In Defense of Life

Ok, I couldn't resist writing on this topic. And, it's quite timely. In fact, though rare, I have to tell you that I have something in common with a Nobel Peace Prize winner. Woo-woo!

Irishwoman Betty Williams won the NPP for circulating a petition demanding an end to the ravages of the war in Northern Ireland. It was her brutal descriptions of the violence and the sympathetic portrayal of human suffering - especially the children - in times of war that won her the accolade of the sons and daughters of Nobel. All this from a former receptionist turned CEO of a major nonprofit whose goal it is to be the voice for children. Oh wait. That was supposed to be political voice for children. Hmmm.

As she was visiting Austrialia the other day she addressed a roomful of children and their teachers, The Australian records her words, "It's our duty as human beings, whatever age we are, to become the protectors of human life." Wow! I agree. That makes me feel great, knowing that I see eye to eye with a Nobel Laureate. I think I'll send my donation to Oslo right....huh....what's that? There's more?

Apparently, Ms. Williams, in her Irish brogue also questioned her own non-violence: "I have a very hard time with this word 'non-violence', because I don't believe that I am non-violent." Hmmm, what was her award for? Peace? Huh?! Continuing she said, "I don't know how I ever got a Nobel Peace Prize, because when I see children die the anger in me is just beyond belief." Well, that's not so bad, it angers me too. I don't like seeing it and I despise that sin has had that effect on our human race.

But this cinched it. Now I know I was wrong. I have nothing in common with a Nobel Laureate after all. For, to thundering applause, shaking the very Brisbane City Hall in which she spoke, Ms. Williams gave word to the virulent, political voice for which she is now committed: "Right now, I would love to kill George Bush." Apparently, her speech writer has spent time working for Al Qaeda and Hizbollah.

I hate the senseless destruction of human life. I stand committed to the proposition that life is sacred, that we must stand for it or find ourselves at risk of being terminated. But here is the fundamental difference between Ms. Williams and me: Whereas Ms. Williams bases her belief in protecting life on the basis of a duty as a human, my conviction to protect innocent life stems from my belief in God and in his command to stand for and against it.

So I can hear the objections now, "Hey, Chief, if you stand so much for life, than why are you ok with war and the death penalty and any other action that takes a life. Shouldn't your God be the one who decides when life ends?" Certainly, if I were simply walking down the streets slashing throats, that would be an offense to God and the dignity of human life. But that's not for what I stand.

I stand to protect innocent life. I give voice to those who have no voice. I stand to execute judgment on those who have intentionally and maliciously taken innocent life. I act to protect life by removing life. It's not contradictory. Babies in the womb have no voice, they are the picture of innocence; I give them their voice and demand that they have dignity as a distinct being, not a wad of flesh attached to a woman's uterus. Capital punishment, to me, is just because that baneful human removed an innocent life and must, therefore, suffer a like consequence - another chance to give voice to the voice that was silenced by the act of the murderer. I support war, especially war that seeks to root out evil, to keep wretched men bent on my destruction from killing me, my family, and my fellow citizens. That is a just reaction to such a careless, cowardly act of taking life in the name of Allah.

Ms. Williams may endeavor to accomplish a good work. But the answer to saving life is not to suggest taking more life, especially the life of a man who has striven to protect our lives. It's interesting to see how blatantly contradictory her words are: "I am a human, I must protect life, I want to take Bush's life."

Christ came so that we might have life and have it more abundantly. He came to take his own life in sacrifice. In other words, he came with the sole intent of killing himself so that he would protect innocent lives, knowing that our lives were not so innocent. He could have addressed a synagogue full of school children and claimed he stood for life and then taken pot shots at the head Levite of his day. But he didn't. He stood for lives drenched in guilt that they might become innocent. What a marvelous contradiction.

For the full article about Ms. Williams, go the The Australian, here.