OPINION 14 JULY 2022 www.goodnewsfl.org Good News • South Florida Edition OVERTURNED! Leaders Respond to the Historical Reversal of Roe v. Wade Rob Pacienza, Lead Pastor, Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church Friday, June 24th, 2022, was certainly a watershed moment for our nation. The highest court in our land upheld the sanctity of human life and rightly defended the most vulnerable in our society, the unborn. After 49 years and the cruel slaughter of more than 63 million babies, the US Supreme Court has finally reversed its 1973 decision Roe v. Wade. By overruling Roe, the Supreme Court has finally acknowledged that the greatest civil authority in the United States is the Constitution. This is extraordinarily good news for all Americans, especially the unborn. While it means justice for some preborn children, others remain at risk. The reversal of Roe means the issue of abortion will be left to the democratic process at the state level. This decision immediately triggers laws in 13 states, greatly limiting abortion, and we will likely see fast legislation to protect the unborn in 13 more, but the battle is far from over. New York State, for instance, has enshrined abortion at any stage of pregnancy right up until birth in its constitution. Dick’s Sporting Goods, for another example, has promised its employees up to $4000 to help them travel to other states to have abortions. This is nothing short of demonic evil. I believe we will continue to see the increased wickedness of the pro-abortion movement in the weeks and months ahead, but the reversal of Roe is also a watershed moment for the church. This is something for all Christians to celebrate. We prayed this day would come and it has. I'm personally grateful for the men and women who have courageously led the way, including our founder and my pastor as a young man, D. James Kennedy. The church is the hope of the world and has been advancing a culture of life for the past 2000 years, whether it's been defending the unborn, the orphan, the widow or the slave. We have been driven by the cardinal truth that all human beings are created in the image of God. Our worth and value is not based on what we do, but in who we are. From the moment of conception, we are fearfully and wonderfully made. This is an incredible moment to be alive and an incredible moment to be a Christian. In a society that is divided and gripped by fear, we have the opportunity to offer real hope and the good news that the church has been proclaiming for centuries. We have the opportunity to speak the truth in love concerning the sanctity of human life. We have the opportunity to share lifesaving alternatives with mothers and fathers facing unplanned pregnancies. We have the opportunity to volunteer and support our local pregnancy centers and other pro-life organizations, and lastly, we have the opportunity to minister to those who have had an abortion reminding them that God is the God who redeems our past through the grace and mercy of Jesus Christ. We must continue to fight the good fight, remembering that this is a spiritual battle. Scripture tells us we are not waging war according to the flesh, for the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds. The Supreme Court decision was an important part of this process. Our laws must reflect a moral and just society, and Christians must be leading the charge in this cultural moment. But changing the laws of our country is just part of the solution. I'm not interested in just making abortion illegal but doing everything possible to make it unthinkable. Who is going to carry the flag for the unborn? Who is going to stand in their defense? That responsibility falls on us, and the Bible clearly says that our call is to the least of these, to defend those who literally cannot defend themselves. Doug Sauder, Lead Pastor, Calvary Chapel Fort Lauderdale The following is an excerpt from Pastor Doug Sauder's remarks at Calvary Chapel Fort Lauderdale on Sunday, June 26, 2022. Just a couple of days ago we saw the reversal of Roe v. Wade, and we want to celebrate as God’s people that children are going to be protected in new ways and with new measures. But how do we respond? It's not just with clapping, though we should celebrate, and it's not just posting on social media, though we should advocate. Here's what we're going to find in the next few weeks. People are going to be talking past each other instead of to each other. If there's ever been a time for the church to listen, this is the time listen to the pain of the world and the brokenness the world and the needs of the world. If there's ever been a time to pray, now is the time. It's not just how we listen, and it's not just how we pray, but it's Mother Teresa Takes Pro-Life Message to Supreme Court Mother Teresa of Calcutta confronted President Clinton on his proabortion stand in early February at the National Prayer Breakfast. Last week she took her pro-life message to the highest court in the land. Her lawyers filed an amicus brief with the Supreme Court urging it to recognize the unborn child's inalienable right to life. She urged the court to hear the case Alexander Loce vs. The State of New Jersey, which involves the issue of whether or not the unborn child is a human being entitled to 14thAmendment protection. Loce was convicted of trespassing for attempting to prevent his fiancee from having an abortion. Mother Teresa's petition is a powerful witness in defense of life. It includes the following passage: "America needs no words fromme to see how your decision in Roe vs. Wade has deformed a great nation. The so-called right to abortion has pitted mothers against their children and women against men. It has sown violence and discord at the heart of the most intimate human relationships. It has aggravated the derogation of the father's role in an increasingly fatherless society. It has portrayed the greatest of gifts—a child—as a competitor, an intrusion and an inconvenience. It has nominally accorded mothers unfettered dominion over the dependent lives of their physically dependent sons and daughters. And, in granting this unconscionable power, it has exposed many women to unjust and selfish demands from their husbands or other sexual partners. "Human rights are not a privilege conferred by government," she said. "They are every human being's entitlement by virtue of his humanity. The right to life does not depend, and must not be contingent, on the pleasure of anyone else, not even a parent or sovereign. The Constitutional Court of the Federal Republic of Germany recently ruled: 'The unborn child is entitled to its right to life independently of its acceptance by its mother; this is an elementary and inalienable right which emanates from the dignity of the human being.' "Americans may feel justly proud that Germany in 1993 was able to recognize the sanctity of human life. You must weep that your own government, at present, seems blind to this truth." This article is taken from the February 24, 1994 issue of The Arlington Catholic Herald.
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MjE2MjU=