The “Mark of the Beast”

This past week Sweden did something atrocious. It codified religious discrimination in employment. Pro-life nurses, those who believe that killing is immoral, cannot work as midwives in Sweden. There is no consideration for conscientious objections to the killing of human beings. Midwives, regardless of their Christian faith or their personal beliefs, must be willing to kill children to work in a field that specializes in bringing life into the world. If governments force people to kill against their will in order to be employed, is there any belief an individual can hold that is not trumped by progressive social policy. This is immoral. There is no correlation between a woman’s “right” to have an abortion and making all health care providers participate in abortion. This is about social control. The government decided that there is only one acceptable position, and that is what the government decrees. If you think that this is just a Swedish thing you need to be aware that “progressive” nurses in the US have voiced similar sentiments in the past. Some leading nurses have said that individuals who do not support abortion should not be allowed to become nurses.

Nursing is about health care. Health care is enhancing and preserving life. Pregnancy is not a disease state but the indication of a healthy functioning body. Killing human beings is not health care, it is the opposite. So why is it reasonable to force people, against their deepest held beliefs, to participate in what is not health care?

Many Christians are waiting for the “mark of the beast” from the book of Revelation in the Bible. The site of this mark is said to be on the forehead and on the hand. They expect an implantable chip, a cashless society or something similar. If you don’t have the mark you will not be able to buy or sell (find employment or participate in society). However, I believe that this is a misunderstanding which would only apply once to the end of the age. Rather I think that this is something that confronts every generation. The mark could just as easily mean, “what you think” and “what you do”. When society or government compels us to think correctly (in opposition to God’s teaching) and to do that which is immoral or unethical (in opposition to God’s law) we have entered that system. Our right as autonomous human beings has been abrogated. Christians and independent thinkers need to resist the totalitarian impulses of government and culture in every age lest we find ourselves assimilated by the borg.