I heard on the radio this morning someone espousing the “Christian” view that the Bible was “just a book written by men … some of it’s right and some of it’s not … some of it’s relevant and some if it’s not.” If this is true, then every person is entitled to create a morality, a worldview, a right-and-wrong hierarchy, a “god” of their own creation. If this talk-radio-caller is correct, then we are all entitled to our own truth; even if that means my truth should lead to the killing of innocent children.
On the other hand, the doctrine and traditions handed down from Christ and the Apostles, to be received with docility by the Church, is that the Bible is and contains the very words of God. The authoritative moral calibrater – the ruler by which to measure whether our own view of reality and morality is accurate or terribly skewed. No house can be built without a level, leaving the laying of cement and doorframes to the “feelings” of the carpenters. Likewise, no rational, consistent, and healthy worldview can be built without the moral compass of Scripture.
That being said, we can now turn to this moral leveler to gain insight on children diagnosed with Down syndrome in the womb. In Psalm 127, we can learn with amazement that “children are a heritage from the Lord, the fruit of the womb a reward.” This statement did come in a vacuum or moral isolation. On the contrary, the practice of peoples not brought into he covenantal love of Yahweh … the grotesque practice of the non-believers, was to sacrifice their children to false gods by placing them on the metal arms of a statue – after the arms had been heated red-hot by intense fire.
Yahweh’s moral imperatives stood in stark contrast: children are a blessing, all children; do not treat them like a disposable means to an end; do not sacrifice them to your own goals, dreams, and ambitions:
Like arrows in the hand of a warrior
are the children of one’s youth.
Blessed is the man
who fills his quiver with them!
He shall not be put to shame
when he speaks with his enemies in the gate
The clarion call of God-followers is to love children, regardless of the perceive worth by society. All children are “useless eaters” – how pompous it is to think that we can decide the value of something God has made in his image.
About 6,000 babies are born with Down syndrome in the United States each year – that’s after 85% of DS babies are killed through abortion in the womb. In other words, 85% of the people who get a non-invasive pregnancy diagnosis (NIPD) will, statistically (may God bring a timely end to it, now), kill their child. The remaining 15% of children with DS make up the 6,000 that are born each year in the USA.
Would you stand in the gap for one of these children? If a parent thought they did not have the capacity to raise their child with Down syndrome, would you adopt the child? Would you love the child like your own? Like God loves them? Would you fill your quiver full of them?
If you’re still not convinced, please see this video of Frank Stephens’ testimony before Congress.
About the author
Sam McLure is the Founder of The Adoption Law Firm.
Sam and his wife Mary Beth were inspired to establish The Adoption Law Firm during the process of adopting their first son, Robi (read more about their experience on the blog, Go Get Robi).
Sam and Mary Beth were exposed to the great need for loving families to adopt abandoned children at home and around the world. They began to dream of a law center that could zealously advocate for children to be placed in loving homes. Eventually, that dream became a reality.
The Adoption Law Firm exists to zealously advocate for orphaned children to be adopted into loving homes.
Samuel J. McLure, Esq.
EDUCATION
- Thomas Goode Jones School of Law
J.D., Cum Laude
- Huntingdon College
B.A. Business Administration – International Business
EXPERIENCE
- Alabama Attorney General Candidate (2018 Election Cycle)
- The Adoption Law Firm (2011 – Current)
Founder, Attorney
- Lifeline Children’s Services (2015 – 2016)
Senior Legal Counsel
- Sasser, Sefton, Brown, Tipton, & Davis (Fall 2012)
Law Clerk – Corporate Litigation
- Jones Walker (Summer 2010)
Law Clerk – Banking & Finance
- Supreme Court of Alabama (Spring 2010)
Law Clerk Externship – Justice Smith
- Prof. Matt Vega – Jones School of Law (Fall 2009 – Spring 2010)
Research Assistant – Alien Tort Statute
- Office of the Attorney General of Alabama (Summer 2009)
Law Clerk Internship – White Collar Crime Division
PUBLICATIONS
- Alabama’s Political Candidates and Their Capacity to Care For Orphans, Alabama Political Reporter (April 25, 2017).
- The End of Orphan Care, Archdeacon Books (June 8, 2016).
- Absent Biological Fathers in Adoption: Noticing the Nuance of Notice, Faulkner Law Review, Vol. 6, Issue 2, pg. 305 (Spring 2015).
- Conviction and Contentment: Surveying Alabama’s Strategies to Care for Abused and Neglected Children, Alabama Today (May 22, 2015).
- State Constitutional Personhood Amendments and the Promotion of Justice in Alabama, Regent Journal of Law & Public Policy, Vol. 4, No. 1 (Spring 2012).
- Embracing Orphan Care & Adoption, River Region’s Journey, at pg. 22 (February 2012).
- What is the Cost of Adoption?, River Region’s Journey, at pg. 26 (February 2012).
- Adoption, Sav-A-Life of Montgomery, Inc., Vol. 26, Issue 11 (November 2011).
The End of Orphan Care, by Sam McLure
The End of Orphan Care, now available through Amazon, is perhaps the most comprehensive work on orphan care, to date.
Samuel E. Upchurch, Jr., Founder and Chairman of the Board Oakworth Capital Bank, states that:
“Sam McLure makes a scholarly case for Christians everywhere to follow the admonitions in James 1:27 to visit the orphans in their afflictions. McLure paints a picture which expands the definition of “orphans” and the meaning of “visit” and calls on the Church to care for the unborn, the fatherless and the at risk youth everywhere. I began reading this book to write an endorsement but, as one with an adopted grandchild, found much historical and theological support for adoption.”