Dr. Peter Singer, in his own words, on infanticide and parents deciding the fate of their already-born children with disabilities (unfortunately, the audio and video get out of synch):
We should not quickly dismiss this man or his adherents. He is an intelligent, well-spoken person, highly regarded for his philosophical integrity and his passionate commitment to animals. He holds an important chair at Princeton, is widely sought out as a speaker, and frequently writes for influential publications like The New Times.
And in this short clip he is laying out a way of thinking that is very dangerous, most directly to children with disabilities but also to their families.
Under the guise of parental rights (who could be against that?), he allows parents and doctors together to make the best decision they can for a child with disabilities and their families. He even believes they should go out and consult with other families raising children with similar disabilities. It all sounds very reasonable, even humane.
But he is articulating an important and potentially deadly switch in how to think about children.
He is suggesting that parents will need to justify the existence of their child with disabilities AFTER the child is born.
There is no inherent dignity or personhood granted to this helpless, living baby – only if the parents choose to grant it, and really, only as long as whoever is powerful allows the parents to grant it.
And for those parents who choose to let their child live? Society no longer has a responsibility for one of its members; it is left entirely to the family.
Sentimental arguments about the benefits we experience as parents of children with significant disabilities will not carry this day. Dr. Singer has introduced the idea that everything is simply in the world of options and choices, with the powerful left to make those choices freely unencumbered by larger ideas or ideals of responsibility to the weaker. If you choose to keep your child because of some perceived gain in happiness or satisfaction, other parents can equally decide to kill that child for the same reasons. Every choice has equal standing, rather than every little human member, who has no standing until it is granted by some other human being.
Society is already training us in what we should do with a pre-born child when a disability is discovered. With abortion rates as high as they are for children with certain kinds of disabilities, we know this includes couples who would call themselves Christians.
Parents are already finding they must justify their decision to let their child live when abortion was still an option. Dr. Singer’s thinking about who gets to make important decisions about other human beings is winning in our culture, even if his specific ideas about infanticide are still considered abhorrent today.
Yesterday I quoted from Psalm 127 in which the Psalmist speaks of children as a reward. Psalm 139 points to God’s sovereign work in ‘knitting together’ these children in the womb. God himself shows us how to think about the most vulnerable amongst us.
So let us engage the right arguments for those who would kill these precious ones. Peter Singer’s appeal to prideful, arrogant indulgence of the powerful against the weak is the real battleground. Only Jesus will ultimately win that war. That applies to my own heart as well as all its manifestations in society.
Let us not win a battle against infanticide only to lose the war against our children’s inherent dignity granted by a sovereign, loving God.
Here in Minnesota school begins this week for some, next week for the rest.
Our children with disabilities will be confronted with new therapists, teachers, bus aides and schedules. Those of us who are parents will be confronted with IEP meetings and requests for updates on how the summer went for our children and any new complications in their lives.
I’m grateful for this reminder from Psalm 127 about how God wants us to think about all of our children. And how he wants us to think about him.
1 Unless the Lord builds the house,
those who build it labor in vain.
Unless the Lord watches over the city,
the watchman stays awake in vain.
2 It is in vain that you rise up early
and go late to rest, eating the bread of anxious toil;
for he gives to his beloved sleep.
3 Behold, children are a heritage from the Lord,
the fruit of the womb a reward.
4 Like arrows in the hand of a warrior
are the children of one’s youth.
5 Blessed is the man
who fills his quiver with them!
He shall not be put to shame
when he speaks with his enemies in the gate.
We had a wonderful time enjoying God’s creation, though one member wasn’t with us.
Paul took ill again while with his grandmother, so we cut our time away a little short. We were with a new medical specialist on Monday who is just as flummoxed as we are about what is causing Paul’s spells. More doctoring is coming.
As wearying as even thinking about a new round of tests and more new doctors is, our vacation provided some important reminders of God’s continuing kindness to our family:
Paul has an aunt who lives near grandma, and this particular aunt is a very highly trained and experienced medical specialist herself. She made sure he was never in any immediate danger.
Not one child complained about leaving early. They wanted to be with their brother.
The various reservations were easily canceled without penalty.
Paul’s regular pediatrician and her staff immediately got the appointment for Monday with a new specialist.
We found Paul in very good spirits. He didn’t want to leave the farm and he continues to ask for grandma today. What a comfort to have him bond so closely with such a good woman who loves him dearly!
I try not to take any of the above for granted; yet I am certainly prone to grumbling as plans needed to be changed.
Habakkuk provides good instruction to help me fight self-pity and self-righteousness:
17 Though the fig tree should not blossom,
nor fruit be on the vines,
the produce of the olive fail
and the fields yield no food,
the flock be cut off from the fold
and there be no herd in the stalls,
18 yet I will rejoice in the Lord;
I will take joy in the God of my salvation.
This was first posted last September 8, 2009. Soon all our children will be off to school again. And so yet another season trusting that God will help us and protect our boy begins.
For all of us with school-aged children, the day after Labor Day is when it all begins again. An army of people, all listed on my son’s IEP with their official titles and the number of minutes each week he will work with them, will attempt to help him develop skills as much as he is able.
But his favorite part of the day is the enormous bus that will pull up directly in front of the house to transport him to his school, and then back again. He loves the bus. So it’s pretty easy to get him going in the morning – a reminder that the bus is coming is usually enough to have him pop up from his bed.
He’s been getting on that bus since he was three years old. And every year I worry about the bus driver and the bus aides. I won’t let him on the bus with a sole adult, even with credentials and a clean track record – my son is just too vulnerable.
So, every year I am confronted with my responsibilities to him as his dad, and the command to not be anxious:
Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice. Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand; do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Philippians 4:4-7
I must do both: carry out my fatherly responsibilities of protection; and not be anxious about anything. This is not a balancing act.
So, in a couple of hours, I’ll put him back on that bus. And pray like crazy.
A convicting and helpful guest post from my friend, Jan Lacher:
I have been incredibly inspired this week as I have listened to Revive Our Hearts with Nancy Leigh DeMoss. The subject over the past three days has been memorizing Scripture.
Usually, every morning, as I give Michael his medications and tube feeding, Revive Our Hearts blares across the radios in my home. I typically listen to the program as I move from one room to another, going about my work getting Michael ready for the day. The featured guest this week has been a seasoned saint, Nancy Epperson.
On Wednesday, the discussion between Nancy Leigh DeMoss and Nancy Epperson peaked my interest, and I found myself nodding as they talked about all of the benefits of memorizing God’s Word. As a side note, I have memorized some of our fighter verses over these past years. I have had to learn them and relearn them. I have taught my “normal” children fighter verses; although, I would argue that I did not teach them enough Scripture. As Revive Our Hearts played, I contemplated how there has not been anything that I have done that has been more beneficial than memorizing the Word of God.
My mind was swirling as I pondered the question that if memorizing parts of the Bible are so beneficial, why don’t I do more of it? Why am I not memorizing full chapters and possibly books? I certainly know the benefits and have experienced them. Since Michael’s birth, I have been like a rock skipping across the lake as I have learned some verses and then having periods where I do not. For a variety of reasons, I have not been as consistent these past several years as I would like to be. I sighed at the thought of the work that it would take to regain the momentum to do such a task as memorize verses and eventually chapters.
My attention was refocused on the program. The two Nancys continued their discussion. Then Nancy Epperson said something that stopped me dead in the middle of Michael’s feeding. A segment from the January 6th transcript speaks for itself:
Nancy Leigh DeMoss: Now, don’t go too fast past that because there are a lot of people who will say, “I can’t memorize Scripture.”
Nancy Epperson: They will say that, but can I tell you something? That is not true. It’s true people say it, but it truly is a lie hatched in the pit of hell that Satan loves us to think. The fact is, everybody can.
Now, listen. I’ll never forget this. About 35 years ago, I was at a church in Winston, Salem. They had a group of young adults who were very mentally deficient. They could barely articulate. They were severely retarded, severely. They got up in this church—I will never forget it as long as I live—they quoted verse after verse after verse with the reference—verse after verse.
I’m telling you, I knew exactly, exactly why they could do that, because some precious, dear saint had spent hundreds of hours with them. Those precious, severely retarded young adults just quoted and quoted and quoted. It was just such a blessing.
I realized then anybody honestly can quote Scripture if you’ll go over it enough times.Stop and think about it. Think of all the things you know from memory.
When I heard the story above, my heart jumped. Michael falls into the severely to profoundly mentally retarded category. Plus, he is nonverbal. We have no way of knowing what he understands and how he processes information. We try to teach him simple commands that would aide in his care such as “lean forward” when bathing his back. And through the shear repetition of that command and through physical prompting, he has learned to do so. But, I must admit, I have not contemplated teaching him Bible verses. Who knows what he could glean from the repetition of Scripture being spoken to him when he rises up and when he lies down? Also who knows how the Holy Spirit could use it to strengthen and under-gird him in all of his difficulties?
After listening to this program, I have come away with a renewed vision and a resolve to make Scripture verses part of Michael’s life. He may never be able to quote the references and verses, but God’s Word does not return void. I am determined to get my hardhat on my head and do the heavy “work” of imparting Scripture to our sweet Fox.
(Note from John: Jan reported last week that she’s continuing to work with Michael on his verse. What an encouragement to persevere!)
This week marks the beginning of orientation for the new students of Bethlehem College and Seminary. This post from December 30, 2009continues to reflect my desires for and affections of all the people involved with this new venture.
Pastor John wrote his thanks to God for Bethlehem College and Seminary this morning. I join him in praising God for this initiative at Bethlehem!
Disability ministries need pastors who have been prepared like Pastor John hopes they will be through BCS:
At the heart of this vision is the invincible God, the infallible Bible, and the indispensible Gospel of Jesus Christ. We want future pastors to be stunned by the greatness of God. And stay stunned by living in the Bible. And spread this amazement to sinners, who qualify through faith alone because of the Gospel.
We want them to love the church. The real live, blemished, blood-bought bride of Christ. So we sink them into ministry while they are here.
Why is that so important for a disability ministry?
Because disability is hard. We need to know that God is sovereign over all things and good at all times in the midst of hard things.
We NEED pastors who are stunned by the greatness of God.
We need our pastors to be rock-solid in their understanding of who God is, able to articulate the truth of the Bible, and able to personally demonstrate how glad they are to be dependent on him. Then they can love people in the midst of deepest pain and struggle – because God will provide for them and through them what their hurting people need.
So I am excited about BCS and invite you to join me in praying for them, for the sake of churches that may not yet even exist and children with disabilities not yet born and adults who have not yet experienced disability.
One of the most-commented on posts for the past year. This was first presented on May 27, 2010.
Many thanks to my friend, Jan Lacher, for writing this post today – JPK
This past Monday night, I cried some lukewarm tears.
My three older children played piano pieces for their yearly piano recitals. Christina played Firefly Fandango by Bober. David performed Beethoven’s Sonata, c#minor,Op.27#2, Adagio. My senior, Jonathon, performed Chopin’s famous Nocturne Eb Major. It was bitter-sweet listening to Jonathon, realizing that it would probably be his last performance that I would be privileged to hear. Eleven years of practice and recitals will be done. Sigh… Warm tears dripped onto my starched, white blouse even as I was biting my thumb nails and holding my breathe until it was over. Such is the torture of a parent.
At one point in the evening though, I had tears for another reason.
One of our good friend’s daughters, the youngest of six children, performed a phenomenal piece. Eight-year old Julia played A Touch of a Dream by Cuellar with beauty and grace. She is gifted musically, as her other siblings are.
While she performed it, I realized that she was only six weeks older than Michael. Michael seems so much younger. Of course, mentally, he is. I could not help noticing the contrast between her and Michael as she gracefully approached the grand piano and displayed her musical gifts even as Michael bounced away in his wheelchair in the church foyer.
I was not at all jealous of her ability. I was not envious. But, a deep sorrow set in at that realization, and lukewarm tears dripped, dripped, and dripped. I loved listening to the music and rejoiced with her parents at her beautiful performance. But, it was shadowed with the loss of all the possibilities that could have been for Michael.
How do I think about this without becoming overwhelmed with grief?
Events like piano recitals seem to punctuate disability with an exclamation point. I need to have a way to think about his life without becoming overwhelmed with grief. So in my mind, I am learning to shift my attention and fast-forward it to a time when some day, Michael will be made whole. There will be a time when he will have full functionality and will have the ability to learn “the masters” and so much more.
I look forward to that reality. But in the meantime, I am learning to be content and patient with the truth and hope that the Gospel brings. Maybe some day both Michael and I will have the opportunity, with perfection and zeal, to perform on a keyboard a duet called the Hungarian Rhapsody. I envision how with high drama we will smoke the keys together. Instead of lukewarm tears, there will be tears of joy and gladness.
Today we’re headed for our week away without Paul (or internet access). This post is a repeat of one I wrote last year on the subject of spending time away from him. Lord willing, fresh content will return around August 25.
This week we pack up the van and head out for our annual family vacation. Which means that I will be dealing with a nagging guilt.
Why? Because Paul will stay with his grandmother for the week.
The reason I struggle with guilt can be summarized in two statements:
How can we call it a family vacation when a member of the family isn’t around! Logically I know this is our future anyway as my children grow up and leave home. So this one nags at me a little, but not as much as the next one.
He isn’t included because of his multiple disabilities. I feel like I’m discriminating against my own son because of his disabilities.
Then the other nagging questions start to add up: what am I teaching my children about their brother; what if something happens to him; what makes me think anybody can take care of him like we can; what if I enjoy this week without him a little too much?
Do you have a guilt-producer like that?
Thankfully, having him stay with Grandma-on-the-farm is a good thing:
He’s comfortable, safe and loved.
Grandma has things that he likes to do. A week on a farm is a great thing for a kid. Where we’re going on vacation, he would be bored.
All the ‘stuff’ that he needs is easily accessible.
Everything slows down when Paul is around, and the other kids enjoy a few days of just going as the Spirit leads us.
And I’m grateful that we now have the benefit of doing this for several years, and it actually works out pretty well. Paul, in his own way, has indicated in the past that his week has been just fine. The other children really do enjoy the unhindered access they have to Dianne and me.
Having Paul away for a week has not translated into their thinking less of their brother or that he is a nuisance when we are all back together. My daughter will probably miss him as much, possibly more, than I do because of the special relationship she has with him.
We know lots of families where one or several children have disabilities. Some do what we do. Others do not. Thankfully, this ‘fraternity’ of families is very gracious and decisions like these fall under the ‘do what you need to’ category without condemnation from anyone. That’s one of the great benefits of being part of this unusual network of families and helps quiet the nagging questions.
And I know that he is in God’s good care, and God has provided a diligent, wonderful woman to care for him in his grandmother who also trusts Jesus. When Paul writes that “God will supply every need of yours” in Philippians 4:19 he meant things like this as well. And when Paul writes, “do not be anxious about anything” inPhilippians 4:6, he meant this, too.
So, today I am not surprised by that annual feeling of guilt and glad to have multiple ways to address it. In the scheme of things, this isn’t that big of a deal and Paul is also given a pleasant vacation.
But when the consequences are bigger and Paul’s (or Dianne’s or the other children’s) comfort, future, or even life is at stake, I’d rather have a history of trusting in the promises of God, even on small things like this, than in my feeble, finite, short-term vision and abilities. God is that capable, that interested in the small things for his glory, and that good.
P.S. And we have all vacationed together. Joni CampatCastaway Clubis wonderful and has been a tremendous blessing. Just not this year.
I have no idea if Global Media Outreach is a good organization or not. But I was excited by the idea that Christians living with disability would have the opportunity to become effective missionaries of the gospel of Jesus Christ using the internet. I prayed two things for this venture: that many Christian hedonists living with disability would be called to participate, and that Bethlehem would be a place that doesn’t just welcome people with disabilities, but prepares them for a called life of service in spreading the gospel.
Then I saw this:
@desiringGod tweeted: The Local Church: People to Suffer With. I don’t know the writer well (yet), but I was greatly encouraged to read this blog and remember that my church responded in the same way to us when my wife was so sick with the cancer. That led to many praises to God for his provision of the church to me and of Jeff Lacine to Desiring God!
Then I read a tweet from a long-distance friend who is exploring a camp with a disability ministry. It was a reminder to pray for him, and I was able to send a direct message easily as well.
Today was unusual in how encouraged I was in a brief amount of time from this variety of sources using Twitter. But it happens, usually because people are being thoughtful about communicating something of value.
Blogs, emails, Facebook, Twitter, Buzz, Instant messages, cell phones, hand-written letters, face-to-face encounters – all can be used for the glory of God, for the encouragement of the saints, for the strengthening of the church, and for advancing the gospel around the world.
Yesterday I was a happy ‘consumer’ of information, and very grateful to God for all of the people above (and others who came to mind) who encourage me to trust him above all things.
So, what tool will you use today for the glory of God?
I am about half-way through a seminary video series that focuses on disability and the church. The speakers have all been articulate and frequently are living with disabilities in themselves or their family members.
But the information is old to me. I am itching for them to get on to the meaty stuff – more bible, fewer statistics. After all, this is graduate school!
I get so impatient; a critical spirit quickly follows.
Which isn’t fair, of course. Just because these bright people are in a graduate course doesn’t mean they know anything about disability. I certainly didn’t much about disability before 1995!
So, I’m asking God to help me, as I finish this series, to celebrate that so many people (the room looks full from the video) who have already demonstrated a desire to be in ministry are spending time and money to learn more about this issue in the context of the church. And then, in gratitude to God and with God’s help, to render a more thoughtful, reasoned assessment of this video series.
And I’m trying to get more bible into me to help me!
Know this, my beloved brothers: let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger; for the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God. Jame 1:19-20
And the word of the Lord came to Zechariah, saying, “Thus says the Lord of hosts, Render true judgments, show kindness and mercy to one another, do not oppress the widow, the fatherless, the sojourner, or the poor, and let none of you devise evil against another in your heart.” Zechariah 7:8-10
The Works of God 
“Parents and Doctors Together Should Be Able to Choose that the Child Should Not Live” – Dr. Peter Singer
Posted in commentary, Scripture on September 1, 2010| 4 Comments »
Dr. Peter Singer, in his own words, on infanticide and parents deciding the fate of their already-born children with disabilities (unfortunately, the audio and video get out of synch):
We should not quickly dismiss this man or his adherents. He is an intelligent, well-spoken person, highly regarded for his philosophical integrity and his passionate commitment to animals. He holds an important chair at Princeton, is widely sought out as a speaker, and frequently writes for influential publications like The New Times.
And in this short clip he is laying out a way of thinking that is very dangerous, most directly to children with disabilities but also to their families.
Under the guise of parental rights (who could be against that?), he allows parents and doctors together to make the best decision they can for a child with disabilities and their families. He even believes they should go out and consult with other families raising children with similar disabilities. It all sounds very reasonable, even humane.
But he is articulating an important and potentially deadly switch in how to think about children.
He is suggesting that parents will need to justify the existence of their child with disabilities AFTER the child is born.
There is no inherent dignity or personhood granted to this helpless, living baby – only if the parents choose to grant it, and really, only as long as whoever is powerful allows the parents to grant it.
And for those parents who choose to let their child live? Society no longer has a responsibility for one of its members; it is left entirely to the family.
Sentimental arguments about the benefits we experience as parents of children with significant disabilities will not carry this day. Dr. Singer has introduced the idea that everything is simply in the world of options and choices, with the powerful left to make those choices freely unencumbered by larger ideas or ideals of responsibility to the weaker. If you choose to keep your child because of some perceived gain in happiness or satisfaction, other parents can equally decide to kill that child for the same reasons. Every choice has equal standing, rather than every little human member, who has no standing until it is granted by some other human being.
Society is already training us in what we should do with a pre-born child when a disability is discovered. With abortion rates as high as they are for children with certain kinds of disabilities, we know this includes couples who would call themselves Christians.
Parents are already finding they must justify their decision to let their child live when abortion was still an option. Dr. Singer’s thinking about who gets to make important decisions about other human beings is winning in our culture, even if his specific ideas about infanticide are still considered abhorrent today.
Yesterday I quoted from Psalm 127 in which the Psalmist speaks of children as a reward. Psalm 139 points to God’s sovereign work in ‘knitting together’ these children in the womb. God himself shows us how to think about the most vulnerable amongst us.
So let us engage the right arguments for those who would kill these precious ones. Peter Singer’s appeal to prideful, arrogant indulgence of the powerful against the weak is the real battleground. Only Jesus will ultimately win that war. That applies to my own heart as well as all its manifestations in society.
Let us not win a battle against infanticide only to lose the war against our children’s inherent dignity granted by a sovereign, loving God.
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