Customer Reviews

Whatever Happened to the Human Race?

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Dr. Schaeffer and Dr. C. Evert Koop have written a masterful book on the "roberry of life" in the world, and particularly, Western Culture. Interestenly, this text, written over 20 years ago addresses the "devaluation of human life" and prophetically predicts the acceptance of redefining what it means to be a person and alive.

Ideas now coming to the forefront on news programs and the like, are already discussed here. Items such as "genetic" knowledge and its impact on abortion and infanticide. Further, Euthanasia is also discussed.

The last two chapters deals with "The Basis For Human Dignity" and what should be the response of the Christian. The arguments are solid, yet, written in a style that lay-people can easily understand and follow. This book crosses educational lines and denominational barriers between Protestants, Catholics, and Orthodox; since it is a subject of great importance to all Christians. A must have.

I bought it for my Dad also. Almost a must read with the way our society is heading anymore.

This book is very accurate prophesy as to what would happen when abortion became legal in any country that legalized it. First came taking life in the womb before it is born, then came taking it in infancy (i.e "Baby Doe" cases in the 1980's, China's infanticide of second children and our country's Susan Smith murder case and "prom parents" in the 1990's). A must for those who think abortion, infanticide and euthanasia are "rights" that are freely chosen.

The Bible verifies history.

"[e]ventually every nation in every age must be guided by this test: how did it treat people?" It depends upon how each of us regards the individual: as just a machine or, a unique creation---as an image of God. The focus of the book, which was coauthored by C. Everett Koop, is "to try to help tip the scales on the side of those who believe that individuals are unique and special and have great dignity".

Today, humanism is taking over; we are no longer human, we are merely machines. The humanist can not consistently live relativistically, he has to live in a dichotomy, but ultimately, he has to live as if there is a God. Along with the humanist world-view, Schaeffer, tests other popular world-views that dictate today. Without a firm world-view who is to say what's right or wrong. And in creeps abortion. The only thing that can stop the death is the certainty that humans are unique, which we get through the Bible. "Life is a continuum from conception until natural death. Since life is being destroyed before birth, why not tamper with it on the other end?" It is up to the Christian to stand up. Christ is the only cure.

This book was originally published in 1979 and revised in 1983. Before Terri Schiavo, before assisted suicide laws, before Dr. Kevorkian, even before C. Everett Koop was Surgeon General of the U.S., he and the late Francis Schaeffer, a prominent theologian, were sounding a warning about the growing devaluation of human life and how it would lead to infanticide and euthanasia.

I'm just in the process of reading this book right now. It is so right on that it's eery to read it now more than 25 years after its first publication. I recommend this book for background reading for everyone who is continuing Terri's battle for justice. Share it with your friends, too, who think there is nothing wrong with what was done to Terri Schiavo.

Supposedly, when Abraham Lincoln was once asked to write a "blurb" for a book that he really didn't care for, he sent the following response:

"Those who like this kind of book will find it just the kind of book they like."

I don't know whether the story is true, but it is certainly applicable to this book which is a manifesto for true believers. Like a number of similar works, it is important because it gives an insight into the thinking of individuals who can only see the world in Manichean terms of good (themselves) and evil (all those who disagree). "Secular Humanism" becomes a kind of modern form of Satanism in the eyes of men like Schaeffer and the contribution of thoughtful philosophers, ethicists and non-fundamentalist Christians to the kind of complex problems posed in real life are caricatured beyond recognition (as well as the complex history of the response of Christians to the issue of abortion.) It is not surprising that Schaeffer became so enamored of the ideas of Rousas John Rushdoony. Rushdoony, of course, is the father of "Christian Reconstructionism" which calls for an America based on old-Testament vengeance that makes strict forms of Muslim Sharia look like a free-thinking paradise. (Rushdoony believes that homosexuals, adulterers and even recalcitrant children should be stoned to death).

Since much of this book is based upon fears of a "slippery slope" leading to a future secular America (euthanasia, infanticide, mass abortion, etc.), it's hard to respond. But I have read his later book, "A Christian Manifesto" and, as a historian, I do feel qualified to comment on at least the historical references in the work dealing with the founding of the United States. It is a complete distortion of the settled facts, totally ignoring the importance of Enlightenment thinkers and twisting beyond recognition the role of reformation Christian thought.

I don't think that Schaeffer is dishonest in his distortion of the views of those with whom he disagrees; I simply believe he is blinded by the kind of theological/ideological blinders that make it impossible to carry on a rational discussion. Which brings me back to Lincoln's quote: "Those who like this kind of book will find it just the kind of book they like."