From the TeachingtheWord Bible Knowledgebase

A well-known newspaper columnist rightly observes, "This is the triumph of the humanistic, atheistic worldview. We are all to be regarded as products of evolution in which the fit and the powerful will decide our survival and worth."

"Health Care" - Deciding Who Lives and Who Dies

We don't agree with Evangelical syndicated columnist Cal Thomas on everything, especially on some critical Biblical matters. Also, we don't usually reproduce secular newspaper columns in this space. But we're making a rare exception today. In his November 24, 2009 column titled "U. S. S. A.", Thomas gets to the heart of the issue on the so-called "health care" legislation now moving through the United States Congress.¹ The heart of the issue is the heart of sinful man.

Thomas pinpoints the role of postmodern, Darwinian thinking in the present conflict, which is, quite literally, a struggle over life and death. The essence of this so-called "health care reform" is arrogant man's assertion that he, not God, should determine who lives and who dies. The decision will be based on cold, bureaucratic calculation of which human lives have "value" and which ones do not. Thomas points out that the march toward this day began decades ago:

Not all revolutions begin in the streets with tanks and guns. Some advance slowly, almost imperceptibly, until a nation is transformed and the public realizes too late that their freedoms are gone.

Such is the revolution now taking place in America. The '60s crowd has emerged from the ideological grave and is about to impose on this country a declaration of dependence in the form of government-run health insurance and treatment. It matters not what facts are known about this "coup," because to those from the '60s - whether they lived in that decade or were born later and adopted its ideology - only feelings and intentions matter, not truth and results.

He then describes how this will work:

If you are a doctor who has spent a lot of money and time becoming a responsible and caring physician, the government will tell you how much to charge your patients and, in fact, whether you will be allowed to treat them at all. Bureaucrats, having given themselves the power of God, will decide whether a patient is worth the cost of treatment, thereby deciding who lives and who dies [and]...taxpayers will be forced to underwrite abortions in violation of the consciences and faith of the majority.

He then pinpoints the true, Darwinian nature of what is about to happen in America, apart from God's mercy:

This is the triumph of the humanistic, atheistic worldview. We are all to be regarded as products of evolution in which the fit and the powerful will decide our survival and worth. . . .

We've only just begun with this. The new breast and ovarian cancer screening guidelines may soon become mandatory as health care rationing kicks in. The unwanted, the inconvenient and the "burdensome" could soon be dispatched with a pill, or through neglect.

Great horrors don't begin in gas chambers, killing fields, or forced famines. They begin when there is a philosophical shift in a nation's leadership about the value of human life.

God's Warning to the Nations

Clearly, that philosophical shift began long ago. As we have said many times before, the Word of God lost its influence in society and government because it first lost its influence in the church. The '60s crowd, as Thomas describes them - people who grew up without the influence of the Bible because of the decline of the church - are now on the verge of having life-and-death power over the entire United States population, shaking their puny fists at the God of the universe.

God warned Israel against turning away from His Word. As Israel disobeyed God it descended into a pagan disregard for human life, even to the point of sacrificing its own children, to say nothing of its neglect of the poor, the needy, and the aged. The warning still stands for America today. We are seeing God's hand carry it out in many ways, but most Americans, even most Christians, do not seem to grasp what God is doing:

So you shall not turn aside from any of the words which I command you this day, to the right or the left, to go after other gods to serve them. But it shall come to pass, if you do not obey the voice of the Lord your God, to observe carefully all His commandments and His statutes which I command you today, that all these curses will come upon you and overtake you: Cursed shall you be in the city, and cursed shall you be in the country. Cursed shall be your basket and your kneading bowl. Cursed shall be the fruit of your body and the produce of your land, the increase of your cattle and the offspring of your flocks. Cursed shall you be when you come in, and cursed shall you be when you go out. The Lord will send on you cursing, confusion, and rebuke in all that you set your hand to do, until you are destroyed and until you perish quickly, because of the wickedness of your doings in which you have forsaken Me. (Deuteronomy 28:14-20)

God's Comfort for the Christian

What if this legislation becomes law? In such a time as this, Christians need to remember that God is in control of it all, and that we are not to put our trust "in princes, nor in a son of man, in whom there is no help" (Psalm 146:3). Many Christians have exercised their God-given rights and have worked long and hard to defeat this legislation. And if the law is passed (as it appears, by un-Constitutional means), no doubt Christians will continue the fight in the courts and at the ballot box.

But God may, for His purposes, permit the wicked to exalt themselves for a time. Nations will forget God, as America has, but God preserves the righteous. He is a refuge for the oppressed in time of trouble. And at the Last Day, Jesus Christ will judge the world in righteousness, and bring upon the wicked their ultimate destruction. As David wrote in Psalm 9:

I will praise You, O Lord, with my whole heart; I will tell of all Your marvelous works.

I will be glad and rejoice in You; I will sing praise to Your name, O Most High.

When my enemies turn back, they shall fall and perish at Your presence.

For You have maintained my right and my cause; You sat on the throne judging in righteousness.

You have rebuked the nations, You have destroyed the wicked; You have blotted out their name forever and ever.

O enemy, destructions are finished forever! And you have destroyed cities; even their memory has perished.

But the Lord shall endure forever; He has prepared His throne for judgment.

He shall judge the world in righteousness, and He shall administer judgment for the peoples in uprightness.

The Lord also will be a refuge for the oppressed, a refuge in times of trouble.

And those who know Your name will put their trust in You; for You, Lord, have not forsaken those who seek You.

Sing praises to the Lord, who dwells in Zion! Declare His deeds among the people.

When He avenges blood, He remembers them; He does not forget the cry of the humble.

Have mercy on me, O Lord! Consider my trouble from those who hate me, You who lift me up from the gates of death,

That I may tell of all Your praise in the gates of the daughter of Zion. I will rejoice in Your salvation.

The nations have sunk down in the pit which they made; in the net which they hid, their own foot is caught.

The Lord is known by the judgment He executes; the wicked is snared in the work of his own hands.

The wicked shall be turned into hell, and all the nations that forget God.

For the needy shall not always be forgotten; the expectation of the poor shall not perish forever.

Arise, O Lord, do not let man prevail; let the nations be judged in Your sight.

Put them in fear, O Lord, that the nations may know themselves to be but men.

References:

1. The full column appeared at http://www.calthomas.com/index.php?news=2766

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