By Walid Shoebat
No one in the world is concerned about abortion and the murder of children more than Catholics. Its a fact. One man from Vietnam has shown the world what true Catholicism does: he has saved the lives of more than 100 children over the last 15 years. With an average 7.5 ponds per baby, this would be 7,500 pounds of babies and after one year of care this would be over a ton of babies saved.
The hero’s name is Tong Phuoc Phuc. His story began in 2001 when his own wife was pregnant. He went with her to the hospital and noticed that pregnant women were entering the next room and coming out no longer with child.
It took some time before Phuc realized what exactly was going on. The idea that these babies didn’t have a chance to come into this world broke Phuc’s heart. So, Phuc asked if he could take the aborted children from the hospital so they at least could be given a proper burial in an appropriate place.
The former construction worker bought land atop a mountain called Hon Thom in the city of Nha Trang with his savings. Phuc began burying the dead babies in this idyllic setting. At first, his wife thought he’d gone crazy, but Pu wouldn’t give up his dream. He’s buried more than 10,000 babies over the years, but what he really wanted to do was save these babies in the first place. He said his graveyard isn’t just a place for sadness, it’s a garden meant to touch women who are feeling uncertain.
Mothers who didn’t have the means to support their children started coming to Phuc asking for help. The man transformed from gravedigger to lifesaver by adopting countless children from these overwhelmed mothers. The idea is that once the women are in a more secure life position, the children may return to them. So, what was once solely a graveyard, has become a special home to more than 100 children.
It was impossible to keep track of all the kids, so Phuc came up with easy-to-remember nicknames for each: All the boys are called “Vinh“ (honor), and all the girls are called “Tam” (heart). The second and third names are the mother’s name and Phuc’s family name, respectively. But this dad doesn’t treat these kids as foster children, they are each like one of his own.
Caring for and raising so many children is obviously a huge task, but Phuc loves his role as father. “I will continue this work till my last breath,” he said. “I hope my own kids will continue helping people when I’m gone.” You can see the love and gratefulness in the eyes of each of his children.
So what makes Phuc relentless in his pursuit? No entity more than the Catholic Church has condemned abortion as a grave evil. Christian writers from the first-century author of the Didache shows the second commandment of the teaching is this:
“Thou shalt do no murder; thou shalt not commit adultery”; thou shalt not commit sodomy; thou shalt not commit fornication; thou shalt not steal; thou shalt not use magic; thou shalt not use philters [potions]; thou shalt not procure abortion, nor commit infanticide; thou shalt not covet thy neighbor’s goods”
The Didache or The Teaching of the Twelve Apostles, is the oldest Christian treatise, dated by most modern scholars to the first century. It was the earliest Christian writing outside the New Testament written around A.D. 70.
The Didache solves many controversies we have today. For example, in its seventh chapter, the Didache reads:
“Concerning baptism, baptize in this manner: Having said all these things beforehand, baptize in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit in living water [that is, in running water, as in a river]. If there is no living water, baptize in other water; and, if you are not able to use cold water, use warm. If you have neither, pour water three times upon the head in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.”
Pouring water as what Catholics do and is a legitimate Baptism and is how the apostles saw it. These instructions were composed while some of the apostles and disciples were still alive and they represent an already established custom. No where did the apostles object to such Christian customs which never contradicted scripture.
Having said that I know that many will bring up infant baptism. It is a wicked and adulterous generation that is more concerned about infant baptism than ‘infant abortion’ and the allowance of birth control. Today no one can statistically prove that the Catholic Church was wrong to condemn these. The entire continent of Europe today suffers from Muslim immigration because Europeans approved birth control while God on the contrary said to be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth. This heresy of birth control is supported by so-called Christians who belabor so much about infant baptism while they ignore “be fruitful and multiply”.
When God created humanity, he said, “Let us make man”. It was only in the formation of man when God spoke like this when He created the physical world. It was to emphasize the Triune Godhead — Father, Son and Holy Spirit — and the connection that the Trinity has with the human family. The Father is united with the Son, and their Love outpours, and this Love is the Holy Spirit. So the love between husband and wife outpours in the form of a child. Jesus Christ, our Salvation, is the Son of Joseph and Mary. Divine Love flows from the Eternal Father and Son; children come about from the love of husband and wife, and the Salvation of humanity began with the Holy Family. While we as Christians are to emulate Christ, God also ordained that women emulate His mother Mary instead of speaking of her as an incubator.
It is this teaching that formed Christian customs and tradition which is frowned upon today as if tradition is no longer from God.
And while many will ask ‘where is tradition in the Bible’? Here you have it:
“So then, brothers, stand firm and hold to the traditions that you were taught by us, either by our spoken word or by our letter.” (2 Thess 2:15)
Tradition doesn’t even have to be in the written word. It is taught from generation to generation. It is oral tradition.
Today you go to Egypt’s Coptic churches and you statistically discover that almost all unwed girls and boys are virgin. You go to the U.S. and what will statistics show? 80% lost their virginity.
Scot McKnight, author of One.Life and professor in religious studies at North Park University in Chicago, is aware of the difficulties facing unmarried Christians and the shifts in the “reality” of living chastely.
“Sociologically speaking, the one big difference—and itʼs monstrous— between the biblical teaching and our culture is the arranged marriages of very young people. If you get married when youʼre 13, you donʼt have 15 years of temptation.”
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the average age for first marriages for both men and women has been increasing for the last 45 years. In 1965, the average man first married at age 22.8; the average woman, 20.6. In 2010, the average age was 28.1 for men and 26.1 for women.
Abstinence messages have often been geared toward teenagers, but as the average marrying age creeps closer to 30, the time period when Christians are called to be chaste can easily extend a decade beyond their high school graduation—or much longer. So what does abstinence look like as Christians “grow up” and enter the real world but are still single?
“Itʼs absolutely not realistic,” McKnight continues. “But itʼs also not realistic not to do a lot of things, and that doesnʼt mean the Bible doesnʼt tell us the ideal and design of God is to not have premarital sex.”
So on the one hand we have God and on the other hand we have heretics running the church.
God says do this and the heretic keeps on ticking proudly singing his hymn “I did it my way”.
So what is the solution?
The solution is to examine how history documents on how God’s people kept the faith instead of modern interpretations of the biblical text that has recently been wrongly interpreted a thousand times over. It is crucial to examine how the Jews kept the faith prior to Christ and how the Christians continued the faith of our fathers. One important factor can be summed in one word. As the good Rabi Tevia says it best: