He's said it before, of course, and in more graphic and explicit terms, this governor of ours who has been "sent by God to punish those who do wrong and to commend those who do right" (2 Pet 2:14). But on the anniversary of the most horrific decision in all American jurisprudence, he reminded us again of his flagrant commitment to violate this divine trust. No moral stimulation remains to fulfill the first and most basic function of human government: to perpetuate humanity by shedding the blood of those who shed blood (Gen 9:6-7). Even the lingering moral twitches of previous statements (e.g., let abortion be legal and rare) seem to have subsided.
And yet moral outrage seems to diminish year by year. Perhaps this year we are fixated on the recovery of the economy. Perhaps we are pleased with an impressive speech about six Americans who died senselessly in Arizona. Have we forgotten so quickly? Is there not a dark shadow over a speech mourning the death of six "innocents" gunned down in Arizona when during the course of that short speech some 77 children died throughout the country under the committed protection of the speech-maker? Have our sensibilities become so calloused?
We cherish our freedoms in America. We react viciously against those who threaten them. And yet freedom is never absolute. It must always submit to one law or another. The freedom of Americans to collectively select the law to which they submit is simultaneously their greatest boon and their greatest burden. May God help us as dual citizens of heaven and earth to "live as free men, without using our freedom as a cover-up for evil" (1 Pet 2:16).
MAS
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About Me
- Mark Snoeberger
- After growing up in the great state of Pennsylvania, I settled down in 1994 with my new bride, Heather, in Allen Park, Michigan, and have been here at Detroit Baptist Seminary ever since (with a bit of time away for doctoral work). Since 2007 I have been privileged to be a part of the systematic theology faculty here. I love teaching, researching and writing, hunting with my two boys, and enjoying any little bit of God's unadulterated creation I can find (which means I occasionally have to get out of Detroit). But all these things matter to me only because theology matters. For it is God himself who gives all men life and breath and everything else (Acts 17:25).
2 comments:
Amen
Your post should challenge all of us. I am sometimes amazed how Christians can be so apathetic on the issue of abortion. When I read Romans 1 (see especially vv. 29-32), I can see how God is progressively turning us over to greater depths of depravity. May God grant Christians wisdom to know how to fight against this moral atrocity.
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