousands of murders are silently committed every day under the protection of an unjust law that defies the justice of God. There is nothing but the rotten stench of death in any of this.

The murder of an abortionist is no cause for rejoicing on anybody's part. It can only sadden those who recognize the sanctity of human life and the righteousness of God's law. It is no time for finger-pointing to the left or to the right, but only for repentance in each and every heart, and for the fervent cry of unceasing prayer that the Lord would have mercy on us all.

Oh, wretched man! Who shall save us from this body of death?

There is One Man who has murdered, not the killer, but death itself. There is One Man who has been the Infant in the womb and the Man under the judgment of God, for the atonement and the reconciliation of the world. There is One Man who has become the Curse of sin and death, that, by His own voluntary self-sacrifice, the guilty might be forgiven and set free. There is One Man who has risen from death and the grave and ascended to the right hand of the Father in heaven, arising as the Incense of faithful prayer on behalf of us all. For His sake, we are heard. For His sake, the Lord our God is merciful to all who call upon Him, to all who call upon Him in truth. Kyrie eleison. Christe eleison. Kyrie eleison.

3 comments:

Eleanor said...

Thank you for posting that thoughtful and Christian response to Tiller's death. It captures the irony of the news coverage without implying that the doctor's heinous actions have made his life any less sacred than those lives he took. Would that all pro-lifers could be as circumspect in their comments on the situation.

CMS said...

Is it really that simple? What makes it right for our U.S. soldiers to kill terrorists, but wrong for someone to kill an abortionist? Dietrich Bonhoeffer participated in a plot to kill Hitler. Was he right or wrong so to do? If someone is committing open war on a silent group, is it wrong to come to their defense? If they come with "loaded weapons" does not force justify force? If I saw a person take out a knife and approach a child with intent to kill, would it not be my duty to stand up for that child, at all costs?
I am no way advocating such acts. I am only stating that, at present, it is not as clear in my mind as it is in yours.

Rev. Rick Stuckwisch said...

I believe it actually is pretty simple, when the case is considered on the basis of the objective Word of God, rather than ferreted out on the basis of human emotions.

Murdering Tiller was not a case of self-defense. Nor did it resolve the underlying problem or cause of abortion. It is the unjust law of the land that protects the "right" of abortion, and that is what needs to be addressed and dealt with. Otherwise, the tool with which we as Christians have to work with is the Word of God, the confession and preaching of the Law and the Gospel.

I don't think the comparison to Hitler is apropos, even if I agreed that assinating Hitler would have been the right approach. Hitler was a dictator, ordering and perpetrating violence and genocide. He was the underlying problem or cause, in a way that a single abortionist is not.

But a Christian relies on the Lord to execute justice, and to do so through the masks or means that He has established in the world.

A good example is found in the O.T. case of David and Saul. Even after Saul has had an entire city of priests and priestly families murdered, David does not seize the opportunity he has to kill Saul, but leaves it to the Lord to remove the tyrant from the throne of Israel. I'm not saying that Christians should be entirely passive or decline to participate in the political process; David certainly wasn't just sitting back and doing nothing. But a Christian (or any law-abiding citizen) ought to work for change in unjust laws by utilizing the political means that God has provided through the governing authorities that He has ordained, rather than by usurping law and order to take charge by force.