Take That ‘Tissue Mass’, For Instance
;)
"Pilate washes his hands..."“Pilate answered, ‘Am I a Jew? Thine own nation and the chief priests have delivered thee unto me: what hast thou done?’
“Jesus answered, My kingdom is not of this world: if my kingdom were of this world, then would my servants fight, that I should not be delivered to the Jews: but now is my kingdom not from hence.
“ Pilate therefore said unto him,’ Art thou a king then?’ Jesus answered, ‘Thou sayest that I am a king. To this end was I born, and for this cause came I into the world, that I should bear witness unto the truth. Every one that is of the truth heareth my voice.’
“ Pilate saith unto him, ‘What is truth?’ And when he had said this, he went out again unto the Jews, and saith unto them, ’I find in him no fault at all.’”
— John 18: 35-38
“When Pilate saw that he was getting nowhere, but that instead an uproar was starting, he took water and washed his hands in front of the crowd. "I am innocent of this man's blood," he said. "It is your responsibility!"
— Matthew 27:24
The Bible tells us that Pontius Pilate after staring the light of Truth directly in the eye, scoffed, turned away, washed his hands in front of the crowd and handed the Messiah over to be crucified. Pontius Pilate, apparently, was a man well ahead of his time. His philosophy and worldview would have blended quite seamlessly with that of “progressive” western culture here in the 21st century.
“Post-modernity”, with its notion that truth (and certainty) is unknowable and ultimately unobtainable, may not be such a modern notion, after all. The long-running “Pilate-Project”, by which man judges God… has had a long shelf-life. It has been around for quite some time and is certainly alive and well today.
Because of it, the truly innocent suffer still. (And in true Pontius Pilate form, we wash and wash and wash our hands….all the while declaring: “It’s not my responsibility!”)
;)
"Americans decry the nihilism of radical Islam, but advanced modern American freedom has itself become nihilistic. It is a soft though decadent nihilism that devours tradition, destroys social cohesion, cheapens cultural standards, hollows moral convictions and in the years to come will produce its own dark harvest of social consequences."
— Os Guinness ("A Free People's Suicide")
;)
Take That ‘Tissue Mass’, For Instance
If there’s one thing that we’re sure of,
It’s that nothing is for sure!
We’ve progressed way past the notion
That there’s true Truth to endure.
Well, at least that’s what we’re hoping,
And we surely hope we’re right!
That way backward might be forward,
And the darkness seen as light!
Take that “tissue mass”, for instance
In the flesh just like a thorn….
We sure hope that it’s not human!
Not a “person” to be born.
We hope Reason’s been suspended,
We hope Logic has been, too.
And we hope that’s not a “baby”,
That is growing inside you.*
“Human being”?.....Oh, we hope not!
Oh, my, no!...For heaven’s sake!
We’d prefer a “clump of tissue”…
Just “a bump” or some “mistake”.
We would much prefer a “cell mass”,
Just an “Oops!”…or “No big deal”….
Not a tiny little person
With a future that is real1.
Yes, we hope it’s not a ”human”,
If it’s not, it’s no big loss….
If it is,…(gulp)…we’re in trouble,
So, we’ve got our fingers crossed!
We don’t want truth ultra-sounding…
No, we’d really rather not.
We’re pro-choosing to ignore it…
(Yes, we’ve chosen that a lot!)
We hope these,… “The least among us”2
Are much less than that, my friend…
Yes, we’re hoping they’re not really
Innocents we should defend.
We hope we can redefine things…
You know, …like…., to suit our taste.
And we hope we’ll never have to
Meet Jehovah face to face.
We demand our edges blurry
In this age of Selfish Me….
It’s the only truth we’re sure of…
Blessed Post-Modernity!
Lord, have mercy, please upon us…
Take this blindness from our eyes.
Help us see the True Light shining.
Lord, expose false alibis.
Take us to the Cross of Calv’ry,
To reveal the Sin within…
Yes, confront us with the Truth there
So we may be born again3.
;)
“For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother's womb.”
— Psalm 139: 13
3 John 3:3
*For those interested, here is an article that reasonably and logically spells out the truth that a baby in the womb is exactly that: a human being, a person.... a baby in the womb:
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