“Don’t imagine that
I came to bring peace to the earth! I
came not to bring peace, but a sword. ‘I
have come to set a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, and a
daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. Your enemies will be right in your own
household!’ Matthew 10:34-36
In a 213-page document,[1] handed down from the
Supreme Court of the U.S. on June 24th, the 1973 decision of
Roe vs. Wade (favoring a Constitutional right to abortion), was overturned,
returning the issue, and the power to determine such rights, back to the
individual states. One of the main factors
upon which the case was decided was stare decisis. The Latin term is defined as a doctrine or policy of following rules or principles
laid down in previous judicial decisions.... Stare Decisis appears 84 times
in the court’s ruling syllabus.
Something which is that central to the thinking to the court’s 5-4 decision
begs our attention
It would seem, from even a casual observance of news reports,
that the entire country (and by extension, the world) is as divided as it was in
World War II. In no way do I wish to add
to that divide. However, if I understand
what was presented to the court, stare decisis, upon which rested the defense’s
argument to sustain Roe vs. Wade as law of the land, was ruled as inappropriate,
not having been sufficiently established.
Setting aside the
celebrations, or protestations of those who are overjoyed, or those outraged by
the decision, the takeaway with which we must live, is the division we have
created.
If there is anything I’ve learned about stare
decisis, it is as old as eternity.
God, the Father revealed himself to Moses at the burning bush as, I
AM…the statement of eternal existance, covering what was,
what is, and what will be. This is the same as the declaration of Jesus:
“I am the Alpha and the Omega—the
beginning and the end,” says the Lord God. “I am the one who is, who always was, and who
is still to come—the Almighty One.”
Revelation 1:8
Jesus attested to the fact that He, and everything He
brought from the Father in Heaven to teach us, would be the dividing line separating
even the closest of families. The issue
of life still in the womb is a strong example of that.
The principle of stare decisis demands
going back to the earliest precedent. As
such, 1973’s Roe vs. Wade ruling is a decidedly modern idea. God, who is eternal, and therefore predates
even the so-called primordial ooze, is the one who gave us Exodus 20:13…do
no murder.
God is also the one upon whom we received what our
forefathers wrote in the Constitution we so revere, the guarantee of liberty to
individuals to choose their course. The stare
dicisis of that posit demands we understand we are free, but the
precedent insists we must also not infringe upon the freedom of another at any stage
of this life’s journey, including the womb.
For You Today
The 9 justices of our country’s Supreme
Court took 213 pages to explain why Roe vs. Wade was wrongly-decided 50 years
ago. In two pages I find it hard to find
fault with admitting a mistake.
There are about 2,000 devotional
posts on Rocky Road Devotions.
To
dig deeper into this topic or Scripture text:
Subway Sermon and Shattered Beyond All Hope of
Repair
[1] Images: Pixabay.com Unless noted, Scripture quoted from The New Living Translation©
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