Whatever Happened to the Human Race? (Revised Edition)

By C. Everett Koop, Francis A. Schaeffer, C Everett Koop

Book Overview

"If a mother can kill her own children, then what can be next?" Mother Teresa once asked.

What indeed?

Once the value of human life has been depreciated, as in Roe v. Wade and the Baby Doe Case, no one is safe. Once "quality of life" is substituted for the absolute value of human life itself, we all are endangered. Already respected scientists are calling for a time period following birth (a week or so) to decide if newborns have "sufficient quality of life" to be allowed to live. Already committees of "medical professionals" would like to decide whether the "quality of life" of the elderly or anyone seriously ill is high enough to allow them to go on living.

In this moving book, the renowned pediatric surgeon and Surgeon General of the United States, C. Everett Koop, M.D., joins with one of the leading Christian thinkers of our day, Francis A. Schaeffer, to analyze the widespread implications and frightening loss of human rights brought on by today's practices of abortion, infanticide, and euthanasia. They see the present as a crucial turning point. Choices are being made that undermine human rights at their most basic level. Practices once labeled "unthinkable" are now considered acceptable. The destruction of human life, young and old, is being sanctioned on an ever-increasing scale by the medical profession, by the courts, by parents, and by silent citizens.

"But what can I do?" you ask. "I'm just one person." You can start by reading this book. Yes, it will shock you. And it will make you weep. But it will also help you see how you can actually make a difference.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0891072918
• ISBN13: 9780891072911
• Release Date: June 1983
• Publisher: Crossway
• Length: 180 Pages
• Weight: 0.62 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.5" x 5.5" x 8.5"

Customer Reviews

Great book...

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

A Book That Said It All 25 years Ago

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.

Easy, Yet Comprehensive Analysis Of Moral Decline

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.

Accurate and Prophetic

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.