I have been reading your web site for some time. I have lots of questions but I will try to limit them to one subject: human reproduction. Every four years abortion is a huge subject, then after the election, it is soon forgotten. There is disagreement about using discarded “test tube” babies for stem cell research. Last week, Oprah had a show about sperm donor fathers and the children that were produced. A few weeks before that, there was a story about a couple whose marriage was annulled because they were brother and sister, adopted at birth. Where are we headed?<\/p>\n\t
“For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, because that which is known of God is revealed in them, for God revealed it to them. For the invisible things of him since the creation of the world are clearly seen, being perceived through the things that are made, even his everlasting power and divinity; that they may be without excuse. Because, knowing God, they didn’t glorify him as God, neither gave thanks, but became vain in their reasoning, and their senseless heart was darkened.<\/em><\/p>\n
“Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools, and traded the glory of the incorruptible God for the likeness of an image of corruptible man, and of birds, and four-footed animals, and creeping things. Therefore God also gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to uncleanness, that their bodies should be dishonored among themselves, who exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen.<\/em><\/p>\n
“For this reason, God gave them up to vile passions. For their women changed the natural function into that which is against nature. Likewise also the men, leaving the natural function of the woman, burned in their lust toward one another, men doing what is inappropriate with men, and receiving in themselves the due penalty of their error.<\/em><\/p>\n
“Even as they refused to have God in their knowledge, God gave them up to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not fitting; being filled with all unrighteousness, sexual immorality, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, evil habits, secret slanderers, backbiters, hateful to God, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents, without understanding, covenant breakers, without natural affection, unforgiving, unmerciful; who, knowing the ordinance of God, that those who practice such things are worthy of death, not only do the same, but also approve of those who practice them<\/em>” (Romans 1:18-32)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
I cited the above passage at length because God described how the Greek society fell into moral ruin. I find far too many parallels in this brief summary of the things that are happening in American society. In the 1950’s there was the declaration that God is dead. Though it had been building for years, people became noticeably more demonstrative in their denial of God’s existence and their obligations to him.<\/p>\n
In the 1960s came free love — a natural consequence for a society moving away from responsibility to a higher being. When people rebel against rules, the first thing they gravitate toward is unrestricted sex. Eventually, that becomes commonplace and a new generation seeks new ways to rebel. As we moved into the 1970s to the 1990s we had homosexuality come to the forefront. But the acceptance of sin doesn’t stop the downward spiral. We are on the edge of seeing the next major step: moral chaos.<\/p>\n
We are not the first society to practice abortion, we just refined the practice. The Romans used to just put unwanted babies on a hillside and forget about them. We are certainly not the first society to have men fathering children and then running off from responsibility.<\/p>\n
“Truly, this only I have found: That God made man upright, but they have sought out many schemes<\/em>” (Ecclesiastes 7:29). God made us free to choose between right and wrong. He set us on the path of right, but we tend to stray further into sin. The thing is, though God discourages from sin, He doesn’t prevent men from going wrong if they insist. “And for this reason God will send them strong delusion, that they should believe the lie, that they all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness<\/em>” (II Thessalonians 2:11-12). That is what you and I are seeing: the result of people who no longer love truth — people willing to give up truth from temporary pleasures.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Question: I have been reading your web site for some time. I have lots of questions but I will try to limit them to one subject: human reproduction. Every four years abortion is a huge subject, then after the election, it is soon forgotten. There is disagreement about using discarded “test tube” babies for stem…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[28,110,38,63],"class_list":["post-14198","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-answer","tag-abortion","tag-children","tag-morality","tag-sex"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":52160,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/what-does-it-mean-to-suppress-the-truth-in-unrighteousness\/","url_meta":{"origin":14198,"position":0},"title":"What does it mean to “suppress the truth in unrighteousness”?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"December 16, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Good afternoon, Jeffrey. I've been meaning to ask for a while now what it means to \"suppress the truth in unrighteousness.\" It's something that gets said about atheists quite a bit. For the longest, in regards to Yahweh, I've thought it meant pretending He doesn't exist for the sake\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":19586,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/understanding-the-will-of-the-lord\/","url_meta":{"origin":14198,"position":1},"title":"Understanding the Will of the Lord","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"February 4, 2005","format":false,"excerpt":"by Charles L. Morton via\u00a0The Preceptor, Vol. 28, No. 5, March 1979 \"Wherefore be ye not unwise, but understanding what the Will of the Lord is\" (Ephesians 5:17). Some things are involved in this text that are basic. Your attention is invited to some of them. The admonition to understand\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/01\/Bible-Reading-1.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":79091,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/is-abortion-acceptable-for-married-women\/","url_meta":{"origin":14198,"position":2},"title":"Is abortion acceptable for married women?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"November 18, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Hi Minister, good day. I am a child of God and would like to know if abortion is a sin for a married woman to do. I have four young children, and recently, I got pregnant. We are done having children, and this one came in. We are considering\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":28590,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/is-abortion-ok-if-a-child-has-a-genetic-issue\/","url_meta":{"origin":14198,"position":3},"title":"Is abortion OK if a child has a genetic issue?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"August 22, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: What if an abortion is to save the baby and not the mother, maybe a genetic issue is at stake. For example, SS. Is it still justified? A Christian is advising so. Answer: Just because a person claims to be a Christian, it does not mean they are following\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":62662,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/the-twisted-thinking-of-abortion\/","url_meta":{"origin":14198,"position":4},"title":"The Twisted Thinking of Abortion","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"September 14, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"by Dennis Abernathy The thinking of many in our society is truly twisted. Consider the case where two little boys, who were reported kidnapped in South Carolina. Actually, the mother of those little boys confessed to murdering them. She was involved with a man who wanted her company, but not\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":34539,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/did-god-just-make-the-world-look-like-it-evolved-to-test-our-faith\/","url_meta":{"origin":14198,"position":5},"title":"Did God just make the world look like it evolved to test our faith?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"August 29, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Dear Sir, I am a Christian and I have wondered for a while now after I saw a documentary on how the world was created. It explains that water came from meteors, live came from a mixture of chemicals, and it explains this in a very graphic way, answering\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14198","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14198"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14198\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14198"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14198"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14198"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}