Yesterday was Life Chain day in Centurion. Life chains are held every year close to Life Sunday here in South Africa, which is the closest Sunday to 1 February. However, here in Tshwane it usually is held a little later.
Of course, the question on your lips is, "What is a Life Chain?" A Life Chain is an event in which Pro-Life people come together to protest peacefully against the wanton slaughter of South Africa's unborn children. It is usually known under the euphemism of abortion. Abortion simply is not a strong enough word to describe what it really is: MURDER! So, in a Life Chain, we get together to protest this legal murder, by standing in places that are busy, where people can see us holding posters with slogans such as "Abortion Kills Babies," "Abortion God Calls it Murder" and "Adoption Better Than Abortion." Some posters also contain pictures of aborted babies.
Something like abortion is not just another issue among many equal issues. There are issues and there are issues. There is a great divide between social issues and moral issues. When we look at issues, moral issues should and MUST take priority. That is why abortion and homosexual marriages, moral issues, have higher priority than social and monetary issues like, say, tax!
The Tshwane LIFECHAIN was organised by Christians for Truth (CFT). The local leadership for CFT that were there are Gregory Pereira and Dieter Claasen. This is an annual event that CFT organises here in Tshwane. This was the third LIFECHAIN that I attended.
When one considers the fact that 50000-60000 babies are aborted each year in South Africa, one wonders why more people are not involved in fighting this horribly evil occurrence in society.
One of the first quips when confronted with the abortion issue, is that it is a "political issue!" Of course it is a political issue, and that is how liberals would like to keep it. However, apart from being a political issue, it is, and always has been, a moral issue.
Many people would not think twice about fighting against crime, especially our high murder rate. Yet, these same people have never considered that abortion murders more than double the amount of babies annually than the number of murders in this country!
Have we in this country become so callous that we could refer to the murder of an innocent baby as "choice?" White bread or brown? 93 octane or 95 octane? Steak or chicken? We have devalued life in this country so much that we can slaughter these children without even a thought. Why would abortion be called a choice when the one being murdered does not get to choose?
However, it pleases me that the African Christian Democratic Party (ACDP) stands squarely against abortion. It also pleases me that we could get some ACDP members to support this LIFECHAIN. Three of our Tshwane branch chairmen were there. They are Frikkie Olivier (Moreleta/Elarduspark branch), his wife Lenette and their children, Thinus Oosthuizen (Wierdapark) and Jack Mahlangu (Pretoria CBD).
I also had my family involved. Last year only my son could be there, but this year my wife, son and daughter could participate and also my wife's sister and her two daughters.
I believe that our children should be exposed to the evils of our current justice system and its accompanying laws, so that they could know the difference between evil and true justice for all! My children should understand the horror of abortion. They should understand that abortion is murder, and it is evil, no matter what the country's laws say on the issue.
If we as the people remain quiet about evils such as abortion, we become the silent partners of those evils. Silence is as good as agreement. Edmund Burke said, "All that is necessary for evil to triumph is that good men do nothing." If we do nothing, evil WILL triumph!
It is very necessary that we in the capital city take that charge of silence, and reverse its hopeless trend.
I once saw a cartoon drawing in which the main character asks God why he has not sent us anyone to bring us a cure to cancer and other diseases. God's reply was, "I did! But you aborted them!"
Let us be like the group in the picture above. Stand up for what is right in God's eyes, not what is right in man's eyes. These people above were those that stood up for those babies that could not stand up for themselves!
Update - 12 March 2008: To see a gallery of pictures from this LIFECHAIN, visit our website here and click on "LIFECHAIN March 2008 Pictures" on the right.
Sunday, March 9, 2008
Standing for Life against Death
Friday, March 7, 2008
ACDP responds to government discouragement of private electricity generators
MEDIA RELEASE
ACDP Parliament
Cheryllyn Dudley, MP and Parliamentary Whip
7th March, 2008
ACDP shocked that government chose to have no electricity rather than be unable to claim it provides the cheapest electricity. ACDP queries how the nuclear solution and the billions being spent will cost the consuming public less.
In answer to a question in Parliament by ACDP MP, Cheryllyn Dudley, about government discouragement of private electricity generators, President Mbeki has made it clear the reason his government discouraged private generators is because it would cause a rise in the cost of power and his government is proud of offering the cheapest electricity.
Cheryllyn Dudley, ACDP MP responds:
“South Africa now has electricity blackouts at least in part because alternative electricity generating companies have been kept out of the market. Foreign generating companies, for example, were told that they could erect generating plants in this country but that government officials would fix the price at which they could sell their electricity and decide to whom it could be sold. Not surprisingly they declined.
South Africa, now, in fact, has BOTH increased costs and blackouts.
Since government says it has the wellbeing of the poor at heart, the ACDP finds it strange that government did not consider electricity subsidies for the poor instead of discouraging the instantly accessible private electricity generators. How could it be in South Africa’s best interests to put the country into darkness, put the brakes on major construction plans and employment and thus further jeopardise the wellbeing of the poor!?
The ACDP asked the President what other avenues of alternative power have been discouraged as promising environmentally-friendly options seem to have been sidelined. Whilst the President accepted collective responsibility for the energy crisis and apologised, the ACDP wants to know whether the situation arose as part of a strategy to create a receptive atmosphere for nuclear solutions. Nuclear solutions have been speedily imposed without public debate or proper procedure as set out in the green paper. The ACDP is particularly concerned regarding disposal of toxic waste.
ACDP asks in light of the billions it will cost for nuclear power, does President Mbeki still intend keeping the price low? Or will it be just fine for the consuming public to foot the bill if the bill is for a nuclear solution?
