by Christi Roselle | Jan 21, 2016
Planned Parenthood (PP) recently filed suit against the Center for Medical Progress (CMP) for violating Federal and state privacy laws when CMP went undercover posing as a fetal tissue procurement company in order to gain access to PP’s behind-the-scenes operations that are hidden from the public.
PP claims CMP broke laws by creating false identities and a fake corporation to mislead the public and spread lies about PP. Interesting enough, no libel, slander, or defamation suits seem to have been filed. It seems PP is merely concerned about privacy, not truth in this matter.
PP has continually claimed the videos were “highly edited and misleading”, even after their own analysis of the full footage shows the only editing was for breaks, in which no discussion occurred. Their own analysis also reported no audio editing was found. There is a common political ploy that has become popular and unchallenged in recent years: Repeat a lie enough until it becomes “common knowledge.”
A dilemma of Christian conscience has arisen with this issue: is it okay to lie or mislead to save lives?
The Ninth Commandment tells us not to bear false witness against our neighbor. Yet, there are times in the Bible we see lies being told by those who were deemed righteous. The story of the Hebrew midwives, Rahab and the spies, and even Moses own life was based upon deception for his survival. All of these “liars” are still considered heroes of the Bible.
So, when is it okay to lie? It isn’t. Proverbs 12:22 “Lying lips are an abomination to the Lord…”
The Lord still does not desire for us to lie.
There are situations, though, in which we may be required to deceive those who desire evil in order to save the innocent. Christian Abolitionists who desired to assist slaves escape their chains created the Underground Railroad. Surely, European Christians who hid Jews in World War II had to lie in order to protect the guiltless who were hunted for malevolent motivations were just in their actions.
Which brings us back to CMP and their motivations behind their undercover investigation which required creating fabricated identities and a mock corporation. Abortion is the murder of innocent humans. PP not only practices abortion but also has been in the business of marketing the sale of fetal tissue resulting from the bodies of these babies. The only way to expose their practices was to become one of them, so to speak.
In the videos, it is discussed by a PP executive how tightly-held their administrative operations are protected specifically to prevent lawsuits. The videos consistently show, in the words of the PP doctors and administration themselves, how they sell tissue for market value, but they also show how they openly manipulate their books to hide the income by line itemization.
PP has also spread the propaganda that the babies that are murdered by abortion are not really babies, but actually only clumps of fetal tissue. They have been so successful in their propaganda, it is hard to have a pro-abortion supporter acknowledge or even understand that abortion involves the death of humans. They hold fast to claiming it is only a fetus, as if that term removes their humanity.
It would be detrimental to PP if these videos were to be seen by the majority of the public. Their own staff call the deceased bodies they are shown to be harvesting “babies”, even sounding wistful when they proclaim it’s another boy!” PPs own deception is greatly revealed throughout the efforts of CMPs recordings.
Does this make CMP’s work “righteous” though? I wouldn’t call it “righteous.” I would call it “just.”
Please do not misunderstand. I am not condoning any acts of evil against Planned Parenthood such as the attack in Colorado Springs. One cannot fight evil with evil. But can we truly call undercover investigations that expose evil as evil themselves?
We will all face God and our sins on the Day of Reckoning. It is up to each of us to assure that when we face those sins, we can do so with God’s grace.
by Christi Roselle | Jan 11, 2016
Denis Makarenko / Shutterstock.com
Academy Award winner Jennifer Lawrence recently gave an interview with Glamour magazine in which she speaks highly of Planned Parenthood (PP), owing her career to the organization. By her account, her only access to birth control as a teenager in a “Jesus house” was due to Planned Parenthood. Her teen years were spent mostly in Louisville, Ky.
At 14, she went to New York City to search for an agent. The age in which she began using PP is unclear, but she alludes to being sexually active in mid-teen years, so it is reasonable to believe this is the age in which her patient relationship with PP began.
I must confess, I used Planned Parenthood services when I was younger. I was not insured and needed access to my yearly examinations. All my friends went to Planned Parenthood at the time, so I did too. I was a pro-abortion supporter at the time.
I encompassed many of the attitudes Jennifer Lawrence avers in her interview, regarding religion, and was just as arrogant about my views on Christians. I can empathize with Ms. Lawrence in a way many lifelong Christians cannot. Those without Christ are lost and lack grounding. They are inundated with societal “norms” that criticize any belief in Jesus. Christians have become caricatures within this worldview.
In the midst of all of this mischaracterization, we have Planned Parenthood and the predilections the organization injects into our culture. PP targets teenagers and young women in their 20s, convincing them PP is their only option for affordable regular women’s services, e.g., yearly pelvic examinations, birth control pill prescriptions, and access to free condoms.
They claim they are preventing unwanted pregnancies, and yet fail to encourage abstinence, the only 100 percent proven true birth control. In fact, they mock abstinence programs as not lowering pregnancy rates or delaying sexual initiation, as if handing out free condoms will prevent sexual initiation.
PP does not acknowledge that most of the abstinence programs focus on the overall wellbeing of the individual, including identifying healthy relationships, how to identify unhealthy relationships, understanding transmission of STDs, giving actual effective information of various birth control methods, how to avoid unwanted sexual advances and the benefits of abstaining until marriage. PP’s comprehensive sex education includes discussions on sexual orientation and gender, problems with abstinence, sexual pleasure, among the general science involved in reproductive health. They claim that sex education should primarily be from the parent or guardian, yet they have programs that, according to them, should begin in Kindergarten. They refuse to discuss there is a direct consequence to sex – pregnancy.
It is easy to convince your necessity to the world while under your tutelage; you are indoctrinating a whole generation, convincing them you are their only hope.
My eyes were opened to PP’s true nature, when my husband and I went to confirm my first pregnancy. We had only been married seven months, were far from financial security and were scared out of our minds. After hearing the heartbeat of our sweet child, we were escorted into an office, in which the first question that we were asked was if we were going to keep the baby. I felt like it was asked in the attitude of ‘’obviously, you aren’t.” When we made clear our intentions were to have our baby, we were then informed there was nothing else PP could do for us. I couldn’t believe it. The name of the clinic was Planned Parenthood, yet they couldn’t help us in this time of parenthood?
I began to look at PP and what they really stood for in a whole new light. We were able to find a private pay physician who has delivered three of our children. We discovered there were options besides PP for low income women – options that provided many more services than PP does, save one, with costs as affordable.
We are now the parents of four daughters. I became a Christian after the birth of our second child. We want our children to be raised in a “Jesus house,” but we do not want our children to feel it necessary to go behind our backs and seek out situations that would necessitate birth control.
As Christian parents, this is a difficult road to navigate in today’s society with influences like PP affecting so much. We teach our children abstinence. We explain how difficult raising a child unmarried can be. We explain that there are consequences to actions. One action causes pregnancy.
Our fourth child was born when our oldest two were young teenagers. Admittedly, we have it easy in having a living, breathing “consequence” for them to witness. All the nit and gritty of raising an infant, they participated in or witnessed. They saw the difficulty of pregnancy. Nothing like hands-on demonstrations of consequences for a reality check. I sometimes wonder if grandchildren will ever be a possibility now.
However, we also hold to the biblical teaching of the parable of the Prodigal Son, as our children are precious to us and we will always love them. A child who sins may be loved and accepted still upon repenting. If one of our children should make poor choices, we will help guide her with the love of Christ. Proverbs 22:6 tells us to “Train up a child in the way they should go, and when they are old they, they will not depart from it.” This includes subjects that many Christians wish to avoid.
As I stated before, I can empathize with Jennifer Lawrence and her laissez faire view of Planned Parenthood. Nonetheless, I no longer agree with her. I can see what PP brings to the table is empty promises with no care for humanity.
I can also see the secular world has such a larger pull with our children now, no matter how much we attempt to shelter. Social media alone exposes them to misleading ideas and philosophies. We must stay vigilant in Christ and not be afraid to broach uncomfortable subjects if we are to truly teach our children the way they should go.
by Christi Roselle | Oct 8, 2015
Recent tragedy has thrust the debate of gun control once again into the forefront of our public dialogue. A young man chose to murder and injure innocent people in a school setting before he killed himself.
The details of his background and motivation are still being investigated, and any discussion of these details is speculation. Ideally, any discussion of solutions would wait until after the investigation revealed the facts and we could objectively look for societal changes that could be made for prevention.
Unfortunately, many have chosen to use the momentum powered by grief to exploit ulterior agendas without any evidence that their solutions would have prevented this or any similar horrific events. As Christians, many of us tend to retreat back from such civil disputes, for we are to live in this world, not of it, thus excluding ourselves from the decisions that are made that directly affect us because we are to “submit to governing authorities” (Romans 13:1) This places those who hold those stances at a disadvantage, for reality is, physically, we are a part of this world, a world that is actively dissolving open ability for us to spiritually live in this world.
The United States of America was founded on “We the people,” sharing in governing authority. One of my most cherished quotes that captures the idea so sweetly is from Laura Ingalls Wilder in her book Little Town on the Prairie: “America won’t obey any king on Earth. Americans are free. That means they have to obey their own consciences.” As Christians, we recognize our consciences lie with God.
We were founded upon individual sovereignty for our earthly life to have freedom to not live of this world. In a system like ours, our governing authority is ourselves, for our rights were bestowed onto us by our Creator, not government. Our elected leaders only have the power in which we allow them.
Throughout the years, our government has expanded, shifting the power from the individual to the state. However, our forefathers in their wisdom allowed the people to have the ability to lawfully prevent a government that would subjugate our personal right to self-governance. The Second Amendment was written precisely for Americans, including Christians, to have a right to bear arms.
In America, Christians and all citizens have not only a right to self-govern; we also have a God-given right to own weapons for self-defense (Luke 22:36). Swords were used for security throughout the Bible. Nowhere does it say that the security they provide is wrong. In fact, swords were so much a way of life, they are often found in verses relaying Biblical history and used in metaphors and comparisons throughout.
Guns had not been crafted at that time. The first guns were created in the 13th Century after the Chinese invented black powder. Within another century, guns became a tool used almost as frequently as the sword. Just as now, there were constant dangers and threats from those who would desire you or your family harm. We have a right to protect our lives and to protect the lives of those around us from those dangers and threats. One of the current tools best to assist us in preserving that right are guns.
For those who claim gun control would curtail horrific events that involve them, I want them to think about this quote:
“The abuse of anything is no argument against its proper use” – Cicero
In every instance involving mass shootings, existing gun laws have apparently been broken. No law could have prevented them. The issues that propel gun violence are cultural. No government policy will prevent them.
As Americans who are Christians, we value our freedom to worship and to not be forced to spiritually live in this world. Even in the past year, that freedom has been threatened greatly by decisions from the Supreme Court. Our freedoms to our individual sovereignty have been encroached upon by policies and regulations created not for our governance but for political power. We must defend those freedoms, and without the strength the Second Amendment affords us, our authority is abdicated.
Freedom is not gained by the complacent. Freedom is gained by the vigilant.