2017 44th Annual March for Life — Live Stream (UPDATED)

MW, KF, Thanks for your thoughtful responses. KF, great stuff at the link you provided! harry

God is with the ones whom the world considers to be nobodies and beneath consideration.

I was thinking of something just like that when I saw the pictures and videos of the marchers. Then it just hit me - the ones the world considers nobodies? It's the children waiting to be born themselves! Great reflection, Andrew - thank you for sharing that. Silver Asiatic

I was there. It was awesome! (Wrote a little reflection) Andrew's March For Life 2017 Reflection: Trying to condense all the sights, sounds and thoughts a person experiences at the March for Life into a takeaway message isn't easy. There are so many ideas that could be explored and discussed at length. There are as many things to think about as there were people there. The one I have picked out to present is one that was inspired by themes in today's scripture readings: God is with the ones whom the world considers to be nobodies and beneath consideration. This idea was highlighted throughout the scriptures today repeatedly. Maybe the only way we can begin to return to a culture of Life in America is to first see that God loves His children even when His children hate each other and themselves and Him. I have faith that this is our way out and away from the violence and the contempt we have for even the smallest and most innocent of people. So while we bicker and accuse and hurt each other now, God has has instructed us to make a better choice. He has commanded it. Love one another, as He loves us. That's all I have. Andrew asauber

looks like the torched Limo was that of Lance Wallnau. This man has the right spiritual enemies: http://kairosfocus.blogspot.com/2017/01/matt-24-watch-301-that-torched-car-on.html kairosfocus

mw

However, the founding fathers of America included freemasons, http://civilwartalk.com/thread.....ons.39643/

Masonic influence in the U.S. has been very strong since its founding. The concept of nature's God is legitimate in philosophical terms and it matches what the Deist's believed. We often use the term "Theistic evolutionist" when it might more accurately be "Deistic evolutionist" since theism proposes a personal God who intervenes in nature whereas Deism proposes an impersonal force of some kind. Romans 1:12 points to the God that can be recognized in nature. Certainly not the fullness of knowledge that we gain through revelation, but enough to have a divine orientation. We can look back and be glad that at least the American founders had some standards for morality - in that same way, looking to God as the source of rights. I think Roe V Wade merely took the principle of radical individualism a little farther so that each person has the right to define what life is. I remember growing up being taught that England was Mary's Dowry and a land of countless saints. I didn't learn about the other side of the picture with Darwin and other Enlightenment thinkers spreading atheism until I was much older. Thank you for sharing that personal note on your journey from freemasonry. That is inspirational. Silver Asiatic

MW, law of nature is a way of saying that we find ourselves under moral government, the law of OUR nature. This comes out in the sense of urgency towards the truth and the right, that even comes out in how the perverse try to exploit our sense of fairness and to project perceptions of hypocrisy. In short the general consent of mankind is that we are under moral law, law tied to our nature, law that is self-evident as to try to deny it instantly ends in absurdity. For instance, why ought we to be critical, apart from the oughtness of truth and right? Yes, playing games with this brings rationality crashing down. In that light we see the IS-OUGHT gap and that points to the roots of reality. Only at that level can we find an IS that simultaneously grounds ought. For this there is but one serious candidate: the inherently good creator God, a necessary and maximally great being, worthy of ultimate loyalty and the reasonable, responsible service of doing the good in accord with our evident nature. Why do I say that? Try putting up an alternative, all too soon it collapses in absurdities. It is in that context that ethical theism arises and points to the Judaeo-Christian tradition. Which, many hate to the point that they are willing to cling to the absurd in order to dismiss Him with whom they wish to have no dealings. Thus, we fall under Rom 1. KF kairosfocus

Harry @ 41: I can only applaud your sentiments. You say: “Give me brutally honest criticism of the following. Thanks.” You mention, “British jurist William Blackstone was a proponent of natural law theory – the theory that law was constrained by morality.” _________________________________________________________________ A question, as an Englishman, myself; who or what defines “the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God”? Was it not and Englishman who exported from England a global Judaeo-Christian faith reducing theory; a non-scientific law, making invalid and "erroneous" the law of God at Sinai as ‘untrustworthy nonsense,’ and unworthy of Darwin's enlightenment? Nevertheless, on record, God publicly witnessed at Sinai; testified in stone, and had his witness statement made into a book of law by Moses. In turn, that law was laid down in holy respect alongside the ark containing his stone written testimony, which by the way, the ark God designed. Today, the very Testimony and law of God is made out to contain design errors around the numbers six and seven. If God is deemed to have given an outdated and hence an unnatural law; a law given by the Highest lawmaker with supreme authority and judgement, what then? For one thing, Roe and Wade, is what then. However, death spews throughout the fossil records. Surely evidence of catastrophic judgement. That also rubbished. Unable we are now to believe God created good from the beginning a mature universe aged to suit, as stated in any plain reading of that divine law. As for myself, each day I give thanks for each special day of the creation and am happy to believe and live in the matured wine of creation in six days. However, the founding fathers of America included freemasons, http://civilwartalk.com/threads/founding-fathers-and-others-who-were-freemasons.39643/ A grandfather of Darwin was an ardent evolutionist and freemason. Nature's law was a song to Darwin. Natural Selection he ‘baptised’ as a law of nature. Indeed, he made a god out of it: “natures God.” The Rev Walton Hannah, a Church of England vicar, who later became a Catholic priest in Canada, wrote, “Darkness Visible: A Christian Appraisal of Freemasonry” (1952). Its accuracy was confirmed in 1987 by Commander Higham, General Secretary of the United Grand Lodge of England. Alternatively, the book by Arturo De Hoyos and S Brent Morris, “Is it True what they Say About Freemasonry (2004),” written by two American 33 degree freemasons, paints a different picture. From my research, speaking as a Catholic, I believe freemasonry is the vehicle that will bring about ecclesiastical freemasonry into the Vatican; a trumpet for the false prince of peace, the true antichrist. It is believed, against Freemasonry, the Blessed Virgin Mary spoke. In an approved devotion from the 17th century, Quito, Ecuador, she appeared as Our Lady of Good Success to Mother Mariana de Jesus Torresto. A miraculous statue was part of the mystical events, blessed now with a canonical coronation. Deemed worthy of reading are the messages. Her cause for beatification began in 1986. Her body now lies incorrupt. http://www.michaeljournal.org/goodsuccess.htm Many years ago, I resigned from freemasonry and its privileges. mw

Harry, I think the US founders and framers were terrified of splitting up the North American continent into small manipulable states that would invite interference and endless wars similar to Europe. Hence, their priority on Union. The 20 year terminus on the slave trade was written into the Constitution, as part of the compromises they made. To limit the power of slave-holding states in Congress they held that un-free persons should only count 3/5 in apportioning seats for the popular house. The Senate was originally in effect collective ambassadors from the constitutive states to the federation government. Some reference to Lincoln's 2nd Inaugural address may help; I have been struck by the reference he made to offences cf Matt 18. KF PS: Cf my remarks here. kairosfocus

Truth, yes it is an obvious battle for the future and for the hearts, minds and souls of men. KF kairosfocus

Harry, thanks; food for sobering thought. KF kairosfocus

KF @ 37: "This, to me smacks of something seriously wrong." Indeed, there IS something seriously wrong. This is a culture war of epic proportions, with new and deep fissures beings created daily. The gloves are off for both sides. These are very dangerous times. Truth Will Set You Free

Hey KF, BA and others who may be so inclined, Give me brutally honest criticism of the following. Thanks. Legal Personhood, Legal Positivism and Bigotry Some things to consider for those who think the child in the womb not being considered a legal person somehow justifies killing them: American slavery pretended to be legitimate by not granting full legal personhood to Blacks. Nazi law denied the legal personhood of the Jews, the victims of lethal bigotry. Denying legal personhood to the victims of the bigotry of the times is how the bigots attempt to legitimize their evil; they entrench their bigotry in the law. This being so obvious, what made the Supreme Court, in its 1973 Roe vs. Wade decision, decide to abruptly withdraw the protection of law from the child in the womb – and do so in spite of the fact that this would strike down laws the vast majority of the states already had on the books protecting these children, laws that had been there for over a hundred years? (Not to mention the fact that striking down laws enacted and maintained by the elected representatives of the people for over a century made a mockery of representative government.) The short answer: legal positivism, which arose in opposition to classical natural law theory which insists that there are necessary moral constraints on the content of law, combined with media-manufactured bigotry that dehumanized the child in the womb in the minds of many people. British jurist William Blackstone was a proponent of natural law theory – the theory that law was constrained by morality. Our Founding Fathers referred to Blackstone more than to any other English or American authority. Blackstone’s great work, Commentaries on the Laws of England, was a basic textbook of America’s early lawyers. The notion that government and its laws are constrained by morality glaringly shines forth in our Declaration of Independence, which began by invoking “the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God” to justify the assertions that followed in that document. Legal positivism, where the law is not constrained by morality, can, of course, easily go terribly wrong. Noted legal positivist Hans Kelsen asserted that:

What is a legal person is for the law, including of course, the Constitution, to say, which simply means that upon according legal personality to a thing the law affords it the right and privileges of a legal person ... The point is that it is a policy determination whether legal personality should attach and not a question of biological or 'natural' correspondence.

So a corporation can be a legal person, but biological human beings aren't necessarily legal persons? Any chance that could lead to injustice? Yes. Of course. And it did. Kelsen was eventually accused of providing the Nazis with a legal basis for the horrors they perpetrated upon innocent humanity. We need to learn from the horrible governmental mistakes of history so we won't let them repeat themselves, mistakes which are often rooted in the bigotry of the times: The Mistake of the American Founders The American Founders, although it was a clear violation of the noble principles proclaimed in our Declaration of Independence, tolerated slavery. Not that they didn't really believe in those principles. They did, but they thought that the upcoming international abolition of the slave trade would soon bring slavery to an end in America anyway, and they needed all the colonies to join the Union, including the slave-holding colonies. They were pragmatic, considering slavery a temporarily necessary evil that would soon disappear on its own. They were terribly wrong. Slavery became even more entrenched and was eventually widely promoted by Southern plantation owners as a positive good instead of a necessary evil. This was because slavery had become extremely lucrative. The big plantation owners were making a killing off of cash crops by utilizing slave labor. The Founders were wrong about the demise of slavery in America being inevitable and happening soon. Principle should have trumped pragmatism. Their mistake eventually had horrible consequences: It is estimated that 620,000 Americans lost their lives in the Civil War and countless soldiers returned home minus an arm or a leg. The carnage was unprecedented. And worse than even all that was countless human beings living and dying as slaves until American slavery ended. The Mistake of Germany The German intelligentsia decided to be pragmatic instead of principled about the cost of caring for institutionalized people and about unwanted pregnancies. Long before anybody knew who Hitler was they began advocating “humane” euthanasia and abortion. This amounted to the rejection of the traditional Western ethic which demanded respect for the dignity and inestimable worth of any and every human being. The state would now have the authority to “legalize” the murder of innocent humanity. Hitler eventually rose to power and applied the godless pragmatism of the intelligentsia to his agenda, which included arriving at a “final solution” to the longstanding “Jewish question.” There really was no legitimate “Jewish question,” there was only bigotry. All this unsurprisingly led to Nazi law denying legal personhood to the victims of bigotry and killing them by the millions. This ended in catastrophe not only for Germany but for all humanity as the Nazi regime's irrational assumption of god-like authority over innocent humanity corrupted them completely and darkened their minds. They then started WWII, which ultimately brought about the deaths of sixty-million people world-wide, or about three percent of the 1940 world population. Modern America's Mistake For over a hundred years America was a country the laws of which reflected the noble principles proclaimed in our Declaration of Independence. We had ended slavery and our laws reflected the intrinsic illegality of taking the life of the child in the womb. American law protected the inalienable rights to life and liberty of ALL humanity. Yet with the Roe vs. Wade decision -- a Nazi-like application of Kelsen's legal positivism -- the Supreme Court abandoned all that and irrationally took the path Germany had taken years before Hitler came to power that eventually led to world-wide catastrophe: We “legalized” the murder of the victims of contemporary bigotry, denying legal personhood to a vast segment of humanity. Americans will either restore American law to the noble principles of the Founders that were proclaimed in our Declaration of Independence or face an eventual disaster the bloody carnage of which God only knows. Justifying the murder of the child in the womb by saying these children aren't legal persons is the lamest, most unoriginal, uninspired, overdone, tired, hackneyed and recycled defense of “legal” murder possible. harry

BA77, the issue is what is the credible source of functionally specific complex organisation and associated information. Beyond a certain threshold, blind chance and/or mechanical necessity fail to be plausible. In the standard comms network model, there is always a source of info. Here, Wells is looking at origin of cell types (thus tissues, organs and systems) in complex organisms. This info is not coming from DNA, it is coming from somewhere else. Where is it coming from -- obviously for both the individual developing organism and the origin of the relevant body plan down to cellular details. (Icons of Evo BTW has a useful discussion of embryology.) And, he is right that there is meta info involved, the changing transformations are themselves pointing onward. We have a long way to go. Saying epigenetics or regulatory circuits etc does not truly solve this. KF PS: SEP is a good place to look at on C-theory: https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/category-theory/ Wiki is usually not too bad on non ideological matters: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category_theory Course notes: http://www.dcs.ed.ac.uk/home/dt/CT/categories.pdf Basic text online: https://www.staff.science.uu.nl/~ooste110/syllabi/catsmoeder.pdf Grad level text: http://www.cs.man.ac.uk/~hsimmons/BOOKS/CatTheory.pdf This seems a good learning text: http://katmat.math.uni-bremen.de/acc/acc.pdf kairosfocus

kf, this might interest you since it deals with mathematics: As to embryological development, starting around the 40:00 minute mark of the following powerpoint presentation, I was pleasantly surprised by Jonathan Wells's observation, via Richard Sternberg using category theory which is a generalization of set theories, that information must be coming in to the developing embryo 'from the outside' from a 'non-material' source in order to explain the changing form and different cell types of the embryo:

Design Beyond DNA: A Conversation with Dr. Jonathan Wells – video (40:00 minute mark) – January 2017 https://youtu.be/ASAaANVBoiE?t=2405

kf, I was wondering is you could please hash the math of category theory out a bit more fully so as to more clearly elucidate why information must be coming in to the developing embryo 'from the outside' from a 'non-material' source in order to explain the changing form and different cell types of the developing embryo. bornagain77

Folks, above, I called the abortion holocaust the mother cancer sending out metastases all across our civilisation. I ask you to ponder what happens when minds are warped, consciences benumbed, blood guilt blinds eyes and stops ears, the law begins to be corrupted, education and media are dominated by enablers of mass slaughter of the ultimately innocent, and such becomes a powerful political coalition. The logic of cultural cancer points to exactly what Rom 1 highlights. Resentment towards God, locking him and his nature -- "I am the WAY, the TRUTH and the LIFE" -- out of knowledge and ethics, substitution of false for true ultimate loyalties, a spiral of perversities and demands that those whose consciences are not utterly warped go along with and approve evil. Light is called darkness, and darkness light; good evil and evil good. Such is obviously unsustainable and headed for the cliff. Worse, it sounds a lot like the state of our civilisation today. The question is, can we wake up enough to turn back before the cliff's edge collapses underfoot -- taking us down with it. KF kairosfocus

BA77, thanks, I added above, HT you. KF PS: It is predictable but saddening to see the evasions, attempted sidetracks and insinuations in the Breitbart thread. Perhaps the worst is to see enablers of the slaughter of 800+ million unbborn children trying to insinuate that a US President likely to appoint pro-life judges and pro-life people are "fascists," with Hitler's name of course being dragged in. This, to me smacks of something seriously wrong. kairosfocus

Here you go kf:

2017 March For Life in Washington DC - time-lapse video https://youtu.be/-EPZ8gMdoJc

bornagain77

MfL'17 pics: http://www.breitbart.com/big-government/2017/01/27/march-life-2017-photos-washington-dcs-pro-life-rally/ kairosfocus

BA77, very impressive -- can we get a YouTube or the like? KF kairosfocus

In short, the central weapon of the first murderer, the enemy of our souls is the persuasive lie. Lies that then become embedded in how we think and build institutions and cultures. Lies that become the foundation of spiritual strongholds in nations, cities, businesses, parliaments, cabinets, courts, houses and our own brains and bodies. Lies that have to be shattered by the power of grace, truth and love for us to be set free from our chains. And to do so strong men — visible and invisible — have to be confronted as David confronted Goliath, and stripped of their power to intimidate and deceive. Where bondage takes on an institutional or political/policy or military character, that too has to be challenged. In the extreme case, government becomes a demonic, destructive stronghold and loses the mandate of heaven by turning tyrannical.

That is powerful, KF. As you rightly pointed out, the Alinsky tactic is built on strategic, deliberate lying. Alinksy was very open about that. Silver Asiatic

What a brilliant idea - and simply amazing to see like that. I just mentioned "River of Life" - and that's what we have there! The American media actually picked this story up a bit more this year. Of course, they never use the term pro-life. The other side can self-designate as pro-choice and that's ok with the media. Our side can't do that though. We're called 'anti-abortion'. Then why not call our opponents 'pro-abortion'? We know why. Silver Asiatic

Wow! Check out this awesome time lapse of the entire #MarchforLife!pic.twitter.com/Evrq3IBGCd http://pic.twitter.com/Evrq3IBGCd bornagain77

KF @23 & @24: Excellent. Thank you. Dionisio

Good words, mw. I watched an excellent documentary on O.L. of Guadalupe recently: River of Life directed and produced by John Bird. Highly recommended 4-dvd set (covers more than just Guadalupe). Silver Asiatic

Dionisio - I would say yes, very much so. It's very interesting. Silver Asiatic

Wonderful coverage and commentary, KF. Thank you. You said it simply here: "is at the pivot of the cultural conflict". So true. We can see the sharp dividing line that runs through our culture right at this moment. Society has absorbed and internalized quite a lot of evil. The March for Life is a great chance for healing of that. Silver Asiatic

Is this article within the current topic? http://www.reasons.org/blogs/the-cells-design/the-female-brain--pregnant-with-design Dionisio

Good 'food' indeed, KF. Not only that, we have had God cruxified. Far worse the implications, than that of the time of Noah. Expect trouble, hope for promised mercy. mw

PS: On the core nature of spiritual warfare, per Paul:

2 Cor 10:3 For though we walk in the flesh, we are not waging war according to the flesh. 4 For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds. 5 We destroy [--> fallacious or deceptive] arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ . . . [ESV]

In short, the central weapon of the first murderer, the enemy of our souls is the persuasive lie. Lies that then become embedded in how we think and build institutions and cultures. Lies that become the foundation of spiritual strongholds in nations, cities, businesses, parliaments, cabinets, courts, houses and our own brains and bodies. Lies that have to be shattered by the power of grace, truth and love for us to be set free from our chains. And to do so strong men -- visible and invisible -- have to be confronted as David confronted Goliath, and stripped of their power to intimidate and deceive. Where bondage takes on an institutional or political/policy or military character, that too has to be challenged. In the extreme case, government becomes a demonic, destructive stronghold and loses the mandate of heaven by turning tyrannical. Thank God, we still have sufficient freedom to speak and the power of the ballot box to stand up to such agendas without having to go through the awful, bloody struggles that won recognition of these rights in past centuries. (and, those who would again fasten us in chains, reveal what they are by the light of that terrible history.) kairosfocus

MW, Some food for thought. I used to think and say that our generation can only be compared to that of Noah. But then, it was pointed out to me by a retired police sergeant that WE HAD THEIR EXAMPLE AS A WARNING. We are WORSE than the generation of Noah, and fall under Jesus' prophetic rebuke:

Matt 24:37 For as were the days of Noah, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. 38 For as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day when Noah entered the ark, 39 and they were unaware until the flood came and swept them all away, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. 40 Then two men will be in the field; one will be taken and one left. 41 Two women will be grinding at the mill; one will be taken and one left. 42 Therefore, stay awake, for you do not know on what day your Lord is coming. 43 But know this, that if the master of the house had known in what part of the night the thief was coming, he would have stayed awake and would not have let his house be broken into. 44 Therefore you also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect. 45 “Who then is the faithful and wise servant,[c] whom his master has set over his household, to give them their food at the proper time? 46 Blessed is that servant whom his master will find so doing when he comes. 47 Truly, I say to you, he will set him over all his possessions. 48 But if that wicked servant says to himself, ‘My master is delayed,’ 49 and begins to beat his fellow servants[d] and eats and drinks with drunkards, 50 the master of that servant will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour he does not know 51 and will cut him in pieces and put him with the hypocrites. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

And, we may ask, how can we come to such a sad pass. The apostle Paul analyses and warns:

Rom 1:16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. 17 For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith,[e] as it is written, “The righteous shall live by faith.”[f] God's Wrath on Unrighteousness 18 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. 19 For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. 20 For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world,[g] in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse. 21 For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. 22 Claiming to be wise, they became fools, 23 and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things. 24 Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, 25 because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen. 26 For this reason God gave them up to dishonorable passions. For their women exchanged natural relations for those that are contrary to nature; 27 and the men likewise gave up natural relations with women and were consumed with passion for one another, men committing shameless acts with men and receiving in themselves the due penalty for their error. 28 And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done. 29 They were filled with all manner of unrighteousness, evil, covetousness, malice. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, maliciousness. They are gossips, 30 slanderers, haters of God, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, 31 foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless. 32 Though they know God's righteous decree that those who practice such things deserve to die, they not only do them but give approval to those who practice them. [All, ESV]

Peter does not spare us either:

2 Peter 1:16 For we did not follow cleverly devised myths when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty. 17 For when he received honor and glory from God the Father, and the voice was borne to him by the Majestic Glory, “This is my beloved Son,[i] with whom I am well pleased,” 18 we ourselves heard this very voice borne from heaven, for we were with him on the holy mountain. 19 And we have the prophetic word more fully confirmed, to which you will do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts, 20 knowing this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture comes from someone's own interpretation. 21 For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit . . . . 2:4 For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but cast them into hell[a] and committed them to chains[b] of gloomy darkness to be kept until the judgment; 5 if he did not spare the ancient world, but preserved Noah, a herald of righteousness, with seven others, when he brought a flood upon the world of the ungodly; 6 if by turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah to ashes he condemned them to extinction, making them an example of what is going to happen to the ungodly;[c] 7 and if he rescued righteous Lot, greatly distressed by the sensual conduct of the wicked 8 (for as that righteous man lived among them day after day, he was tormenting his righteous soul over their lawless deeds that he saw and heard); 9 then the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from trials,[d] and to keep the unrighteous under punishment until the day of judgment, 10 and especially those who indulge[e] in the lust of defiling passion and despise authority . . . . 3:1 This is now the second letter that I am writing to you, beloved. In both of them I am stirring up your sincere mind by way of reminder, 2 that you should remember the predictions of the holy prophets and the commandment of the Lord and Savior through your apostles, 3 knowing this first of all, that scoffers will come in the last days with scoffing, following their own sinful desires. 4 They will say, “Where is the promise of his coming? For ever since the fathers fell asleep, all things are continuing as they were from the beginning of creation.” 5 For they deliberately overlook this fact, that the heavens existed long ago, and the earth was formed out of water and through water by the word of God, 6 and that by means of these the world that then existed was deluged with water and perished. 7 But by the same word the heavens and earth that now exist are stored up for fire, being kept until the day of judgment and destruction of the ungodly. 8 But do not overlook this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. 9 The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you,[a] not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance. 10 But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a roar, and the heavenly bodies[b] will be burned up and dissolved, and the earth and the works that are done on it will be exposed.

Sobering, and some come not out save by the force of Scripture. KF kairosfocus

UPDATE: I decided to add to the OP Breitbart's 13 counter-rules (to Alinsky's notorious list) and a link to a discussion of dealing with Alinsky-like "community organiser" assaults (as well as broader agit-prop) and the yet broader cultural marxist, critical studies, identity politics subversive agenda. Which is a key part of the driving force behind the global abortion holocaust. KF kairosfocus

KF, very well spoken. Over the past century, an outpouring of spiritual phenomena has been recorded through Protestants, Greek Orthodox and Catholics. Vassula Ryden is a Greek Orthodox, I saw her when she came to England. http://www.tlig.co.uk/ While we are not obliged to believe, allegedly, St. Michael the Archangel revealed to Vassula that Satan is the hidden benefactor of abortion. If so, the following truth is horrible to contemplate. “your generation has drawn down punishments on themselves; your countries are infested by legions of unclean spirits that roam everywhere; Satan, today, is tempting even the elect of God; this is why trouble is coming to this generation who constructs its towers with innocent blood and founds its homelands on crime; this sacrifice alone pleases Satan…” (1), (October 14, 1994) In relation, Jesus had previously said, “which My Enemy, with his pen, will add and sign; his signature will be in blood taken from infants used for their murdering initiations, these initiations for his promotion!” (2), (October 3, 1994) Of course, her writings are controversial. Harsh words, as I would like to believe that no woman has an abortion with murderous intent. Still, the outcome is the physical death of a soul, but which is entitled to be resurrected through the death and love of Christ—the child’s divine creator who gave it a particle of his personal spirit to generate a living soul from its beginning. (We are not descendants of beasts or soulless beasts. God needs no intermediaries.) However, reportedly, lovingly and mercifully, Jesus said to an American mystic. “Pray for all those who have been involved in abortions. Yes, pray that they become reconciled with Me. Many stay away out of pride. Others do not return to Me for Satan has them bound by fear and guilt. But My arms are outstretched and filled with love and mercy. Pray that these souls are healed emotionally and spiritually. Pray for any who encourage abortion, or aid in the act itself. These too, My mercy calls. Many who submit to this heinous crime are being misled. Pray that hearts open to the truth.” (3) It appears spiritual warfare is the backdrop to this world which is reflected. Spiritual war that started at the very beginning. Jesus said Satan was a murderer and liar from the beginning (Jn 8:44). Of course, scripture does not really mean the real beginning as believed today, and we have the same number as the beast, 666 (Rev 13:18). KF posts, “800+ million unborn children have been slaughtered in the womb globally, over the past generation of the war on our posterity since the 1970’s — the US contribution being some 60 millions to date. This is by far the worst holocaust in history.” The times before Noah were also reportedly bad. Of course, that’s only a ‘tugboat’ type localised story which Jesus believed (Matt 24:37), and taking too much room up in Judaeo-Christian scripture. Nevertheless, spiritual terminations do more damage than a single physical abortion. Both need to be combated. Ref (1). Vassula Ryden, True Life in God, original handwriting edition (Independence, MO: Trinitas, 1995), vol. 8, pp. 217–218. (2). Ibid., pp. 188–189. (3). David L. Lynch, Our Lady of Guadalupe and her Missionary Image (St. Albans, VT: The Missionary Image of Our Lady of Guadalupe, Inc., 1996), p. 189. mw

F/N: To give an idea as to what the scripturally based, Christian view on life in the womb looks like, let us look at a key passage in Luke:

Luke 1:26 In the sixth month [of Elizabeth's pregnancy] the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth, 27 to a virgin betrothed[b] to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. And the virgin's name was Mary. 28 And he came to her and said, “Greetings, O favored one, the Lord is with you!”[c] 29 But she was greatly troubled at the saying, and tried to discern what sort of greeting this might be. 30 And the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. 31 And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus. 32 He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David, 33 and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.” 34 And Mary said to the angel, “How will this be, since I am a virgin?”[d] 35 And the angel answered her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born[e] will be called holy—the Son of God. 36 And behold, your relative Elizabeth in her old age has also conceived a son, and this is the sixth month with her who was called barren. 37 For nothing will be impossible with God.” 38 And Mary said, “Behold, I am the servant[f] of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word.” And the angel departed from her. Mary Visits Elizabeth 39 In those days Mary arose and went with haste into the hill country, to a town in Judah, 40 and she entered the house of Zechariah and greeted Elizabeth. 41 And when Elizabeth heard the greeting of Mary, the baby leaped in her womb. And Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit, 42 and she exclaimed with a loud cry, “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb! 43 And why is this granted to me that the mother of my Lord should come to me? 44 For behold, when the sound of your greeting came to my ears, the baby in my womb leaped for joy. 45 And blessed is she who believed that there would be[g] a fulfillment of what was spoken to her from the Lord.” [ESV]

In Lukan writings, someone speaking filled with or under the power of the Spirit speaks for God, with his voice. Here, we see Jesus in the womb recognised as a unique presence by the inspiring Spirit, and by both Elizabeth and John the Baptist then some 5 1/2 months along in fetal development. Jesus, would at most have been 3 - 4 weeks, and indeed 2 weeks is more likely as Elizabeth was still in her sixth month of pregnancy. That is, on both sides of the viability threshold or the first trimester yardstick used in the awful Roe v Wade decision, there is recognition of spiritually present life in the womb. In no culture where such scriptural insights prevail would there be the sort of appalling holocaust as we have seen. Those who laboured long and hard, using evolutionism as their cultural battering ram, have much to answer for. KF PS: and those needing to look at the underlying warrant for the Gospel-based Christian faith, could start here. kairosfocus

PS: Plato warns, again:

Ath [in The Laws, Bk X 2,350+ ya]. . . .[The avant garde philosophers and poets, c. 360 BC] say that fire and water, and earth and air [i.e the classical "material" elements of the cosmos], all exist by nature and chance, and none of them by art . . . [such that] all that is in the heaven, as well as animals and all plants, and all the seasons come from these elements, not by the action of mind, as they say, or of any God, or from art, but as I was saying, by nature and chance only [ --> that is, evolutionary materialism is ancient and would trace all things to blind chance and mechanical necessity] . . . . [Thus, they hold] that the principles of justice have no existence at all in nature, but that mankind are always disputing about them and altering them; and that the alterations which are made by art and by law have no basis in nature, but are of authority for the moment and at the time at which they are made.-

[ --> Relativism, too, is not new; complete with its radical amorality rooted in a worldview that has no foundational IS that can ground OUGHT, leading to an effectively arbitrary foundation only for morality, ethics and law: accident of personal preference, the ebbs and flows of power politics, accidents of history and and the shifting sands of manipulated community opinion driven by "winds and waves of doctrine and the cunning craftiness of men in their deceitful scheming . . . " cf a video on Plato's parable of the cave; from the perspective of pondering who set up the manipulative shadow-shows, why.]

These, my friends, are the sayings of wise men, poets and prose writers, which find a way into the minds of youth. They are told by them that the highest right is might,

[ --> Evolutionary materialism -- having no IS that can properly ground OUGHT -- leads to the promotion of amorality on which the only basis for "OUGHT" is seen to be might (and manipulation: might in "spin") . . . ]

and in this way the young fall into impieties, under the idea that the Gods are not such as the law bids them imagine; and hence arise factions [ --> Evolutionary materialism-motivated amorality "naturally" leads to continual contentions and power struggles influenced by that amorality at the hands of ruthless power hungry nihilistic agendas], these philosophers inviting them to lead a true life according to nature, that is,to live in real dominion over others [ --> such amoral and/or nihilistic factions, if they gain power, "naturally" tend towards ruthless abuse and arbitrariness . . . they have not learned the habits nor accepted the principles of mutual respect, justice, fairness and keeping the civil peace of justice, so they will want to deceive, manipulate and crush -- as the consistent history of radical revolutions over the past 250 years so plainly shows again and again], and not in legal subjection to them [--> nihilistic will to power not the spirit of justice and lawfulness].

kairosfocus

TA, While somewhat tangential, a short answer is appropriate -- but dragging such a central and appalling issue off track trough the distract, distort, derail, denigrate, poison and polarise rhetorical pattern will not be entertained. UD generally provides balancing perspective in the face of extreme hostility and resistance to even the most patent truths (too often, to the point of refusal to admit such) sustained over many years as can readily be seen in the penumbra of attack sites; obviously not perfectly but on the whole fairly well. The degree of contentiousness, hostility and outright hate has sometimes mounted up to cyberstalking and on the ground stalking that has had to be drawn to the attention of police. (In my case there have been clear attempts to rob me of daily bread, and to implicitly threaten even fairly remote family.) UD has sustained a pattern of drawing attention to too often suppressed facts, concerns and issues, and -- as is so with the current thread -- has done so by pointing to evidence that is credible. As a result, it is now quite clear that the discovery of text in DNA in the heart of the cell, is a decisive sign of design of life, a manifestation of the wider pattern of functionally specific, complex organisation and/or associated information, FSCO/I. Further, it is clear that materialists in lab coats have advocated a self-refuting and amoral philosophy that is appallingly dangerous and destructive to our civilisation. Further to all this, cultural marxist agit prop tactics have now become major tools for imposing evolutionary materialism and/or fellow traveller ideologies and linked cultural agendas. Of which mass abortion under false colours of law, medicine and education is a capital example. It is finally quite clear that if such is not exposed, broken with and decisively turned from through radical reformation, our civilisation is heading over the cliff. KF kairosfocus

KF Just for interest's sake, have you run your media analytical tool over the news coverage here at Uncommon Descent? If so, what were the results? timothya

Dionisio & KF -- Thank you so much. ayearningforpublius

PS: Newsbusters' bust of an Atlantic editorial rant against ultrasound scans that show just how human and alive babies are in utero, is revealing: http://www.newsbusters.org/blogs/nb/tom-blumer/2017/01/27/atlantic-issues-massive-correction-after-unhinged-anti-ultrasound-op --> I have now added a vid clip showing modern, 3-d ultrasound scans (some in motion) of babies in utero . . . direct scientific evidence, using 3-d imaging: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sVB0qTiq5jU kairosfocus

UPDATE: As this is an historic event in its own right, is at the pivot of the cultural conflict with inherently amoral evolutionary materialist scientism and exposes the Plato's Cave shadow show games in the major media, I have now revised the video inserts, to include: 1] MRC's 2 minute overview of the actual march 2] US VP Pence's speech 3] EWTN's full coverage. Let us use this as a point of reference from this time forth. KF kairosfocus

ayearningforpublius @8: I understand you. [Luke 19:41; 3 John 4] Just pray for them and love them as they are. There's hope in Christ alone. When I was a teenager I was spiritually blind and lost. When my older child was a teenager I still was spiritually nearsighted and confused. Now I thank God for opening my spiritual eyes and giving me saving faith. Amazing grace! Dionisio

KF, thank you for posting this. Dionisio

I found another provocative quote by Hitchens posted on the Pro-Life Humanists website. Contributor Kristine Kruszelnicki set’s it up this way:

The late atheist author Christopher Hitchens, when asked in a January 2008 debate with Jay Wesley Richards whether he was opposed to abortion and was a member of the pro-life movement, replied: “I’ve had a lot of quarrels with some of my fellow materialists and secularists on this point, [but] I think that if the concept ‘child’ means anything, the concept ‘unborn child’ can be said to mean something. All the discoveries of embryology [and viability] – which have been very considerable in the last generation or so – appear to confirm that opinion, which I think should be innate in everybody. It’s innate in the Hippocratic Oath, it’s instinct in anyone who’s ever watched a sonogram. So ‘yes’ is my answer to that.”

Kruszelnicki’s blog post was a response to an article published by Marco Rosaire Rossi published “in the September/October edition [2012?*] of the The Humanist,” which questioned whether a humanist could rationally be pro-life. I found the following argument to be the most interesting:

Pointing to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in support of his position that “human beings as persons are born,” Mr. Rossi declared: “The fact of the matter is birth transforms us. It simultaneously makes us into individuals and members of a group, and thus embeds in us rights-bearing protections.” This claim is grossly fallacious. First, what is does not necessarily represent what should be. The fact that social conventions of personhood disregard the preborn human is no surprise, and in fact the very matter in dispute. Second, birth possesses no such magical powers of transformation. At birth a developing human changes location… In fact, bio-ethicist Peter Singer agrees with the pro-lifer on this point. He argues: “The pro-life groups were right about one thing, the location of the baby inside or outside the womb cannot make much of a moral difference. We cannot coherently hold it is alright to kill a fetus a week before birth, but as soon as the baby is born everything must be done to keep it alive.” (Singer then goes on to argue that since there is no significant difference between a late-term fetus and a newborn, infanticide is thereby justified.) Birth is undoubtedly a significant moment in our lives, but it is not our first moment.

http://www.prolifehumanists.org/secular-case-against-abortion/ While I still doubt Humanism or secular progressivism provides a sufficient foundation for interpersonal moral obligation and universal human rights, I found Ms. Kruszelnicki’s reasoning to be quite solid. Beginning with empirically based premises that I believe most pro-lifers can agree with, she develops a number of very good arguments. For those theist’s who have spent some time engaging atheists on this site, I think you’ll find her post to be quite refreshing-- if you get my drift. *footnote: Kruszelnicki’s blog post is dated May 2013. john_a_designer

John C Wright gives us food for thought: http://www.scifiwright.com/2017/01/the-last-crusade/#more-17557 kairosfocus

AYP, may God grant grace. KF kairosfocus

Things have turned around radically in my own family's life. Back in the early 1980s we discovered that young teen age girls could be removed from the public schools in California and taken to an abortion clinic -- with no parental notification or permission. We then took our 13 year old daughter out of public school and put her into a Christian school where she finished out high school. Now -- just this past week -- that same daughter took her 14 year old daughter to the Women's March in Washington DC. That's my granddaughter, and it saddens me greatly. ayearningforpublius

Thank you, KF, for making it so easy to access the live stream. This is a very special event. Also, Thank you JAD @ 6. I was unaware of Hitchens' comments. Truth Will Set You Free

The late Christopher Hitchens believed there were scientific as well as morally objective reasons for opposing abortion.

“I do, as a humanist, believe that the concept “unborn child” is a real one and I think the concept is underlined by all the recent findings of embryology about the early viability of a well conceived human baby, one that isn’t going to be critically deformed (or even some that are) will be able to survive outside the womb earlier and earlier, and earlier and I see that date only being pushed back. I feel the responsibility to consider the occupant of the womb as a candidate member of society in the future, and thus to say that it cannot be only the responsibility of the woman to decide upon it, that it’s a social question and an ethical and a moral one. And I say this as someone who has no supernatural belief.” (emphasis added)

http://www.nationalrighttolifenews.org/news/2014/09/atheist-christopher-hitchens-on-abortion/#.WIukzfkrLgx Here is the context for the quote: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B8HhTKzmvas john_a_designer

There are some really good speeches on this live stream today!! Silver Asiatic

Many thanks kf and UD, for bringing us to the attention of the day’s marches to stop abortion. A miraculous image of a pregnant woman resides in the Basilica of Guadalupe. One of three totally separate and apparently miraculous images held by the Catholic Church. On Saturday, December 9, 1531, Juan Diego, a Mexican peasant, witnessed a miraculous event at the top of a hill; a white cloud surrounded by a rainbow with a brilliant light shining from the cloud, out of which appeared a woman. She asked for a temple to be built: no small matter for a peasant devoid of influence. Ref. Our Lady of Guadalupe and her Missionary Image by Daniel J Lynch (St Albans Vermont, 1996). He then went off to see the Bishop, who shall we say was hesitant to believe him. Juan Diego returned to Tepeyac, (or the hill of Tepeyac), Mexico. Again, he witnessed a miraculous event. The woman basically told him to have another go. The Bishop told him that he needed a sign. However, this time Juan decided he had enough and went around the hill. However, his path was again interrupted by the woman who identified herself in the image of his own kind. She did indeed leave a sign. She told him to climb the hill and pick roses (this was in the middle of winter), where he found in bloom Castilian roses. The roses were the sign that the Bishop had requested. For the third time, he went to the Bishop. “To Juan’s astonishment, the Bishop fell to his knees.” Juan followed the Bishop’s eyes to his tilma (a tilma was a cloak Juan wore): printed on the cloak an image of the woman that Juan saw. The woman had addressed herself as follows; “Know for certain, dearest of my sons, that I am the perfect and perpetual Virgin Mary, Mother of the True God, through whom everything lives, the Lord of all things, who is Master of heaven and earth.” The image ended human sacrifice at the time, replacing the Aztec false mother got, Tonantzin. The Aztecs reportedly killed 80,000 people in a four-day orgy in 1487 when they dedicated a new temple in Mexico City to their false god Huitzilopochtli (“deity of war, the sun, and human sacrifice.”) The stars which she wore on her mantle in the image; with the moon, upon which she stood, appears to depict the conquering of Quetzalcoatl the stone serpent idol. (Quetzalcóatl, Mayan name Kukulcán, (from Nahuatl quetzalli, “tail feather of the quetzal bird [Pharomachrus mocinno],” and coatl, “snake”), the Feathered Serpent, one of the major deities of the ancient Mexican pantheon. https://www.britannica.com/topic/Quetzalcoatl) The Indians understood that they were not adoring the image but honouring her as the pregnant virgin mother of the God-Man. Today, some people would like to destroy the image on the tilma. “In 1921, an anti-clerical activist hid a bomb containing 29 sticks of dynamite in a pot of roses and placed it before the image inside the Basilica of Guadalupe. When the bomb exploded, most everything from the marble altar rail & floor just feet away from the blast, to windows 150 meters away were broken…yet the image and the glass surrounding it remained untouched.” http://mtncatholic.com/2014/12/11/4-literally-awesome-facts-about-our-lady-of-guadalupe/ A substitute image was made which is also carried in public witnesses against abortion. Miraculous events are also reported. The Missionary Image cried tears of oil on Christmas 1995 in Our Lady of Grace Church Colchester, Vermont. (p 106A). A solar phenomenon occurred on June 9, 1991, over Mexico City when the first Missionary Image left for Central America. “This was witnessed by millions” (Reuters/Betmann Newsphotos) (p 105). An apparent Host appeared above Our Lady’s fingertips (p 105). A woman who had four abortions said: “I believe that Our Lady of Guadalupe will heal all those who have been wounded by the grave sin of abortion…” (p 106D). In the book by DJ Lynch, it says that abortion will end, but in God’s time. Pray this comes soon; pray for healing of all those involved by asking for healing and forgiveness. The fear of the realisation of what has occurred may run deep. mw

Thanks, KF.

...complicity in guilt of blood ...

This a sad aspect which drives the cover-up and fear of the truth of this matter. As you said elsewhere, people need to bring this guilt to God for forgiveness and redemption, otherwise the acts of self-blinding and covering it over will lead to irrationality and sometimes violent reactions (the violence of abortion meeting the violence of hostility). Silver Asiatic

Live streaming the 44th annual March for Life, today, January 27, 2017. kairosfocus