I find it interesting when I hear a person say "Personally, I think abortion is wrong, but I'm not going to prevent others from having one." The first thing I wonder is why they personally think abortion is wrong? Why is abortion a wrong choice for them? What do they think is so wrong or bad about an abortion that they wouldn't have one?
The second thing I wonder is why they wouldn't want to prevent someone else from having an abortion? If they think abortion is bad for them personally, wouldn't they want to protect others from abortion? It would be interesting to know if people that hold this viewpoint support laws that prevent born human beings from killing other human beings. If they do, aren't they're preventing others from committing murder? Why do they think it's ok to legally prevent born human beings from killing other born human beings, but think it's wrong to legally prevent born human beings from killing preborn human beings?
Are people that hold this viewpoint being open minded, or are they straddling the fence on the abortion issue? What do you think?
No matter what the circumstances are in which a human life is conceived, each life is a miracle from God. Even though it might not be immediately apparent to us, God has a plan and purpose for each human life. Children that may not be what we consider "normal" are still special, and are a blessing from God. Nobody should assume that such people are going to have a bad life. Only God knows what is in store for them. Many people don't realize that children and adults with special challenges often times help others to grow and become better people. The following is a music video by Bruce Carroll called "Sometimes Miracles Hide". It's a beautiful song about how children are miracles, even though we may not see it or realize it. I hope the video touches your heart, as it did mine. A specal thanks to my Twitter friend Stephanie for sharing this video with me.
The following is a list of some of the rights women should have:
The right to have any job that a man can have, and get paid the same amount for it.
The right to work outside the home, if she so chooses.
The right to be a stay at home mom, if she so chooses.
The right to breastfeed in public.
The right to be treated equally with men.
The right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
In 1973 in the United States, women were granted a right that is outright wrong, and that is the right to kill her unborn child via abortion. This right is just as wrong as the right Americans were given many years ago to own slaves. Americans finally came to realize that slavery was wrong, and made slavery illegal. Americans, and the entire world, need to realize that nobody should have the right to take anyone's life, no matter what their stage of development. Women, men, and children, both born and unborn, have the right to life, liberty, and the the pursuit of happiness. Women who experience unwanted pregnancies are in very difficult circumstances, without a doubt, but disposing of an unborn child is never a viable solution.
I've been having discussions with several people on Twitter recently concerning artificial contraception (birth control). As a Roman Catholic, I believe that the use of artificial contraception is wrong. If people want to avoid or regulate pregnancies, I believe that Natural Family Planning (NFP) should be used. NFP takes advantage of the natural cycles of fertility and infertility that are built into a woman's body to avoid or regulate pregnancy, and can even be used to achieve pregnancy. Artificial contraception, on the other hand, is only used to avoid pregnancy. Some types of artificial contraception have serious possible side effects. For example, one of the possible side effects of using the birth control pill (BCP) is stroke. I personally know of a woman who suffered a stroke as a direct result of using BCP's. Yesterday someone said that they could understand my opposition to the use of BCP's (presumably because of the aforementioned side effects), but they couldn't understand why I'm against the use of condoms. While I can see the benefit of using condoms to prevent the spread of infectious diseases like AIDS and STD's, I am against condoms and other forms of artificial birth control because of the effect that artificial birth control has on society. The easiest way for me to explain what I mean is this: imagine what the world would be like if artificial birth control was never invented. Some people might say that STD's would be rampant, and our world would quickly become overpopulated. I believe that the result would be different. If there was no artificial birth control, people would think twice about having sex outside of a marital context. This would result in a decrease in divorces due to marital infidelity, a reduction in STD's, a reduction in the number of unwanted pregnancies, which in return would result in a reduction in the number of abortions. NFP could be used to regulate the number of births to avoid a population explosion.
So, to answer my friend's question about why I am against the use of condoms, I say that it is not so much because it is bad for me, but because of the negative effect the use of condoms and other forms of artificial birth control have on society. I feel the same way about the use of alcohol. If I had it my way, the use of alcohol would be banned. I can drink alcohol responsibly, but I can see that there are many people in society who can't. Some people become addicted to it. Many people die every year at the hands of drunk drivers. I feel alcohol consumption should be banned for the good of society.
While I feel artificial contraception should be banned for the good of society, also, I do realize that if we just ban artificial contraception, and do nothing to instill morality in people, we will run into a lot of problems. In addition to telling people not to use artificial birth control, I also share with people the benefit of only having sexual relations within a marital context. It will be difficult to eliminate the use of artificial birth control until we can find a way to infuse morality into our society.
If people can begin to see the "big picture" of sexual morality, this world will quickly become a much healthier and happier place to live.
U.S. Representative Trent Franks of Arizona gave a talk recently regarding abortion, slavery, and personhood. He made several excellent points in his talk, especially how people dehumanize the human fetus in order to make abortion seem morally acceptable. He was also right-on when he referred to abortion as a "holocaust". When it comes to the abortion issue, Representative Franks "gets it". Do you?
The song entitled "Breathe" is one of my favorite worship songs. One of my favorite versions of the song was sung by John Tesh, who used to co-host the Entertainment Tonight show. Here is a recording of John singing Breathe at Red Rocks. I hope the video brings you closer to Jesus, and to those in the world around you. Peace be with you.
This is a beautiful musical tribute to Billy Graham's wife Ruth by singer and song writer Fernando Ortega. The song is called "Give Me Jesus". I hope it touches your heart.
