Hallelujah, Pass the Dramamine

"The truth is often a terrible weapon of aggression. It is possible to lie, and even to murder, with the truth. It is easier to fight for principles than to live up to them." -- Alfred Adler

As more and more time passes, it becomes increasingly obvious to the observing eye that irony is overtaking common sense. It used to be that people who adhered to certain values were consistent in their struggle to uphold and promote those values. Now, it seems that every nutjob with an ounce of determination and lacking in sincere virtue is acting independently of his or her cause under a banner of "moral decency" in ways that are completely contrary to their stated purpose.

If the world continues this trend of spinning more and more out of control, I'm going to have to invest in some Dramamine in order to survive it all.

The fact that today a notorious late-term abortion doctor, Dr. George Tiller, was gunned down by someone who is most likely a self-proclaimed proponent of the Pro-Life movement is enormously ironic. How exactly do you reconcile slaying a doctor under the banner of promoting life? Innocent, unborn babies have a right to live and should not be murdered at the hands of doctors, yet it is okay to murder doctors who perform these types of abortions? Really? What that indicates to me is that the gunman is not so much concerned with protecting the safety and sanctity of innocent lives but actually wrought with hatred for someone who allegedly terminates life. What we all need to understand is that murdering a murderer gets us nowhere. That, my friends is common sense. Whether or not you agree with late-term abortions, and whether or not you consider such practices a form of murder, I can see NO justification whatsoever in shooting down a doctor who performs them.

How is that noble? The action pretty much puts the gunman in the exact same category as the baby-killing doctor that he so despises for reasons that are likely based on his own religious and moral beliefs. Yet, I would be potentially accurate in assuming that whatever faith or belief system the shooter embraces would incontestably condemn outright murder regardless of whatever irrational reasoning is behind it. No matter how you try to reconcile the facts, you can't.

Yet, that's not where the irony ends.

Dr. Tiller was gunned down inside the Reformation Lutheran Church in Wichita, Kansas, where he served as an usher during a typical Sunday worship service. So (if I have this right), this doctor goes to work Monday through Friday and terminates pregnancies in which the unborn infant is considered mature and viable enough to actually survive outside the womb if it were to be born at that time. He kills babies. Then he spends Sunday mornings in church, worshiping the Lord Almighty in sincere piety? Really? Wow. Though it is unarguably NOT my place to pass judgements on another person (because I truly cannot say whether or not Dr. Tiller believed what he was doing was good and right and noble--only God can say what truths lie within the hearts of men), I honestly have to admit...that's ironic. I suppose Christian piety just isn't what it used to be.

So, what is the point of it all? Well, I'll tell you. If you strip away the political motivations, the inflammatory details, and the reprehensible matter of both sides of this story, what it all boils down to is a lack of virtue. An inability to follow through with one's own belief system. If you believe that all life is valuable and should be protected because of what your faith dictates, then you should also believe that it is wrong to walk into a house of worship during a Sunday morning service and gun down a man who reportedly terminates innocent lives.

Most belief systems in this world profess that after death we shall all face a final and supreme judgement at the hands of a God, creator, or supreme spirit of some sort. That's very nearly a universal truth. Dr. Tiller was absolved of any wrongdoing by a jury in March of this year. Likely this murder was the result of one individual's outrage that "Tiller the Killer" would be let off the hook for what many deemed as criminal acts. So he escaped punishment in this life...if what he was doing truly were acts of murder, he would eventually be judged accordingly. Or at least that would be the accepted teaching of Dr. Tiller's (and quite possibly the gunman's) Christian faith. The shooter, however, was too shortsighted to understand that. He apparently determined that judgement had to be passed in this life and he elected himself the executioner of that sentence. The gunman had no faith.

Whether or not Dr. Tiller himself be a murderer is not for me to decide. A jury ruled his actions non-criminal two months ago and absolved him of the charges. Perhaps what the doctor did for a living really did save the lives of some women who would have been dangerously at risk should they deliver the infant they were carrying. I can't say. I don't have all the facts. But God does. And I'll leave it up to Him to make the final determinations.

What I do know is that the man who walked into the Wichita Reformation Lutheran Church this Sunday morning to execute a doctor in cold blood during a worship service...well, he IS a murderer. The justice system will determine his fate in this world. And should he walk free after his trial is over, then God will determine it in the next.

And, people, can we all just start actually LIVING by our personal value or belief systems instead of just striking out at others under the holy banner of righteousness? Perhaps a little personal consistency would make this world a much better place and people would not feel so driven by outrage that they have to break their own moral codes to get what they inaccurately deem to be justice.

Instead of fighting for our principles, how about we just start living up to them for a change?