The Logic of Sanctioned Bloodshed

Blood on the Trail

Every society sheds blood. Modern societies shed heaps of it. It's a bloody, bloody world. We do not say this with disgust or protest--although there is plenty to be disgusted about over modern bloodletting. We do not say this because we wish to protest the killing of any human being--although there is much ground for godly protest. Neither do we say it because we are squeamish.

We simply want to drive the point home that every human society sheds blood, some more than others. Once we have understood this, the discussion can move on to whose blood is being shed at any one time, and whether it is moral, ethical, or lawful.

Why does every society shed lots of blood? The answer, of course, lies in what led Cain to kill his brother. Hatred possessed Cain, leading him to murder Abel. Cain hated because his father's sin had been imputed to him, and his nature was corrupted by evil. Every human being, descending from Adam by ordinary generation, bears the guilt of Adam's sin and, therefore, his sinful nature. Hatred of others is an inescapable component of our evil natures. Thus, all societies experience murder and bloodshed. Every society sheds blood.

But, murder aside, why do all human societies officially sanction the killing of human beings? And every society does, regardless of whether it finds it impolite to discuss at dinner parties. In every society there is blood on the trail. Officially sanctioned blood. Approved, endorsed, sanctioned  bloodletting. Every society has a particular version of the death penalty in one way, shape, or form. Every society endorses and promulgates officially the shedding of blood and the taking of some life. These are inescapable realities--and the only question or debate is over whether the blood being shed ought to be innocent blood, or the blood of the murderer.

God alone has authority over life and death. Only God can command life and command death. But when sinful man rejects God and rebels against Him, a palace revolution always takes place. The palace is not left vacant. Rejecting God means that man is attempting a coup: man, the usurper, is setting himself up as the determiner of good and evil for himself. Man is setting himself up as a god. And it is the inevitable and inescapable nature of deity that it commands life and death.

So, when society as a whole officially rejects God it takes the power of life and death to itself. All unbelieving societies wield this power relentlessly--determining who will live and who will die.

But there is something else--something far more sinister and depraved. When Unbelief conducts its "palace coup" it also rejects the statutes and laws of God, and replaces them with its own determinations of good and evil. The inevitable result is that good now becomes an official evil, and evil becomes an official and sanctioned good. Consequently, not only are the non-guilty killed, but they are killed in endless serried ranks for no just reason. The bloodletting becomes a ceaseless aroma of sacrifice to man, the god who claims authority to command life and death.

Thus, abortion--the bloodshed of innocent and defenceless human beings--is without doubt a religious sacrifice at the altar of man-as-god. The state officially sanctions the right and authority of one human being to take the life of another, because the one is considered more human that the other. The babe in the womb is declared to be sub-human, by judicial fiat.  Man is exercising the prerogatives of his claims to deity, calling and determining life and death for himself, as it seems fit to him.

Another prerogative of deity is providence--that is, providing and caring for subjects and creatures. Thus, man's palace coup against the Living God, leads him to take over the prerogatives of providence: he begins to determine who shall be cared for and who shall be left exposed to die.Consequently , the Romans used to throw unwanted children on to the town rubbish dumps, withdrawing providential care, having determined that the child was not sufficiently worthy to be granted care. The law granted this prerogative and authority to Roman fathers.

In our day, the modern equivalent of death by exposure, by the withdrawal of providential care, takes place at the instigation of the "plan" by which the state and its agencies decree that those outside the "plan" are to left to die. The Daily Mail reported the following case:

Doctors left a premature baby to die because he was born two days too early, his devastated mother claimed yesterday.

Sarah Capewell begged them to save her tiny son, who was born just 21 weeks and five days into her pregnancy - almost four months early.

They ignored her pleas and allegedly told her they were following national guidelines that babies born before 22 weeks should not be given medical treatment.

Miss Capewell, 23, said doctors refused to even see her son Jayden, who lived for almost two hours without any medical support.

She said he was breathing unaided, had a strong heartbeat and was even moving his arms and legs, but medics refused to admit him to a special care baby unit. . . .

A midwife said he was breathing and had a strong heartbeat, and described him as a "little fighter".

I kept asking for the doctors but the midwife said, "They won't come and help, sweetie. Make the best of the time you have with him".'

She cuddled her child and took precious photos of him, but he died in her arms less than two hours after his birth.

The great bureaucratic plan marshals (extorts) resources, determines for itself where the lines of inclusion and exclusion fall, then sheds innocent blood when a person is defined as being beyond the pale or beyond the line for providential sustenance and care.

Unbelief is a bloodthirsty god; the streets of Athens are an open trench of sacrificial blood; it is a bloody and bloodthirsty city. It can be nothing else: it is the inevitable logical outcome when man demands the right to be a god, determining good and evil for himself.

There is blood on the trail. Lots of it. And there will be more. But it is innocent blood.  Unbelief has to have its altar of blood sacrifice.