May God bless you with discomfort
at easy answers, half-truths, and superficial relationships
so that you may live deep within your heart.
May God bless you with anger
at injustice, oppression, and exploitation of people
so that you may work for justice, freedom, and peace.
May God bless you with tears
to shed for those who suffer pain, rejection, hunger, and war
so that you may reach out your hand to comfort them
and turn their pain into joy.
And may God bless you with enough foolishness
to believe that you can make a difference in the world,
so that you can do what others claim cannot be done
to bring justice and kindness to all our children and the poor.
Amen.
* * *
I'm going to begin with a fact I hope you know is true and I'm going to ask you to continue reading. Please know that my intention is not to offend anyone, merely to stimulate thought, conversation, and maybe even a different pattern in action, all in an honest, truthful way. If you find a peice of information posted here to be invalid, please point it out and ask me to address it in the "comments" section. Here I go.
Abortion is legal in the United States.
Before I continue, I think abortion should be defined, just so we're on the same page.
abortion: induced termination of a pregnancy with destruction of the embryo or fetus (link to thefreedictionary.com)
pregnancy: the condition of carrying developing offspring within the body
embryo: an unborn animal or human being in the early stages of development, in humans up to approximately the end of the second month of pregnancy
- something in an early stage of development
fetus: In humans, the unborn young from the end of the eighth week after conception to the moment of birth, as distinguished from the earlier embryo
Abortion is legal in the United States.
Before I continue, I think abortion should be defined, just so we're on the same page.
abortion: induced termination of a pregnancy with destruction of the embryo or fetus (link to thefreedictionary.com)
pregnancy: the condition of carrying developing offspring within the body
embryo: an unborn animal or human being in the early stages of development, in humans up to approximately the end of the second month of pregnancy
- something in an early stage of development
fetus: In humans, the unborn young from the end of the eighth week after conception to the moment of birth, as distinguished from the earlier embryo
I would like to point out that the word "development" is very common in these defintions concerning human life before birth, which means that there is something or someone being developed. When, at any point before death, is any human being not developing in some way? The human body is constantly changing and renewing itself, replacing old cells with new cells, looking to improve itself. A poster of a flower in my old science classroom reads: "Growth is the only evidence of life".
Reworded, abortion can be defined as the induced termination of the development of an unborn human being. But, still, a human being.
So now it is understood that this conversation or rant (your choice) is going to be about the life and death of human beings.
Reworded, abortion can be defined as the induced termination of the development of an unborn human being. But, still, a human being.
So now it is understood that this conversation or rant (your choice) is going to be about the life and death of human beings.
I have asked myself many times how a nation, a community founded with the following beautiful and true ideas and goals in mind, could allow things such as, but not limited to, abortion to legally occur within these borders.
"We the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America."
~The Preamble to the Constitution of the United States of America,1787
"We the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America."
~The Preamble to the Constitution of the United States of America,1787
(don't know why it did that. sorry. highlight to see the entire excerpt.)
"We hold thses truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. That to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed."
~The Declaration of Independence, 1776
"We hold thses truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. That to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed."
~The Declaration of Independence, 1776
This last bit means to me that the majority of voting American citizens prefer that abortion is legal, or they are ignorant of it. Which astounds me.
I don't know how many people have ever read or heard the modern version of the Hippocratic Oath (the oath doctors and physicians have taken for centuries before receiving their Medical Degrees). The following is an excerpt from it which I found particularly interesting.
"I will follow the method of treatment which according to my ability and judgment, I consider for the benefit of my patient and abstain from whatever is harmful or mischievious. I will neither prescribe nor administer a lethal dose of medicine to any patient even if asked nor counsel any such thing nor perform the utmost respect for every human life from fertilization to natural death and reject abortion that delibierately takes a unique human life."
(the entire excerpt is a link to the source)
I don't know how many people have ever read or heard the modern version of the Hippocratic Oath (the oath doctors and physicians have taken for centuries before receiving their Medical Degrees). The following is an excerpt from it which I found particularly interesting.
"I will follow the method of treatment which according to my ability and judgment, I consider for the benefit of my patient and abstain from whatever is harmful or mischievious. I will neither prescribe nor administer a lethal dose of medicine to any patient even if asked nor counsel any such thing nor perform the utmost respect for every human life from fertilization to natural death and reject abortion that delibierately takes a unique human life."
(the entire excerpt is a link to the source)
For the record, many women suffer from an emotional disorder called Post-Abortion Syndrome (link for more info) after they have an abortion. And abortion often results in sterility for a long period of time, if not life. But few people know this because few people are told this, and people working in abortion facilities would certainly never tell you this. One guess why (hint: it begins with a "$").
* * *
Where is our sense of honor? Where has the value of our word gone? How can we allow ourselves to be pacified as we sit and surf the internet, knowing that the unborn are being murdered (by various methods, all of which cruel) everyday, unprotected and unwanted? How can the majority of Americans, whom I want to believe are basically good, allow these monstrosities to progress into such dark territory - sacrificing the innocent and defenseless to evil? What kind of animal would do this to the young of their own species, besides humanity?
To be clear, I realize that America is far from the only nation in the world to allow abortion. Some countries even insist on abortions to be performed (God help us if and when that darkest of days is ever reached here). I have been repeating that I cannot believe Americans would consent to abortion because Americans are the ones who take freedom of speech for granted, who express their thoughts and feelings how and when they want to. And for the most part, I'm hearing silence on this subject and seeing a general darkening of human action here as people dodge arguments instead of entering a civil, productive conversation. It is painful, especially in the moments when one feels like a lone Crusader, fighting for what you believe is right though you may be the last fighter for the truth in the face of the world with all its deceptions. Which is when I need to remember my family and friends and that I'm not alone, I'm part of a community. That is more than the aborted can say.
* * *
PLEASE NOTE: I have included the following links because I believe that they contain valuable information, necessary for exposing the truth. However, they might contain graphic information and/or visuals, as abortions are not merely another medical procedure.
(Planned Parenthood is the largest abortion provider in America)
* * *
Above, I have not looked at the issue of abortion as a religious issue, because I think people tend to forget that it's a human issue, not one exclusively for religious activists. It is for everyone. There is a question here of morality. This is a human issue. That means it affects all people, personally or indirectly. I have examined abortion above through a scientific lense, because scientific study is a pursuit of truth. Since I believe my religion contains the fullness of the truth, science cannot stand without it.
The religion I believe in tells me human life begins at the moment of conception and that all human life has diginity because God created it and willed it to live and gave it life, and even died for it. Because He loves it. People are not supposed to kill people. They are supposed to love people, if for no other reason than God loves other people. I've heard the argument that God gave us free will, so why shouldn't we use it? God gave us free will because He wants us to love Him. If we did not have free will, we could not love; love is a choice, freely given and freely received. We, humanity, are asked to choose life.
"But Jesus turning to them said, "Daughters of Jerusalem, stop weeping for Me, but weep for yourselves and for your children. For behold, the days are coming when they will say, 'Blessed are the barren, and the wombs that never bore, and the breasts that never nursed.' For if they do these things when the tree is green, what will happen when it is dry?" (Luke 23: 28, 29, & 31)
I believe that the scientific evidence supports the religious truth that human life begins at the moment of conception. (If I haven't mentioned this yet, there are 46 chromosomes in every human cell (somatic cells), except the reproductive cells (gametes, ie sperm/egg cells) where there are 23. When the sperm cell penetrates the egg cell at the moment of conception, the two cells literally become one cell with 46 chromosomes. This cell is called a zygote. The zygote divides many times to become the many cells found in the human body.) And I also believe the human conscience naturally rightly judges that homicide is morally wrong.
* * *
If you have read all the way down to here, congratulations are in order.
Thank you.
As I said before, comments, questions, and arguments are welcome.
peace to you
sarah
* * *
do you remember when
we were way back then
you held the world
inside your hands
when you told me
love was the strongest stuff,
your strength
was innocence
~Innocence Again, by Switchfoot
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