By Lonnie Wilkey
Editor, Baptist and Reflector
lwilkey@tnbaptist.org
At times, culture makes no sense. We live in a society where animals are better protected than unborn children.
Yet, culture itself doesn’t even follow its own rules on unborn children.
A few weeks ago, I wrote a “Before It Hits the Press” column about a young woman (Sierra Cahoon) and her 2-year-old child who were intentionally rammed by a driver and killed. Mrs. Cahoon (whose husband Matt is an athletic trainer at Carson-Newman University in Jefferson City) was also pregnant. The unborn child died too. See the column here.
According to a Knoxville television station, the man who killed them will be charged for THREE counts of murder — Mrs. Cahoon, her child and her unborn child. That is the correct call as far as I’m concerned. Three innocent people died on June 17 at the hands of this man.
My question is this. If the unborn child is considered a “living person” in this case and the man can be tried for three counts of murder, why wouldn’t that same child be considered a “living person” if that mother had gone for an abortion?
Yet, in our “confused” society, a woman who has an abortion and the doctor who performs it go unscathed. Something is seriously wrong here.
I hurt for Matt Cahoon and the Carson-Newman University family. Cahoon lost his entire family in one senseless act. Nothing will bring them back. The driver of that car should be charged with and convicted of three counts of murder.
Yet, babies are aborted every day. If the unborn Cahoon baby is deemed to be a living being, why aren’t millions of others?
Unfortunately, society refuses to acknowledge truth. That is why we have such a contradiction in this case.
The Cahoon baby is a murder victim. But if a woman, at the same stage of pregnancy as Mrs. Cahoon, went to get an abortion, there are no legal consequences. This is further evidence we are living in a sick and evil world that desperately needs the Good News of Jesus Christ. He is the only solution.
In a few months, Tennessee legislators may be considering legislation that has been labeled as the “heartbeat bill.” A version of that bill was considered in the last legislative year but was sent to a summer study by Senate Republican leaders. At this point, no one really knows what will become of the proposed legislation. It could return as first submitted, be “reworked” or possibly not be considered at all.
The only thing that I am certain of is that Tennessee Baptists believe in the sanctity of human life and that life begins at conception. Thus, the name “heartbeat bill” is actually a misnomer because we consider that baby is a living being before the first heartbeat is actually detected.
As Tennessee Baptists and Christians, we must be concerned about protecting our unborn children.
We need to be on watch and monitor legislation. Contact your state senators and members of the House of Representatives and share your concerns. Let them know that Christians in Tennessee affirm life and that life begins at the moment of conception.
A society without moral convictions will scoff and ridicule Christians, but so what? We answer to a much higher authority — God Almighty who is the creator of all life. He’s the one who matters.
Pray diligently that our nation will come to the realization that an unborn baby killed in a senseless tragedy is the same as the baby killed intentionally by abortion. Innocent lives have been taken.
In God’s eyes, there’s no difference. Neither should there be a difference in our eyes.
