Paying for Sin

But now the LORD declares: ‘Far be it from me, for those who honor me I will honor, and those who despise me shall be lightly esteemed.’  1 Samuel 2:30b

When my children were in junior high I came home from running errands to find them watching the Jerry Springer show.  I warned them that if we caught them again we would turn off the cable.  Well, after two more times that’s just what we did.  I remember being appalled by the subject matter.  I sat the kids down and said, “I don’t even know where to start there are so many things wrong with what was on the show!”

A man had come on the show to publicly propose to his girlfriend of a couple of years.  She had come on the show to tell him that she was in a committed relationship with her female roommate.  They let him go first.  He was humiliated and she looked like a mean sadist – in public.  I was horrified. 

 Last week someone put up a YouTube video on Facebook about Planned Parenthood.  Two people from an organization trying to expose them for who they are went in undercover and talked to the office manager about getting medical care, birth control, and abortions for sex-trafficked young women.  They explained that some wouldn’t even be able to speak English. 

 Planned Parenthood told them just how they would need to complete the paperwork and what wording would send up a red flag and what was “safe” to say in order to get through the system without getting caught in the act of trafficking young women.  The office manager even warned them who the one employee was who would not want to help them!

 To me this made Jerry Springer look like a nice program!  How can any adult not just look the other way but actually advise two adult sex traffickers in how to get “care” for the girls without getting caught?  Why wouldn’t they have called the police the moment they knew what was happening? 

 I have not been a fan of Planned Parenthood in the past because of their willingness to abort babies.  I have read articles about their founding that have also raised questions in my mind about the ethical standards of their practices.  But this takes the cake.  They will even abort the babies of girls who are kidnapped or trafficked from another country to come here and serve as sex slaves without saying a word.  A little “wink – wink” to the pimps and off the girls go. 

 According to an article on Fox News, Planned Parenthood received about $363 million dollars from you and me last year.  (http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2011/02/12/effort-choke-tax-payer-funding-planned-parenthood/#) That’s right, our taxes are paying for abortions and birth control – even for girls who are being illegally trafficked for sex!  At what point do we speak up as Christians?  At least we can choose not to support those who sponsor Jerry Springer. 

 God’s Word is pretty clear about killing and it’s very clear that God has formed us in the womb.  Psalm 139:13 says,  “For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother’s womb.”

 In order to justify paying taxes to a government that supports Planned Parenthood (or other “causes” that are in clear opposition to the scripture) many Christians like to quote Romans 13:6-7 which say, “For the same reason you also pay taxes,  for the authorities are ministers of God, attending to this very thing.  Pay to all what is owed to them: taxes to whom taxes are owed, revenue to whom revenue is owed, respect to whom respect is owed, honor to whom honor is owed.”  Do we (that is we Christians) believe God is being honored when we pay into a system that gives Planned Parenthood money to commit murder?   

 I believe God would have us pay taxes when they contribute to the greater good for a nation.  But, in verse 7 Paul says that we are to pay respect and honor to whom it is owed.  Who is worthy of more respect and honor than God?  Is He respected or honored by an organization that kills babies and generally shows no moral standard in their practices?

 I am not suggesting that we stop paying our taxes – yet.  Should we, though, let out voices be heard in Washington?  There’s already a movement to stop the funding, all you and I need to do is let our representatives know how we want them to vote. 

 Psalm 84:11, For the LORD God is a sun and shield; the LORD bestows favor and honor.  No good thing does he withhold from those who walk uprightly.