We are often not aware of the origin of many phrases and sayings we use. Do you remember hearing the saying, “A rose by any other name is still a rose”? It has many variations, but it appears that Shakespeare used it first in Romeo and Juliet. In the balcony scene, Juliet unknowingly said to Romeo that the fact his last name was Montague did not matter to her. “A rose by any other name would still smell as sweet.” Read the rest of this article, and you will understand why I entitled it the way I did.
Many have little knowledge of the horrendous way men in ancient times abused children. The phrase “children passed through the fire” is found 12 times in the Old Testament. It describes the practice of the nation of Israel and its kings taking infants and burning them alive at the altar of Molech. Such practices show how far God’s people had moved away from Him.
It was not only the Jews who did this. The Egyptians threw their infants into the Nile River believing that this sacrifice would ensure greater crops when they were harvested. Their prosperity was more important than their offspring.
The practice of the Greeks and Romans was even more gruesome. If the child which was born was unwanted, they would leave them outside their homes to suffer whatever fate came. Some who were left naked froze to death. Others died of starvation or were eaten by wild animals. Those not left outside their homes were taken to an appointed rubbish heap, where they were left lying on the manure that was there.
There is evidence that the disposal of unwanted infants was so widespread. It was done in Syria, Carthage, Phoenicia, Moab, Canaan, among Germanic tribes, Australia (the aborigines), Arabia, Britain, China, Finland, Iceland, India, Japan, Kenya, Nigeria, Russia, Sweden, Bolivia, Brazil, Columbia, Peru, Paraguay and in America by the Incas and the Aztecs. This list is not complete, but it shows just how far the world through the ages has almost no regard for some children. Such is the nature of paganism.
Aren’t you so thankful that you were not born in a world which had so little regard for helpless infants? Isn’t it wonderful that we live in such a civilized society? It is so easy to read what was practiced in ancient times and think that it is only part of the ancient past.
Last week, the state of New York made abortion legal at any time. One advocate of the law affirmed it was legal even if dilation had begun. A rose by any other name is still a rose, and pagan slaughter of unwanted infants is still murder even if called pro-choice. Our practices are identical to those of the ancient pagans!