Not Cool

Not Cool: O'bama's Pro-abortion Stance,
and Christians enabling him

I am a fan of reading books written by Randy Alcorn.
When I discovered he maintains a blog, I signed up
immediately. This is his posting for today. I thought
it was definately worth sharing with all of you,
especially if you are considering voting for Barak
Obama. Please commit to seeking God with all of
your heart to find out God's will on how you are to
vote. Look at what Senator Obama supports, and
check out these ideas against what the Bible has to
say on the issue. We can not vote for a candidate
that supports ideas such as abortion that go against
God's Word. Please read what Randy has to say,
he is far more eloquent than I.

A year and a half ago, when I first heard about Barack
Obama, I got excited. I really wanted to support him.
An evangelical Christian told me Obama was prolife.
I didn’t care that Obama was a Democrat. I wanted
a pro-life, pro-environment, pro-racial equality
president who took seriously our need to care for
the poor and defend the needy.

Granted, I also wanted someone who wasn’t a
New Age anti-industry activist with a “Meat is
Murder” bumper sticker. I wanted someone who
is committed to national defense, but knows when
not to go on offense. I wanted someone who doesn’t
hear every Douglas fir screaming when it’s cut down.

But, frankly, I relished the opportunity to show
I wasn’t a lockstep Republican. I was, and still am,
tired of the Pat Robertson sort of Republicanism
that supported proabortion-Republican-who-
publicly-cheated-on-his-wife Rudy Giuliani because
he's the only guy who could beat Hillary. (This was
a non-prophetic endorsement on too
many levels to count.)

That Barack Obama is an African-American was a real
plus to me, and not for superficial reasons. I believed
it could help further the vision of Martin Luther King
in my favorite speech of the modern era, in which he
said, “I have a dream that my four little children will
one day live in a nation where they will not be judged
by the color of their skin but by the content of their
character.” I get tears in my eyes just hearing that
speech in my head.

I knew from the first time I heard him speak that
Obama was cool. And if the candidate I supported,
for reasons of substance, also happened to be cool,
that would be a nice plus. I coach high school tennis,
and I like it when the kids like me. And hey, my
generation invented the word cool! (Of course it
also invented the word groovy, but....).

Then the sad day came. I checked out Obama's actual
position on abortion and I was demoralized. I found
that in every single vote related to the issue he's
favored abortion, its legality and even
the killing of children who survive abortion. He isn't
one of those mostly prochoice people, he is radically
proabortion. It's hard to think of anything else he could
do for the cause other than volunteer at an abortion clinic.

But Obama is savvy. He wants to attract young voters,
including young evangelical Christians who are
sort-of-prolife. He knows to say that he favors reducing
or limiting abortions. Which is like limiting rather than
criminalizing murder and rape and kidnapping and slavery.
A candidate could say “I’m personally opposed to rape,”
while he has a 100% voting record favoring the legality
of rape. And he could say he favors limiting or reducing
the number of rapes. But if he actually supports the legality
of the hideous crime of rape, discerning people would see
through his rhetoric of rape-reduction. (Wouldn't you think?)

When I discovered Obama was all an all-out defender
of legalized child-killing, I was disappointed beyond words.
And I knew that in the next election,
I was not going to get to be cool.

Well, here we are, and I have been asked what I think about
the evangelical brothers and sisters who support Obama
despite his uncompromising pro-choice stance. I have
specifically been asked about Don Miller, author of
Blue Like Jazz, because Don prayed at the Democratic
Convention and has been widely quoted as a supporter of Obama.

On a previous blog I wrote about Obama and McCain,
Leanne left in her comment a link to
an interview with Don Miller, concerning his support for
Barack Obama. (I’m glad she did.) I have hesitated to
say anything publicly, but there's so much conversation,
I think I need to. By the way, as soon as I post this,
I'm going to send a link to this blog to Don to tell him
if he wants to respond I'll publish anything he has
to say in a follow-up blog.

First, Don is a friend of mine, and a good brother.
He is sharp, kind-hearted, interesting and genuinely funny.
I enjoy hanging out with him, though I don't get to as
much as I'd like, four times I think in the last couple
of years. By the way, I was one of the pastors at
(and am still part of) the church in the suburbs he
went to, which he says in Blue Like Jazz was like
"going to church at The GAP." I got a good laugh out of
that and many other things he said.

A while ago, Don and I had coffee (something we're one on)
and talked about things mostly that we agreed about, and
some on which we disagreed. You can disagree and still be
friends and brothers, you know.

Don and I agreed that day at Starbucks that many Republican
Christians have been used by the Republican Party. We agree
that there are other important issues besides abortion and
homosexual marriage. Among those are racial justice and
concern for the poor, and stewarding the environment.
(Of course, not all with the same concerns agree on which
programs and policies are, in the long run, most helpful
in furthering these righteous causes.)












Don and I agreed that day that Christians should be
first and foremost followers of Jesus, not political parties.
Of course, Don’s praying at the Democratic Convention
and campaigning for Obama has recruited people to the
Democratic Party, following in the footsteps of a larger number
of evangelicals, such as Pat Robertson, who have recruited
people to the Republican Party.

I went on record long ago as being unwilling to vote for a
Republican nominee if he was not willing to stand up for
the right to life of innocent children. The prolife statement
in the Republican platform is probably the most God-honoring
thing it says, and if there's a Republican politician who doesn't
hold to it, as Senator Bob Packwood didn't here in Oregon,
there is no way I'll ever vote for him. Packwood never got
my vote even though some Christian Republicans told me
I should support him because he was conservative, at least
until he was exposed for his sexual conduct.
(Click here to compare what the Republican
and Democratic Party platforms have to say about abortion.)

John McCain wasn’t my first choice for president. But at
least McCain's a hero, he suffered for his country and fellow
soldiers. And at least he thinks innocent children shouldn’t
be slaughtered, and has consistently voted that way. And he's
chosen a running mate who not only professes to be prolife but
lived it out by valuing a precious Down Syndrome child that
80% of people would have aborted. McCain and Palin are far
from perfect. But I believe they would honestly stick up for
the most oppressed and violated people group
in this nation, unborn children.

Of course, these days it’s especially not cool to support a
Republican, even if he would defend innocent children,
because Republicans are part of the party of George Bush,
someone who is hated by cool people. (Nobody mentions
that the Republican Party was the party of Lincoln, that
opposed slavery; they were hated for that too.)

I am deeply concerned about the one, two or possibly three
Supreme Court justices to be appointed in the next presidential
term. If you listen to the candidates, it's obvious that
McCain/Palin would make a concerted effort to choose justices
likely to reverse Roe v. Wade and it is equally obvious that
Obama/Biden would choose justices most
likely to uphold Roe v. Wade.

So, does God care about who his children vote for?
In many cases, I doubt it. But here's what he says about
the needy and afflicted who have no one to help
them and are on the brink of death:

"For God will deliver the needy who cry out, the afflicted
who have no one to help. He will take pity on the weak
and the needy and save the needy from death. He will
rescue them from oppression and violence,
for precious is their blood in his sight." (Psalm 72:12-14)

The blood of week and needy unborn children is precious in
God’s sight. Please don't tell me abortion isn't the only issue.
Of course it isn't. Treatment of the Jews wasn’t the only
issue in 1940 Germany. Buying, selling and owning black
people wasn’t the only issue in the United States of 1850.
Nonetheless, both were the dominant moral issues of
their day. Make no mistake about it. In our own day if
we support a candidate who defends abortion, who is
dedicated to that cause, we are supporting the killing
of children. Yes, even if he’s the coolest
candidate to come along in decades.

We will stand before the judgment seat of Christ for
our decisions, and a vote is a decision in which we assume
responsibility for the known beliefs and moral positions
of the candidate.













This is not speculation, it is not a spin, it is demonstrable
fact: Barack Obama IS adamantly committed to continuing
the legalized killing of unborn children in this country.

In his July 17, 2007 speech to the Planned Parenthood
Action Fund he said,

"We know that a woman's right to make a decision
about how many children she wants to have and when—
without government interference—is one of the most
fundamental freedoms we have in this country. . . .
I have worked on this issue for decades now.
I put Roe at the center of my lesson plan on
reproductive freedom when I taught
constitutional law. . . So, you know where I stand. . .
The first thing I'd do as president is sign the
Freedom of Choice Act.
That's the first thing that I'd do."

If you don't know about the Freedom of Choice Act,
it was written by the most radical proabortion activists
because they saw informed consent and parental
consent laws being passed at the state level. They wanted
something powerful that would dismantle anything
that could serve to reduce abortions through requiring
that people be told the truth before an abortion or
before their sixteen year old, who can't be given an
aspirin without their permission, can have an abortion.

Planned Parenthood is the largest abortion provider in
America. Obama standing in front of them and promising
he's 100% on their side is the equivalent of a presidential
candidate 160 years ago addressing an assembly of the
owners of the slave ships, and saying, “If you elect me,
the first thing I will do is sign an act that will insure slaves
won’t be freed, and that nullifies any and all voter-approved
state legislation that restricts slavery.” (And sadly,
yes, even hearing this, some Christians would have
campaigned for and voted for him.)

Now, “first thing” means first thing, right? So before
helping the poor and protecting the environment and
addressing the economy and national defense, what is
President Obama going do? He's going to assure that
abortion stays legal and that the numbers are NOT reduced,
by signing an act that will devastate decades of work at
the state level by the prolife movement. Requirements
of parental notification and informed consent and bans
on partial birth abortions? History, if Obama has his way.

















When Obama made this promise, he was either lying
or telling the truth. If he was lying, he has a serious
character problem. If we can’t trust him to do this,
why trust him to follow through on any other promise,
including those for which evangelicals are supporting him?

Ironically, however, if Obama was not lying, then he
has a far worse character problem. Why? Because he
is committing himself to oppose the rights of unborn
children to live. I would rather he be a liar than that
he be the defender of the killing of weak and vulnerable
children, the orphans and fatherless.

I think he is sincere and likable, but on this matter,
a matter of enormous significance, it is no exaggeration
to say he is standing in defiance of the Creator.
(A Creator whose blessing we should not dare ask if
we defend the legalized killing of the children He creates.)

It is certainly a bad thing to promise something good,
then not carry out your promise, as some Republican
politicians have done in the prolife arena. (But though
I don't always agree with him, George Bush--dare I even
bring up his name?--did appoint two Supreme Court
judges who have shown a respect for prolife issues.)

But it is even worse to promise something bad, something
that is in fact evil--the furthering of the shedding of innocent
blood--and then keep your promise.

We may want to show the world that we Christians are cool
enough to support the coolest political candidate who’s come
along in decades. I really wanted to. But I just can’t get past
child-killing. That's a price for coolness that's just too high.

If you want to hear directly from the candidates about their
positions on the shedding of the innocent blood of the unborn,
check out these interviews with Rick Warren at Saddleback
Church. (Below the videos I close out with some Scripture
that makes God's position on this issue pretty clear).

Obama on abortion: (if you are unable to view the video, go to www.youtube.com/watch?v=VRswgN-Wf6g):

McCain on abortion: (if you are unable to view the video, to go www.youtube.com/watch?v=RzJdSlQYd0Q):

God on abortion (no video, just a transcript):

"Do not give any of your children to be sacrificed to Molech,
for you must not profane the name of your God. I am the LORD."
(Leviticus 18:21)

"Do this so that innocent blood will not be shed in your land,
which the LORD your God is giving you as your inheritance,
and so that you will not be guilty of bloodshed."
(Deuteronomy 19:10)

"Therefore as surely as I live, declares the Sovereign LORD,
I will give you over to bloodshed and it will pursue you.
Since you did not hate bloodshed, bloodshed will pursue you."
(Ezekiel 35:6)

Shedding innocent blood? Not cool.

Supporting and voting for those committed to the
legalized shedding of innocent blood? You tell me.


http://www.randyalcorn.blogspot.com/
http://www.epm.org/