A quick diversion

I apologize for not being around much as I have been extremely busy with my other blog.

*runs and hides as tomatoes rain down upon my face*

Just kidding, Im not THAT popular. But recently I wrote a post on parents who kill their children. And that list is.. here

Is this list or is this list not a good argument for why we should keep abortion legal? These individuals obviously did not want their children. And I know that there are many who will spout that putting their children up for adoption is what they should have done. And I agree. BUT, what we think doesn't stop people from doing what they feel they need to do. These individuals wanted AWAY from their children for one reason or another, and when that need grows to critical mass, things like this happen. I am not excusing these individuals for harming their children, but I am attempting to understand their desperation.

When a person has a child, they can't undo it. That child will never go away no matter how much their presence tortures their progenitors. Unfortunately, this sometimes  leads an individual to want to do the next best thing in their mind: destroy them. Destroying the child is easier than coping with the mental distress of dealing with them directly or possibly dealing with them again in the future. It's just how human's are. We want what causes us less pain.

If the parent in question feels that their child must be "put away" I would rather it occur when the child can't feel the fear and pain that these children felt as they suffered and died. Its just the lesser of two evils. Pro-liars tend to believe that going against our nature will help us. It wont. A person is a person is a person. If a woman has a baby that she does not want and it ruins her life and drives her to desperation.. The mother has a chance of reacting in a horrible way. Do we want that? No. We don't. And I'm sure her infant most assuredly doesn't want it either.

(now I know that some very unhinged individuals believe that a 20 wk old fetus can feel fear and pain without the structures that support those functions in the body, namely the medulla oblongata (fear) and the cerebral cortex (pain). If any of those individuals are reading this post and have EVER made this argument in the past.. I have this quote for you:

"What you've just said is one of the most insanely idiotic things I have ever heard. At no point in your rambling, incoherent response were you even close to anything that could be considered a rational thought. Everyone in this room is now dumber for having listened to it. I award you no points, and may God have mercy on your soul." - Billy Madison)       

Biology and the Bible: Life at First Breath

     In the fetal circulatory system, there is a gap in the fetus's heart called the foramen ovale or "oval opening". This hole diverts blood flow from the lungs, thereby not allowing the lungs to function before fully developing seeing as how a developing fetus doesn't need its lungs while in amniotic fluid. Directly after birth or possibly sometime during, the baby takes their first breath. After this first breath, the oval opening closes, allowing blood to flow into the lungs and the lungs to begin working. This mere act of taking a breath declares the biological independence from its mother's body, and causes a change in the babies' biology until their death. It's a momentous occasion, which is why we celebrate BIRTHdays instead of "Conception days".

     In scripture, the first breath is also acknowledged as the beginning of life:

         Genesis 2:7 "And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul."

         Ezekiel 37:5-10 "Thus says the LORD God to these bones: Behold, I will cause breath to enter into you, and you shall live. I will lay sinews on you, and will bring up flesh on you, and cover you with skin, and put breath in you, and you shall live; and you shall know that I am the LORD. I saw, and, behold, there were sinews on them, and flesh came up, and skin covered them above; but there was no breath in them. Then said he to me, Prophesy to the wind, prophesy, son of man, and tell the wind, Thus says the LORD: Come from the four winds, breath, and breathe on these slain, that they may live. So I prophesied as he commanded me, and the breath came into them, and they lived, and stood up on their feet, an exceedingly great army." 

         Job 33:4 "The Spirit of God has made me, and the breath of the Almighty gives me life."

         

     It also shows in scripture that just because you are physical doesn't make you living: 

                    

          Habakkuk 2:19 "Woe to him who says to the wood,'Awake!' or to the mute stone,'Arise!' Shall this teach? Behold, it is overlaid with gold and silver, and there is no breath at all in its midst."

           Jeremiah 10:14 "Every man is become brutish and is without knowledge; every goldsmith is disappointed by his engraved image; for his molten image is falsehood, and there is no breath in them."  

           Ezekiel 37:8 "I saw, and, behold, there were sinews on them, and flesh came up, and skin covered them above; but there was no breath in them."

     The scriptures also say that only an organism that has the breath of life can die:

           Psalm 104:29 "When you hide your face, they are terrified; when you take away their breath, they die and return to the dust."

               1 Kings 17:17 "It happened after these things, that the son of the woman, the mistress of the house, fell sick; and his sickness was so sore, that there was no breath left in him."

     Life is the union of body and soul as portrayed in biblical text.The "breath of life" is considered in the bible to be the evidence that something or someone is a living being. We see here in multiple places that life does not begin in the womb according to the bible because of the absence of breath in the fetus' nostrils. Therefore logically, we can not conclude that abortion is indeed murder. Murder in the bible is the unjustified killing of a human being. One must think, WHY is murder a sin? The answer is relatively clear. How does a person sitting in church know that a person walking down the street is saved just by looking at them? Its impossible. To kill an individual means that one is sending them to their judgment early, not giving them a chance to be saved (at least in christian perspective).  Seeing as how the unborn do not have breath in their lungs and therefore do not have the breath of life, they cannot have a soul and therefore they do not exist in a spiritual sense. Look at this quote from the book of Ecclesiastes:

            

          ^"There is an evil which I have seen under the sun, and it is common among men: A man to whom God hath given riches, wealth, and honour, so that he wanteth nothing for his soul of all that he desireth, yet God giveth him not power to eat thereof, but a stranger eateth it: this is vanity, and it is an evil disease. If a man beget an hundred children, and live many years, so that the days of his years be many, and his soul be not filled with good, and also that he have no burial; I say, that an untimely birth is better than he. For he cometh in with vanity, and departeth in darkness, and his name shall be covered with darkness. Moreover he hath not seen the sun, nor known any thing: this hath more rest than the other." (6:1-5)

    This passage is incredibly powerful. Life is vanity (uselessness). King Solomon, the author of Ecclesiastes, was the wisest man on earth, whose knowledge was given to him by the Lord. Basically, he knows a thing or two. This passage not only states that an unborn child born "untimely" (abortion, prematurity, miscarriage) "cometh in with vanity, and departeth in darkness, and his name shall be covered in darkness". Solomon also states that the untimely birth is "better off than" the man who has a hundred children, many years of long life but no good within. Another position Solomon puts forth comes  a couple of chapters earlier.

           ^"So I returned, and considered all the oppressions that are done under the sun: and behold the tears of such as were oppressed, and they had no comforter; and on the side of their oppressors there was power; but they had no comforter. Wherefore I praised the dead which are already dead more than the living which are yet alive. Yea, better is he than both they, which hath not yet been, who hath not seen the evil work that is done under the sun." (4:1-3)

   The children that are unborn are not only better off than the "prosperous man" in chapter 6, but also in a better position than the living and the dead of the earth in chapter 4. Seeing as how these individuals who have not yet been foreshadow the thoughts on the antithesis to the "prosperous man", they are on "high ground" for they have more rest and they have never seen the evil done under the sun. Therefore, with these thoughts in mind, what questions are we to ask of the "Pro-Life" movement? Do they truly care for these unborn children? Why, when an unborn child is deemed "unwanted" by their parents, do the "Pro-Lifers" argue so vehemently FOR the power to impose the vanity and evil of this world onto an innocent child? Think, but do not attempt to answer this question. 

    Many of the "Pro-lifers" that I have spoken to have the tendency to see this world with a side of sugar cookies, proclaiming "beauty" and other lovely things about this world. I see no beauty in this life. There is starvation, hatred, misogyny, human trafficking, poverty, disease, rape, futility, stress, abuse, injustice, corruption, crime, and suffering throughout this entire world. And somehow, "Pro-Lifers" find an excuse to force this on a child who is coming into this world.. alone. They say "It isn't the baby's fault" whenever they talk about abortion. I agree. It isn't their fault that this world sucks so bad, it isn't their fault that their mommy was too poor to buy good birth control and now they must be sold to the highest bidder in some orphanage either.  I don't think it's their fault at all.

    "Pro-Life" says that a child has the "right" to be born to a mother who doesn't want them. Someone tell me please.. Who on earth would like to exercise that right? If the woman who conceived me would rather throw me in a garbage can than take me home, why in the name of all creation would I want her caring for me!? Unwanted pregnancies and births are downright catastrophic to people who are not prepared, ESPECIALLY the child. The child takes the coup de grace while the family tries to stay afloat in the economic strain of feeding this excess belly. This scenario WILL frustrate the parents. And now for the bad news: we're human. These unwanted children forced upon people through emotional blackmail and flawed exegesis will now no longer be worth the strain. Their lives will be considered a burden and they will be treated as such. This isn't news.

     It is a well known fact in the fields of Psychology, Sociology and other behavioral sciences that unwanted children are at the absolute highest risk of physical and emotional abuse. "Pro-Life" denies this outright, not only to further its agenda, but at the harm of millions of children. How could a community that claims to care so much for all these children, immediately turn around to produce legislation that would offer abuse, abandonment (adoption as a mainstream practice), and neglect of innocent children?

"Pro-Life" claims that its position is biblical and logical. as you can see from the evidence in this post and the many more to come, this is not true. I will be back to talk of 2 more facets of this issue that "Pro-Life" holds so dear to its cause, the proposed alternatives to abortion and the concept of "personhood".                                        

     

         

 
        
   

So, first comes first..

   Brief overview. When DOES life begin? Many people say its when an individual takes their first breath, many others say at conception, and other people don't know. Before I go any farther, we must first define what life is. Is it physical or spiritual? Is it the heartbeat/brainwaves or the soul? 

  Medically, a fetus is considered a parasite until it leaves the woman's body (then many others say it continues on to be a different parasite). In Scriptures they aren't considered to be living until their first breath (Genesis, Acts, Revelations, 1 Kings, Job, Ezekiel, Jeremiah, and more) and aren't considered actual people until over a month old (Leviticus, Numbers). And scientifically, A fetus does not meet all the standards for an alive being. An alive being must be able to grow/develop, obtain and implement energy, move, respond to the environment, adapt or learn,and reproduce. Fetuses grow, move (sporadically), It obtains energy from its mother and uses it to develop, It has no environment to respond to (the womb is like a sensory deprivation tank)until it develops further, the fetus does not learn or adapt because its brain is not developed yet, and lastly, it cannot reproduce in such a state. Therefore scientifically, it cannot be alive.     

  So, medically, scientifically and scripturally it doesn't make sense that the fetus would be alive, let alone have the same rights as you or me, ESPECIALLY if it was inhabiting our bodies against our will. It's the "I was here first, get out" mentality and I have no problem with that. I will cross-reference the biology and the bible with reference to the idea that life begins at the first breath, because this idea is really the only one that makes sense.              

First come the questions...

   So, let me get this straight, "Pro-life".... Abortion is murder? Life begins at conception you say? All children that are put up for adoption are indeed adopted? Relinquishing your children into an obscure system and making the outcomes of their lives a glaring variable is to be commended? That "slut" wanted to be raped? Pregnancy is a "minor inconvenience"? The personhood and rights of a fetus override those of its mother? ALL life is sacred? Contraceptives are evil? Outlawing Abortion gets rid of the need for Abortions?...

This list goes on, believe me.

I am going to come right up front and say that I am a <shudder> Christian. I hate admitting that and prefer to call myself a Believer of Christ instead, because the word "Christian" usually brings "hypocritical religious fascist" to mind. To all my readers right here right now, I will tell you that I accept and respect all walks of life, and I am not here to cast stones. But even with those values in place, I am appalled at the actions of conservative "Pro-life" Christians today. They strive to pass legislation that will oppress women, make light of a child's quality of life, promote child abuse, promote poverty, promote child abandonment, promote more gender inequality, Promote discrimination based on sex, and make scathing attempts to reduce a woman's status to that of a walking uterus. I am writing this blog today to educate Christians and non-Christians alike, as there is SO MUCH MORE than just a biblical evidence that the "Pro-life" endorsed legislation will not fix our societal ailments, but will make them much, MUCH worse. Knowledge is your greatest weapon here, and reason mightier than the sharpest sword. I may be Christian, but I didn't get my left hemisphere removed. 

I also wish for this blog to be a place of support for those couples and single women who have made the decision to terminate a pregnancy. If all that I can do is make you guys feel better for just 1 day, then I would be a happy person. There is no reason for you to be thought of and persecuted like this, you made a personal decision that you felt was right for you and that SHOULD be enough for this world, but sadly, it isn't. Hopefully, I can provide a safe haven for you to get things off your chest in a warm welcoming atmosphere. You are welcome. :]

As I continue posting here, I will research to answer the hard questions "Pro-lifers" throw at us. I'll look at both the biblical scriptures in context (for questions unanswerable by science) and good old human influence (for questions answerable by examples from our past and present). I will also be making connections between the scriptures and the reality we have today, and yeah they actually do exist. So lets move forward together.