The Fish and Wildlife Service officially declared the ivory-billed woodpecker extinct on September 29, 2021. Sadly, 22 other species were also declared extinct. Debate continues as to whether these decisions were premature. Due to the relentless slaughter and the destruction of nesting sites, the passenger pigeon that was once observed in flocks of millions during migration, is extinct. The last living bird died in the Cincinnati Zoo September 1, 1914.
It is sad when any animal species becomes extinct, whether the result of natural climatic events such as the Ice Age or from human negligence.
However, I am concerned about another endangered species. Not a bird or a fish or a tree, but words that are being expunged from our collective vocabulary as a result of political correctness and social engineering. Words may not technically be a species, but language is a living thing. Words change meaning over time. Consider the abundance of translations of our English Bible. From the days of the King James Version, the way we speak—and even the meaning of specific words—has evolved.
Throughout this blog I will use an italicized “A” in place of a word that might risk having this blog rejected on social media platforms. You will recognize what “A” represents in the context of this article.
I begin with God’s warning against changing the meaning of good words—righteous words—into something evil. Calling something, inherently evil and destructive, moral and good is wrong. Isaiah the prophet put it like this:
Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter! Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes, and shrewd in their own sight! Woe to those who are heroes at drinking wine, and valiant men in mixing strong drink, who acquit the guilty for a bribe, and deprive the innocent of his right! (Isaiah 5:20-23, ESV)
Today, the battle to keep “A” legal is morphing into a struggle to make “A” appear to be a good thing—a healthy choice. The proponents of easier access to “A” have changed their strategy by changing their language. Instead of the issue being a personal choice to have an “A”, the strategy is to present “A” as something good, positive and moral.
I share a few examples from an article entitled, False Positive, in the October 9, 2012 edition of World Magazine. The article, penned by Leah Savas, was a wake-up call for me. The pro “A” movement’s changing strategy and vocabulary is an effort to capture the “high ground”—the moral and righteous ground—in the struggle for the mind of America. Using euphemisms rather than the “A” word—with its negative connotations—they are trying to make “A” desirable, not just legal.
Websites offer women an opportunity to share—even boast—about their “A” as being one of the best choices they ever made. I would like to share examples of these Websites, but fear that using them would red-flag my blog. You can buy T-shirts to celebrate having an “A.” How about greeting cards congratulating someone’s choice to have had an “A”? They are available.
One advocate of this new strategy even wears a cross necklace and uses Christian symbols. Another proponent of this new strategy has actually stated that people who have had an “A” “are more holy… and the providers of “A” are doing Jesus’ work.”
Can you imagine? Intentionally destroying an innocent person’s life is never moral or righteous. Imagine calling it the work of Jesus? Is this the same Jesus that said, “Permit the children to come to me for of such does the Kingdom of God exist”? To enter God’s kingdom, one must become like a child.
The Kingdom of God is more than a future theocracy; it is the rule of the triune God in the lives and hearts of His followers. Kingdom dwellers, like little children, are to be gentle. Authentic Christ-followers are compassionate, other-focused rather than self-promoting. Followers of the Lord Jesus are truthful, loving and kind, seeking to protect the most vulnerable among us. After all that is the heart of our Father and our Great King.
Calling “A” (a deliberate decision to violently terminate the life of another human being) “good and moral” is just plain blasphemy. It is deception.
The Expositors Commentary on Isaiah 5:23-25 points out that Israel’s easy journey from skepticism questioning God’s prophets (doesn’t describe our secular age?) was really about God. To be wrong about God—who He is and what He commands—is to be wrong about everything else we think or do.
Jesus accused the legalistic Pharisees of twisting God’s Word, because they didn’t know God. They accused Jesus, the righteous One, of doing the work of the devil.
Consider this: has “A” been inching toward selected genocide? (I hope that word doesn’t get me excluded.) Billboards in Great Britain proclaim that 90 percent of Down syndrome pregnancies end in “A”. That figure is probably too high. But surveys clearly demonstrate that a pregnancy identified with a Down syndrome fetus is at high risk. Safely speaking, somewhere between 25-50 percent will be terminated by an “A.”
These precious Down syndrome children often demonstrate innocence, compassion and submissive spirits—the very attributes God that seeks and demands in His Kingdom. With requests by adoptive parents being left unfilled and considering the precious temperament of these special people (that can now expect to live 25-50 years), how can we justify these statistics?
It is time for the voices of the masses that care about endangered species to also cry out for protection of the most vulnerable among us. It is time to expose deceitful language for what it is, the voice of the Father of Lies. It is a perversion from his distorted dictionary.
As Isaiah might say: “Woe! Let those be cursed who dare call something so obviously wrong—so utterly evil—good or moral or even Christ-like.”