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FIRST, THE NEWS: |
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IS KILLING THE DISABLED 'EUGENICS', OR JUST A MERCIFUL RELEASE?
from: BioEdge
(28 Jul.) Eugenics is not a word to be trifled with. It evokes the horror of Nazi atrocities during World War II as well as widespread human rights violations in the early part of the 20th Century in the United States, Canada and some European countries. But, contend the authors of a special issue of the Journal of Policy and Practice in Intellectual Disabilities, killing the disabled because they are disabled must be called eugenics. The authors cover a number of areas, too numerous to summarise. But here are few memorable points:
Yes, euthanasing the disabled is eugenics.
"... a conception of what our culture takes to be a human life properly so called appears to be at odds with the condition of IDD [Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities]. To the extent that this happens to be the case, empirically, there is truly a link with what the supporters of the 'old eugenics' believed in the late 19th and early 20th century. The link regards the justification of terminating human lives affected by [IDD] in current medical practices as described in this article. Ultimately, these practices appear to be driven by the view that these lives of poor quality are in defiance of what a human life properly so called is like."
Euthanasia is an easy way out for society.
The difficulty with legalized euthanasia is that it becomes normalized, as we have seen. This makes it perhaps all too easy for people to request euthanasia, and to be granted such a death as a "way out" of painfully difficult situations and circumstances, rather than addressing underlying issues of inequality and a lack of adequate support for people with very complex needs.
Life with disability can be a good life.
The new eugenics appears to take a perspective of disability that is no longer espoused by the international disability community. In short, the new eugenics perspective assumes that disability is a problem that we would be better off not to have, and that people with disabilities and their families do not enjoy good quality of life. Our current philosophical and human rights perspective on disability, best articulated by Disability Studies, views disability as a viable and valuable aspect of human social diversity, and people with disabilities as equal and important members of society. It asserts that people with IDD can and do live good quality lives, and that having an intellectual disability by no means automatically signifies a poor quality of life. [read more...]
OVER 500 CHURCHES LEAVE RUSSIAN CHURCH FOR NEW UKRAINIAN ORTHODOX CHURCH
from: Christian Post
(31 Jul.) More than 500 congregations have joined the newly created Orthodox Church of Ukraine in the past seven months after leaving the Russian-affiliated church. Ukrainian Orthodox officials reported that in three months since the church was granted autocephaly, or leadership that does not need to answer to a higher ranked bishop, about 300 churches joined. In the four months after that, another 220 joined.
Paul Goble, an expert on Eurasian ethnic and religious issues whose work is syndicated by the Ukraine-based Kyiv Post, reported on his blog earlier this week about the movement of parishes and the significance of the numbers.
"The shift so far means that the Russian church in Ukraine has lost almost 5 percent of its congregations, a relatively small fraction of the total but significant given how much resistance the Moscow Patriarchate has sought to generate with flying squads to vote down proposals at the parish level to change," wrote Goble.
"The map of the changes is also significant. Ever more of the most recent changes have been in the center and south of Ukraine and not just in the West as was the case at first." [read more...]
(31 Jul.) The Ministry of Culture of Ukraine confirmed that the Kyiv Patriarchate of the liquidated Ukrainian Orthodox Church ceased to exist by joining the Kyiv Metropolia of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine. The Ministry has issued the respective statement today, LB.ua reports.
"The Holy Synod of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (Orthodox Church of Ukraine) as the governing body of this religious association at its meeting on July 27, 2019 (Journal No. 43) decided to terminate the activities of the religious organization 'Kyiv Patriarchate of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church' by joining the religious organization 'Kyiv Metropolia of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (Orthodox Church of Ukraine),' whereof an appropriate entry was made in the Unified State Register of Legal Entities, individual entrepreneurs and civic associations," the statement reads.
Thus, the religious association of the UOC-KP ceased its activities by uniting and joining the OCU, all the functions of the statutory bodies of the former UOC-KP passed under the control of the relevant governing bodies of the OCU which received all the powers and legal grounds for making appropriate decisions on the future of those religious organizations that were part of the former religious association UOC-KP.
"Any attempts to block the process of state registration of a number of religious organizations that were previously part of a religious association with the same name and after the Unification Local Council decided to join the OCU can be interpreted as attempts to interfere with the activities of officials, which is prohibited and entails liability under the law," the Ministry of Culture said in a statement.
[read more...]
ASSISTED SUICIDE IS NOW LEGAL IN NEW JERSEY: IT COULD GET EVEN WORSE
from: The Daily Signal
(1 Aug.) Physician-assisted suicide is now legal in New Jersey. The new policy stems from legislation passed by the state's Legislature back in April. The law allows terminally ill patients with a prognosis of six months or fewer to self-administer lethal concoctions of drugs to take their own lives. Lawmakers claim that this policy will promote "humanity, dignity, and respect" — but in reality, this couldn't be further from the truth.
Physician-assisted suicide denies the humanity, dignity, and respect owed to people at the end of their lives. It is a direct attack upon humanity, dignity, and respect for every human being — whatever lawmakers might say. Every human life has value, precisely because it is human. Physician-assisted suicide tells us that some lives are simply not worth living, and that lie is having a devastating effect on our health care system, familial and doctor-patient relationships, and our culture overall.
Who qualifies for physician-assisted suicide has no natural limit. New Jersey is limiting practice to the terminally ill with a six-month prognosis — for now. But what about those who expect to live for another seven months? Eight? A year? Why limit this practice to the terminally ill? What about other kinds of challenging or painful circumstances?
Other countries already have started down the slippery slope of expanding who qualifies for physician-assisted suicide. Many also practice nonvoluntary euthanasia — another seemingly natural consequence of the logic of physician-assisted suicide. [read more...]
THE RUSSIAN ORTHODOX CHURCH CRITICIZES THE PROJECT OF 'FUTURISTIC' CHURCH IN MOSCOW
from: Interfax-Religion
(7 Aug.) Head of the Russian Orthodox Church expert committee on church art, architecture and restoration Archpriest Leonid Kalinin says that the Patriarchate has not approved of the project of the so-called 'futuristic' Church of Ignatius the God-Bearer in Moscow.
"The project has never been discussed. And it is not the question of its quality, but of the behind-the-scenes manner in which the decision was taken. It is an event. It is a landmark event. Cheered up by our modernists, they start mocking at the church," the priest was quoted as saying by NG-Religii paper on Wednesday.
The project of the church that won at Faith and Form international contest is characterized with simple forms, lack of ordinary elements of decor and rich interior for churches, its altar wall will be made of glass. The authors of the project say they were inspired by the Transfiguration Church of the 14th century in Veliky Novgorod.
In his interview to Echo Moskvy radio, Father Leonid said that the final decision on the project had not been taken. "The project has not passed the Moscow Commission on Architecture and Church Art. Certainly, experts of the Russian Orthodox Church will have a number of questions, designers and sponsors will have to answer them," the priest said. [read more...]
IN MASSACHUSETTS BILL TO CRIMINALIZE SUICIDE ENCOURAGEMENT, THERE'S A LETHAL LOOPHOLE
from: Evolution News
(27 Jul.) Assisted suicide and euthanasia corrupt everything, including the suicide-prevention sector. Here’s an example out of Massachusetts. A bill has been filed to make suicide persuasion and facilitation a crime. From SD 2505 (author's emphases):
"A person shall be punished by imprisonment in the state prison for not more than 5 years if they know of another person’s propensity for suicidal ideation and either:
(1) (i) Exercise substantial control over the other person through control of the other person’s physical location or circumstances; deceptive or fraudulent manipulation of the other person’s fears, affections, or sympathies; or undue influence whereby the will of 1 person is substituted for the wishes of another;
(ii) intentionally coerces or encourages that person to commit or attempt to commit suicide; and
(iii) as a result of the coercion or encouragement, in whole or in part, that other person commits or attempts to commit suicide; or
(2) (i) Intentionally provides the physical means, or knowledge of such means, to the other person for the purpose of enabling that other person to commit or attempt to commit suicide and, as a result, the other person commits or attempts to commit suicide; or
(ii) participates in a physical act which causes, aids, encourages or assists the other person in committing or attempting to commit suicide."
Fine and good. But look at this:
"c) This section shall not apply to a medical treatment lawfully administered by, or in a manner prescribed by, a licensed physician."
In other words, the bill carves a fat, deadly loophole to allow doctors to take the very actions I emphasized, which would be a serious crime if other people behaved similarly. But doctors' participation in suicide is worse than when engaged in by others because it adds the heft of medical authority to encouraging a decision to take one's own life. [read more...]
OTHER NEWS HEADLINES:
UNIAN: ZELENSKY ASSURES PATRIARCH BARTHOLOMEW HE WILL PROTECT CHURCH INDEPENDENCE
from Kyiv Post
UOC MP COMMUNITIES SWITCH TO OCU IN DNIPRO REGION
from Religious Information Service of Ukraine
U.S. CONFRONTS CHINA ON RELIGIOUS FREEDOM VIOLATIONS
from Mission Network News
ZELENSKY PROMISES PATRIARCH BARTHOLOMEW: STATE WON'T INTERFERE IN CHURCH AFFAIRS
from Interfax-Religion
PROTESTANTS STRUGGLE TO SURVIVE AGAINST ANTI-EVANGELISM LAW
from Takie Dela
HIERARCH OF SERBIAN PATRIARCHATE VISITS RUSSIAN ORTHODOX CHURCH
from Russian Orthodox Church - Moscow Patriarchate
METR. EPIPHANY RE-REGISTERS TWO OF PHILARET'S MONASTERIES TO THE OCU
from Orthodox Christianity
AZERBAIJAN: YOUNG BOY'S GIFT OF CHRISTIAN BOOKS TO CLASSMATES LEADS TO MASSIVE FINES FOR PARENTS
from ChristianPersecution.com
IRAQI ARCHBISHOP REFLECTS ON CHRISTIAN COMMUNITY FIVE YEARS AFTER ISLAMIC STATE TAKEOVER
from Eurasia Review
SPUTNIK FALSELY CLAIMS THAT NATO COMBATS ORTHODOXY
from StopFake.org
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NOW, OUR VIEWS:
Christ Sending Out the Twelve
Jesus Christ showed and taught His followers how to heal the sick and care for the poor and brokenhearted. It seems, however, that many Christians think - "I don't have the gift of healing, I'm not a great evangelist or a pastor, so I guess I'll just be an ordinary layperson, sitting in my cushioned pew, singing hymns and listening to sermons." Why do people think that way? And what should we do about it?
We've been conditioned by centuries of social pressure, for example, under the Muslims who in the seventh century conquered the Middle East, North Africa, Spain, parts of France, Italy, Russia, the Balkans and Hungary, and who at best consigned Christians to second-class "dhimmi" status and forbade them to have any social outreach - only Muslims were allowed to do that. Christians were limited to only hold religious observances within four church walls. At worst, Christians were persecuted and killed if they wouldn't convert to Islam.
Then in Western Europe, after driving the Muslims back and after several religious wars that decimated the populations, the various Edicts of Toleration reinforced the notion that people should stop fighting and show "tolerance" to those of other religious convictions, not pushing their religious beliefs on others.
But in the Christian East, shortly after the collapse of the Muslim Turkish Empire, in the 1917 Russian Revolution Communism took hold and at best strictly limited the Christian faith to only religious observances within four church walls, they were forbidden to have any kind of social ministry: only communists were allowed to do that. At worst, Christians who wouldn't meekly comply were tortured and killed.
And in the West it's just a bit more subtle: the ever-expanding secular humanism under the guise of "democracy", "freedom" and "tolerance" exerts strong social pressure against living out one's Christian faith in the public square. Nowadays, if any Christian suggests, "We ought to be taking care of 'the poor, the maimed, the lame and the blind' like Christ did and taught His followers to do! - the standard reply is - "Oh, that's not our job: let the government do it." But government-managed "healthcare" doesn't care about your health, it's motivated by power and money: if the patient can't pay, shove him out the door. Don't think so? We've seen it happen!
And leftists now push the idea that religious freedom means only the right to attend the worship service of your choice, not "the free exercise of religion" as the First Amendment clearly states. Do you see a pattern developing here? They want to take over the Social Ministry of the Church - see our six short courses that will help you break out of these cultural stereotypes!
How often have you heard, "Don't shove your religion down other people's throats!" and Christians being labeled as "intolerant" or "bigoted" or "haters" if they speak of or live out their beliefs in public? We've internalized these social pressures, accepting them as "normal" and even come to believe in them almost as religious dogma. We must break out of this "psychological box" that we've been shoved into, and reclaim the free exercise of our religion in society, as Christ commanded us to do.
You likely don't have the gifts of healing or exorcism. Perhaps you're not a great evangelist: you get real nervous if asked to speak in public. It's OK if you don't have those spiritual gifts. Remember Christ's parable of the ten talents, five talents and one talent? The person with just one talent buried it, so the Master took it and gave it to the person who had ten.
But actually, you most likely have ten talents already! What are those things attached to your palms? Ten fingers! You have ten spiritual gifts, called the gift of helps! Learn how to start using them, and perhaps the Master will entrust you with some of the greater gifts. Break out of the box!
We've begun raising funds to pay the remaining $175,000 for the 8.8-acre property where we plan to build our ARC (Agape Restoration Community). We are looking for 10 "platinum" donors at $17,500 each, or 100 "gold" donors at $1,750 each, or 1,000 "silver" donors at $175 each, or any combination of these. You can divide your donation into ten monthly installments at our DONATE page: for example, $17.50 per month over ten months enables you to give $175 practically painlessly! If you haven't yet seen our sketches and the property, please read the last two paragraphs at our "Building the ARC" web-page.
In our second news article OVER 500 CHURCHES LEAVE RUSSIAN CHURCH FOR NEW UKRAINIAN ORTHODOX CHURCH we see that the people's momentum in Ukraine is continuing to move away from Moscow and toward having their own Orthodox Church that is not controlled by a foreign power. Even more impressive is that more and more parishes that are switching are located in areas that were heavily pro-Moscow Church.
MINISTRY OF CULTURE CONFIRMS LIQUIDATION OF KYIV PATRIARCHATE - our third news article - describes the sad end of old ex-Patriarch Filaret's efforts to revive the old Kyiv Patriarchate after he had agreed to merge it into the new Orthodox Church of Ukraine. Was this just a tragic story of a 90-year-old man losing his wits and acting up in strange ways? Or was there something behind it that hasn't been publicly revealed?
It seems there are "far out" architects all over the world who want to redefine what the Church should look like: see our fifth news article THE RUSSIAN ORTHODOX CHURCH CRITICIZES THE PROJECT OF 'FUTURISTIC' CHURCH IN MOSCOW. As Archpriest Kalinin says, the self-image of the Church "that has been formed for centuries, should not be destroyed by momentary forms not proven by time."
Three of our news articles in this issue - IS KILLING THE DISABLED 'EUGENICS', OR JUST A MERCIFUL RELEASE? and ASSISTED SUICIDE IS NOW LEGAL IN NEW JERSEY: IT COULD GET EVEN WORSE and IN MASSACHUSETTS BILL TO CRIMINALIZE SUICIDE ENCOURAGEMENT, THERE'S A LETHAL LOOPHOLE - all deal with the sanctity of human life because we believe mankind is created in the image of God and therefore each human being has intrinsic value, not based on his or her age or beauty or intelligence or health or wealth or ability to contribute to society. What's the "lethal loophole" in the Mass. bill? Ordinary people can't practice assisted suicide, but licensed physicians can!
And yet, secular "humanists" and socialists are stealthily pushing policies of death: eugenics, assisted suicide, abortion, and euthanasia by taking control of federal and state legislatures and ramming through such laws, while the vast majority of us do not agree with these policies, but we are "asleep at the switch" - thinking that Christians shouldn't get involved in "political" issues. For example, 76% of Americans polled agree that babies born alive after surviving a botched abortion must be kept alive - but several states now have passed laws allowing "doctors" (abortionists) to break these babies' necks or drown them or simply put them aside to die.
An excellent article - The Misery of Democratic Socialism - states: "freedom requires agent causation in an indeterministic world, and political freedom requires knowledge of the Good and the will to choose it for the purpose of becoming virtuous", that is, you must be a proactive agent, you can't just "go with the flow"; also, you must strive to know what is Good and True, you can't just yield to the widespread fallacy that "everything is relative, there is no absolute truth" (except for the absurd statement that everything is relative!).
This article goes on to say - "Etymologically, demokratia is 'rule by the people,' yet there is ambiguity as to what this looks like. While the principle of the consent of the governed is necessary for legitimate political rule, the mere fact that a people rule themselves is not an untrammeled good. If the people are ignorant, depraved, or malicious, their self-rule will reflect these traits to the detriment of all; if the people are wise, virtuous, and just, then their rule will more likely lead to prosperity and human flourishing. This is why the American Founders emphasized public virtue, personal morality, and religious devotion as critical prerequisites for our constitutional republic to succeed." Our democracy is built upon virtue, morality, and religious devotion, without which it will fall apart.
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America Needs to Repent!
In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit! Glory to Jesus Christ! Glory forever!
Why is our country in such a mess? Why are the leading presidential candidates busy throwing garbage at each other, and not talking about how they plan to solve the problems of mass killings, rioting, crime in the streets, rising numbers of deaths due to drug overdoses, falling numbers of live births due to abortion, and soaring Federal deficits because of massively growing "entitlement" programs?
It should be clear that America needs to return to the Christian principles that it was founded upon. Instead, in the last 50 years we've removed Bible reading from public schools and taken down the Ten Commandments from public places.
When the firm foundation for instruction in morals is removed, the next generations are left to follow the rule "whatever feels good, do it!" Immediate gratification of one's passions and desires can only be limited by a higher, stronger motivation based on spiritual reality.
It's time for America to repent, before our society disintegrates into warring factions that are incapable of peaceful dialog and the respectful give-and-take that has allowed our country to grow and prosper in the past. Christians: we need to call out to the living God for His mercy on our land before it's too late!
"Unless the Lord builds the house, they labor in vain who build it. Unless the Lord watches over the city, the watchman guards it in vain" (Psalm 127:1). Why are these mass murders taking place? Because we have driven the Lord out of our society so He isn't watching over the city. We've replaced Him with the state as the answer to all our problems. How did this come about?
In my last essay "What Luther Got Right" we considered the ideas and effects of the Protestant Reformation. But what were the causes? What brought Luther to question the doctrines of the Roman Catholic Church? Not quite a century before the Reformation, Johannes Gutenberg invented the printing press with moveable type. Before that, Bibles had to be copied by hand, a very laborious and time-consuming process: it took about two years to hand-write each page of the Bible, word-by-word. So with the advent of the printing press, the Bible and other books began to be fairly widely-circulated by the early 16th century when the Reformation took place. Historians call this period "The Age of Enlightenment" or "The Age of Reason" when people finally had the information on which to try to make reasonable, rational decisions.
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Please read "A Letter Concerning Toleration" (PDF, 34 pages) by John Locke. Published in 1689, it "is one of the most under-appreciated texts in the liberal tradition of political philosophy. When read in conjunction with his Second Treatise, it clarifies the relationship Locke envisions between individuals and the state. In the letter, Locke argues that all religious practices should be tolerated unless they are a threat to the proper functioning of the state" (The Federalist Papers).
Locke embodied the ideas of the Enlightenment and of the Protestant Reformation's "sola Scriptura" doctrine that in practice meant "sola every-believer's-interpretation-of-Scripture" because every man was supposed to be enlightened by the Holy Spirit and could correctly interpret the Scriptures by himself alone - each man became a pope unto himself, thus giving rise to the tens of thousands of Protestant denominations.
Also, browse through The Reasonableness of Christianity (PDF, 256 pages) by John Locke, published in 1695, it is "an enquiry into the foundations of Christian belief. He did so anonymously, to avoid public involvement in the fiercely partisan religious controversies of the day. In The Reasonableness of Christianity John Locke considered what it was to which all Christians must assent in faith; he argued that the answer could be found by anyone for themselves in the divine revelation of Scripture alone (sola Scriptura). He maintained that the requirements of Scripture were few and simple, and therefore offered a basis for tolerant agreement among all Christians, and the promise of peace, stability, and security through toleration." (The Federalist Papers)
Locke's views indicate a general acceptance in the 17th century of a Christian worldview based on human reason and autonomy that reflects the Western Enlightenment view of man, but belittles the importance of doctrines such as the person and nature of Christ and the Trinity, and it assumes that a rational, mental assent to the historical fact of Jesus as the Messiah is sufficient for salvation. This assumption makes "the proper functioning of the state" and individual rationality more important than spiritual truths and commitment of one's whole life to Christ. Locke's view of religious tolerance also opened the door to the philosophical relativism of later modernism and post-modernism in the West.
John Locke's ideas were central to the worldview of the Founding Fathers of the United States, and thus also for much of western democracy and political thought. You see here that already in the 17th century, people were beginning to prioritize "the proper functioning of the state" and man's autonomy and rationality over the absolute authority of God and Divine Law, which began to be called "Natural Law" - eventually leaving God entirely out of the picture. Once we concede to the argument of "tolerance" - accepting others' worldviews as equally true and valid, we've lost the battle to relativism. Game over.
Today we live in a secularized, post-Christian society. It has become fashionable to believe the absurd oxymoron - "there are absolutely no absolutes, and that's the absolute truth!" You might recall from high school algebra that in order to solve a problem with multiple unknown variables, you need to find at least one fixed value: without that, the problem can't be solved. But when we are left with no Absolute, no God, with a relativist, materialist, socialist worldview, there is no fixed point of reference on which to base our moral and spiritual values. When one rejects the Absolute, those "values" become simply variables: with no moral compass, the problems of society can't be solved.
We need to return to the one true Absolute, the Divine Authority, God, Who has revealed Himself in His Son, Jesus Christ, the Word of God in the flesh. When God became incarnate ("in the flesh") in Christ, the Truth became knowable. It is He who said - "I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life. No one comes to the Father except by Me" (John 14:6). America - indeed, the whole world - needs to repent of its rebellion against God and accept Christ as the Absolute Truth!
In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit! Christ is among us! He is and ever shall be!
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Please remember to pray for Christians in socialist countries, and for...
Your fellow-servants,
Bob & Cheryl
p.s. It is impossible to rightly govern the world without God and the Bible. - George Washington
- 10 Aug. 2019