Protesting the Blackout of Life

Posted by on Jan 21, 2012 in Blog, Young Adult Blog | 16 comments

Everyone seems to be up in arms and coming together to protest SOPA/PIPA this week. As an artist myself, I can appreciate what is trying to be done to prevent piracy but don’t support government censorship of our creative content. What many people are worried about is the stifling of budding creativities. Or that these bills could kill tons of jobs, taking away people’s very livelihood. I believe we have a right to be upset.

Google with it's logo "censored"

I also believe that there is much more serious threat to us all that is keeping our future inventors, researchers, doctors, artists, musicians, writers and leaders from ever achieving the great works that could benefit mankind. For the past 39 years, we, as a nation, have been killing those bright possible futures through abortion.

It took me a long time to gather my thoughts for this blog because there is plenty to be upset about. I could list medically, morally, ethically, logically or spiritually, all the reasons to be pro-life. I could pick apart the common misconceptions the pro-choice community tends to have. I could quote admirable men and women who have spoken out against the termination of human beings in the womb. I could teach on the dangers of moral relativism (the “I would never do it, but…” approach) in our already confused world.

But instead, I decided to share with you a moment of beauty from this past weekend. In our youth group hall, in front of 60+ people, my wife and I shared a live ultrasound of our baby. Susana is 11 weeks pregnant and our little guy or gal is healthy and active (praise God). Thanks to Fatima Women’s Center and their mobile equipment, the teens had the opportunity to see (and hear) the heartbeat, count the fingers and toes, and even watch the baby “Tebowing” for a moment! Seeing the support and love this child already has from family (five out of the eight aunts and uncles were there), friends and a whole class of teenagers filled me with joy and pride.

Mantled Catholic Clothings new Pro-Life Tee (www.marymantles.us)

This weekend in Tucson and many other places around the US, you’ll see Pro-Life Marches being held in solidarity with the huge March in DC going on Monday. I suggest you try to attend, regardless of your moral leanings on the issue. It’s a peaceful protest done out of love in a beautiful celebration of life and testament to those futures that could’ve been.

If we, as a community, can come together to support our favorite blogs, social media outlets and websites by writing to our local government leaders and petitioning against legislation like SOPA and PIPA, why can’t we do the same with Roe v Wade?  I’m calling you to action.  Step up for those unborn Einstein’s, Dali’s, Mother Teresa’s, John Paul II’s, MLK’s and JFK’s.  Speak up for the freedom of the voiceless as we’ve spoken up for the freedom of the web.


 

 
  • The520givingtree

    Should this happen to anyone? Should we stand by and see these things happen, no. WE should act! I know what needs to be done, we have to stand together and give to those that do not have. Support education so people know what the decision of having a baby means. If we teach people how to act righteous we will cause a decrease in rape and evil doing.
    The thing is ladies and gentleman we don’t have all the answers. I am not sure if you have internet at home or if you live with running water but if you do why? Look at Jesus in Matthew 19:21, he speaks on giving everything away and living a humble life style. Now we have friends that make wrong decision but I really think what Jesus is getting at is much like in Matthew 7:3, we must look at ourselves first before we can make ANY mention of peoples wrong doing. Yes people do have abortions for the wrong reason and yes they stand behind a law to protect them. But at the end of the day can you say that you did everything you could of to make peoples lives better? Have you pulled a Mother Teresa? Where if a person messed up do you say it’s ok or listen and help them? Our lives are diverse but we can not forget that not many our as bless. Lets raise the question and reflect on if we had no way to feed a child in the womb or protect them from a harsh world where in all odds they will die of hunger and in pain, does our God want that? I raise questions, no answers.

    • Anonymous

      I would question whether it’s fair to assume any of us can know how any person will turn out whether they live a carefree or pain-filled life?

      Some of the world’s greatest leaders and innovators came from tragic childhoods. But the experiences they endured and their perseverance often gave catalyst to their gift. Ray Charles is a perfect example.

      • The520givingtree

        So your saying we should not assume we know what the best solution is for anyone is?

        Isn’t true that by your logic that abortion is just a part of life?

        People don’t want to abort their baby but life won’t let them have because as the video says “Life is pain”, isn’t that correct?

        Would you say a greater amount of the most miserable deaths have occurred under these circumstances also?

        True there are those who rise up from the ashes but let me ask you this how many babies survive life and how many babies are aborted by life?

        • Anonymous

          We shouldn’t assume we know what’s best for anyone. We should trust that God knows what’s best for all His creation. God tells us, unquestionably, that the unborn have worth and are to be protected. It’s not about it being easy or popular. It’s about speaking the Truth and defending what is right. Like today’s first Mass reading from Jonah.

          God told Jonah to let the people of Ninevah know they would be destroyed for their sinfulness. Jonah went and told the people what they didn’t want to hear, while probably fearing for his own life, but the people of Ninevah heeded Jonah’s warning, repented, and the Lord stayed their punishment.

          • The520givingtree

            Since we are quoting the bible, can you explain these passage:

            Jeremiah 20:14-18

            Ecclesiastes 6:3-5

            Job 3:16-19

            Psalms 58:3-8

            Exodus 21:22-25

            Numbers 31:17-18

            I Samuel 15:3

            Psalms 137:8-9

            ?

          • Anonymous

            I commend your diligence in searching out Sacred Scripture (assuming you didn’t just find them all from one of the many sites proclaiming the Bible to be “pro-abortion”). I’ll have to admit that I am not the Biblical scholar I wish I was, but I’ll do my best to help explain these passages for you to understand.

            Both Jeremiah and Job are lamentations on how their lives are a trial and both suggest it being better that they never were born. Of course, this is the author connecting to people that have that same “dark night of the soul” where they feel God isn’t with them. I think many of us have felt that way and there’s a comfort in knowing that we’re never alone and that even the great prophets have felt sorry for themselves and been a little whiny.

            Ecclesiastes looks at the dichotomy between existence and quality. Solomon is saying it is better to never have been born than to live a life of uselessness or meaninglessness. It’s a push towards active adulthood, not infantile destruction. And Solomon chose the wording “miscarriage” over “killing”.

            Exodus doesn’t talk about a purposeful abortion, but severe punishment for an accidentally-caused miscarriage.

            The Psalms are not a literal work, but a poetic book, like one long song. Specifically, you can see that in Psalm 58. Obviously, there are not literally lions and snakes speaking like in a Disney’s Robin Hood. The text is being poetic in saying that humankind begins rebelling from God at an early age. The psalmist is using colorful alliteration to express a desire for justice, but that justice doesn’t include anything having to do with abortion.

            The biggest mistake a critic can make when examining the Scriptures is to take a single passage from the Bible and pull it from its historical-grammatical context. In almost all cases, a proper understanding of a passage’s context and purpose alleviates any contested issues. The last three are all cases of this. Numbers and 1 Samuel are neither speaking of abortion but dealing with matters of wartime. Both in cases where the Israelites have been attacked and abused and God leads them to victory. In that very brutal time of human history, a common practice was killing the other army’s defeated men (down to the young boys) to quell any future uprisings and guarantee peace for up to 20 years. An awful prospect by today’s standards, but the Bible wasn’t written today.

            Specifically in the last Psalm you mentioned (which, remember, is a poetic work), you must look at the whole of the Babylonian captivity of Israel. Babylon was notoriously known for it’s cruelties in war. In response, the psalmist, speaking under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, calls out Babylon for its crimes and proclaims that the Babylonians will be “rewarded” in the same way they treated Israel. This “curse” lends to Babylon’s ultimate judgment.

            We are called to always remember that God is love and does not delight in the death of the wicked. But also remember that God is just and will execute judgment when necessary.

            Hope that helps clear things up for you.

          • The520givingtree

            I applaud you. You actually, for the first time, tackled my questions head on. But like someone tackling something head on, you forget to look up and see what is really going on.

            Yes you have to take ALL scriptures into context to what the human writers intend and their relationship with God, like trying to figure out what J, E, P, D, and R wrote when they wrote the Pentateuch, Torah for other faiths. One for example is the famous Jeremiah verse, 1:5, which references Psalm 139. People tend to drop of the end of that verse and forget/no know that it is God speaking to the Prophet solely. He is referencing the Psalm, the Psalms are believed to be written by David but actually he only wrote a handful and most are actually in his honor. Jeremiah references this one because the psalmist wrote a hymn on the omnipresence and omniscience of God.

            There isn’t any scripture that specifically say this is how God feels about abortions. Most use the 6th commandment from the Ethical Decalogue but one must know when the P write wrote these laws, they were talking about male Jews and no one else. I mean the 3rd commandment of his Decalogue is an answer to J because J uses God’s true name YWHW and it was sacred to them. The Commandment really translates do not use the name YWHW.

            But I digress.

            So since “context” is today’s word, lets use it. Close your eyes and using your imagination, see yourself in a hospital, in the ER waiting room. See the doctor come out. He tells you that there are complications and that you have to make a tough decision right there and time is of the essences. On one hand you save your wife but the baby growing inside her has to day and there is a 100% guarantee of her survival and on the other the baby lives but your wife will die and there is no guarantee that the baby will even survive and he gives you 10% chance of survival. Put yourself in that situation. Imagine all the pressure in the world on your shoulders. In your hands the future of two lives.

            So I ask you, what will you do Andrew? Who will you pick Andrew? I hope you spend time thinking that situation over and put yourself in the situation of many people and come to a decision. I don’t need to know the answer. You can keep that to yourself if you want.

            So I am going to end our discussion. I would like to let you know that I am actually a fellow Christian, someone cut from the same cloth as you. When people ask me “you believe but your not pro-life?” I tell them “Yes because pro-life people do not live up to their name.” So many pro-life people and organizations only focus on those nine months of a person’s life. After that they have this attitude of “well I help baby be born but now it’s on its own on pulling itself out of the terrible life it was born into.” So millions of people pour money into organizations to run ads, marches, etc. to overturn a Supreme Court decision. Andrew here is the cold hard truth; Roe v. Wade will not ever be overturn for religious reasons. If you know about our constitution the Supreme Court and the Congress cannot use religious reasons to overturn it. Somewhere deep down inside you know that. So instead of pouring all your time and money into trying to get it overturned why don’t you use your resources to make it useless? Why not make abortions ineffective? Why not help improve the quality of life for those who have to come to that decision? Donate money to foundations and charities that try to improve welfare, benefits, the adoption program, foster care, educate people and making it easier for parents who can’t support having children. Remember what Jesus said in Matthew 25:31-46.

            In a perfect world, I hope there are no abortions but the problem is that, that world isn’t here. I have to be realistic and understand that the world is a messed up place and people are put into situations were they have to make a tough decision. They don’t want to because it will affect their life and the lives of those around them but the sad truth is that this is the human condition. I pray that they are strong in their relationship with God. And if not, tragedy is the perfect time to be begin a relationship with God. And when they feel that they made such a huge mistake that their peers and God will not forgive them, I pray they gain comfort from what Jesus says in Matthew 18:21-22.

            I did this to show you what the other side looks like. Maybe so that you can truly understand the other side and see where they come from. One of the biggest problems in this world is a lack of understanding and miscommunication. To sum it all up, Matthew 7:1-5 and also this…

            http://i.imgur.com/s162n.png

            Peace be with you.

          • Anonymous

            I’m sorry you felt i wasn’t responding to your specific concerns earlier. I was under the impression I was, otherwise why bother responding, right? So, again, sorry about that.

            I’m glad you brought up Jeremiah 1:5. God was speaking directly to the prophet, it’s true. That doesn’t make the point less valid that God knew His creation before conception. If God knew His prophet, wouldn’t it make sense that He knows us all before conception? The rest you mentioned are some solid biblical-historical points. Nice work.

            You wanted me to imagine a situation where my wife is pregnant and will die if she doesn’t abort? That hits pretty close to home since my wife is actually pregnant with our first child right now. Thank God everything is fine so far. But in that situation? Why is abortion the only option? According to your situation, the baby is viable…so I would suggest an emergency c-section. My wife could give birth, though prematurely, to our child. That would definitely save her life and have a possibility of saving the child. And according to Church teachings, that is a totally appropriate solution. If the child doesn’t survive, that’s terrible and incredibly sad, but the intention for the procedure was to save lives, not take one. I don’t mind sharing that with you (and the rest of the blogosphere) because it’s something my wife and I have talked about. It’s something I’ve explored in becoming pro-life. Something you may assume is that, as a good Catholic, I automatically believe whatever the Church tells me to believe. Not so. I’ve struggled with many tenants of the faith. St. Augustine was quoted as saying, “Question everything.” (Check out Confessions of St. Augustine sometime if you get a chance, it’s amazing.) I’ve explored all of the for and against statements in regards to abortions, death penalty, euthanasia, etc. I’ve made an informed decision based on the truth I’ve found. As I’ve questioned and grown in my faith, I’ve found the Church’s teachings to be consistently based in love and rooted in truth. God doesn’t conform to us. We need to conform to Him.

            I agree that the world isn’t perfect…but we can take steps to make it better and one is outlawing abortion. Prior to Roe vs. Wade it wasn’t legal and I think we can both agree that the world would be better without it. Killing the unborn is wrong and we shouldn’t condone it. But nor should we condemn those that have made that difficult choice in the past. We should provide love and care for those women who have been hurt by abortion. If you think that the pro-life movement is all about getting the baby born and then forgetting about them, I encourage you to make a trip to Reachout Pregnancy Center or somewhere similar. My youth group spent Saturday morning sorting diapers, blankets, formula, clothing and food for struggling women. I encourage you to research all of the places that continue to provide support for the brave families that choose life.

            The reference to Matthew 7:1-5 and the attachment bring up a good point. Should we judge others? Of course not. We should love them unconditionally, especially when that’s difficult. But I disagree that believing that your faith is the most truth-filled is religious bigotry. If you didn’t believe that, why would you be in that church? Bigotry is defined being entirely devoted to one opinion or belief AND being intolerant of other opinions. I believe that the Catholic faith has the fullness of Truth. Does that mean that your branch of Christianity is a lie? Of course not. All faiths have truth within them. Especially if you find yourself being loved and feeling welcome. God is present. I am most definitely not intolerant. However, Jesus says He is THE Way and THE Truth. Not “a way” or “a truth”. If you believe in Him, you believe that. So you need to realize that while we don’t judge others, we still are called to share Truth with them.

            Finally, your additional comment…I’d prefer if you commented on the post that you have an issue with, so we can keep this on topic. One note though, I specifically said, and I quote, “Don’t get me wrong, I throw out the political jokes occasionally and definitely have my opinions about who I think should be in the White House next year”. I wasn’t stating I was perfect or completely innocent of an occasional commentary on our government, but “biggest offender”? C’mon. You went back to July of last year to dig that one up. Regarding the rest, that’s a nice history lesson there, but doesn’t really have anything to do with the topic of abortion. In fact, I didn’t really see anything you quoted as making abortion acceptable by biblical standards.

            I am thankful for your interest and discussion on this topic. You said you were ending the discussion, but I hope you do get a chance to read this because I honestly want to say thank you for weighing in on this very volatile subject in a civil manner. Christians should be on the front lines of the moral front, discussing and debating each topic to find truth and strengthen resolve. As iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another. Proverbs 27:17

            God bless.

          • The520givingtree

            I would like to apologize for my rudeness and wanted to ask you what is your own personal testimony

          • http://www.namelessministries.com/ Starbuck

            Accepted and forgiven. It’s easy to fall into that trap with our words while online.

            My own personal testimony is much longer than I’d want anyone to have to read in this tiny column, so it’ll have to wait. But since you (and a couple other people) have asked, I’ll probably post a blog about that soon!

          • The520givingtree

            P.S. Read your latest post on the media and I think it is cute that the person who wrote that is the biggest offender of it. Trust me Andrew the stuff you post on Facebook etc. really adds to the vitriol of this time. The solution for all this vitriol is people thinking, understanding and having actually knowledge about what they are saying before they say it. How about trying that? Instead of posting pictures like fake pictures of the current president crossing out the bill of right and actually gain true knowledge because you look like your acute when you post things like that and don’t truly understand what your posting or saying.

            P.P.S. As someone who studies the bible, I have to make corrections to your previous comment.

            Job:
            Job is actually a work of fiction by the Israelites, a true piece of literature by them. It was written when Greek philosophy came to Palestine and influenced the Israelites. Truly Job is the Israelites take on philosophy.

            Ecclesiastes:
            First Solomon didn’t write Ecclesiastes at all but using his name to give credibility to the writings. The style of writing shows that it was written between 300-200 BCE and then the epilogue added on by an editor.

            1st Samuel:
            This one requires a history lesson. At the end of Joshua we learn that the Israelites expelled all the tribes, Canaanites, living in Palestine. But at the beginning of Judges we learn that they truly didn’t expel all the tribes. The Israelites started to preform exogamy with the tribes of land and also Philistines and began to break their customs and laws with God. They sin so much that God hands them over to be conquered and then they cry out to him to save them and then he would raise judge to save them. They would ask the judge to be king but they would not accept that title and die. This cycle happens in Judges 12 times. With each cycle the Israelite people wanted a king more and more. Finally you come to 1st Samuel were God gives Israel Saul. But the writers of 1st Samuel, D1 and D2, were arguing whether or not Israel should have a king. So in some stories Saul is painted in a good light by one author and the other makes him look bad, like in this case. I digress with Israelite politics but they weren’t trying to quell and uprising, but ,in a nice way, trying to purify the land so that only Israelites would be in Palestine and they would no longer preform exogamy and go away from their customs and laws. SIDE NOTE: most archeology shows that the origins of the Israelites is that they were Canaanites and they separated from the rest of the culture and began a rebellion against them.

          • http://twitter.com/Katerintree Kate

            You KNOW Andrew, and you still had the gall to post something about his unborn child?

            Wow, I’m just floored. Congratulations on correctly using vitriol – it almost makes up for your misuse of “acute.” Now go troll some other page.

          • Guest

            Since he has a pregnant wife he gets a pass on hypothetical pregnant questions? Andrew even said it was something he and his wife have already talked about so it doesn’t seem so bizarre that one of his friends would wonder the same thing…

      • http://twitter.com/Katerintree Kate

        All things Princess Bride are marvelous & relevant.

        • Anonymous

          Always! :-P

  • http://www.namelessministries.com/ Starbuck

    Hey SeanGoodspeed,

    First of all, I didn’t get an alert on this comment, so please don’t feel like I was ignoring it…I honestly didn’t know it existed.

    If you know my “past and my trash” then I want to go ahead and apologize to you. Whether you were around as one of my friends during that time or just happened to witness it, I’m sorry for my behavior, whether it affected you directly or not.

    I would never say that I’m perfect (not even close) and I definitely had a long run of falling into being a “fake and a hypocrite” as you said. Even now, I slip up and fall, but I’m also trying my best to live my life transparently and with greater love.

    Sometimes it takes being at an incredibly low point to look around and realize you need to change things. I take comfort in looking to St. Augustine who is one of the greatest Saints and doctors of the Church but spent most of his young life boozing and sleeping around before giving himself to God.

    The beauty of the faith is that, with God, what goes around doesn’t necessarily come around. I gave little worth to myself, my friends, girlfriends, parents or God. But God took my sinfulness, gave me worth and forgave me so many times there’s no other option than to live for Him now.

    “If a man does what he can and is truly penitent, however often he comes to Me for grace and pardon, “As I live, saith the Lord God, I desire not the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and live”; I will no longer remember his sins, but all will be forgiven him.” – Imitation of Christ

    So, once again, I ask your forgiveness for the man I was. I’m sorry for the fake that I used to be and I’m sorry that I was such an awful example of a Christian back then. I hope you don’t take my bad example in the past as a baseline for all Catholics.

    In Him,
    Starbuck