Is abortion murder?

Melissa and her daughter, Layla

Melissa Salazar is my granddaughter. In college she wrote such a powerful argument against abortion her professor used her paper as a legitimate argument against the legal procedure. She put out her paper this week on Facebook. Check out her list of sources at the end. ____________________________________________ Melissa Salazar Melissa Salazar updated her status: "There is a big vote in ABQ this week! I pasted my paper below from my biomedical ethics class I took a few semesters ago. I am for the ban, and this hopefully explains my thoughts on the subject. It's rather long, but I told Anna I would share it. Melissa PHIL 2247 Melissa's husband, Gabe,  and son, Stone May 5, 2011 Pro-Life View of Abortion In 1997, an eighteen-year-old girl in New Jersey gave birth in the bathroom stall at her senior prom. Within minutes of giving birth, the teen manually strangled and suffocated the newborn and threw him in the dumpster. The teen, Melissa Drexler, was charged with murder and endangering the welfare of a child (Hanley). When the story hit the news, many people were horrified that a mother could end the life of her own child and discard him with the trash. The innocence of that newborn child broke the hearts of many Americans, while the mother did not receive the same sympathy. Before that child made the eight-inch journey through the birth canal, he would have been considered a fetus rather than a newborn child. If the mother had ended his life while still in the womb, it would have been considered abortion instead of murder. What is the difference? What changed in those few short moments? Abortion is not considered murder by law because a fetus is not considered a living person with constitutional rights. (Hinkson-Craig and O'Brien) The abortion debate has been the source of extreme controversy in the US since the Supreme Court passed Roe v Wade in 1973 (Feldt). Groups have rallied for and against abortion, even to the point of violence. It is an ongoing political issue, and a major topic of election campaigns. The dividing line between viewpoints is vast with no signs of resolution (Hinkson-Craig and O'Brien). The beginning of life is one of the issues on abortion that is cause for much of the debate. To define when life begins we must look at scientific evidence to debate the issue. When the sperm fertilizes the egg and creates a zygote, it is an individual life. It has unique chromosomes from its mother and father. As the zygote travels to the uterus it continues to grow and divide independently from the mother. This is confirmed with in-vitro fertilization. The donor’s egg is fertilized with the sperm and left to grow on its own to Melissa and her daughter, Layla ensure that it is an actively growing embryo. Then, the woman receiving the embryo must be in a certain stage in her cycle in order to receive the embryo in her uterus. Eventually, 3-5 days after fertilization, implantation occurs giving the embryo nutrients from the mother (Storck). Because an embryo has unique chromosomes separate from his parents, and can actively divide on its own for several days without being implanted in the uterus, it is a separate being from the mother from the time of conception. It is true that it does eventually need to implant for growth and nutrition, but it is still a separate person. For the mother pregnancy begins at implantation, but for the embryo it begins at conception. The first major event in the development of an embryo is neurulation. During neurulation the brain and the spinal cord develop. By the end of the first month of gestation the primary brain vesicles are developed. By the end of the second month, actual brain waves can be recorded. At three and a half weeks of gestation, the heart begins to pump blood within the embryo. At seven weeks voluntary skeletal muscles have the ability to contract causing fetal movement (Marieb and Hoehn). An undeniable sign of life is brain activity. Psychologists argue death occurs with loss of brainwaves because all cortical functions, response to stimuli, motor reflexes, and other signs have ceased; therefore, the person is no longer able to function other than simple vital functions typically driven by machines (Kail and Cavanaugh). If the absence of detectable brainwaves is a sign of death, would the presence of brain wave not be a sign of life? The brain is functioning to contract skeletal muscles as early as 7 weeks (Marieb and Hoehn). That movement is quite some time before the mother can feel the movement known as quickening that some pro-choice advocates claim is the beginning of life (Hendershott). Melissa's son, Stone, in the womb A fetal heartbeat can be one of the most precious signs of life. Parents can see the heart beating even at the first ultra sound performed during the pregnancy. Throughout the pregnancy physicians check the heartbeat to ensure that the fetus is still strong and healthy. Through the advancement of technology parents can even use a device to hear the heartbeat from their own home to have the assurance that everything is still ok. If the heartbeat has stopped then the fetus is no longer living. Abortion stops a beating heart (Hendershott). Even with scientific evidence available for abortion debates, most will argue purely on the basis of morality. The concept of ensoulment cannot be clearly defined since it isn’t on a biological level. There is no medical test that can be done proving one does or doesn’t have a soul. Therefore, this topic is left to moral debate. The Pro-Life movement is backed by many Christian organizations including the Catholic Church and other private organizations such as Focus on the Family. God, as the creator of life, is the foundation of their beliefs (Focus on the Family). “At Focus on the Family, we are dedicated to defending the sanctity of human life, and by human life we mean God's creation from fertilization to natural death. In the beginning, God created the earth and everything in it, including humans. As it says in Psalm 139:13, "For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother's womb." We believe that every human, in every condition from the single cell stage of development to natural death, is made in God's image and possesses inestimable worth. Abortion runs contrary to these beliefs.” (Focus on the Family) Pro-Life groups focus is on the fetuses right to life. That life is as sacred and unique from any other life. The smallest zygote is regarded with the same view and care as a newborn child. While the mother’s safety is a factor in some cases, the mother’s financial, marital, or social status is not a factor in whether or not her unborn child should live. Wanted or not, the fetus is a living human being created by God in the care of a woman. In rare cases, a pregnancy has resulted from rape, or in a young girl not ready or equipped to care for a child. Even in these extreme cases, Pro-life groups still do not endorse abortion. They do sympathize with those women and provide programs to assist with their situations, but believe that in crimes such as that there are two victims. One crime doesn’t justify another (Hendershott). In efforts to persuade women not to have an abortion, Pro-Life groups have set up crisis pregnancy centers to give women pregnancy tests and, if an unwanted pregnancy is discovered, give out information about adoption agencies. The most effective method in deterring abortion is letting the mother view her child through ultra sound technology at the clinic. Technology has advanced so much with the GE 4D imaging that a mother can actually view the face of her unborn child. Many women who had originally decided to abort the fetus decided against it after seeing the ultra sound. Many women justify abortions because the fetus is so small it is easy to pretend it doesn’t exist. If that woman is given the opportunity to look at her child she can no longer pretend it doesn’t exist. Senator Hillary Clinton is a well-known Pro-Choice activist. In 2008 she spoke at a Democratic Compassion forum on the topic: “I think abortion should remain legal, but it needs to be safe and rare. And I have spent many years now, as a private citizen, as first lady, and now as a senator, trying to make it rare, trying to create conditions where women had other choices (Issues2000).” The tag line “legal, safe, and rare” has become a common response for the Democratic Party (Issues2000). When looking at it from a moral standpoint, one could ask if it is not wrong then why does it need to be rare? If it is indeed a non-living cluster of cells as Pro-Choice advocates say, then why does it need to be a rare practice? Could it be that some Pro-Choice advocates, including Hillary Clinton, may acknowledge that it is a living human being, but regard the mother’s situation as the ultimate deciding factor especially in extenuating circumstances? Women such as Gloria Feldt, President of Planned Parenthood, have a more extreme stance on abortion. She advocates abortion of all levels, for any reason, at any time. She believes women should have complete control over their body at any stage of pregnancy. Laws restricting abortion are an invasion of women’s privacy (Feldt). One of the major reasons that people would take a Pro-Choice stance is because of the fear that a young teen may get pregnant and not be at a place in life to care for the child. That does happen in rare cases, but the CDC reports that girls younger than 15 account for only .5% of the abortions nationwide. The majority of abortions are being done on women age 20-29 for social reasons (Center for Disease Control). Many women who have an abortion procedure suffer from emotional trauma afterwards. Guilt and regret are often overwhelming. A lot of women chose abortion because they didn’t see any other way out of the situation. Frederica Matthews-Green has said, “A woman doesn’t want an abortion like she wants an ice-cream cone or a Porsche. She wants it like an animal caught in a trap who gnaws off its own leg.” (Nicholson-Brownell) I strongly believe Roe v Wade should be overturned. I believe abortion is the tragic loss of innocent human life. The rights of a fetus should be protected the same as children who have already been born. While many pregnancies are unplanned and unwanted, the risk of pregnancy comes with choosing to be sexually active and women have to step up and take responsibility. Contraception has advanced with many options available to reduce the risk of pregnancy when used properly. Therefore, I believe that “choice” should be made prior to becoming pregnant. A woman can “choose” to take control of her body by taking appropriate measures to prevent pregnancy. Not all birth control methods are 100% effective, however, for many methods the risk is lower than 1% when used as directed (Planned Parenthood). In order for Roe v Wade to be overturned, I submit that the procedures for adoption should be improved in order to encourage women with unwanted pregnancies to carry the child to term and give him/her to a family who is willing and able to love and care for that child. In the US adoptions currently can cost up to $40,000. In addition to the cost, an adoption agency can’t guarantee how long the waiting period to get a baby will be (Hendershott). In order to be effective, the Pro-Life groups must take a stronger stand to make adoptions in the US less costly. Women in situations in which they can’t raise a child must have an alternative. Families who want to adopt children shouldn’t be prohibited because of the costs. If the cost of adopting a child wasn’t such a burden on the average family, more families may adopt multiple children. It would also open up the possibility to adopt for families with limited financial resources. Works Cited Center for Disease Control. “Abortion Surveilance US 2007.” Statistics. Center for Disease Control, 2007. Feldt, Gloria. The War on Choice: The Right-Wing Attack on Women's Rights and How to Fight Back. New York: Bantam Dell A Division of Random House, Inc, 2004. Focus on the Family. Our Position (Abortion). 2009. 2011 йил 1-May . Hanley, Robert. “New Jersey Charges Woman, 18, With Killing Baby Born at Prom .” New Jersey Charges Woman, 18, With Killing Baby Born at Prom . New York: New York Times, 1997 йил 25-June. Hendershott, Anne. The Politics of Abortion. New York: Encounter Books, 2006. Hinkson-Craig, Barbara and David M. O'Brien. Abortion and American Politics. Chatham: Chatham House Publishers, Inc., 1993. Issues2000. Hillary Clinton on Abortion. 2008 йил 13-April. . Kail, Robert V. and John C. Cavanaugh. Human Development A Life-Span View. 5th Edition. Belmont: Wadsworth, Cengage Learning, 2010. Marieb, Elaine N and Katja Hoehn. Human Anatomy and Physiology. Ed. Serina Beauparlant. 8th Edition. Pearson Benjamin Cummings, 2011. Nicholson-Brownell, Ada. “Pentecostal Evangel.” Finding Forgiveness 2000 йил 16-January: 7-13. Planned Parenthood. Birth Control. 2011. 2011 йил 1-May . Storck, MD, Susan. In Vitro Fertalization. 2010 йил 10-Feb. National Library of Medicine. 2011 йил 1-May . Wyatt, John. “Medical Paternalism and the Fetus.” Journal of Medical Ethics 27.5 (2001)." You are receiving this email because you've listed Melissa Salazar as a close friend. Change Close

Excerpt from Swallowed by Life

7. Anybody in There?

     One day a neurosurgeon that often makes the determination of brain death sat down in the hospital lobby with me and began talking about the soul. Still clothed in the green scrubs and fabric shoe covers from a recently completed surgery, he shared that he recently lost his father.

     “It was the first time I’ve ever come that close to death personally,” he said. “I believe in an afterlife, and it was a much more peaceful experience than I had supposed. Although my father had cancer and had been sick for a long time, my dad died so quickly. One minute he was there, and the next minute he was gone. The shell where he lived was all that was left.”

     We went on to discuss spiritual things and how they relate to the intricacies of the brain.

“I believe the brain is the residence of the soul, and when a person is brain dead, the soul has gone on to its reward,” the neurosurgeon explained.

     The soul’s residence can be debated. We often think the soul resides in our chest area near the heart, partly because of how the heart responds to emotion, but also because the Bible mentions so many things about the heart. A few of these are a “pure heart,” “believing heart,” “unrepentant heart,” “imagining heart,” “stubborn heart,” “grieving heart,” “loving heart,” and “joyful heart.”

Despite even many more examples, I don’t believe scripture speaks of our heart as a flesh-and-blood organ, but the “heart of us.” Like an apple core where the seeds are. Or a watermelon’s sweet heart that has no seeds. More accurately, our heart is the center of who we are.

     Many Bible scholars define the soul as the residence of our mind, will, and emotions. That certainly describes the center of who we are and gives some credence to the idea that the soul’s residence is in the brain.

Copyright Ada Brownell 2011

THE WOMB OF THE DAWN

                                          By Ada Brownell

When I get up early in the morning and draw back the blinds in our family room, I love seeing the sun pour in warmth and light. I often stand there looking out in the back yard, thanking the Lord for the day He has made.

But I never actually greeted the day with intense expectancy until I noticed Psalm 110:3 which mentions “the womb of the dawn” in the NIV, and “the womb of the morning” in the King James.

God. The womb of the dawn holds promise to help us conquer our enemies each day.  If I have personal enemies in the traditional sense, I guess I don’t know it. Yet, there are little enemies that steal my time, steal my attention, wound my desire to do God’s will, and things like that.

A womb is where new life lives. Every day dawns with new challenges, new adventures and an allotment of time. Why hadn’t I noticed each new morning is pregnant with opportunity? Am I going to allow these things to be stillborn? Or am I going to nourish them with prayer, study and diligence?

I get up before my husband most days and start with scripture and prayer. It’s a fine time to be alone with God. Sometimes the Lord gives me writing ideas, or sends me to my desk scribbling a passage to give something else I’m working on more clarity. Perhaps I’ll think of someone I need to contact—often for encouragement.

 The time on my knees is when the seeds often are planted that grow into something for the Kingdom. But then, just as with farming, often that means hard work.

The womb of the morning delivers all day—people that need a smile, even husbands and children that need attention. Somehow God gives strength for them all. The scripture that speaks of the “womb of the dawn” goes on to say, “You will receive the dew of your youth.”

Now I realize not everyone who reads this will be as old as I am. But think. Even if you’re in your 20s, do you have the energy of a four- or five-year-old who can run and run, burning energy from the time they get up until they drop for a brief nap and start all over again? I never walked anywhere when I was a kid. I ran everywhere.

            I still enjoy exercise, but by the time I get through with my walk, I’m ready to sit in a recliner. But I’m taking God’s encouragement and look expectantly to the dawn of every morning, using the strength He gives.

©Ada Brownell 2013

What other say about SWALLOWED BY LIFE

COMMENTS FROM REVIEWERS OF SWALLOWED BY LIFE

five-star review.”Thought provoking chapters good discussion questions. Swallowed by LIFE http://amzn.to/Jnc1rW

#five-star #review: High-quality, intriguing group #study Swallowed by LIFE  . http://amzn.to/Jnc1rW GNFA

#Reviewer: I appreciated the way author used #science to reveal #God's majestic #design Swallowed by LIFE http://amzn.to/Jnc1rW

#REVIEWER: I was surprised by the high-quality, intriguing #group #study I found in #Swallowed by LIFE.  http://amzn.to/Jnc1rW

#Review #Life is a powerful #force, and all life is supernatural because God created it.Swallowed by life: the #wonder. http://bit.ly/JnbKVL

#Review: Swallowed by LIFE has ten very readable chapters filled with anecdotes and #scientific #tidbits http://bit.ly/JnbKVL

Review: I highly #recommend Swallowed by LIFE to #grieving and those who come alongside someone who is grieving. http://amzn.to/Jnc1rW

#Swallowed by Life was #time appropriate for me in the #loss of my #mother. http://amzn.to/Jnc1rW #KDP @Writers RT

#Reader: Making Swallowed by Life a #study #guide, is huge. This will be used by groups for #grief counseling http://amzn.to/Jnc1rW #Hope

#Reader What an amazing book! Thank you for sharing affirmations of faith and peace you found Swallowed by LIFE  http://amzn.to/Jnc1rW

#Reader: I enjoyed my Kindle book and have read "Swallowed. . ." twice. Swallowed by LIFE http://amzn.to/Jnc1rW

  #Review Wonderful how author #merged the #medical with the #spiritual Swallowed by LIFE http://amzn.to/Jnc1rW

A LOVE MESSAGE

The following is an excerpt from Ada Brownell's book, Swallowed by Life.

Link: http://buff.ly/TLkr0a

 One time as we were traveling, I was in the back seat resting with my eyes closed and began thinking about how Carolyn’s young life was cut short.

          Previously when grief hit me, I’d often catch my breath and begin whispering the name of Jesus. This day, however, tears oozed through my eyelids.

          “Lord, heaven is so silent!” I complained.

          I had prayed for months, grasping onto God in faith, continually staying in the Word and prayer. Most of the time, peace filled me. That day, a poisonous bitterness erupted instead as I complained about feeling forsaken.

          Then, I felt rebuke.

          It wasn’t an audible voice, but in my spirit I could hear Jesus tell me, “I made a statement about my love for you two thousand years ago on the cross that still echoes around the world. That is enough.”

          Just as quickly as I felt anger, which is one of the stages of grief, I felt overwhelmed with God’s love for me. Yes! The cross was enough. It not only was enough to show God’s love for me and my daughter, but it also gave anyone who will accept His love hope because death will be swallowed by life for all eternity.

          No wonder people can face death with peace. No wonder there is joy, even when we know life on earth is temporary. No wonder sin holds no attraction for many! No wonder people rejoice that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for the ungodly (Romans 5:6–8).

          Many people have an erroneous view of God.

          One time my coworkers were in a discussion in which I didn’t participate because I was busy at my desk. Then one of those entrenched in the debate paused long enough to ask me, “Isn’t that right, Ada? God carries a big stick.”

          “I don’t know how you can say that and look at the cross,” I responded.

          If you want to know about God, read the Bible for yourself. Beginning with Genesis and ending with Revelation, it is a story about redemption—for you. Redemption from sins, which means when you repent they’re wiped out—erased from the record (Micah 7:17-19). Redemption from Satan, who would like to have you (Luke 22:31). Redemption from the eternal death sentence on your head (John 5:23-25).

          “For it is appointed unto man once to die, but after this the judgment. So Christ was offered once to bear the sins of many. To those who eagerly wait for Him, He will appear the second time, without sin, for salvation” (Hebrews 9:27).

 To get an idea of salvation in a nutshell, start with John’s Gospel.

          Hearing the Word, reading the Word, and keeping a prayer on our lips is how we get to know God better. We can talk to God when we’re angry with Him or people around us. We can talk to God when all we can think of is, “Why?”

          When grief hits us like a huge wave of the sea, we can get up and purpose to know God better. Through our trials, we learn God is faithful. In our struggling and in our weakness, suddenly we understand we can ride grief’s thunderous waters instead of letting them knock us off our feet.

          We find that God’s grace and love come like waves, too, lifting us up with joy as we learn that He created us for eternal life in the beginning, and the miracle still happens. Death is swallowed by life.

©Copyright Ada Brownell October 2011

EMOTIONAL HELP FOR THE GRIEVING

 When we walk through difficult times, we need physical, emotional and spiritual help. There is plenty out there if you know what to look for and where to go.

When our daughter Carolyn began to recover enough after chemotherapy, she urgently desired emotional help. I was a thousand or more miles away, and that’s one reason why I wrote the book, Swallowed by Life: Mysteries of Death, Resurrection and the Eternal. I told her about the Cancer Society’s support groups, called her every day, prayed, and flew to see her twice in two months.

Yet, a diagnosis of a terminal, debilitating or painful disease is a whopping load for the patient and his loved ones to carry emotionally, even when the Lord walks with you every moment of the day.

I have several recommendations picked up working as a medical reporter at a daily newspaper and picking experts’ brains.

1. GET A GRIEF-MATE

Find a spiritual partner to help you in your fear and grief. Arrange to contact your grief-mate when you feel overcome by fear, you are terribly sick, have a situation you don’t feel able to handle, or a decision with which you need help.

Your grief mate can be a pastor, a counselor, a Sunday school teacher, a friend or a relative who is spiritually strong.

I have a friend who has battled cancer for years and it recently returned and her husband, Gerald, just discovered he has prostate cancer. Yet, until recently she led a cancer support group at our church. While she spent much of her time encouraging others, she relies on the love, prayers and fellowship of people filled with compassion.

                        2. GIVE YOURSELF PERMISSION TO GRIEVE  

Allow yourself to talk about your loved one, or about your own illness and the doctor's prognosis.

Cry. Jesus wept when he heard his friend, Lazarus was dead. When I was grieving, I set aside a devotional time every day when I could get alone with God and talk to him about my grief. During the day and when you're in public, you sometimes have to shove it away. But I felt better knowing I'd have that time in my upstairs bedroom kneeling and crying before God, telling him about my broken heart.

Each day I stripped another layer off a part of me that felt as if I had died, too, and helped me keep a focus that I am still living and need to fulfill whatever purposes God has for my life here.

It helps to understand the stages of grief and that grieving is normal both for the dying and those left behind.

According to Drs. Frank Minirth and Paul Meier in their book, Happiness is a Choice,[1] there are five stages of grief which occur to anyone who has experienced the death of a loved one or discovered he has an incurable illness. Even Christians will have these grief reactions.

1.   The first stage of grief usually is denial.  The person refuses to believe that what is happening is true.  This stage normally doesn’t last long.

2.   The second stage is anger turned outward.  In this stage people sometimes feel angry at God, their doctors, or anyone they feel they can blame for their problem.  Sometimes people even angry at someone who died.  Other people get angry at those in good health or those who haven’t lost a loved one.

3.   At stage three, we have anger turned inward.  The grieving person begins to feel guilty, then begins to be angry with himself.  He absurdly begins to blame himself for everything.

4.   Stage four is when the person feels genuine grief.  Tears and sorrow are normal and help the individual get grief out. Even though we know there is hope for those who “die in the Lord” there should be genuine grief.

5.   The fifth stage is the resolution stage where the person comes to acceptance. This stage is the result of a person working through the four other grief stages.

                  3. LOOK AT EVERY MOMENT OF LIFE AS A GIFT

When you’re the person who is dying, you still have a purpose in life. When my dad ended up in a nursing home, he kept saying, “I’m no good for anything.”

“Don’t be ridiculous!” I said. “You’re still not done raising your family. You’re showing us how to grow old.”

 As long as we have breath and our mental faculties we can pray for others, love them, and be an example.

      Don’t let death swallow the days and the hours remaining when there is still life. Love. Smile. Rejoice in the hope you have. Do things you enjoy. Even when you’re ill, you can eat a favorite flavor of ice cream, watch a butterfly outside tasting nectar, listen to a bird’s song, go outside and look at the stars and marvel at the One who created them.             

3. FEAR IS NORMAL

Many emotions come into play when we are faced with death.  Death, like angry dark clouds on the horizon on a beautiful day, threatens us all, and can interrupt the most carefully laid plans.

My mother felt her children should come face to face with their mortality and she took us to all the funerals where we even remotely knew the deceased. This generation, however, ignores death. Many adults have never seen a dead body. Ignoring death, though, will not make it go away.

“It is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment,” it says in Hebrews 9:27.

The last enemy to be destroyed is death.  But Jesus said He would put all enemies under His feet.3  Though death will come to us all unless we are alive at the Lord’s coming, we have hope.  The spirit lives, not matter what happens to the flesh.

Our bodies will be resurrected and changed. Every Christian who died rise to new life. “But if the spirit of Him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, He that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by His spirit that dwelleth in you.”[2]

Until that time, we will not have bodies like Christ’s.  At the Resurrection, however, our spirits will come back to earth for the raising up of our mortal bodies.  “Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when He shall appear, we shall be like Him; for we shall see Him as He is.”[3]

---

[1] Baker Books, 1983/2007

[2]Romans 8:11

[3]1 John 3:2

9. BUMPS ON THE JOURNEY

 When we walk through difficult times, we need physical, emotional and spiritual help. There is plenty out there if you know what to look for and where to go.

When our daughter Carolyn began to recover enough after chemotherapy, she urgently desired emotional help. I was a thousand or more miles away, and that’s one reason why I wrote the book, Swallowed by Life: Mysteries of Death, Resurrection and the Eternal. I told her about the Cancer Society’s support groups, called her every day, prayed, and flew to see her twice in two months.

Yet, a diagnosis of a terminal, debilitating or painful disease is a whopping load for the patient and his loved ones to carry emotionally, even when the Lord walks with you every moment of the day.

I have several recommendations picked up working as a medical reporter at a daily newspaper and picking experts’ brains.

1. GET A GRIEF-MATE

Find a spiritual partner to help you in your fear and grief. Arrange to contact your grief-mate when you feel overcome by fear, you are terribly sick, have a situation you don’t feel able to handle, or a decision with which you need help.

Your grief mate can be a pastor, a counselor, a Sunday school teacher, a friend or a relative who is spiritually strong.

I have a friend who has battled cancer for years and it recently returned and her husband, Gerald, just discovered he has prostate cancer. Yet, until recently she led a cancer support group at our church. While she spent much of her time encouraging others, she relies on the love, prayers and fellowship of people filled with compassion.

                        2. GIVE YOURSELF PERMISSION TO GRIEVE  

Allow yourself to talk about your loved one, or about your own illness and the doctor's prognosis.

Cry. Jesus wept when he heard his friend, Lazarus was dead. When I was grieving, I set aside a devotional time every day when I could get alone with God and talk to him about my grief. During the day and when you're in public, you sometimes have to shove it away. But I felt better knowing I'd have that time in my upstairs bedroom kneeling and crying before God, telling him about my broken heart.

Each day I stripped another layer off a part of me that felt as if I had died, too, and helped me keep a focus that I am still living and need to fulfill whatever purposes God has for my life here.

It helps to understand the stages of grief and that grieving is normal both for the dying and those left behind.

According to Drs. Frank Minirth and Paul Meier in their book, Happiness is a Choice,[1] there are five stages of grief which occur to anyone who has experienced the death of a loved one or discovered he has an incurable illness. Even Christians will have these grief reactions.

1.   The first stage of grief usually is denial.  The person refuses to believe that what is happening is true.  This stage normally doesn’t last long.

2.   The second stage is anger turned outward.  In this stage people sometimes feel angry at God, their doctors, or anyone they feel they can blame for their problem.  Sometimes people even angry at someone who died.  Other people get angry at those in good health or those who haven’t lost a loved one.

3.   At stage three, we have anger turned inward.  The grieving person begins to feel guilty, then begins to be angry with himself.  He absurdly begins to blame himself for everything.

4.   Stage four is when the person feels genuine grief.  Tears and sorrow are normal and help the individual get grief out. Even though we know there is hope for those who “die in the Lord” there should be genuine grief.

5.   The fifth stage is the resolution stage where the person comes to acceptance. This stage is the result of a person working through the four other grief stages.

                  3. LOOK AT EVERY MOMENT OF LIFE AS A GIFT

When you’re the person who is dying, you still have a purpose in life. When my dad ended up in a nursing home, he kept saying, “I’m no good for anything.”

“Don’t be ridiculous!” I said. “You’re still not done raising your family. You’re showing us how to grow old.”

 As long as we have breath and our mental faculties we can pray for others, love them, and be an example.

      Don’t let death swallow the days and the hours remaining when there is still life. Love. Smile. Rejoice in the hope you have. Do things you enjoy. Even when you’re ill, you can eat a favorite flavor of ice cream, watch a butterfly outside tasting nectar, listen to a bird’s song, go outside and look at the stars and marvel at the One who created them.             

3. FEAR IS NORMAL

Many emotions come into play when we are faced with death.  Death, like angry dark clouds on the horizon on a beautiful day, threatens us all, and can interrupt the most carefully laid plans.

My mother felt her children should come face to face with their mortality and she took us to all the funerals where we even remotely knew the deceased. This generation, however, ignores death. Many adults have never seen a dead body. Ignoring death, though, will not make it go away.

“It is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment,” it says in Hebrews 9:27.

The last enemy to be destroyed is death.  But Jesus said He would put all enemies under His feet.3  Though death will come to us all unless we are alive at the Lord’s coming, we have hope.  The spirit lives, not matter what happens to the flesh.

Our bodies will be resurrected and changed. Every Christian who died rise to new life. “But if the spirit of Him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, He that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by His spirit that dwelleth in you.”[2]

Until that time, we will not have bodies like Christ’s.  At the Resurrection, however, our spirits will come back to earth for the raising up of our mortal bodies.  “Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when He shall appear, we shall be like Him; for we shall see Him as He is.”[3]

---

[1] Baker Books, 1983/2007

[2]Romans 8:11

[3]1 John 3:2

9. BUMPS ON THE JOURNEY

 When we walk through difficult times, we need physical, emotional and spiritual help. There is plenty out there if you know what to look for and where to go.

When our daughter Carolyn began to recover enough after chemotherapy, she urgently desired emotional help. I was a thousand or more miles away, and that’s one reason why I wrote the book, Swallowed by Life: Mysteries of Death, Resurrection and the Eternal. I told her about the Cancer Society’s support groups, called her every day, prayed, and flew to see her twice in two months.

Yet, a diagnosis of a terminal, debilitating or painful disease is a whopping load for the patient and his loved ones to carry emotionally, even when the Lord walks with you every moment of the day.

I have several recommendations picked up working as a medical reporter at a daily newspaper and picking experts’ brains.

1. GET A GRIEF-MATE

Find a spiritual partner to help you in your fear and grief. Arrange to contact your grief-mate when you feel overcome by fear, you are terribly sick, have a situation you don’t feel able to handle, or a decision with which you need help.

Your grief mate can be a pastor, a counselor, a Sunday school teacher, a friend or a relative who is spiritually strong.

I have a friend who has battled cancer for years and it recently returned and her husband, Gerald, just discovered he has prostate cancer. Yet, until recently she led a cancer support group at our church. While she spent much of her time encouraging others, she relies on the love, prayers and fellowship of people filled with compassion.

                        2. GIVE YOURSELF PERMISSION TO GRIEVE  

Allow yourself to talk about your loved one, or about your own illness and the doctor's prognosis.

Cry. Jesus wept when he heard his friend, Lazarus was dead. When I was grieving, I set aside a devotional time every day when I could get alone with God and talk to him about my grief. During the day and when you're in public, you sometimes have to shove it away. But I felt better knowing I'd have that time in my upstairs bedroom kneeling and crying before God, telling him about my broken heart.

Each day I stripped another layer off a part of me that felt as if I had died, too, and helped me keep a focus that I am still living and need to fulfill whatever purposes God has for my life here.

It helps to understand the stages of grief and that grieving is normal both for the dying and those left behind.

According to Drs. Frank Minirth and Paul Meier in their book, Happiness is a Choice,[1] there are five stages of grief which occur to anyone who has experienced the death of a loved one or discovered he has an incurable illness. Even Christians will have these grief reactions.

1.   The first stage of grief usually is denial.  The person refuses to believe that what is happening is true.  This stage normally doesn’t last long.

2.   The second stage is anger turned outward.  In this stage people sometimes feel angry at God, their doctors, or anyone they feel they can blame for their problem.  Sometimes people even angry at someone who died.  Other people get angry at those in good health or those who haven’t lost a loved one.

3.   At stage three, we have anger turned inward.  The grieving person begins to feel guilty, then begins to be angry with himself.  He absurdly begins to blame himself for everything.

4.   Stage four is when the person feels genuine grief.  Tears and sorrow are normal and help the individual get grief out. Even though we know there is hope for those who “die in the Lord” there should be genuine grief.

5.   The fifth stage is the resolution stage where the person comes to acceptance. This stage is the result of a person working through the four other grief stages.

                  3. LOOK AT EVERY MOMENT OF LIFE AS A GIFT

When you’re the person who is dying, you still have a purpose in life. When my dad ended up in a nursing home, he kept saying, “I’m no good for anything.”

“Don’t be ridiculous!” I said. “You’re still not done raising your family. You’re showing us how to grow old.”

 As long as we have breath and our mental faculties we can pray for others, love them, and be an example.

      Don’t let death swallow the days and the hours remaining when there is still life. Love. Smile. Rejoice in the hope you have. Do things you enjoy. Even when you’re ill, you can eat a favorite flavor of ice cream, watch a butterfly outside tasting nectar, listen to a bird’s song, go outside and look at the stars and marvel at the One who created them.             

3. FEAR IS NORMAL

Many emotions come into play when we are faced with death.  Death, like angry dark clouds on the horizon on a beautiful day, threatens us all, and can interrupt the most carefully laid plans.

My mother felt her children should come face to face with their mortality and she took us to all the funerals where we even remotely knew the deceased. This generation, however, ignores death. Many adults have never seen a dead body. Ignoring death, though, will not make it go away.

“It is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment,” it says in Hebrews 9:27.

The last enemy to be destroyed is death.  But Jesus said He would put all enemies under His feet.3  Though death will come to us all unless we are alive at the Lord’s coming, we have hope.  The spirit lives, not matter what happens to the flesh.

Our bodies will be resurrected and changed. Every Christian who died rise to new life. “But if the spirit of Him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, He that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by His spirit that dwelleth in you.”[2]

Until that time, we will not have bodies like Christ’s.  At the Resurrection, however, our spirits will come back to earth for the raising up of our mortal bodies.  “Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when He shall appear, we shall be like Him; for we shall see Him as He is.”[3]

---

[1] Baker Books, 1983/2007

[2]Romans 8:11

[3]1 John 3:2

9. BUMPS ON THE JOURNEY

 When we walk through difficult times, we need physical, emotional and spiritual help. There is plenty out there if you know what to look for and where to go.

When our daughter Carolyn began to recover enough after chemotherapy, she urgently desired emotional help. I was a thousand or more miles away, and that’s one reason why I wrote the book, Swallowed by Life: Mysteries of Death, Resurrection and the Eternal. I told her about the Cancer Society’s support groups, called her every day, prayed, and flew to see her twice in two months.

Yet, a diagnosis of a terminal, debilitating or painful disease is a whopping load for the patient and his loved ones to carry emotionally, even when the Lord walks with you every moment of the day.

I have several recommendations picked up working as a medical reporter at a daily newspaper and picking experts’ brains.

1. GET A GRIEF-MATE

Find a spiritual partner to help you in your fear and grief. Arrange to contact your grief-mate when you feel overcome by fear, you are terribly sick, have a situation you don’t feel able to handle, or a decision with which you need help.

Your grief mate can be a pastor, a counselor, a Sunday school teacher, a friend or a relative who is spiritually strong.

I have a friend who has battled cancer for years and it recently returned and her husband, Gerald, just discovered he has prostate cancer. Yet, until recently she led a cancer support group at our church. While she spent much of her time encouraging others, she relies on the love, prayers and fellowship of people filled with compassion.

                        2. GIVE YOURSELF PERMISSION TO GRIEVE  

Allow yourself to talk about your loved one, or about your own illness and the doctor's prognosis.

Cry. Jesus wept when he heard his friend, Lazarus was dead. When I was grieving, I set aside a devotional time every day when I could get alone with God and talk to him about my grief. During the day and when you're in public, you sometimes have to shove it away. But I felt better knowing I'd have that time in my upstairs bedroom kneeling and crying before God, telling him about my broken heart.

Each day I stripped another layer off a part of me that felt as if I had died, too, and helped me keep a focus that I am still living and need to fulfill whatever purposes God has for my life here.

It helps to understand the stages of grief and that grieving is normal both for the dying and those left behind.

According to Drs. Frank Minirth and Paul Meier in their book, Happiness is a Choice,[1] there are five stages of grief which occur to anyone who has experienced the death of a loved one or discovered he has an incurable illness. Even Christians will have these grief reactions.

1.   The first stage of grief usually is denial.  The person refuses to believe that what is happening is true.  This stage normally doesn’t last long.

2.   The second stage is anger turned outward.  In this stage people sometimes feel angry at God, their doctors, or anyone they feel they can blame for their problem.  Sometimes people even angry at someone who died.  Other people get angry at those in good health or those who haven’t lost a loved one.

3.   At stage three, we have anger turned inward.  The grieving person begins to feel guilty, then begins to be angry with himself.  He absurdly begins to blame himself for everything.

4.   Stage four is when the person feels genuine grief.  Tears and sorrow are normal and help the individual get grief out. Even though we know there is hope for those who “die in the Lord” there should be genuine grief.

5.   The fifth stage is the resolution stage where the person comes to acceptance. This stage is the result of a person working through the four other grief stages.

                  3. LOOK AT EVERY MOMENT OF LIFE AS A GIFT

When you’re the person who is dying, you still have a purpose in life. When my dad ended up in a nursing home, he kept saying, “I’m no good for anything.”

“Don’t be ridiculous!” I said. “You’re still not done raising your family. You’re showing us how to grow old.”

 As long as we have breath and our mental faculties we can pray for others, love them, and be an example.

      Don’t let death swallow the days and the hours remaining when there is still life. Love. Smile. Rejoice in the hope you have. Do things you enjoy. Even when you’re ill, you can eat a favorite flavor of ice cream, watch a butterfly outside tasting nectar, listen to a bird’s song, go outside and look at the stars and marvel at the One who created them.             

3. FEAR IS NORMAL

Many emotions come into play when we are faced with death.  Death, like angry dark clouds on the horizon on a beautiful day, threatens us all, and can interrupt the most carefully laid plans.

My mother felt her children should come face to face with their mortality and she took us to all the funerals where we even remotely knew the deceased. This generation, however, ignores death. Many adults have never seen a dead body. Ignoring death, though, will not make it go away.

“It is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment,” it says in Hebrews 9:27.

The last enemy to be destroyed is death.  But Jesus said He would put all enemies under His feet.3  Though death will come to us all unless we are alive at the Lord’s coming, we have hope.  The spirit lives, not matter what happens to the flesh.

Our bodies will be resurrected and changed. Every Christian who died rise to new life. “But if the spirit of Him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, He that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by His spirit that dwelleth in you.”[2]

Until that time, we will not have bodies like Christ’s.  At the Resurrection, however, our spirits will come back to earth for the raising up of our mortal bodies.  “Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when He shall appear, we shall be like Him; for we shall see Him as He is.”[3]

---

[1] Baker Books, 1983/2007

[2]Romans 8:11

[3]1 John 3:2

©Copyright Ada Brownell 2013

SAFETY IN THE EARTHQUAKES OF LIFE

                                                      By Ada Brownell

      Our daughter lay dying down the hospital corridor and my heart screamed, “Where are you God?”

      It was the first time in my life an earthquake struck my faith in the message of John 3:16: “For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son that whoever believes in Him shall  not perish but have everlasting life.”

      The Bible says, however, if you build your life on the sure foundation of Jesus Christ you can stand through the storms, even a large spiritual and emotional quakes and the aftershocks, as I discovered.

      The interesting thing about faith is it’s an act of the will. “Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see,” we’re told in Hebrews 11:1 (NIV). The scripture further explains: “By faith we understand that the universe was formed at God’s command. So that what is seen was not made out of what was visible…. Without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him (verses 3, 6).

      When we back up into Hebrews 10 we’re admonished to keep believing, even when our faith has been shaken: “So do not throw away your confidence; it will be richly rewarded. You need to persevere so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what he has promised. He who is coming will come and will not delay. But my righteous one will live by faith. And if he shrinks back, I will not be pleased with him” (Hebrews 10:35-39).

            Abraham, after living a long life of believing and communing with God, had his crises when Sarah got tired of waiting and tried to bring about their desires for a child herself. But apparently Abraham kept believing he would father a son and many nations: ^“And being not weak in faith, he considered not his own body now dead, when he was about an hundred years old, neither yet the deadness of Sarah's womb: He staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief; but was strong in faith, giving glory to God” (Romans 4:19-20)
            Sarah did become with child and Isaac was born.
            Through prayer, study of the Word and surrounding myself with brothers and sisters in Christ, I found I truly believe those who have faith in Jesus will never die, but have eternal life.
            If your faith sometimes falters, you are not alone, however. Jesus’s disciple, Thomas, said “Unless I see in his hands the print of the nails, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe.”
            After eight days Jesus, although the doors were shut, Jesus appeared right in the middle of the gathered disciples. He greeted them, then said to Thomas, “Reachyour finger here and look at my hands; and reach your hand here, and put it into my side. Do not be unbelieving, but believing.”
            Thomas slowly reached out and touched the place where the spear pierced the Son of God on the cross, and then examined his hands.
            “My Lord and my God,” Thomas exclaimed.
            “Thomas, because you have seen me, you believe. Blessed are those who have not seen and yet believe.” (From John 20.)
            I have found plenty of evidence that shows we’re more than a body and we’ll live beyond the grave.
            Because I was a newspaper medical reporter and a student of God’s Word, I compiled this information into a book to build your faith: Swallowed by Life: Mysteries of Death, Resurrection and the Eternal. It’s now available at http://buff.ly/TLkr0a
            Yet as you read the book, notice I said “to build your faith.”
            Can we prove Jesus rose from the dead? Can we show the world they’ll live beyond the grave?
            No. Despite all the evidence that is so concrete it’s difficult to deny, faith is still necessary for salvation and God requires that we believe. Romans 10:9 says “If you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.”
            That’s the message of redemption in a nutshell.
©Copyright 2013 Ada Brownell