Here's something fun for today. BlimeyCow is my favorite vlogger--if that's the right word for his videos--and also, the only one I, uh, watch. Unless Julian Smith counts, but I don't think he does.
And by the way, I finally got to go see October Baby (yay!) and it was amazing. Is it the greatest movie ever made? No, it's not. But it's a beautiful story, and the quality was very good, even if it wasn't up to the level of "The Lord of the Rings" or "It's a Wonderful Life" (two of my favorite movies right there). As another indicator, it was a heck of a lot better than the "The Voyage of the Dawn Treader" flop (sorry, Narnia). It also was not pushy about abortion or religion; it wasn't saying "Christianity is right and abortion is the most ultimate evil ever!", but rather "Here's a conflicted young woman who needs to re-discover who she is and how to forgive". As a plus, most criticisms of the movie (coming from the Left) aren't about the quality, but screaming about how the movie dares to oppose abortion. Which pretty much guarantees that the movie's going to be good.
Without further ado, here's BlimeyCow and "The TV Tells Me How to Vote".
My excitement just shot up to here! (Imagine my hand high in the air.) There's nothing like growing anticipation to heighten anticipation even more. This is a beautiful song.
Why am I sharing this? I don't know. This inspires me, and the song that comes after the scripture reading is awesome. (Did you catch the reference to abortion?) Gotta love the International House of Prayer!
I'm normally not a fan of rap. In my opinion, it hardly counts as music, with a very few exceptions ("Jesus Freak" by dc Talk being one of them). However, I came across this song the other day. Is it great music? No, probably not, technically speaking. But the lyrics were what got me (that, and the beautiful piano).
It reminded me how desperately prayer is needed for everybody dealing with abortion. Abortion, by now, hurts every single person in the world, and they may not even know it.
We need to pray for the abortionists and abortion workers, that they can be touched, and realize how wrong abortion is. They live in such darkness. The ones there that truly care about women need their eyes to open so they can see that they're hurting these women, and so they can see how to truly help them.
We need to pray for the pro-life activists, so they can stay emotionally strong.
We need to pray for politicians, that they will pass laws against abortion.
We need to pray for all the brother-and-sister-less people in the world, whose siblings have been aborted.
We need to pray for all the friend-less people in the world, whose best friends have been aborted.
We need to pray for all the men and women, whose spouses have been aborted.
We need to pray the countries and causes whose leaders have been aborted.
We need to pray for the fathers whose children have been aborted.
We need to pray for the mothers whose children have been aborted.
We need to pray for the children, asking God to send his guardian angels to comfort them as they are being aborted.
Image found via Google Images. Video from YouTube. No copyright infringement intended.
I recently wrote a letter to a close friend of mine talking about love. It seems that I've been hearing about love everywhere now, whether it's God's love for us, our love for puppies, or love for our enemies. Particularly, love for all the abortion people. I've spoken briefly about my feelings toward pro-abortioners in my post about generalization "They're All Devils". I've developed since then; I can honestly say I'm starting to feel love towards these people. Not my love. I'm not capable of that. God's love.
I'll try to explain why. And how. Though it may be unexplainable.
Maybe it's because of Abby Johnson and her book Unplanned. I finished re-reading it a few hours ago. But then, maybe she's easy to love, because she's on our side now. She's obviously a very loving, warm-hearted person, and that's what drove her to first work at Planned Parenthood as a volunteer: a heart for people in crisis. She followed all the talking points and everything, and called peaceful, praying pro-lifers harrassers, but still, that's all behind us now, right?
Besides, there are all the negative things. The pro-abortion blogs and articles, where they freely spew filth and can make innocent ears quickly grow older. There are the disgusting clinics, stories of cold-hearted nurses and doctors, moving from one patient to the next as quickly as they can. The obvious lies. The protests to absolutely anything that might make the public think of the fetuses as human.
Except...that isn't all there is to it. There are the stories of kind nurses and doctors. There are the people who claim to have no regret. There are the pro-abortion blogs that tell stories of women relieved and thankful, of clean facilities, and kind-hearted people. The war zones. The disgust towards violent anti-choicers...and they're right. The sacrifice of funds and living space and time and energy. Low salaries. And they keep going.
But there's no doubt we're in a war. Hitler could have been the kindliest, warmest, most loving person in the world, but that doesn't make him right.
I read a website that had stories upon stories written by former abortion advocates (and yes, some actual abortionists). There are videos. People in tears. Perhaps this is what convicts me to pray for the pro-abortioners.
They're lost. They are so lost. And it breaks my heart. I hear stories all the time about what goes on in those clinics, even if they are sanitary and completely law-abiding and never send women to the hospital from botched abortions. Nightmares, alcohol, and marijuana.
Maybe there's a clean, law-abiding, safe, never-send-women-to-hospital, alcohol-and-marijuana-free clinic where no workers ever have nightmares about their jobs. They're all warm and friendly too and love the women they serve. They're truly pro-choice, and make as many adoption referalls and give as much parenting help as they give abortions. Even if this clinic existed, it doesn't make them right. It doesn't make them not lost. It doesn't make them non-empty. It simply doesn't compute. I don't care how much they tell me they are perfectly happy champions of women, because I know it's not true. Abortion = no God = emptiness.
I'm reminded of Frank Peretti's book Prophet. Where a man begins to hear the anguished screaming of lost souls during his everyday life.
It doesn't matter if they will never be "converted". It doesn't matter if they participate in two hundred abortions a day. Love them for love's own sake. Why? We are commanded to. And they are God's children. Hitler was God's son. They are all God's children just as much as the children they are killing. Screaming at them, degrading them, and telling them to go f-bomb themselves isn't right, and it doesn't even work. Calling them baby-killers doesn't work. So please don't do it. Pray for them. Wish them a good day. You may never see the seeds you plant germinate, but plant them anyway. Love.
All images found via Google Images. Video taken from YouTube. No copyright infringement intended.
It's a phenomenon sweeping the internet world and the abortion debate.
180 is a short half-hour movie documenting Ray Comfort as he talks to people on the street. He starts off asking if they knew who Hitler is, and talking about the Holocaust. He asks them tough questions. For example, paraphrasing: "If the Nazis gave you a rifle and told you to shoot dying Jews, and if you didn't they would kill you with the Jews, would you do it?"
He gets them to re-examine their beliefs, and consider right and wrong in the world. Then he gives them something else.
Ray also gets into something else. Morality often comes up in these conversations. What happens after you die? Do you think you're a good person? Do you think there's a Heaven? Do you think you'll go there?
His questions and simple statements also bring amazing reactions from these people.
The reactions from people watching the movie are amazing as well. Look in the comments on YouTube and you see plenty of people slamming 180 and cussing it out, and you also see people amazed at how their views have just been switched. The folks at LivingWaters have received thousands of emails about how someone, or someone's friend, or someone who just witnessed on the street and used 180, have changed their minds. This is amazing, and an incredible tool. Do not miss it.
If you want to help spread the word about 180, please read this.
Here is my compilation of what seem to be the basic beliefs of the 2012 Republican Presidential candidates. I divided this list up by the following five categories: abortion, the economy, health care, foreign policy, and marriage. This is by no means an exhaustive list.
The way chose things to list was to list only things about the candidates that differed from the other candidates. For example: repealing Obamacare. I do not say "would repeal Obamacare" because it's a given that Republican candidates would repeal Obamacare (or at least convince people they would). So I only mention repealing Obamacare if either 1) there was something unique about how/why a candidate would repeal Obamacare, or 2) if a candidate would NOT repeal Obamacare.
I gathered my information from various articles, debates, and the candidates' campaign website. If I did not list much about what a candidate believes under a certain topic, it isn't (usually) because I'm being lazy, but because I simply couldn't find anything unique or specific about that candidate under that certain topic...or I simply couldn't find much information. I also sometimes give links throughout the list that go to what I found very helpful/detailed articles about the candidate under that topic. Sometimes they are from candidates' websites, sometimes they aren't.
I did my best to not write biased, but I'm only human.
ABORTION
Michele Bachmann
~Would advocate “Personhood” amendment to Constitution, and then use 14th amendment to ban abortion
Mitt Romney
~Would not sign Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life Pledge
~Previously strongly pro-abortion, claiming pro-life conversion in 2004…the following done after he says he converted:
~Supported legalization of RU-486 (the abortion pill)
~Implemented “Romneycare” health care when Governor of Massachusetts, which funded abortion
~Supports embryonic cell research
~Repeatedly flip-flopped on whether he was pro-life or pro-choice, depending on where he was running.
Ron Paul
~Repeal Roe v. Wade
~Define personhood as from conception with “Sanctity of Life” act
~Wouldn’t support abortion as president, but believes banning it should be left up to the states
Rick Santorum
~Does not believe rape and incest should be an exception if abortion is made illegal
~“Rick was the author of legislation outlawing the heinous act known as partial-birth abortion and he championed the fight to pass the “Born Alive Infant Protection Act” and the “Unborn Victims of Violence Act.”
~Supports Federal banning of abortion
Jon Huntsman
~Would not sign Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life Pledge
~Believes abortion is acceptable in the cases of rape and incest
~ “He wasn’t a governor who was pushing, cheerleading those who were opposed to reproductive rights. He wasn’t a governor that spearheaded either an anti-choice or reproductive rights agenda.”—Karrie Galloway, executive director of Planned Parenthood of Utah
Rick Perry
~Signed legislation as Governor of Texas that de-funded Planned Parenthood
~Supports the creation of a “human life” amendment to the Constitution
Newt Gingrich
~Supports federal funding of abortion in cases of rape or incest
~Once stated that life begins at implantation (as opposed to conception), and then amended it later to conception
ECONOMY
Michele Bachmann
~Repatriate corporate profits
~The most pushy candidate about repealing Obamacare
~Repeal unnecessary regulations and cut unnecessary taxes
~repeal Dodd-Frank
~Open up foreign trade
Mitt Romney
~Cut corporate income tax rate to 25%
~Implemented universal “Romneycare” when governor or Massachusetts, but says wouldn’t do that as president because it should be left up to the states
~Cutting non-security discretionary spending by 5%
~Give control of “retraining” programs back to the states
~Sanctioning China for unfair trade practices
~Cut and cap federal spending to 20% of the GDP
Ron Paul
~Very gung-ho about auditing the Fed
~Supports sound money
~Has plan for cutting 1 trillion of spending during 2013
~Cut five cabinet departments (Energy, HUD, Commerce, Interior, Education)
~ “Avoid long and expensive land wars that bankrupt our country by using constitutional means to capture or kill terrorist leaders who helped attack the U.S. and continue to plot further attacks.”
Rick Santorum
~Don’t call it “war on terror”…call it what it is! War on radical Islam!
~ “authored and passed the“Iran Freedom and Support Act” in the face of Democratic and Bush State Department opposition, which authorized Federal monies to support pro-democracy movements in Iran and keep the tyrannical dictator Mahmoud Ahmadinejad from obtaining a nuclear weapon”
~ Was on the Senate Armed Services Committee for eight years
~Does not support withdrawing from Afghanistan
~Not too concerned about foreign aid, since it’s “less than a half a percent” of the federal budget
~ “Our foreign policy is only as good as our ability to project power”—fix economy, defend borders, etc.
~ “War on Terror” can’t be fought in any one country; we have to move around as the terrorists move around; be “quick on our feet” and able to deploy on a moment’s notice
Rick Perry
~ Would reset all of our foreign aid to all countries to zero—including Israel—and then build from there.
~Very gung-ho about putting up a fence along the boarder—did so in Texas
Newt Gingrich
~”Incentivize math and science education in America to ensure the men and women of our Armed Forces always have the most advanced and powerful weapons in the world at their disposal.”
~ “Understand our enemies and tell the truth about them.”
~Re-do the Visa program
~ “Allow foreigners who want to spend money, invest and create jobs in America to do so.”
~Should have an “earned citizenship”program for illegals
~Implemented similar-to-Obamacare (though less extreme) “Romneycare” when governor of Massachusetts
~Let states do whatever they want/decide what’s best for them
Ron Paul
~Give various tax credits, deductions, and exemptions for medical expenses and those with terminal illnesses.
~ “Ensure that those harmed during medical treatment receive fair compensation while reducing the burden of costly malpractice litigation on the health care system by providing a tax credit for “negative outcomes” insurance purchased before medical treatment."
Rick Santorum
~Supports Ryan Plan
~Once voted yes on expanding Medicare to help seniors afford prescription drugs; now says that vote was a mistake, because the money isn’t used effectively
Jon Huntsman
~Leave things up to the states
Rick Perry
~Reform Medicare and Medicaid
~ “the best way for the federal government to improve health care in the near term is to stimulate job creation so more Americans are covered by employer-sponsored health plans”
Newt Gingrich
~ “make health insurance more affordable and portable”
~ “Create more choices in Medicare”
~ “Reform Medicaid by giving states more freedom and flexibility”
~Supports Constitutional amendment defining marriage as between one man and one woman
Mitt Romney
~Supported gays serving openly in the military
~Supports federal amendment defining marriage as between one man and one woman
Ron Paul
~Doesn’t personally support homosexuality, but believes the states should make their own laws, and the federal government should ignore the issue altogether.
Rick Santorum
~ Supports Constitutional amendment defining marriage as between one man and one woman
Jon Huntsman
~Supports civil unions
~Believes choices about gay people should be left to states
~Thinks this country could “show a little more equality” when it comes to gays
Rick Perry
~ Supports Constitutional amendment defining marriage as between one man and one woman
Newt Gingrich
~ "I certainly think that we have every right to defend traditional marriage...whether it's by passing a law or a constitutional amendment."
All images found via Google Images. No copyright infringement intended.
This is a non-graphic beautiful video showing the miracle of life. Please share! I don't know if Ramos David and his affiliates are officially pro-life (though it would certainly seem so), but promoting a culture of life is a way to stop abortion.
