Monday, October 20, 2008

The Battle for the Sacrifice

...I suspect that the 40 Days for Life team in Spokane, Washington is having a similar impact. Why else would Planned Parenthood send eight of its own employees outside with signs promoting "choice"?

"Two or three more joined them within the next half hour," said Inga. "They lined up on the curb on either side of our prayer volunteers, with an 'in-your-face' attitude, mocking us with their looks and laughter. This was the first time in either campaign that we have encountered this kind of persecution."

Inga said only two people were signed up to pray at the vigil when this happened, but God had other plans. The people who were scheduled to leave the vigil stayed and kept praying -- and other people kept arriving to join them until more than two dozen faithful believers were gathered in prayer outside of Planned Parenthood.

When 5 o'clock came, the Planned Parenthood employees gave up and went home. But the 40 Days for Life team continued to pray. (Source)

The above report came from one of the Reports from the American front on Day 23.

If you ever want to know where this culture stands on any issue, you have to know what their underlying philosophy is all about. The culture of death is built on one simple principle which binds and fuels its whole movement: the anti-sacrifice principle. A couple of years ago, I wrote an article called "Brother's Keeper" for Challenge Magazine. Here is an excerpt from it:
These people hold to the same typical leftist causes, but few of us know the real reason for their unanimity on social issues. What is the connection, for instance, between the Left’s opposition to the war in Iraq and their support for abortion? In some respects, these positions are contradictory, but the Left has no problem with internal contradictions as long as they serve their self-interest and self-preservation. The reason why the social Left in this country is able to hold these seemingly contradictory positions is because of their collective abhorrence to sacrifice. A soldier laying down his life for his country or a woman accepting an unwanted pregnancy is anathema to these people. These two scenarios both involve individuals who sacrifice for a supreme good, yet they are rejected precisely because they put “the other” ahead of themselves.

And so when I read the above report from the 40 Day Campaign, my eyes naturally fixed on the last sentence. When 5pm rolled around, the Planned Parenthood employees left and went home while the 40 Days' vigilers stayed on. That scene is so emblematic of the whole situation surrounding the two sides of the abortion issue. Why didn't these employees stick around past 5pm? Don't they really believe in their cause? Are they not willing to sacrifice for it? Even an hour on their own time? No. Not really. Because, there's nothing in it for them. They're OK with showing up on the Planned Parenthood's dime, but expect them to sacrifice a bit of themselves and their own leisure time? No way.

That's what happened at the midpoint rally on Sunday as well. A couple of guys popped up across the street with hastily made cardboard signs with some pro-abort rhetoric written on it. They must have stood there a whole 10 minutes and then left. Sometimes I really wonder whether they even really believe in what they are doing.

Earlier in the Vigil campaign, the following video was shot by some of our opponents during the October 13 evening vigil at Ground Zero. You'll notice at the 1:28-1:34 mark, the young man makes this statement after reading a sign which said "Abortion Hurts Women",

"...but sure does make life more simple".


Or, in other words, less sacrifice, more pleasure.





This should give us great encouragement since it shows that the desire for abortion is indeed vast but very weak. And there are simply not enough people who support it who are willing to sacrifice anything meaningful. That's why we are going to win in the end. We want to sacrifice for our cause, but they do not want to sacrifice for theirs.

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