Friday, July 29, 2022

The State of Indiana debates Abortion legislation

 I am listening to a debate on proposed abortion legislation by the Indiana State Senate.  One state senator just said he was trying to keep his religious values out of the discussion.  That response seemed strange.  How can you keep your beliefs on the subject out of your mind? They are now talking about religious faiths pushing opinions.  Now they are talking about the science of this issue. "God is not pro rape" was a comment just made by another person as a way of addressing why rape should not be used as an exception to an abortion.?  I assume he was trying to say that God would not approve of a child born due to a rape?

 They don't seem to understand.  if the behavior and culture that causes and supports an  abortion continues, the problem of abortion will still exist. 
 
Get to the foundation of the problem.  Sex outside of marriage, and understanding that a sex act can lead to a child is the issue.  Then the criminal activities where women are raped.
 
I don't know when abortions began.  But, imagine if someone thought that when Mary was pregnant with Jesus ,that her baby should be aborted?
 
But if a woman raped does not want to be the mother of the child why make her give birth? The whole issue is unfortunate and as is based on sin.  Now we are in a position of trying to repair the sin by our human un Godly legislative system.  Truly a broken world. 

Romans 1:29-32 addresses the wickedness of man.  It talks about how we as humans create new ways of sinning.  Somewhere in time humanity created the practice of abortion.  If we were as intelligent as we claim to be we never would have initiated the practice.  It goes against everything we were created for.  

So the human legislative debates continue.  Doomed to ultimate failure unless we get back to the original concept and behaviors that God had in mind for us to adhere to.


Monday, July 11, 2022

The Abortion Debate in the United States

The Supreme Court, the man-made final arbitrator of human justice in the United States, recently over ruled a 50-year-old Supreme Court decision that allowed abortions in the United States.  The decision had been leaked several months ago, so we were forewarned.  The reaction to the official decision was the same as when the leaked draft surfaced.  Outrage or joy, depending on which side of the issue you were on.

For those overjoyed, the common theme seemed to be that we as human beings have the authoity to do whatever we want to do.  That authority impacts the life of a child not yet "born" into the world.  The "logic" being that since it's the woman's body, she has the right to decide if the unborn child will live to see the world.

This whole abortion issue is similar to a train that has derailed.  Abortion as an option is the result of not using birth control, failed birth control, or sex forced upon a woman.  Why not try to ensure that any consensual sex between a male and a female will not lead to an unwanted pregnancy?  Is it not the unwanted pregnancy that leads to an abortion?  If not for the unprotected sexual activity, abortion would not be necessary in cases where the sex act was just for pleasure, not for creation of a child.  Yes, the sexual pleasure desires of humans and our failure to manage those desires, might seem to make talking about showing restraint from sexual activity a waste of time.  Does that mean we should give up trying to control ourselves and not prepare for when restraint does not work?  What is a better human alternative?  Birth control, or the ending of the life of a fetus in a woman's womb via an abortion?  Yes, each prevents a life from being developed, but the fetus in a woman is a life that already has begun to develop.  The fetus just has not entered the outside world that the rest of us have been allowed to join.

Yes, I know that a woman raped is something that cannot be a pre-planned avoidance.  The penalty for rape should be increased to filter in the impact of a woman having to make a possible abortion decision.  If the rape leads to the termination of a life inside a woman, shouldn't the perpetrator of the rape face the same consequences, death?  Deuteronomy 22:25 (NLT) "But if the man meets the engaged woman out in the country, and he rapes her, then only the man must die.  Do nothing to the young woman; she has committed no crime worthy of death?  She is as innocent as a murder victim".  Does this not also apply to the unborn child?  Do nothing to the unborn child except let it develop to live.  Whether the mother chooses to give up the child for adoption is a follow up decision.  Health care should be made available to the woman who was raped to allow her and the fetus to get more than adequate child care.  Emotional support is needed before and after the birth.

I started to read the text of the Supreme Court decision.  It quickly became a jumble of references to past court decisions and other legalistic terms.  It was clear that the decision was merely a human discussion absent of any spiritual references regarding the "rights" of men and women.  The decision was just more human stupidity dressed up and covered with a layer of human arrogance on how intelligent we are to decide issues of our own making via a "Supreme Court".  The decision had no reference to people having been created by God.  There was no acknowledgement that we as people are not the original creators of ourselves.  There was no discussion of how our Creator made humanity and then limits set upon us on what we could do and could not do.

The decision mechanically focused on the 1972 Roe vs Wade decision and the 1992 Planned Parenthood of Southeastern Pennsylvania vs Casey follow up decision that allowed Roe vs Wade to stand as the legal law of the land.  Although the recent court decision overturned Roe vs Wade, it still seems to take the stance that our Creator bestowed upon us the right to do whatever the hell we want to do!  In this case, the Supreme Court has said each individual state needs to make a determination on the abortion issue.  The court decision did not contain a graphic that outlined the process of our Creator making us, and then delegating all authority and human rights to us.  So where does this concept of "human rights" come from?  Where does the notion of "women's rights" to control what happens to their body originate from?  Does it come from us pushing aside God, our Creator and saying, "Thanks God, but we got it now!  We don't need or want your limitations on us and our behavior.  We can do just as well without you."  So I ask you humanity, how has that worked out based on our record of conduct on this planet?

Some opponents of abortion approach the issue from a spiritual perspective.  God created life.  We are to follow God's guidelines on issues dealing with the ending of a life.  The question can be asked, does the Bible or other spiritual book address the issue of abortion?  Not directly.   Some say that Genesis 9 and Galaitians 1:15-16 indirectly state that abortion is not an option for humans to take.  Abortion is something humanity created.  Romans 1:30b, "They invent new ways of sinning." (NLT)

Human history shows that in the Catholic faith, the belief was that the human soul entered the body 40 days after conception for males and 80 days for females.  There was no explanation for the difference in the number of days.  It seems as if it may have been an arbitrary decision made by men.  It was also thought that life was not present until the woman felt movement which was labeled, quickening.  Prior to quickening women would take herbal abortifacients to induce a miscarriage.  Abortions became more prominent in the 1800's, for those who could afford one.  Poor women continued to use herbs.  Abortion then transformed into  a social, religious, political issue.

Abortion was outlawed in numerous states in the mid to late 1800's.  The use of abortion was felt as being a method of white women to control fertility and that would lead to a reduction of the white race.  There was even some thought that as long as the child was aborted before it left the birth canal, it has not been born into the world and in such a situation the abortion was justified.  The development of a baby inside a woman has been documented.  The baby's heart beats after four to six weeks as a fetus.  Fingers, toes, and eyes start to develop.  The cycle of the miracle of birth is in progress.  It also has been discussed that a fetus can feel pain in the womb.  Do we have to go even further and video tape a view of the fetus/baby at the point of being aborted to document the pain the unborn child goes through in the abortion process?

The question of when is life viable after conception occurs, was also discussed in the Supreme Court decision.  Key to the discussion is the human definition that "life" begins once the baby has come out of the birth canal into the world.  If the fetus has an active heartbeat, is that not some indication that life exists within the woman's womb?  Are not people declared dead when there is no pulse or heart beat?  If there is a heartbeat the person is still alive, correct?  Man's knowledge limitations and lack of  medical ingenuity and competence does not make us qualified to determine when is life viable.  Human medical practices and understanding of the human body have advanced over the course of our existence.  Our human ability to preserve the life of a child born before the completion of 9 months in te womb, has improved.  Psalm 139:13-16; Luke 1:41; Ecclesiastes 11:5; and Jerimiah 1:5 all attest to the fact that life inside the womb is in fact, life that is developing.  The same life we develop further outside the womb.  Do we as people abort the lives of our children if we believe they will not have a viable, successful human life on earth?  No, we are not allowed to make those type of judgments.  We should therefore not be allowed to make judgments on the value of the growing child within the womb of the mother.  Abortion is a death penalty judgment against the child within the womb, without the child being able to defend their case for life.  It is comparable to a ruling of guilty made against a person in the outside world, without having a trial.  Pre term, premature babies need extra care, but continued life is viable for them.

If there ever was a spiritual discussion of abortion as a forbidden action of God's people, it has been lost amongst the human arrogance that continues to this day.  We are now in an era of "human rights" supplemented by "women's rights" that somehow overcomes all, even the authority of God over us.  Phillipians 4:19 describes how God will supply all of our needs from God's glorious riches.  What we have misunderstood as humans is that among all those whose lives were aborted over the years were people God was sending us to take care of our needs.  Aborted were peacemakers.  Those human beings with the gift to guide conflicts, wars, and violent actions to a peaceful agreed upon solution.  Aborted were scientists and doctors.  Those human beings who had they been allowed to live would have guided us to find the medical cures for cancer, Alzheimer's and many other diseases that now plague and torment us in this world.  Human beings who would have guided us to find worldly techniques with a spiritual foundation to address involuntary homelessness and poverty.  Through abortion we have destroyed the gifts that God was giving us to improve the quality of our lives.  Our support of abortion further dooms us and takes away what God is providing for us.  Is that so difficult to understand?

Where are we now?  We continue to march in circles over the issue, when it should not be an issue at all.  The Supreme Court of the United States has ruled that each state must address the abortion issue.  A number of states have already taken the view that abortions in most cases are illegal.  But the behavior that is the source of the abortion problem continues.  We need a process where the child of a woman conceived via a rape is allowed to become the best person they can be.  The life of that child needs to be supported.  The rapist must be held accountable for the child to include financial accountability for assisting with the child's development.  If the mother does not want to keep the child, let's have in place an adoption process to support the child.  Is killing the child of a rapist the solution?  Additionally, we need a process that helps a woman recover from the trauma of rape.

We have collectively taken our eyes off the source of the problem that leads to abortion.  Each of us needs to look in the mirror and point your finger at the reflection you see.  We are the problem and the reason why abortion exist.  The Supreme Court decision allows us to call time out, regroup, and get back onto the path that God established for us to follow.  To cherish life, not destroy it.  To cherish the ability to create life.  Where are you on this issue of abortion?