‘Who is Missing and what have we lost?’

The stalwarts of the prolife movement continue the fight for life on many frontlines these days and yet we still don’t see the big picture.

I heard a discussion the other day which made me jump; it was not focussed on the numbers aborted or the horrifying array of methods or the blindness and callous hearts of the people involved. It asked the question ‘who is missing from our world?’ 

In every age and nation, God has always provided what (and who) was needed at any given moment in history. Whilst everyone has their own unique role, the destiny of some is far reaching in their impact. Scientists like Alexander Fleming who discovered Penicillin, social reformers like Florence Nightingale who formalised the nursing profession, or statesmen like Churchill holding back the tide of Nazism and of course our own Saviour.

There is anecdotal evidence to suggest that during a discussion between Hilary Clinton and Mother Teresa, the former asked why she thought there had been no female President of the United States; to which Mother Teresa responded “she was probably aborted”.  

Perhaps many of today’s problems remain unsolved, like cancer, AIDS, wars, etc. not because the solutions were not sent to earth but because the ones to provide them ended up in a bucket in an abortion clinic instead of fulfilling their destiny.

Whether we realise it or not, our societies are impoverished to an ever increasing extent; we have no way of evaluating it but we are all unknowingly suffering the consequences of it.

As Ireland stands on the precipice, with its abortion referendum looming, I hope the people will remember those who gave them the gift of life, the sacrifices they made for them, the love extended to them and vote to 'protect' the next generation, many of whom may otherwise not see the light of day.

Character was the first casualty

A German, Jewish scientist who escaped to England during the war was amazed that Nazism could possibly have taken hold of his country. The pre-war years being a great era of advancement, education and learning. The university engineering graduates, were brilliant in innovation and understanding but whilst they could design and build death camps, and calculate the logistics of the final solution, they all lacked the character to know that it was wrong or to do anything about it.

There are of course many more modern examples of the worsening blindness of man as he becomes cleverer; abortion, cloning, weapons that can obliterate the earth.

The potential for good that learning and advancement bring is never fully realised; always offset by the opposite loss of integrity and greed that seems to accompany it. I think the key to much of this is the shift that occurred in our point of reference when it comes to our ‘way’ of life. 

 

The beginning of civilisation in Western Europe is usually credited to the efforts of Charlemagne, a visionary Emperor, who started to import learned men, usually monks, to spread knowledge in his empire, and through his Knights code brought order and a more benevolent society, a sharp contrast with the barbarism that had dominated for centuries. 

At the heart of this was Christianity, the faith, a new way of life and it was the focal point of all learning and conduct. It was within that framework that learning and discovery moved forward, guided by its teaching and values; held by grace.

Nowadays in the West, those values are disregarded as is the faith that brought them, the focal point now is man, no longer guided by an informed conscience but by his own fallen nature only, with only the shifting sands of opinion to guide decisions. So with every step of progress, things get worse. There is no real character in man without the presence of God’s grace operating in the soul.

This loss of faith, values and character may not be recoverable any more, perhaps western society will simply disintegrate now as did all the old empires , Egyptians, Greeks, Romans once they made an enemy of God. There is a time for everything, and an end to everything the old order giving way to the new. The Eurpoeans, once great evangelists to the world may have no further role to play and be merely a historical footnote in the future.