October 20, 202

     I don’t like watching the news. When I do it I often feel frustrated and sorry rather than informed. When we hear of the things that go on in a fallen world, if we love as God does, it must sadden us. It should also encourage us. Not encourage our spirits but our actions. Society like nature abhors a vacuum, and as God is relegated to the sidelines of our society something will take his place. A few years ago Steve Turner wrote a poem expressing the heart of a people that don’t know God. The whole poem can be found on pg 42 of Can Man Live Without God by Ravi Zacharia.

Creed
by Steve Turner

We believe in Marx Freud and Darwin

We believe everything is OK as long as you don’t hurt anyone to the best of your definition of hurt,

We believe in sex before, during, and after marriage.

We believe in the therapy of sin.

We believe that adultery is fun.

We believe that sodomy’s OK.

We believe that taboos are taboo.

We believe that everything’s getting better despite evidence to the contrary.

Jesus was a good man just like Buddha, Mohammed, and ourselves.

He was a good moral teacher though we think His good morals were bad.

We believe that all religions are basically the same- at least the one that we read was.

They all believe in love and goodness.

They only differ on matters of creation, sin, heaven, hell, God, and salvation.

We believe that after death comes the Nothing

If death is not the end, then its compulsory heaven for all

We believe that man is essentially good. It’s only his behavior that lets him down.

This is the fault of society. Society is the fault of conditions. Conditions are the fault of society.

We believe that each man must find the truth that is right for him.

Reality will adapt accordingly.

We believe that there is no absolute truth excepting the truth that there is no absolute truth.

If chance be the Father of all flesh, disaster is his rainbow in the sky and when you hear State of Emergency! Sniper Kills Ten! Troops on Rampage! Whites go Looting! Bomb Blasts School! It is but the sound of man worshipping his maker.

When we are presented with evil it should encourage us to find ways to fill the void with God and his goodness.

~ Kevin Cleary

 

October 13, 2024

After considering the issue of abortion both biblically and scientifically it can easily be concluded that abortion is taking a human life and that it must be viewed as such. However there are two more important aspects of this subject that need to be considered. The first is the emotional impact that abortion has on the family. Any woman who has had a miscarriage knows the pain that comes from that experience. Soldiers recognize the emotional impact that arises from killing another human being. Police officers have to have counselling after lethal encounters with criminals. With regards to abortion people seem to think that the mother can somehow avoid the unavoidable emotions that go along with such a traumatic event. I know of women who have aborted children and non of them are left without emotional scaring that in some cases affects the rest of their lives. Imagine years passing knowing that in each one there should be a birthday that never comes. Imagine seeing other parents playing with their children and knowing that you were responsible for the death of one of these. Christians must be aware of this so that we can offer the loving arms of Jesus to mothers who are faced with a life of regret. We must also make people aware of the results of what they consider when they consider abortion. The negative impact that an abortion can have should serve as warning just as strong as the biblical and scientific reasons for not aborting a child. 

The second important factor that must not be overlooked is the ramifications of the logic used to justify abortion. Any time society takes it upon itself to decide who is human and who is not it is a scary thing. After deciding that only those with self-awareness, who are self-sufficient, and fully developed are human there is no end to the atrocities that can be committed against those who don’t meet societal standards. It is this kind of thinking that led to the holocaust or the slaughter of innocents in Rwanda. Human beings are created in the image of God and life is a gift from Him. We forget these truths to the peril of all but the strong. 

To conclude it can be said that there is no doubt that the taking of innocent life is wrong and that abortion is taking innocent life and therefore wrong. It is important to add that in the past many have done things that are anything but Christ like when interacting with those who believe in abortion. The fact is that women who have had abortions and the doctors that perform them have committed sin. We must understand though that as terrible as abortion is it is not worse than others sins and those who are involved in it need forgiveness just as all of us do. The Christians primary responsibility with regards to abortion are the same as they are to other sins and that is to help those entangled in them to come to Jesus for forgiveness and newness of life. Let’s know and defend the truth about abortion while reaching out in love to those who are in need.

~ Kevin Cleary

Abortion Part 2

In addition to Exodus 21:22-23 and Genesis 2:7 the Bible in many places talks about the unborn fetus not as something less than human, but as a human being created by God. In Luke 1:41-44 the unborn are referred to as children. In Matthew 1:20-21 Jesus is said to be human while still in the womb. Jeremiah 1:5 and Isaiah 49:1 indicate that God knows the unborn and even calls them. In Judges 13:2-7 Samson’s Nazarite vow is in effect from the point of conception. There can be no doubt that the Bible knows nothing of the unborn as being anything but human beings created by God. 

If one simply considers what the Bible says about the unborn that would be sufficient to show that abortion is murder in the eyes of God and therefore sinful. However as with all truth the Bible and science are in agreement. From a scientific standpoint abortion is also ending a human life. The most obvious way this can be demonstrated is by considering that the genetic makeup of the fetus is no different from what it will be at birth or at 75 years of age. From the point of conception the fetus has 46 Chromosomes that will determine all of its physical characteristics. The only difference between a 10 minute old fetus and a 10 year old child is time and nutrition. Given the necessary nutrients the fetus will develop everything else. This means that nutrition has become the determining factor of humanness which again, can be logically extended to say that anyone lacking the means to develop is less than human. 

The early development of the fetus is another strong indication of humanness. It has already been noticed that at the point of conception the infant has all of the genetic material that it will ever have. By the first month the fetus has a heart beat as well as head arms legs. By forty two days brain waves can be detected. During the second month the baby will have it’s own blood type finger prints and is sensitive to touch. In the third month the baby will swallow, swim, suck its thumb, and be able to feel pain (remember abortion is commonly performed any time prior to the fifth month). By month four the infant will have reached half its birth weight and be eight to ten inches long. Finally by month five the baby has hair, nails, can cry, and live outside the womb. When all of these physical characteristics are considered it is hard to even imagine destroying this little life. 

There is also the understanding accepted by all biologists that when two animals of a species conceive the result is another of the same species. No one says when a dog is pregnant that it is carrying anything but more dogs. With regards to human beings though there is confusion as to whether or not the human mother is carrying a human. 

Before we leave this idea it must be stated that in addition to Abortion the concepts being discussed here have many further implications. If we as a society can decide that certain human’s are not worthy of the same rights and privileges as others there are many things that become allowable. Western society as a whole generally holds to a view of human dignity that ensures certain rights. If humans fall on a scale of value instead of having equal intrinsic value we are in a moral quandary. This opens the door to racism, to slavery and prostitution which is a close cousin to slavery. It means that in some cases institutions need not be concerned about human rights violations if those violated fall lower on the scale of value. 

It would seem that what we think about abortion has far reaching consequences for many moral and ethical issues. The immediate one is euthanasia but there are many other issues.  A better more consistent and more moral view would be that God grants life and humans are not at liberty to take it outside of very specific circumstances related to defense of self or nation or in the enacting of Justice on behalf of the government. 

~ Kevin Cleary

September 29, 202

The population of Canada is about 35million people. It would be considered at tragedy if some disease or industrial accident were to wipe out the whole population. If a foreign invader did it would be considered genocide and that nation would be guilty of war crimes. However in North America every year over 30million babies are killed mercilessly and no one bats an eye. They are killed by their own mothers who because of embarrassment or inconvenience see fit to end the life of their unborn child by abortion.

The reality is that there are many views about the rightness or wrongness of abortion. From these many views three main categories can be identified;
1) Abortion is always acceptable
2) Abortion is sometimes acceptable
3) Abortion is never acceptable

The view one holds is determined by how that one sees the unborn fetus. If the fetus is human than laws against murder that apply to humans are applicable to abortion however if the fetus in not human then they do not. This is true both for Christians and non-christians since Christians would consider God’s admonitions against killing to apply only to human beings. This means that the real question under consideration is when does a fetus become a human being.

The three views of abortion stated above correlate with how one understands the humanness of a fetus. Those who say that abortions is acceptable all the time would say that until the point of birth the fetus in something less than human. Those who say that abortion is acceptable some of the time would say that the fetus is potentially human and becomes human sometime during gestation. And those who would say that abortion never acceptable would say that the fetus is human at conception. By identifying the right view we can determine whether abortion is right or wrong and when.

To determine which of the above views is the correct one we can look to scripture and ask when God calls a fetus human. We can also consider what medical science has discovered that would be pertinent to our discussion. By considering these things we can know if when a child is aborted murder is being committed and therefore, if the abortion is right or wrong.

There are a few passages of scripture that must be considered if we are to have a grasp of what the bible teaches about the state of the fetus:

The First of these and possibly most important is Exodus 21:22-23 the reason this text is especially significant is that it is often used by pro-choice groups to say that the Bible differentiates between born and unborn and that the unborn are not given equal rights. In fact this passage teaches the opposite. The passage reads as follows: 22 “If men struggle with each other and strike a woman with child so that she gives birth prematurely, yet there is no injury, he shall surely be fined as the woman’s husband may demand of him, and he shall pay as the judges decide. 23 “But if there is any further injury, then you shall appoint as a penalty life for life,”. It has been said that this passage teaches that if the baby is miscarried then only a fine is imparted showing that it is not considered a human life (this argument is based on a misunderstanding of mischief in the KJV and totally falls apart when the passage is read in a modern translation) . What this passage really teaches is that the life of the unborn infant is equal to that of the man who killed it.

Another key passage often used by pro-choicers is Genesis 2:7, they claim that this passage indicates that until there is breath there is no life. There are two problems with this first they are using a situation that has never and will never be repeated after Adam. They fail to recognize that a fetus does need oxygen and takes it in through the mother from the moment of conception. This argument would mean that anyone who is unable to breath by their own power is not human. This would include those on life support, clearly this argument in nonsensical. 

~ Kevin Cleary

 

September 22, 202

• We all use messages all the time. Whether it’s to plan a family gathering or communicate what you need or want to a business or associate. We also know that the importance of the message has a lot to do with how we send it.
• I can remember numerous occasions while working for Habitat Insulfoam a spray foam contractor when I would need to get a message to the crew on a job site. Sometimes it was a small change maybe to the depth of foam or to make sure they didn’t overlook some detail. Most of us have had that situation, usually in this case I would leave a note or call or even have another person pass the information along.
• However when the information was more important maybe relating to fire code or building inspector specifications I would not pass a note or have another person convey the information. I would show up on site.
• We all do this quite often. If something needs to be done that relates to your child’s safety or the quality or safety of your home you won’t usually send a message you show up in person.

     There are a number of terms in scripture which actually just mean messenger. An apostle is simply one sent with a message. The Greek word aggelos from which we get our English word angel simply means messenger. We know of many instances when God works through these messengers. Just like us however when something really important is happening God knows this is something that can’t be done through a messenger. “In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God. And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the father full of grace and truth.” John 1:1 and 14. “And she gave birth to her first born son and wrapped him in swaddling clothes and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn. And in the same region there were shepherds out in the field keeping watch over their flock by night. And an angel of the Lord appeared to them and the glory of the Lord shone around them and they were filled with fear. And the angel said to them “Fear not for behold I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a saviour who is Christ the Lord.” Luke 2:7-11

     The task that was important enough to bring the Son of God to earth was the salvation of all mankind Mat 1:21; Luke 19:10; Gal 4:4; Rom 5:10. The task was achieved Christ was not just born but lived the perfect life died on the cross to redeem us from sin and rose again and is now seated at the right hand of God in heaven Act 2:22-36. 

     Having done the task that no one else could Jesus returned to heaven to mediate on our behalf. The work is now back in the hands of messengers. For a time there were apostles and prophets these men gave us the Bible which is the completed message. It falls to us to carry that message to all who need it. We often remember the arrival and ministry of Jesus but let’s not just remember that he came but why and use this as an opportunity to tell others.

~ Kevin