My body-my choice, stay out of my uterus, separation of church and state, bigot, closed-minded, intolerant and hater. Do these slogans sound familiar? If you've ever attended a publicized pro-life event or an event that questioned the morality of homosexual marriage and or behaviour, they should. Many of these types of events have three types of people in attendance:- The group who is putting on the event, e.g. a university pro-life campus group and fellow pro-life advocates.
- Those who are apposed to the view held by the organizers of the event e.g. the university pro-choice campus group and fellow advocates, but who want to open a dialogue.
- Those who likewise do not support the views held by the organizers of the event, e.g. the pro-choice campus group and fellow advocates, but who want to shut down any discussion in a vain attempt to keep their views coming under scrutiny.
I take issue only with those in the third camp. These people simply do not want to discusses the issues because they don't want to have the morality of their positions questioned; but they will with obliviousness wipe over your views with one or two superficial quotes or name-callings, and then plant their flag of perceived victory. These people come in three forms:
- Sign-bobbing and slogan chanting protestors.
- People who pridefully make it clear that, you are the close-minded, unintelligent, (and assuringly) religious bigot; and you are the one who can't be reasoned with, and so they won't even begin to try.
- Those who simply do not think about their argument before putting it forward. You could say to these people, "Jesus is against homosexuality" and they'll accuse you of three things: A) making an argument from silence. B) Unjustly declaring the falsity of every religious system until you have studied every one of them; and C) arguing that a person who has not experienced an unwanted pregnancy, or has not experienced same-sex attraction cannot speak on the morality of such issues.
However, despite the differences between these three camps, they all share a common denominator. All three camps believe to varying degrees that they are being victimized. In The Independent an Oxford student proudly advertises that she "...helped shut down an abortion debate between two men...".[i] Why? Because her "...uterus isn't up for their [discussion.]"[ii] Let me translate this or you: 'I helped shut down an attack on me.' Of course she wasn't implying that she felt physically threatened by a discussion on abortion, but rather a perceived threat of another human being taking control of her body. Consider what she says:
Access to abortion impacts the lives of women, trans and non-binary people every day, and the threat pro-life groups pose to our bodily autonomy is real, not rhetorical.[iii]
This again is merely her perception as it simply is not true. The pro-life advocate is not seeking to usurp control over anyone's body. Moreover in Bloomington, Indiana, Christian Pastor and Apologist, Douglas Wilson gave nearly a three hour lecture on homosexuality from the Biblical perspective. He was repeatedly interrupted with shouts, jeers, ad-homonym attacks and chants. At one point in the first section of his lecture entitled Creation Sexuality, some members of the audience stood up and loudly accused him of supporting slavery. They paralleled his non-support of homosexual marriage to marginalizing African people.[iv] Are pro-life and pro-natural marriage proponents attacking women and gay people with their relative messages? No. In the Christian Scriptures the Apostle Paul explains what the battle is truly over:
For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. - Ephesians 6:12 (KJV)
The pro-life and pro-natural-marriage proponents wrestle not against human beings but against leaders (principalities [GK. ἀρχή])[v] with an agenda, and its the agenda that we are fighting. We are battling against human choice (powers [GK. ἐξουσία])[vi], but a choice that is in the direction of unGodliness (wickedness [GK. πονηρία])[vii]; and it is the unGodliness that we are fighting. In sum we are fighting against the morals of the supreme unGodly ruler (rulers [GK. κοσμοκράτωρ])[viii]. The pro-life and pro-natural-marriage proponent is attacking the morality of the practices of homosexual behaviour, gay-marriages and abortion.
The ungodliness of abortion by demand, is the perceived right of divine authority that a women has over another human being.[*] This is the view that the pro-life advocate is fighting against. Even many of the chants that pro-choice advocates recite state this fact. Take for example, the slogan: My Body, My Choice. Every pro-life advocate should be 100% in agreement because this is the very message that the pro-life advocate supports. That is it is my body and therefore it is *not your* choice. The woman nor a man or a child has the moral right to take the life of another human being. Nobody, but God is God, and as such has the right to act as if they are.
People have the right to make choices for their own lives. If people want to be reckless and participate in dangerous sexual behaviour then they should feel free to go a head and do it; but it doesn't mean that their choice is wise and that others should support their choice. Of course nobody - gay or straight - are immune from STIs (sexually transmitted infections) like HIV, hepatitis or chlamydia; and there are many heterosexuals who have been stricken with these diseases for a variety of reasons of which sexual misbehaviour is just one. However take note of what the Canadian Aids Society reports regarding HIV among gay men:
Since the early 1980s, AIDS has had a direct impact on gay men. Men who have sex with men account for nearly 80% of all AIDS cases reported in Canada and 46.4% of the cases reported in 2001 affected that same population.[xi]
In 2010 Health Canada wrote:
Starting in 1979 and up to December 31, 2008, there had been 21,300 AIDS cases reported to the Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC). Since reporting began, the MSM [men who have sex with men] exposure category has accounted for the largest proportion of total AIDS cases among adults...[x]
This is just one piece of the evidence that shows how, among many other acts (e.g. drunkenness and drug abuse) homosexual sex is dangerous. Regarding same-sex marriages, marriage is the connection of two things that go together, by not just choice but also by nature. The homosexual person will argue that a same-sex partner is by nature their natural partner. Men and women fit not just physically but metaphysically. Men and women are different but our differences is what makes us compatible. In sum two rights do not make a circle and neither does two lefts; you need one left and one right to make a complete circle. It is the morality of the legal recognition of homosexual unions that is being discussed.
A word to the pro-choice and the pro-gay advocate
The next time you are confronted with a pro-life advocate or a natural marriage-proponent don't take an offence to their message; they are merely addressing your claims. Try opening a dialogue and with pleasantness and maturity address their claims in return.
A word to the pro-choice and the pro-gay advocate
The next time you are confronted with a pro-life advocate or a natural marriage-proponent don't take an offence to their message; they are merely addressing your claims. Try opening a dialogue and with pleasantness and maturity address their claims in return.
______________
[*] - This of course does not negate the fact that for a lot of women, the choice of abortion is spun from despair and fear. Many women will have, very understandable reasons for desiring to have an abortion, but that does not mean that their reasons justify killing someone. Irregardless the belief of a right to kill someone, may it be at the pre-born or post-born stage is a belief that they have that right; and nobody has that right but God.
***
[i] - http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/comment/i-helped-shut-down-an-abortion-debate-between-two-men-because-my-uterus-isnt-up-for-their-discussion-9867200.html - accessed November 19, 2014.
[ii] - Ibid., - accessed November 19, 2014.
[iii] -Ibid., - accessed November 19, 2014.
[iv] - http://www.canonwired.com/bloomington/ - accessed November 19, 2014.
[v] - https://www.blueletterbible.org/lang/lexicon/lexicon.cfm?Strongs=G746&t=KJV - accessed November 19, 2014.
[vi] - https://www.blueletterbible.org/lang/lexicon/lexicon.cfm?Strongs=G1849&t=KJV - accessed November 19, 2014.
[vii] - https://www.blueletterbible.org/lang/lexicon/lexicon.cfm?Strongs=G4655&t=KJV - accessed November 19, 2014.
[viii] - https://www.blueletterbible.org/lang/lexicon/lexicon.cfm?Strongs=G2888&t=KJV - accessed November 19, 2014.
[ix] - http://www.cdnaids.ca/hivaidsandgaymen - accessed November 20, 2014
[x] - http://www.phac-aspc.gc.ca/aids-sida/publication/epi/2010/9-eng.php - accessed November 20, 2014
No comments:
Post a Comment