In
loving memory of William Wilberforce, who died on this date, July 29, 1833. I
will post two Pro-Life articles to remember him.
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William Wilberforce’s famous quote [PHOTO
SOURCE: http://izquotes.com/quote/278082]
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INTERNET SOURCE: http://www.lifesitenews.com/news/william-wilberforces-great-grandson-says-if-alive-today-wilberforce-would-f
William Wilberforce’s
Great Grandson Says if Alive Today Wilberforce Would Fight Abortion
Editor’s Note: The following letter by Fr
Gerard Wilberforce, a Catholic priest in Exeter, who is the great grandson of
the famed William Wilberforce is reproduced with the permission of Independent
Catholic News.
By
Fr. Gerard Wilberforce
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March
31, 2008 (LifeSiteNews.com) - I am writing as the great great grandson of
William Wilberforce, who campaigned vigorously for the ending of the
transatlantic slave trade in 1807, which ultimately paved the way for the
abolition of slavery itself throughout the entire British Empire in 1833.
I
am often asked what would be the campaigns Wilberforce would be fighting if he
were alive in 21st century Britain. I believe that there would be a number of
different issues among them human trafficking and the scourge of drugs. But
almost certainly at the top of the list, would be the issue of abortion.
As
the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Bill comes before Parliament over the
next few weeks, the opportunity presents itself to amend the abortion Act. With
the number of abortions having reached 200,000 per year in the UK alone, the
time is right to tighten up the law that was designed to protect women by
ending illegal abortion, but never to allow such a high degree of deprived
life.
There
are great similarities between the status of the foetus and the status of
African slaves two centuries ago. Slaves were considered a commodity to do with
whatever the vested interests of the day decided. Today, in our desire to play
God in our embryology experimentation, with all its’ unfulfilled promises of
miracle cures, and our decision to abort unwanted children, we are no better
that those slave traders who put their interests and world view higher than
they placed the sanctity and value of human life.
Most
people at the time didn’t believe the evil of slavery could ever be defeated,
as so much of the economy at the time was dependent on the trade. It’s easy for
us to think that is the case today with abortion, but I believe William Wilberforce
would not take such a view.
Whilst
our hearts go out to those who have chosen abortion, there should now be much
greater emphasis on the alternatives that exist. Many of us would like to see
far more support to those who have made such a significant and difficult
decision but whilst we recognise the trauma many women have gone through, we
also have a duty to ‘Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves’
(Proverbs 31).
The
Psalmist says ‘My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret
place.’
With
abortions in the UK reaching 600 a day, it seems to me that the ‘secret place’,
is one of the most dangerous places to be in modern day Britain.
As
with my great ancestor, the battle took many years, even decades. But now, with
the passage of time we look back in horror at how we devalued human life. I
truly believe we will look back in years to come, repent and ask forgiveness
for what we let happen to the unborn child.
There
is something deeply depressing about a society in which abortion is so easy,
yet alternatives such as adoption are made to appear so difficult.
NOTICE: The following article is written by
the author itself and not by me, I am not trying to violate their copyright. I
will give some information on them.
PAGE TITLE: http://www.epm.org/
ARTICLE TITLE: You May Choose to Look the Other
Way, But…
DATE: July 1, 2013
AUTHOR: Randy Alcorn
AUTHOR INFORMATION: Randy
Alcorn (born 1954) is an American Protestant author and director of Eternal
Perspective Ministries, a non-profit Christian organization dedicated to
teaching an eternal viewpoint and helping the needy of the world. He has
written several novels, including Deadline, Dominion, and Deception.
He received a Gold Medallion Book Award in 2003 for his novel Safely Home.
He has also written a number of non-fiction books, including Heaven, The
Purity Principle, and The Treasure Principle. Eternal Perspective
Ministries owns the royalties to his books and 100 percent of them are given
away to support missions, famine relief, pro-life work, and other ministries.
He and his wife, Nanci, have two grown up and married daughters, Karina and
Angela, who assisted him in writing the novel The Ishbane Conspiracy in
2001. Randy and Nanci have four grandsons. They live in Gresham, Oregon. He
wrote a book similar to The Screwtape Letters called Lord Foulgrin's
Letters. In Alcorn's book, references are made to demons, known only as
"ST" and "WW" (for it had become a crime in Hell to even
speak their real names), who had their letters found by a human and were
punished by Beelzebub for their incompetence. He has also written a sequel to Lord
Foulgrin's Letters entitled The Ishbane Conspiracy in which Lord
Foulgrin from the first book is put on probation and is receiving letters from
a senior demon named Prince Ishbane. In between the letters actual scenes from
the humans lives unfold. In November 2009, Alcorn signed an ecumenical
statement known as the Manhattan Declaration calling on Evangelicals, Catholics
and Orthodox not to comply with rules and laws permitting abortion, same-sex
marriage and other matters that go against their religious consciences.
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Randy Alcorn
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In
this video interview with Julia Stager, EPM staff, she quotes William
Wilberforce who said, “You may choose to look the other way, but you can never
say again that you did not know”, and asks what that quote means to me.
In
the following video and transcript, I
share some thoughts:
Historically,
William Wilberforce was an abolitionist in England. He was a committed
Christian who wanted to free all the slaves and abolish the slave trade. He was
ultimately successful. His story is told in many places, including in the
popular movie Amazing Grace.
He had a relationship with John Newton (who wrote the song Amazing Grace) and Newton
had a great influence on him.
But
I think Wilberforce was saying here that when you see the realities of the
slave trade, you can never go back. He used to stand up in Parliament, and
would keep slave chains under his seat and pull them out and drape them around
himself as he was speaking. He was so
unpopular. Everybody was against him. Hardly anyone was in favor of abolishing
the slave trade when he first spoke against it. But then, over time, he was
successful. Literally just a few days before he died, slavery was abolished in
England.
So how can we apply that quote today? How do you see that
as still relevant?
When
you see something evil, you see the reality of it. There’s no going back or
denying it.
That’s
the way it should
be anyway. I would apply that to something like sex trafficking. You read about
it and watch a film of some of the things that are happening. You see it
devastating the lives of children who are being used in such horrific ways.
There should be no turning back.
The
same is true when you see children who are dying of hunger and diseases that
are treatable, or kids that need clean water. Once you see that, there should
be no denying it.
And,
of course, the big overlooked area today is abortion. I encourage everyone to
look online at pictures of aborted children. It’s horrific. (A wonderful
ministry called Abort 73.com has produced a simple two
minute video showing the objective truth about abortion.)
But
from that point forward when you see the truth, you should never go back. We
should always speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves.
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| William Wilberforce’s famous quote [PHOTO SOURCE: http://www.epm.org/blog/2013/Jul/1/look-other-way] |
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