Abortion Mill- Wednesday, April 16th, '14

The mill was so busy today...there were cars constantly coming and going. Thankfully the sidewalks at APWHC have been well covered for the past couple of months or so, now that we have two families and two sweet young ladies named Sarah and Leah coming with us on Wednesdays. Today would have been overwhelming if they hadn't been there!

There seemed to be a lot of mocking and angry people. Several men told us to mind our own business, to shut up, leave them alone, etc. and one came charging across the parking lot at a sidewalk counselor who was trying to address him. Another group of people stood outside on the porch for most of the morning laughing, smoking and mocking while babies were being murdered inside. It is always so sad to see how casual some people are about what they're there to do, as if it were just another day.

Despite the opposition, were blessed to be able to witness two couples choose life for their babies- one was a very young couple, "S" and "H", who looked so happy and relieved when they left. Praising God for these precious lives that were spared!

~ Kaitlin

Debating A Pro-Choicer, Part 2: What Makes Us Valuable

 In the last debate post, we talked about the humanity of the unborn and some of the arguments you will hear against that. Now that we have that covered, we'll move on to what makes human beings valuable.

 Substance things are distinguished from property things. Humans are substance things, because we are living organisms who maintain our identity through time and change, unlike property things such as cars, decks and houses. For example; if a dog loses it's leg, is it still a dog? Of course. But if you rebuild your deck plank by plank, is it still the same deck? No, not really. That is because dogs are substance things, and a deck is a property thing.

The substance view of humanity says that you and I are identical to our former embryonic selves. We have gone through physical changes, but we have an inner human nature given to us by God at the moment of conception that determines what we are, regardless of our stage of development. There is a good chance that you will come across people who will argue that the unborn are human beings, but they are not persons- as if there is some kind of difference. Mary Anne Warren claims that to be a person, you have to be *self-aware, you have to be able to react with your environment, and you have to have some sense of continuance over time, amongst other things.

Here's a thought experiment for you. If someone is in an accident and goes into a coma, are they still the same person they were before they were in the accident? What if they come out of the coma with no recollection of their past; are they still the same person then? Yes, of course. That is because things like self- awareness, a sense of continuance over time, etc. are not what makes us valuable human beings or "persons"; our inner human nature determines what kind of thing we are, and the kind of thing we are has never changed. If we are human now, we have always been human. If not, what species were we in the womb? Also, if those things are what makes a person, who else can we disqualify from personhood? The mentally disabled, newborns, and anyone in a deep sleep! We also need to be asking people who make this argument why human beings have to possess these qualities to be considered a person- what is it about self- awareness that has the power to define who is worthy of life and who isn't?

Another argument you may hear is that you have to have a desire to live to have a right to life. One question- what about suicidal people?

One more thing to consider is that if an accidental property such as self-awareness, viability or the experience of pain/pleasure is what makes human beings persons, then could we not throw human equality right out the window? If one person has experienced more pain or pleasure than the other, could we not say that that person has more of a right to life than the other? We are equal because we share the same inner nature; you either have a human nature or you don't, and no one has more of it than another.

Long story short, the unborn are human beings. They are persons just like you and me, and they are valuable because they have a God given human nature and are made in His image.

~Kaitlin

**Embryos actually possess the basic capacity for self-awareness- they only lack maturity or an immediately exercisable capacity for self-awareness.

Roe Vs. Wade Memorial

Every January, Between 50 and 200 people gather for a memorial service in downtown Charlotte.  Grandparents, families, and lots of young children huddle in the freezing weather to sing praise and worship songs, to pray, and to be stirred and edified by strong preaching and testimonials.  They pass out tracts and informative pamphlets to men and women who walk by, even engaging some in conversation. They gather to glorify the name of Jesus in the holding of a memorial service for the 57 million lives lost to abortion.  A service in remembrance of Roe Vs. Wade, the day abortion was legalized in America. Today was that day, and here are some pictures I took.  

Pastor Bobby Wilkinson leading us in worship.

Reverend Flip Benham speaking

An eager young missionary, using tracts to share Jesus with people walking by.  

Jason Dellinger giving a powerful word.

young missionaries, enjoying the work of the Lord :).

Lisa Metzger, a team leader out at the abortion mill,  sharing about lives that have been saved.

A wonderful young woman, Shaniqua, talking about how she changed her mind about abortion and saved the life of her little baby.

Pictures of living and dead babies on the corners of Trade and Tryon streets.

Eliana Smith sharing her testimony. She was awesome!!!

A man who stopped to listen

Josh Heldreth giving a Wendover update.

My mum, Jeannette Wilson :) inviting everyone to our Event Friday and Saturday, which we'd love for you to come to if you're in the area!  Just click that link to get the info.

Russel Justice (author of The Gatekeeper)

Ante Pavkovik preaching 

I find it sad that we have to have a memorial service at all.  Sad that abortion isallowed here-sad that it has been allowed for 41 years already.  But we need to accept and understand the fact that abortion does not have to be "legal," we do have to option still to stop this insane killing of our offspring.  But abortion is not going to end itself.  And if it's not going to end itself, do you know what's going to have to end it? Us. Me. You.  If the whole church of Jesus Christ were to stand up for what they really believe, the truth; if they would stand up for Jesus, the enemy would buckle and fall.  Abortion would end.  But until we make up our minds that is going to happen it won't.  We should have ended this 41 years ago, but we didn't.  Now is the time! 41 years of "legalized" baby slaughter is ENOUGH! Stand up!

~Theresa

Debating a Pro-Choicer, Part 1: The Humanity of the Unborn

One of the problems in the Church today is that the majority of Christians do not know how to defend what they believe; this is precisely why Theresa and I will be doing a relatively short series on pro-life apologetics. Later on we will get into the more complicated arguments for bodily autonomy, but this post, as the title states, will be about the humanity of the unborn.

The vast majority of pro-choice people you will get into a debate with are going to make arguments about rape, finances, and things like that. When they ask things such as "You really want to force a woman to bring another child into the world who she can't afford to raise and will grow up in poverty?", they are making an assumption, and this assumption is that the unborn are not human beings. They cannot prove it; they are only assuming it. The first thing you should do when these questions/statements are thrown at you is use a technique called Trod Out the Toddler. All you have to say is, "I have a two year old in front of me. His parents want the right to kill him because money is tight and they need more money to feed the five year old. Should they be allowed to do it?" If you are talking to a normal person with at least a little bit of a conscience left, their answer will be "No, you can't do that!". When you ask them why there is no moral justification for killing that toddler and they say "Because he's a human being!", your reply needs to be, "But if the unborn are human like that toddler, should we be killing them in the name of economic hardship?". The pro-choice person will most likely try to argue that the unborn aren't human and that killing a toddler is different; but IS there any difference? They have to answer the question "What is the unborn?" before they can answer the question "Can I kill the unborn?".

When a pro-choicer tries to say that the unborn are not human beings, ask them if they would like to take that up with biology.

"Although human life is a continuous process, fertilization is a critical landmark because, under ordinary circumstnances, a new, genetically distinct human organism is thereby formed." (O'Rahilly, Ronan and Muller, Fabiola. Human Embryology and Teratology, 2nd edition. New York: Wiley-Liss, 1996, pp. 8, 29).

"The zygote is human life...there is one fact that no one can deny; human beings begin at conception." -Landrum B. Shettles "Rites of Life: The Scientific Evidence for Life Before Birth" Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 1983 p 40. (Landrum B. Shettles, M.D, P.h.D. was the first scientist to succeed at in vitro fertilization)

But even if there was no proof that life begins at conception, or if no one really knew when life began, as pro-choicers like to argue; should we continue to kill the unborn without knowing for sure what they are? Scott Klusendorf uses the analogy that if you were driving home one night and saw what appeared to be an old coat in the road, you wouldn't just run it over! You would err on the side of caution and make sure that it wasn't an old man who had had a bit too much to drink and then collapsed in the street. If you were about to blow up a building to put a new one in it's place, but you weren't 100% sure that there were no living human beings inside, would you blow it up anyway? Of course not! Again, you have to answer the question "What is the unborn?" before you can answer the question "Can I kill the unborn?". Science provides massive amounts of evidence pointing to conception as the beginning of human life, and because of that we can answer the question "What is the unborn?" by saying that the unborn are distinct, living and whole human beings.

~ Kaitlin

The Christmas Story and the Choice for Life

Can you imagine what it must have been like to be Mary? She was a 14 or 15 year old girl, a virgin, betrothed to a man named Joseph, living in a time period when being pregnant outside of marriage was a very shameful thing. In this day and age, getting pregnant out of wedlock is pretty typical. In Mary's time it was shameful, disgraceful- scandalous. Put yourself in her shoes for a moment.

Imagine God the Father sending the angel Gabriel to your house one day to deliver a message. The message is this; You will conceive a son. His name will be Jesus and He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Most High; He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of His kingdom there will be no end. Whoa. You are, of course, in a state of slight shock and confusion- you find yourself asking, "How will this be, since I am a virgin?". Gabriel's reply is "The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be called holy- the Son of God."

You have just been told that you will conceive and give birth to the King of Kings, the Lord of Lords, the Prince of Peace- the Son of God. You're young, engaged to be married, and living in a time and place where you will be, at best, looked down upon. You could very likely have to leave your home and family, and possibly be stoned to death. I believe it's safe to say that most of us wouldn't be too enthusiastic about this situation. But what was Mary's response?

"Behold, I am the servant of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word.". And then she proceeded to sing praises to God!

"My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, for He has looked on the humble estate of his servant. For behold, from now on all generations will call me blessed; for He who is mighty has done great things for me, and holy is his name." -Luke 1:46-49

And what about Joseph? The girl he was planning to marry was unexpectedly pregnant, and not by him. If you were in his position, what would YOU have done? This obviously wasn't a walk in the park for him, either! The Bible said that he was a just man and unwilling to put Mary to shame, so he planned to call off the marriage.  But an angel appeared to him in a dream and said,

"Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will bear a Son, and you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins." -Matthew 1:20-21

You know what Joseph did?


"When Joseph woke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him..." -Matthew 1:24

He did as the angel of the Lord commanded him. Unlike so many men we encounter at abortion mills, Joseph wasn't a coward; he decided to do the right thing and not take the easy way out. Both of these people's lives were flipped completely upside down, and it was hard; but they placed their trust in the Lord instead of taking matters into their own hands. Because of their faith in Him, Jesus was brought into this world to die for you and me so that we could be forgiven by God and escape an eternity in hell!

The point is this: if they did it, so can you. No matter your circumstance.



~ Kaitlin