Vaccines, Embryos, and Ethics - Updated

NOTE: I'll be leaving this post at the top of my blog given it's importance. But will also be putting up some new posts below it. So scroll down and see those too! :-)

There are Covid vaccines now being given in our country and in the world. Many people have questions about these vaccines, because some vaccines are researched and developed using tissue from aborted babies. If we are pro-life (and we are!), which vaccines use this tissue and which ones do not? Which vaccines can we use? Are we morally culpable if we receive a vaccine that had been developed unethically? What if we didn't know it?

Here are some resources for you to answer or help answer these questions.

Regarding vaccines and how they were researched and developed:

Covid-19 vaccines

List of other vaccines

These lists are from the reliable pro-life Charlotte Lozier Institute.

Other reading:

How to think about moral complicity (from an LCMS scholar)

Information and writings from Lutherans for Life

What You Should Know about the Covid Vaccines (Dr. Grobien, LCMS Seminary Professor)

A Pastoral Letter on COVID and Vaccines (By me!)

A Pastoral Letter from LCMS President Matthew Harrison

LCMS COVID Vaccine Fact Sheet

COVID Vaccines and Fetal Cells: What's Ethical and What Isn't

(This last is from the Eternal Perspectives blog and is a very comprehensive article. Some of the information I have already linked to here, but there are some others links and videos as well. I have not watched them all so cannot vouch for them all, but lots of information here and this seems to me like a very sober and accurate assessment.)

The matter of moral complicity is a thorny and difficult issue to answer, and there are many things to take into consideration. So read and think about these things! 

Nailed It

The Synod referendum, that is. I predicted that 90% of the congregations who voted would approve. The count is now in: Yea - 3,371. Nay - 347. Approved by . . . 90.67%. 

So, for those of you old enough to remember . . .

Really?

 No.

Birds of a Feather . . .

I only got four birds pictured here, but we had a bunch more this morning, all sitting around our bird bath (heated!) and taking LOTS of drinks. Very thirsty. It's cold, so most of the water that is around is frozen. I got this heated bird bath for Father's Day (I think). Glad to help our feathered friends. :-)

Wait. What?

[Sadly,] just got this in an email from CPH . . .

It’s easier than ever to make use of the One and All Rejoice children’s hymnal. Add 181 new hymns to your library, along with 11 liturgies, 6 psalms, and an abundance of prayers and creeds. Create custom bulletins and inserts with your new hymns so the children in your congregation can sing praises this New Year!

Wait. What?? New creeds? No thank you! And just so you know, the children in my congregation already sing the hymns we sing as a congregation and it is a joy to hear their voices doing so!

We will not be purchasing this add on . . .

A Sad Day

A sad day for our children today. Their murder will continue. Sacrificed on the altar of false gods. It will probably become easier and our tax dollars pay for it. kyrie eleison

Another Good Quote

Found over on Pastor Weedon's blog . . .

Tradition is a set of solutions for which we have forgotten the problems. Throw away the solution and you get the problem back. Sometimes the problem has mutated or disappeared. Often it is still there as strong as it ever was.

~ Donald Kingsbury

This reminds me of something GK Chesterton said about finding seemingly useless fences in fields (and I am greatly paraphrasing here!): there's a reason it's there, or there was. Before you remove it, find out why it was put there in the first place. Only then, once you know the facts, act. 

How rashly we often act today, thinking we know better and so much more than those who have come before us. Pretty prideful and arrogant. We could all use more humility, don't you think?