The Unwanted

Text: Psalm 10

I.         How do we deal with those whom others don’t want?

            A.        Terri Shiavo made the news and was the focus of attention for numerous months.

                        1.         Her husband no longer wanted to keep her alive. He claimed that she wouldn’t want to remain in this state.

                        2.         What I don’t often hear is that Terri Shiavo became brain damaged in 1990.

                        3.         Her husband was willing to keep her alive, but started court moves to have Terri’s feeding tube removed a few years after receiving a large court settlement that was placed in a trust fund to pay for Terri’s care. Michael Schiavo stood to inherit a large sum of money if his wife died.

                        4.         Michael also moved in with another woman. He cannot marry her while married to Terri, but he doesn’t want to divorce Terri because he would cease to be her legal guardian and beneficiary of her settlement.

                        5.         The court battle was long, but ultimately her Michael Schiavo won and Terri died after two weeks without nutrients.

                        6.         Bill Allen was asked by Wesley Smith in an on-line debate “Bill, do you think that Terri is a person?” His answer: “No, I do not. I think having awareness is an essential criterion for personhood. Even minimal awareness would support some criterion of personhood, but I don’t think complete absence of awareness does.”

            B.        Dr. Jack Kevorkian made the news by offering people assistance in committing suicide.

                        1.         He argued that he was aiding those in incurable pain with terminal diseases.

                        2.         He eventually went to jail when autopsies found that more than one of his victims were not suffering from the disease reported.

            C.        The Netherlands became the first country to formally authorized “mercy killings” for terminally ill people.

                        1.         The current law is only applied to those who are terminally ill and who, in sound mind, request to die.

                        2.         They are looking at expanding the law to cover those who cannot make such a request.

                        3.         Already some are killing newborns with severe, incurable diseases.

            D.        A book titled “Practical Ethics” by Peter Singer of Princeton University

                        1.         “Killing a defective infant is not morally equivalent to killing a person. Sometimes it is not wrong at all.”

                        2.         “Newborn human babies have no sense of their own existence over time.”

                        3.         So he concludes that newborns are disposable.

II.        We have come to a point where convenience has become more valuable than human life.

            A.        It began when people argued that a woman’s convenience was more important that the life of the child developing within her.

                        1.         It was justified by stating that child who wasn’t yet viable (able to live on his own) was not human life.

                        2.         The child is addressed as a fetus to make its death more palatable.

            B.        It even enters medical terms.

                        1.         Did you know that contraceptives (methods used to prevent the joining of egg and sperm) has been redefined in the medical community years ago to mean the prevention of the implantation of a fertilized egg?

                        2.         Not long ago I heard someone accuse another for being a “dummy” for calling the prevention of a fertilized egg from implanting abortion, didn’t he know that it was contraception until the egg is implanted.

                                    a.         I wanted so say, “didn’t you know that the definition of contraception was changed just a few decades ago?”

                        3.         Yet the Bible views life as beginning from conception - Isaiah 49:1, 5

                                    a.         Speaking of the Messiah (My Servant).

                                    b.         Called by name before formed in the womb

III.       What is the value of human life?

            A.        Man is not an animal. He was made in the image of God. - Genesis 1:26-27

            B.        God is the giver of human life - Acts 17:24-28

            C.        Because of our sins, mankind is damaged goods in the sight of God - Psalm 8:3-4

            D.        Yet, He loved us! - John 3:16

            E.        Even while in sin - Romans 5:8

            F.        What was God willing to pay for human life? - I Peter 1:18-19

IV.      Those with physical handicaps are not less valuable to God, nor are they less human.

            A.        God ordered special protection for the handicapped.

             B.         The handicapped are not to be mistreated - Leviticus 19:14; Deuteronomy 27:18

             C.         Job spoke of the care given to the unfortunate - Job 29:12; 31:15-22

             D.         Jesus ministered to the afflicted - Matthew 11:5

             E.         James 1:27 - Evidence of pure religion

V.         The blood of innocents has been shed in the land, sacrificed to the god of personal convenience.

             A.         God will not acquit the guilty - Exodus 23:7

            B.        Speak out against the guilt of our fellow man and our country.

            C.        Only by speaking the truth will evil be turned away.