Whose Pain Is It Anyway? - A Look at Pain Management

Ethical & Social Issues Ethics

Whose Pain Is It Anyway? – A Look at Pain Management

Rev. Robert Fleischmann, National Director, Christian Life Resources A while back I attended an ethics seminar in which the speaker said that 50% of pain medication requests come from family members, not the patient. In another survey, nurses estimate that…

Read This Post

Trained to Live Forever: End-of-Life Resuscitation Orders

People don’t want to talk about dying. In 2015, according to the Funeral and Memorial Information Council, 69% of adults over the age of 40 indicated they would prefer to pre-arrange their funeral but only 17% actually did so. Conversely,…

Read This Post

Who Assists with Suicide

By Rev. Robert Fleischmann, National Director of Christian Life Resources The exhausting effort to legalize assisted suicide is like so many other ill-conceived notions of our times. The persuasive forces of video and social media advocates for “aid in dying”…

Read This Post

Fatal Flaw

By Rev. Robert Fleischmann, National Director of Christian Life Resources The tenets of evolution and creation conflict on many points but none as significantly as on the reality of original sin. The Lutheran Catechism defines original sin as: “The guilt…

Read This Post

Faith and Planned Parenthood

By Robert Fleischmann, National Director of Christian Life Resources In 2015 The Center for Medical Progress secretly video recorded conversations with executives from Planned Parenthood. The topic was the gruesome practice of selling fetal body parts to researchers. The expose made national…

Read This Post

Looking Down the Road

In the Old Testament, Adam and Eve demonstrated shortsightedness when they ate the forbidden tree in the Garden of Eden (Genesis 3). When Cain killed Abel (Genesis 4), he failed to consider the consequence of his action. Lot never considered…

Read This Post

When Working with Human DNA, It’s Best to Be As Accurate As Possible

By Robert Fleischmann, National Director of Christian Life Resources This headline was actually a sentence buried in a July 28, 2017 article on gene editing of human embryos in the United States. For those of you who are new to…

Read This Post

It Depends How You Say It

Rev. Robert Fleischmann, National Director, Christian Life Resources When the United States legalized abortion on January 22, 1973, the language changed. No longer was a little one growing and kicking in the womb referred to as a “baby.” Rather, the…

Read This Post

A Tiny Step – A Look at Quality of Life Arguments

Rev. Robert Fleischmann, Christian Life Resources National Director C. Everett Koop served as the U.S. Surgeon general from 1982-1989. He also served as a main speaker at an early Christian Life Resources convention. It was a tumultuous time in the…

Read This Post

G. U. L. A. G. – A Look at Ethnic Cleansing and Abortion

Rev. Fred Toppe Do you know these initials? They stand for Glavnoe upravlenie ispravitel’no-trudovykh lagerei, the Russian words for Chief Administration of Corrective Labor Camps. The GULAG was in operation in the former Soviet Union from the early 1920s until…

Read This Post

Inconvenient People and the Quality of Life

Rev. Thomas Trapp An interview with Kenneth Schleef, a Christian with cerebral palsy. Q: Your appearance at a Life Chain told me you’re concerned about life issues. I also know you have cerebral palsy. Tell me about your cerebral palsy…

Read This Post

Is An Objection on Religious Grounds Enough?

Rev. Robert Fleischmann, National Director of Christian Life Resources “The path of least resistance is the path of the loser.” [attributed to H.G. Wells, 1866-1946] We have done it before, and it appears we are poised to do it again….

Read This Post

Stem Cell Research: Is There a Benefit?

Rev. Robert Fleischmann, National Director, Christian Life Resources Upon fertilization, life begins an amazing journey of cell division, differentiation, and finally maturation. Between fertilization and differentiation, life is in its embryonic stage. The cells that divide are “generic” in nature…

Read This Post

How Small Is Too Small? – Issues Surrounding the Low-Birth-Weight Infant

Linda L. Bellig, RN, BSN My first job as a new RN in 1969 was in the special care nursery at Babies Hospital in New York City. The environment was cutting-edge. We rigged adult ventilators for babies, grappled with the…

Read This Post

What Should I Do?

By Rev. Robert Fleischmann, National Director, Christian Life Resources As life and family issues continue to expand, it’s often difficult to sort them out. Even church bodies differ on a particular issue though they claim to have the same Bible….

Read This Post

Transformed

By Rev. Robert Fleischmann, National Director, Christian Life Resources “I sure miss kindergarten.” I know you have heard or read these words from me before. The older I get the more I miss the simplicity of life that I enjoyed…

Read This Post

AI on Our Side

By Rev. Robert Fleischmann, National Director of Christian Life Resources When I speak about artificial intelligence (AI), I suspect I sound alarmist. Some of what I read about AI development is concerning. Yet, I have long felt that technological advancements…

Read This Post

Q&A on Genetic Testing of Preborn Children

QUESTION: Is genetic testing of preborn children acceptable for Christians? ANSWER: The answer to your question requires some clarification, because there are many variables that come into consideration. Some parents are concerned about a genetic disease that could be passed…

Read This Post

God’s Life-Giving Love Is Active at Conception

Prof. Ryan MacPherson, Bioethics Professor at Bethany Lutheran College, Mankato, MN When does human life begin? This question has perplexed our generation and divided our nation. The stakes are quite high. If a human embryo is a person, then abortion…

Read This Post

Life Worth Living

By Ben Berger On June 22, 2015, Simona De Moor of Belgium was euthanized. She was a healthy 85  year old who saw her death as her only reprieve from the grief of losing her daughter several months before.[i] On…

Read This Post

Christian Life Resources’ Euthanasia Position Statement

This Christian Life Resources Position Statement on Euthanasia was adopted by the organization’s National Congress to state its position on issues that are addressed by CLR, in this case, on the subject of euthanasia. Christian Life Resources Position Statement on Euthanasia PREAMBLE…

Read This Post

Leading Cause of Death?

Rev. Robert Fleischmann, National Director, Christian Life Resources We tend to think biologically when it comes to death. According to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) the top five leading causes of death in the United States are: Heart disease: 647,457…

Read This Post

At What Cost? – A Look at Medical Progress and Embryonic Stem Cell Research

Rev. Robert Fleischmann, National Director, Christian Life Resources I live today because of medical progress. I was born prematurely in 1956 with a condition called “atrial septal defect.” That means I had a hole in the heart. Not just any…

Read This Post

Embryonic Stem Cells Present Ethical Limits

David A. Kaufmann, Ph.D. What is stem cell research, and what is the Biblical Christian view of it? What is Stem Cell Research? Stem cells are living units that can grow and differentiate into multiple, different types of advanced, mature…

Read This Post

Mary Ann’s Story: A Journey of Faith (An Adult Stem Cell Success Story)

Mrs. Amy Schultz Editor’s Note: Much debate today about stem cell research should really be divided between (1) embryonic stem cell research and (2) adult or cord blood stem cell research. CLR has condemned embryonic stem cell research because in…

Read This Post

Embryonic Stem Cell Research: People’s Arguments and A Christian’s Response

When People Say: “Embryonic stem cell research is necessary to further the work toward a cure for deadly diseases or injuries.” All of us likely fear that one of those “deadly diseases” may strike someone we love or ourselves. We…

Read This Post

What the Bible Says About Organ Transplants

Bobby A. Howard, RN, BSN, MDiv In this era of rapidly advancing health care technology, on a daily basis Christian nurses are confronted with critical issues that result in questions and doubt concerning the relationship between Christian ethics and modern…

Read This Post

Cloning: Where Will It All End?

Rev. Robert Fleischmann, National Director, Christian Life Resources On February 24, 1997, it rocked the scientific community and stimulated the exaggerated imaginations of sci-fi enthusiasts. Scottish scientists cloned a sheep and named it “Dolly.” Fantasies fostered in fiction and played…

Read This Post

The Value of Human Life

Rev. Robert R. Fleischmann, National Director, Christian Life Resources It is becoming more difficult to know what to do in life and death situations. Advancements in medicine, challenges in the court, and changing opinions have raised questions about when life…

Read This Post

God Alone Has the Right to Initiate and Terminate Life // Bible Study

Read the Following Passages: Deuteronomy 32:39 See now that I myself am He! There is no god besides me. I put to death and I bring to life, I have wounded and I will heal, and no one can deliver…

Read This Post

Christian Life Resources Abortion Position Statement

Preamble Abstract Background Terminology The Issues Section 1: What the Scriptures Say About Human Life Human Beings are Unique and Prized in All God’s Creation Human Beings Consist of Body and Soul Human Beings Exist in the Womb Protecting the…

Read This Post

A Consistent Ethic

Rev. Robert Fleischmann, National Director, Christian Life Resources The way in which people conduct their lives is often framed by their ethical standards — whether in business, medicine, the justice system, and even their Christian living. The problem is people…

Read This Post

Q&A on the Modern Eugenics Movement

QUESTION: I’ve heard about the eugenics movement, but I thought that essentially ended with the atrocities of the Nazi regime. Does the eugenics movement still exist today? ANSWER: The eugenics movement is more comprehensive than most people realize. A review of…

Read This Post

Eugenics Revisited

The 19th and early 20th centuries saw an emergence of the eugenics movement in which eugenic sterilization, anti-immigrant advocacy, and anti-mixed race marriage activism all played crucial roles in the goal of advancing social control by a small elite. This…

Read This Post

Eugenics and the Quality of Life

Rev. Robert Fleischmann, National Director, Christian Life Resources There will be terrible times in the last days. People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without…

Read This Post

Defending the ‘Defective’

In 1915 Dr. Harry Haiselden, the chief of staff at German-American Hospital on Chicago’s near north side, made national headlines for his contribution to the eugenics movement. Haiselden gained front-page notoriety on the issue of eugenic euthanasia. In November of…

Read This Post

Cherish the Quality of Life

Rev. Paul Prange When I was a boy, my parents took me more than once to visit Bethesda Lutheran Home (located in Watertown, Wisconsin). When it was still operating, it was a home for the developmentally disabled. I recall being…

Read This Post

Wretched Refuse

Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free The wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me, I lift my lamp beside the golden door! (Excerpted from The New Colossus…

Read This Post

Evolution: A Fatal Equalizer

Rev. Robert Fleischmann, CLR National Director I have had the opportunity to visit the Creation Museum in Kentucky (www.creationmuseum.org) several times. If you have not seen it – go! It is an incredibly professional testimony to the creation account and…

Read This Post

The Acquiescence of Sin

Rev. Robert Fleischmann, Christian Life Resources National Director ac•qui•es•cence – [ak-wee-esuhns] – the act or condition of acquiescing or giving tacit assent; agreement or consent by silence or without objection; compliance. sin – transgression of divine law [Source: www.dictionary.com] In…

Read This Post

Subtle Verbal Splicing

Pastor Robert Fleischmann Did you see the July 4, 2016 issue of Time magazine? In her lead story on the potentials and pitfalls of CRISPR (the process for DNA splicing) Alice Park overlooks the first ethical problem with her own…

Read This Post

Q&A on Medical Technology

QUESTION: If medical technology gives us cures derived from taking lives, should Christians refuse that treatment even if it means possibly a shortening of our own life? ANSWER: Underlying your question is the suggestion that using such medical technology may…

Read This Post

Boys, Girls, and Everything In-Between

Rev. Robert Fleischmann, National Director, Christian Life Resources It can be dangerous to express an opinion on the state of sexuality in today’s world. Once it is known, such expression on this contentious subject can result in dissension among loved…

Read This Post

A Dark Passing Cloud

By Rev. Robert Fleischmann, National Director of Christian Life Resources   In 1973 when the U.S. Supreme Court legalized abortion in the infamous Roe v. Wade case, pro-life forces warned that this decision placed us on a “slippery slope.” It…

Read This Post

Charlie Gard Is Us

By Robert Fleischmann, National Director of Christian Life Resources, July 18, 2017 Charles (Charlie) Gard was born on August 4, 2016. He was diagnosed with infantile-onset encephalomyopathic mitochondrial DNA depletion syndrome (also known as MDDS). Simply stated, Charlie’s brain is…

Read This Post

Please consider a gift to help us share the message of grace.

Donate Give Monthly

FOR CLR MINISTRY UPDATES