BEATITUDES, BABIES AND BASEBALL: Peace Flies Out of Left Field

"Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God." Matt. 5:10-12. This essay is the seventh in a nine part series which examines whether abortion is consistent with or opposed to the beatitudes at the core of Christian faith and action. Each part examines a beatitude in three relationships: our relationship with God, with His laws, and with others, particularly the least favored of humanity. Each begins with mention of a famous baseball player who demonstrated some characteristics of the beatitude. Can you recognize the player before reading his name? Peace flies out of left field. He missed almost five seasons sacrificed to service of our country in two wars, including the Korean war where he flew missions with John Glenn. Still, he slugged 521 home runs in his career. Back in 1941, the year our country joined the fight against world tyranny, he was the last major league player to hit .400. For stopping the spread of totalitarian forces across the world, we owe a debt of gratitude to the generation of men who served our country with this left fielder, Ted Williams. When evil powers invade peaceful countries, making peace requires armies to cast the aggressors out. When evil powers take control of the reigns of government, making peace requires people to cast the usurpers out. When evil powers take control of the hearts of men and women, making peace requires us to cast the demons out. Clearly, peacemaking is not for wimps. It is risky business, and without aid from above, doomed to failure. To be successful, peacemakers must listen to the direction of the Holy Spirit, stand firm for God’s law, and protect the weak from strong forces intent on their destruction. The prochoice position, by contrast, surrenders to the forces of evil at work in our culture. No true peace exists between parents and children where parents kill one child before birth for every three born. Why are we surprised that child abuse to born children has increased 20 fold since abortion was legalized? No true peace exists between parents who kill their offspring before birth. Their marriages end up on the rocks, driving up the divorce rate and all its problems for the rest of society. No true peace exists in the hearts of those parents who know the results of their deadly choices. They frequently suffer from depression and resort to drugs, alcohol, and self-destructive behavior to deaden the impact. The prochoice voice claims that peace would reign if only prolife people would not make mothers and fathers of aborted children feel guilty about difficult decisions made in crisis. Yet even if all of us were silent, they would hear in their conscience the small, still voice reminding them of their lost children. Warfare would still rage in each of them. A house divided against itself is not a peaceful abode. Peacemaking demands first that we begin by listening in our own hearts to the directions given to us by the Holy Spirit. When we are not at peace at heart, demons drum incessantly attempting to drown out the still, small voice we need to hear to remain human. That voice directs that we stand firm by His law, as only humans can, and protect the weak, even when we have nothing to gain ourselves. By the power of the Spirit, we can help others cast out those demons to bring peace to the hearts of our fellow human beings. Second, peacemaking demands that we throw the usurpers out of our government. To make peace requires us to remember that no majority vote of the people decided to permit abortion in our society. Instead, it was the undemocratic decision of seven unelected men on the Supreme Court who rewrote the Constitution to throw out the laws proscribing abortion in all fifty states, leaving our country with the world’s least protections for the unborn until China started forcing their mothers to have abortions. Peace requires us to throw the usurpers out! That can only be done by continually electing presidents who will appoint prolife justices to the United States Supreme Court and United States Senators who will confirm their appointments. Third, peacemaking demands that when evil powers invade peaceful countries, armies must cast the aggressors out. Worldwide abortion is making this task more and more difficult each year. A case in point is the one child policy in communist China which has resulted in forced abortions, abandoned children (mostly baby girls) and an excess male population of military age approaching 15 million. If communist China turns its army toward one of its neighbors, such as nationalist China on the island of Taiwan, how are we to stop this aggression by one of our largest trading partners against one of our allies? Will we put at risk the remainder of that generation of Americans whose numbers have been decimated by abortion already? If so, who will take care of their parents, the baby boomers, who first made abortion commonplace in America, but who are now aging and moving toward retirement? Truly, as stated by Mother Teresa, “The greatest destroyer of peace in the world is abortion.”

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