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A Horrifying Devaluing of Human Life … It’s Not Science Fiction
Posted by Geoff Baggett in Bible & Theology, News & Culture
A few of us remember the cheesy 1976 scifi classic, Logan’s Run. In the movie, set in a utopian future, children were not born into happy families … they were bred in labs. When adults reach the age of 30 they must submit to be killed under the pretense of social renewal. If their sense of self-preservation kicked in and they chose to run, the government police would hunt them down and kill them. It was a culture obsessed with youth, beauty, and health. Newborns were unwanted, the elderly were useless and unthinkable. The government chose who lived and who died.
Welcome to the future. Two stories in the press over the past week seem to prove that it has arrived.
From CNSNews.com …
John P. Holdren, director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (Obama’s Science Czar) apparently holds a frighteningly unthinkable view of human life. In 1973 he co-authored the book, Human Ecology: Problems and Solutions, with Stanford professors Paul R. Ehrlich and Anne H. Ehrlich. The book was published by W.H. Freeman and Company. On page 235 in chapter 8 of the book, which is titled “Population Limitation,” the reader finds this unbelievable quote:
“The fetus, given the opportunity to develop properly before birth, and given the essential early socializing experiences and sufficient nourishing food during the crucial early years after birth, will ultimately develop into a human being.”
It appears that, according to the scientific minds of the Obama administration, an infant or small child should not even be considered as a full-fledged human being. One can imagine the implications of such a radical point of view. Infanticide, “post-birth” abortion, infant euthanasia … horrific … But it seems that such are the published views of the chief science advisor of the Obama administration.
But these unthinkable views do not end with Dr. Holdren and friends. In here recent article, “Deadly Doctors,” New York Post writer Betsy McCaughey brought to light the human life position of Dr. Ezekiel Emanuel (brother of White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel), the health-policy adviser at the White House Office of Management and Budget. His views on healthcare for the infirm and elderly are shocking, especially in light of the current debate on healthcare overhaul and reform. McCaughey reports:
Emanuel, however, believes that “communitarianism” should guide decisions on who gets care. He says medical care should be reserved for the non-disabled, not given to those “who are irreversibly prevented from being or becoming participating citizens . . . An obvious example is not guaranteeing health services to patients with dementia” (Hastings Center Report, Nov.-Dec. ’96).
Translation: Don’t give much care to a grandmother with Parkinson’s or a child with cerebral palsy.
He explicitly defends discrimination against older patients: “Unlike allocation by sex or race, allocation by age is not invidious discrimination; every person lives through different life stages rather than being a single age. Even if 25-year-olds receive priority over 65-year-olds, everyone who is 65 years now was previously 25 years” (Lancet, Jan. 31).
So, according to this key medical adviser in the Obama administration, healthcare for the truly infirm and elderly is wasted money. Only those who are really healthy and have reasonable expectation of recovery are deserving of the investment of healthcare.
Could it be that such views are only steps away from outright euthanasia of the mentally impaired, terminally ill, and the elderly?
I am simply blown away. Shocked. Amazed. Mortified. Mystified.
These stories should be reverberating through the American press. These are not kook conspiracy theories. They are documented views and statements quoted in respectable press outlets.
The people of our country, and certainly the people in our churches, should know about the views of these high-ranking, influential people in the United States Government.
Somehow, I don’t think this is the “change” that the people of the United States bargained for.
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The more our eyes are stayed on Jesus the more valuable a life is. Any deviation from that statement, we, as Christians, will begin a downward spiral along with the world. I do not believe the key to correcting this is through public influence or politics. A Christian is being prepared for a different kingdom. God’s values are not promoted through politics, they are promoted through grace. Where sin abounds, grace doth much more abound.
If the mindset continues to increase like you have described above, America will have to apologize to Hitler. What a horror it is to know that depraved men continue to slip further and further into the abyss of Satanic thinking. It’s like a welcome mat being prepared for the Antichrist mindset. May this be a wake-up call for Christians.
II Chron. 7:14 – If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.
Be concerned….very concerned.
David
Brother Geoff,
6 months ago I would have accused you of living in an overly sensitive and panic stricken spirit of fear. I was so tired of hearing people link Obama to the antichrist or accuse him of being a covert Muslim terrorist. The emails that circulated during elections slandering him was certainly less than Christian. However, today I must admit we as followers of Jesus who are also American find ourselves in uncharted water. I would not claim to be afraid of the future, I would however affirm your feeling of disbelief. I find myself shocked as well and wondering what to do. His agenda, along with the leaders he surronds himself with speak extensivly about his direction and worldview.
P.S. If the health care reform bill passes and tax dollars begin paying for abortions (as I understand in its current form will), do I continue to pay taxes or do I refuse to fund that agenda and submit to my punishment? I throw that it in as it has been my question to ponder for the last three days.
Good post. I identify with it.
Zach
This is unworthy of Christian discourse. Quotes out of context, designed to stir up fear and indignation; guilt by association, and finally a refusal to deal with the real issues behind the accusations. If you are opposed to reasonable healthcare for all Americans, just say so. If you believe that our administration has a plan for marginalizing and executing the weak, infirm, and defenseless, present evidence of that plan.
Michael,
By simply changing what we have in place now with no additional money fed into the system to add to and maintain the existing healthcare set-up, politicians have to always compromise. It’s not even fair now. Liberal politicians put no value on life as it is, they just want to adjust the healthcare to other needy people and allow a different group of people to suffer humanely (to say it nicely). I don’t think anyone is opposed to reasonable healthcare. Just don’t shuffle the cards and expect a better hand without a full deck.
I wanted to post this when it first came up, but to be totally accurate, Logan’s Run was a response to the “Don’t trust anyone over 30″ mantra that was all the rage in the early 70′s. It was a heavy handed parallel about the emptiness of life given over to drugs, sex, and pleasure. In fact, the message of the movie was that the old and infirm have value in a society that is enslaved by its pursuit of pleasure.
Additionally, I’d like to state that the Holdren quote was from 1973. I confess that I would not want to be held accountable for some of the dumb things I said in 1973 based on my level of experience and what was going on in the world at that time. That being said, he, like the Ehrlichs, may continue to espouse population limits, but I would much prefer to see a more contemporary quote rather than something 35 years out of date.
rick
Michael,
Don’t change the subject. This isn’t about “reasonable healthcare for everyone.” It’s about the published views of the people in high places in our government.
Rick,
The things you say about Logan’s Run are true. In the end, clear thinking wins, the young people see the value of the old, but the existing structure had to be changes. And sure, I’ve said plenty of stupid things throughout my lifetime. I just never published them in textbooks…
Abortion has been the “gateway” to the loss of life on both ends of the spectrum. Mother Teresa aptly describes ours as a “culture of death”. Obama is showing himself to be the the most radical abortion rights president thus far in America
“The great destroyer of peace is abortion because if a mother can kill her own child, what is left [but] for me to kill you and you to kill me. There’s nothing betweeen.” —Mother Teresa
Pray for Repentance!
Jim Stroud