Most of the world rightly recoiled in horror at the brutal Hamas assault on Israeli citizens on Oct 7th, which included murder of women and children, including babies who were allegedly decapitated (which Hamas naturally denies). Of course, much to our collective shame, some progressives did not share in that horror but rather attempted to justify the horrific assault because of the “decades of oppression” of Palestinians by Israel. The divergence between Mr. Biden’s views and his party’s younger supporters seems to be only growing, with support for Mr. Biden among Democrats cratering, led by his abandonment by younger voters who continue protesting Israel by the thousands here in American cities. Many of us ask, how can they excuse such brutal evil? Some things are just clearly wrong.

In one of the most sad aspects of this, I listened to the IDF-supplied phone call between a Hamas terrorist and his parents in the immediate aftermath of his murdering ten jews, which he bragged about:

Like most others I grieve at the loss of life, men, women and children that were simply living their lives until others decided they should not be allowed to live. But this man’s excitement–his ecstatic joy at the fact that he personally was able to kill ten Jews, “with my own hands!” is also deeply troubling. This man also is an image bearer of God, who has been so twisted by the constant hatred pushed by Palestinian authorities and religious leaders that seemingly none of his humanity remains, and in his blindness, he imagines that he is doing God’s will.

In our own country we are rocked by a mass shooting in Maine that led Robert Card* to take 18 lives for no apparent purpose. We might say that any comparison to the evil of Hamas is misguided, since initial reports suggest this man had a history of significant mental illness. Regardless, in his condition he abandoned his identification with a common humanity and decided that he had the right to wantonly terminate other’s lives. And we are shocked…outraged. And yet also a bit numbed by the evil that is all around us.

Yet just as Mr. Card was threatening to kill others earlier, and Gazan terrorists have pledged to kill jews for years, to even eliminate Israel as a state (“from the river to the sea”), there continue to be twisted people intending murderous evil among us. And they are often our neighbors. In just a few days, Ohioians will have the opportunity to add a constitutional amendment** to enshrine abortion on demand as a constitutional right, even partial birth abortions. Ostensibly the state can limit abortions, but the clause that restricts abortion limitations is as follows:

However, abortion may be prohibited after fetal viability. But in no case may such
an abortion be prohibited if in the professional judgment of the pregnant patient’s
treating physician it is necessary to protect the pregnant patient’s life or health.

Now the amendment does not define what constitutes health, but historically mental health is included. And the treating physician is the abortionist, who will almost certainly have never met the young woman before the abortion, who has every financial incentive to agree that her mental health requires the abortion. If this passes, there would be no ability to regulate any abortion, even grotesque*** partial birth abortions.

The State shall not, directly or indirectly, burden, penalize, prohibit, interfere
with, or discriminate against either:

1. An individual’s voluntary exercise of this right or
2. A person or entity that assists an individual exercising this right, unless the State demonstrates that it is using the least restrictive means to advance the individual’s health in accordance with widely accepted and evidence-based standards of care.

Almost no one wants to look at the images of an aborted baby, in the same way we don’t want to see decapitated people by Islamic terrorists. Indeed, the abortion movement fights as hard as it can politically to shut down crisis pregnancy centers in large part because patients that see an ultrasound of their baby are much less likely to go through with an abortion. Can anyone say that an abortionist is not as wicked as the Hamas terrorist who ecstatically revelled in the killing of 10 Jews? And yet, Ohioans are expected to vote in large numbers in support of this great evil. Are we really that much better than Hamas? Do we not also rationalize our wicked desires and call evil good, and good evil?

The Christian worldview does not believe that there is any intrinsic difference between humans; we know that under the right conditions we could be just as evil as Hamas. Or our neighbors who cheer for abortion. We are all fallen, and if we do not repent, we only see our hearts hardened further. Romans 1 reveals that because of our rejection of Him, He gives us over to that which we desire. And the concluding condemnation of those He gives over is particularly harsh:

²⁹ being filled with all unrighteousness, wickedness, greed, evil; full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, malice; they are gossips, ³⁰ slanderers, haters of God, insolent, arrogant, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, ³¹ without understanding, untrustworthy, unloving, unmerciful; ³² and although they know the ordinance of God, that those who practice such things are worthy of death, they not only do the same, but also give hearty approval to those who practice them.

Are we really surprised that evil runs wild in the world? When we reject God, we not only disobey His commands, but we increasingly cheer evil. As C.S. Lewis said when describing humanity,

You have never talked to a mere mortal. Nations, cultures, arts, civilization—these are mortal, and their life is to ours as the life of a gnat. But it is immortals whom we joke with, work with, marry, snub, and exploit—immortal horrors or everlasting splendors.

Immortal horrors indeed. May God’s mercy save children from Amendment 1.

* Obviously we don’t know yet that he did it, but all evidence supports this view currently.

** The language on the ballot is a synopsis of what is actually going into the constitution, as you can see in the link. It’s a bit more honest about the nature of the issue (abortion) but doesn’t quite highlight all the potential dangers (e.g., trans surgeries for minors):

*** Yes, partial birth abortions are more grotesque in our sight, yet in God’s sight, the clinical abortion pill is just as grotesque and monstrously sinful affront against a Holy God.