Life Matters

You've often heard it said, "Well, everyone has a right to die." But is that true? If everyone has a right to die then I'm going to live forever because I simply will not exercise my right to die. It's an absurd statement that hides a much deeper and sinister meaning. What they're really saying is they would like to cause people to die or they feel someone should be dead, they're just not dead enough yet so they want to do the act. That's a very different verb. Dying is intransitive. We're all going to die. But not all of us will be killed and that's the verb they don't want to bring themselves to say. To cause someone to die, whether it's yourself or another, it's killing.

You’ve often heard it said, “Well, everyone has a right to die.”  But is that true?  If everyone has a right to die then I’m going to live forever because I simply will not exercise my right to die.  It’s an absurd statement that hides a much deeper and sinister meaning.  What they’re really saying is they would like to cause people to die or they feel someone should be dead, they’re just not dead enough yet so they want to do the act. That’s a very different verb.  Dying is intransitive.  We’re all going to die.  But not all of us will be killed and that’s the verb they don’t want to bring themselves to say.  To cause someone to die, whether it’s yourself or another, it’s killing.

While Life Matters focuses on the battlefield of ideas, something that often trumps ideas and influences many people's decisions, are emotions.

Emotions predate our consideration of ideas. As infants, emotions dominate our experience of, and understanding of, the world around us.

Dr. James Dobson once wrote a book called "Emotions: Can You Trust Them?" Emotions are often indicators. They can indicate something to us about life or our circumstances, but they are not always the best guide for making important decisions.

Images of an unborn child can carry powerful emotion and that's good news for us in the pro-life movement. The journal Neuromarketing has examined the use of a child's image in marketing because it universally draws on the emotions of the viewer. Not unlike images of a small animal, these images draw emotions of compassion and protection. That's good news for us.

But, if that commitment to protecting that child is only based on the emotions surrounding that cute pre-born child, then that pro-life education is incomplete, because killing that unborn child is not wrong because that child is "cute," killing him or her is wrong because that's a vulnerable human being. On the other end of the spectrum, when someone is older or incapacitated by serious illness, the decisions we make based on our emotions can be very dangerous if we permit, for emotional reasons, the killing of a vulnerable person just in order to be free of the emotions we feel at at the moment.

Emotions surrounding illness and terminal conditions are very, very powerful. Dr. Elisabeth Kübler-Ross outlined them in her book on the five stages of grief. These were clarified in her book, "On Death and Dying" (1969). It is a phenomenon that all of us will face. But if we surrender to the emotions and are willing to kill either ourselves or a vulnerable person because of the emotions out of the desire to escape those emotions, we are engaging in a most heinous and reprehensible act. You're killing a fellow human on the basis of emotions.

The resources that are available for physical pain, Kübler-Ross points out we will often need to help sdeal with the emotional pain, but the rewards of caring for that person instead, are wonderful. She indicates that that is the reason FOR the emotions, to draw people DEEPER into life and help them accept their mortality in a mature way.

Like the foxhole conversion, an individual that is finally willing to face and accept their mortality is transformed in a remarkable way. They no longer wish to just, "get it over with," they appreciate every breath.

Legalizing euthanasia and assisted suicide for emotions is very wrongheaded, and prevents individuals from coming to that mature understanding of life. Kübler-Ross adamantly opposed killing patients because of these emotions. You should too.

Later, Sylvia Aimerito of the PowerOf7 App explains its use and importance for the pro-life movement. The app is free to download to iPhone, smart phones, iPads, etc. Familiarity with the PowerOf7 allows individuals to quickly and easily answer the seven most common pro-abortion arguments. If you ever feel at a loss or insecure about advocating for unborn children, you should consider downloading the free PowerOf7 App to give you the tools you need.

November 18th, 2017 there is a conference on these issues at BIOLA University, La Mirada California. Go to www.CaringNotKilling.wordpress.com.

While Life Matters focuses on the battlefield of ideas, something that often trumps ideas and influences many people’s decisions, are emotions.

Emotions predate our consideration of ideas. As infants, emotions dominate our experience of, and understanding of, the world around us. 

Dr. James Dobson once wrote a book called “Emotions: Can You Trust Them?”  Emotions are often indicators. They can indicate something to us about life or our circumstances, but they are not always the best guide for making important decisions.

Images of an unborn child can carry powerful emotion and that’s good news for us in the pro-life movement. The journal Neuromarketing has examined the use of a child’s image in marketing because it universally draws on the emotions of the viewer. Not unlike images of a small animal, these images draw emotions of compassion and protection. That’s good news for us.

But, if that commitment to protecting that child is only based on the emotions surrounding that cute pre-born child, then that pro-life education is incomplete, because killing that unborn child is not wrong because that child is "cute,” killing him or her is wrong because that’s a vulnerable human being. On the other end of the spectrum, when someone is older or incapacitated by serious illness, the decisions we make based on our emotions can be very dangerous if we permit, for emotional reasons, the killing of a vulnerable person just in order to be free of the emotions we feel at at the moment.

Emotions surrounding illness and terminal conditions are very, very powerful. Dr. Elisabeth Kübler-Ross outlined them in her book on the five stages of grief.  These were clarified in her book, “On Death and Dying” (1969). It is a phenomenon that all of us will face. But if we surrender to the emotions and are willing to kill either ourselves or a vulnerable person because of the emotions out of the desire to escape those emotions, we are engaging in a most heinous and reprehensible act. You’re killing a fellow human on the basis of emotions.

The resources that are available for physical pain, Kübler-Ross points out we will often need to help sdeal with the emotional pain, but the rewards of caring for that person instead, are wonderful. She indicates that that is the reason FOR the emotions, to draw people DEEPER into life and help them accept their mortality in a mature way.

Like the foxhole conversion, an individual that is finally willing to face and accept their mortality is transformed in a remarkable way. They no longer wish to just, "get it over with," they appreciate every breath.

Legalizing euthanasia and assisted suicide for emotions is very wrongheaded, and prevents individuals from coming to that mature understanding of life.  Kübler-Ross adamantly opposed killing patients because of these emotions. You should too.

Later, Sylvia Aimerito of the PowerOf7 App explains its use and importance for the pro-life movement. The app is free to download to iPhone, smart phones, iPads, etc. Familiarity with the PowerOf7 allows individuals to quickly and easily answer the seven most common pro-abortion arguments. If you ever feel at a loss or insecure about advocating for unborn children, you should consider downloading the free PowerOf7 App to give you the tools you need.   

November 18th, 2017 there is a conference on these issues at BIOLA University, La Mirada California. Go to www.CaringNotKilling.wordpress.com. 

Brian reminds us of the book "On Death and Dying" where Dr. Elisabeth Kübler-Ross outlines the emotional challenges that face everyone confronting a terminal diagnosis.

Denial, anger, bargaining, despair and then finally acceptance; these emotional roller coaster challenges are universal when confronting a terminal diagnosis. Surrendering to the despair or anger or denial, and killing the depressed patient, accomplishes nothing. Kübler-Ross was adamant this was in fact the richest opportunity in the patient's life for emotional and psychological growth.

The desire for suicide is an emotional desire. Suicidal emotions can be treated. Killing the patient because of their emotional inclinations is not addressing those emotions.

Brian reminds us of the book “On Death and Dying” where Dr. Elisabeth Kübler-Ross outlines the emotional challenges that face everyone confronting a terminal diagnosis.

Denial, anger, bargaining, despair and then finally acceptance; these emotional roller coaster challenges are universal when confronting a terminal diagnosis. Surrendering to the despair or anger or denial, and killing the depressed patient, accomplishes nothing. Kübler-Ross was adamant this was in fact the richest opportunity in the patient’s life for emotional and psychological growth.

The desire for suicide is an emotional desire. Suicidal emotions can be treated. Killing the patient because of their emotional inclinations is not addressing those emotions.

Sylvia Aimerito of the PowerOf7 App explains its use and importance for the pro-life movement. The app is free to download to iPhone, smart phones, iPads, etc. Familiarity with the PowerOf7 allows individuals to quickly and easily answer the seven most common pro-abortion arguments. If you ever feel at a loss or insecure about advocating for unborn children, you should consider downloading the free PowerOf7 App to give you the tools you need.

Brian is again joined by Karen Cross, Political Director of the National Right to Life Committee. They discuss the purpose of the law in protecting the pre-born. Today, in states where pro-life legislation has been allowed to pass, the abortion rate drops precipitously.

Karen reiterates the five ways that pro-life individuals inadvertently elect pro-abortion candidates. The most common is falling in love with just one candidate and if that person doesn't win then those pro-life supporters fail to work for any other pro-life candidate. This gives victory to the other side. A very common error of well-meaning people is the idea that we must run third-party candidates against a less than perfect nominee. This inevitably gives the election to the worst of candidates. This was demonstrated in 2008, when Al Franken had won in a very, very close election, but the reason he won was because the pro-life vote was split and 17% of all votes went to the third-party candidate. They guaranteed that Al Franken would become a US Senator. He is one of the most radical, pro-abortion legislators we have seen in modern US history.

Sylvia Aimerito of the PowerOf7 App explains its use and importance for the pro-life movement. The app is free to download to iPhone, smart phones, iPads, etc. Familiarity with the PowerOf7 allows individuals to quickly and easily answer the seven most common pro-abortion arguments. If you ever feel at a loss or insecure about advocating for unborn children, you should consider downloading the free PowerOf7 App to give you the tools you need.

Brian is again joined by Karen Cross, Political Director of the National Right to Life Committee. They discuss the purpose of the law in protecting the pre-born. Today, in states where pro-life legislation has been allowed to pass, the abortion rate drops precipitously.

Karen reiterates the five ways that pro-life individuals inadvertently elect pro-abortion candidates. The most common is falling in love with just one candidate and if that person doesn’t win then those pro-life supporters fail to work for any other pro-life candidate. This gives victory to the other side.

A very common error of well-meaning people is the idea that we must run third-party candidates against a less than perfect nominee. This inevitably gives the election to the worst of candidates. This was demonstrated in 2008, when Al Franken had won in a very, very close election, but the reason he won was because the pro-life vote was split and 17% of all votes went to the third-party candidate. They guaranteed that Al Franken would become a US Senator. He is one of the most radical, pro-abortion legislators we have seen in modern US history.

Brian interviews Alex Schadenberg of the Euthanasia Prevention Coalition.

The medical profession in California and in Canada have both abandoned the basic principles of the Hippocratic Oath to never bring harm to a patient. The implications are severe. Ultimately, it is not the patient but the physician who decides which patients will be killed and when.

Later in the program, Brian brings an interview from his visit to the New Mexico Right To Life Convention. There he met with Carol Tobias, President of the National Right to Life Committee. Carol explains what to expect in the coming year, some of the recent votes in Congress, the importance of the 2018 election, and the opportunity to join with National Right to Life at the National Convention in July, 2018. The right to life movement is on the march and individual pro-lifers need to be equipped to address the factual issues.

Brian interviews Alex Schadenberg of the Euthanasia Prevention Coalition.

The medical profession in California and in Canada have both abandoned the basic principles of the Hippocratic Oath to never bring harm to a patient. The implications are severe. Ultimately, it is not the patient but the physician who decides which patients will be killed and when.

Later in the program, Brian brings an interview from his visit to the New Mexico Right To Life Convention. There he met with Carol Tobias, President of the National Right to Life Committee. Carol explains what to expect in the coming year, some of the recent votes in Congress, the importance of the 2018 election, and the opportunity to join with National Right to Life at the National Convention in July, 2018. The right to life movement is on the march and individual pro-lifers need to be equipped to address the factual issues.