A Time for Testing

By Tony Ruboletta

Richard Mourdock, the Republican Senatorial candidate in Indiana has made his choice.  Mourdock is unequivocal in his belief that human life is sacred.  He recently stated that an unborn child conceived as a result of rape is "something God intended to happen."  Naturally, the godless left sees an opportunity for a populist appeal that has no other purpose than to win an election and split the opposition, not just from each other but also from God.  Mourdock challenges us to make the uncomfortable choice of worldly acceptance versus divine consequences.  Is innocent life sacred or is sympathy for the victim of a crime paramount?

The difficulty here is not discerning good from evil but of making a choice that may not be popular.  The intended murder victim is unseen, unknown, unwanted, and totally innocent of any crime.  The rape victim is seen, known and faces a severe challenge.  All are being tested, including those who "distance" themselves from Mourdock for fear of the impact on an election.

The controversy surrounding Mourdock is on the front line of the war of good against evil.  This theater of war disguises the combatants and the issue. If you oppose abortion, you are portrayed as being against women's rights, women's health, and women in general.  I cannot lay my finger on that verse of Scripture that allows women to kill their unborn children.  Nor can I find that verse that grants women special rights to overturn Scripture. Abortion is a wedge issue with a far more insidious purpose than dividing men and women.  Its deeper purpose is to separate men and women from God. We are all being tested.

Testing applies to America's churches as well.  The "falling away" of prophecy is so obvious for most churches but in some cases, it becomes a comedy of hypocrisy.  A small group of black Christian church leaders made it public they were upset with Obama's support for homosexual marriage.

This group has publicly withdrawn their support for Obama's campaign.  Just one question: where was this group on abortion?  Was that page ripped out of their Bibles but the one sanctifying marriage was not?  Obama not only supports abortion but also supported legislation that mandates the state complete the execution if the aborted child survives the attempted murder. These churches were tested and failed.

Richard Mourdock has taken a principled stand and the godless are drooling at the prospect this can be exploited to defeat his campaign.  Abortion is not a women's issue.  It is a confrontation between good and evil and Mourdock stated where he stands.  We are all being tested and those who excoriate Mourdock have failed.  Those who say the topic of abortion does not belong in politics have also failed the test.  It is what we approve and disapprove as a society, by the laws we pass or fail to pass through the politicians that we elect that will either pass or fail the test.

Free will is both a gift and a curse.  With the liberty to make choices come the consequences of those choices.  I was once asked if I had to think when making choices between good and evil.  The question surprised me because making the distinction between good and evil requires knowledge of the difference and the ability to make a rational comparison.  If the worldly consequences are the only consideration, the distinction between good and evil resolves to a cost and benefit analysis where good and evil are merely words to describe a comparison.

The real test of free will is not necessarily choosing between one action and another, but choosing between worldly consequences and divine consequences.  If you have the luxury of not believing in God, cost and benefit analysis is adequate to the task and morality is simply a matter of how the consequences are weighted.  Believers do not have this luxury because the divine consequences outweigh any worldly consequences regardless of how unpleasant those may be.

Whether you are a believer or not, the fulfillment of Biblical prophecy is in our face and progressing.  Even a casual comparison of world events with Scripture reveals either a remarkable series of coincidences or the validity of God's word.  We live in a time for testing where no choice is inconsequential and more often than not, the worldly and divine consequences are at odds.  Nowhere is this more evident than in the choices we make for political leadership.

Tony Rubolotta works in the technology industry.