I have always been pro choice. Or so I thought. Two reasons; 1) I believe in the basic right of a woman to choose what is best for her body (frankly, I believe the same basic right applies to men as well) and 2) not everyone is a Christian or holds to Christian values which, in my opinion only, means we cannot tell them how to behave or what to do. We must let people live according to their beliefs. We can certainly present Jesus to them but we also have to realize not everyone will accept Him.And, you already know I’m pro-choice on the gay/straight issue. I’m pro-choice on letting you marry whomever it is you wish to marry. Heck, I’m pro-choice on staying single or getting divorced or getting remarried. I think you should be able to put your offspring into whatever school you choose be it public, private, Christian, Hebrew, etc. I think you should be able to raise your children the way you want. Not the way I want or your mother wants or the way James Dobsen wants you to do it.
My current dilemma is not even with capital punishment or the incomprehensible illogic of those who cannot conjecture a reasonable defense of their beliefs. I settled my decisions on those issues long ago. No, my current dilemma is with IVF and huge families in this day of overpopulation and lack of basic resources.
Lately the ‘news’ is littered with stories about the Duggar family who have EIGHTEEN children and the so-called Octamom with her FOURTEEN, EIGHT of which were recently conceived via IVF.
On the plus side the Duggar family appears to be able frugal and self sufficient; not dependent on state or national social service programs. They are seemingly healthy, Christian, well-behaved and well-presented. How does one handle eighteen children? She has said in interviews that the older children are responsible for – frankly, a whole lot - including child care for many of the babies. Learning the ways of the household and child care and becoming self sufficient is a standard way of life but is it what teen age girls should be doing so parents can continue to breed? They are children, not miniature parents. Is that the job of children? To raise children so you can deliver more children? Something here seems selfishly twisted!
Deb TaubeFormer
USA East
3 comments:
mmm ... interesting thoughts Deb on some of those 'hot potato' issues. I am not certain I would ever have said I was 'Pro Life' in all the different forms you mentioned, but ... when issues become people, what would Jesus do? 'He that is without sin cast the first stone'??? So finally is your issue IVF or 18 children? As a young person I always thought no one should have more than two children as they couldn't give the time and energy to them that I thought was required. As I have got older my thinking has changed somewhat ... my step daughter-in-law has got 6 children, and when people tell her she has her hands full she responds 'you should see my heart'! :-) ... I have to agree with you about 18 though.
Thank you for getting the grey matter working on such things.
God bless you!
Active UKT
As a former corps officer, over the years I saw many couples and single mothers that had no plan and no idea how to support their children or even themselves. We would assist and counsel but it rarely was effective because people wanted a free ride and expected us to take care of their family with no accoutability on their part. This is one area that I often found myself frustrated. I would feel so sad at the abuse of children and at times was a part of having them removed from the home because of life threatening situations. I wish that there was a simple answer to these type of problems.
Of course I do not agree with all of your views but you make an interesting point about the large family. How far dare we invade or interfere with those issues ?
Many years ago my wife and I decided to have only two children.
Later in life we were visited by a child that we adopted. He is our Grandson , Phineas. Life has many surprises. At one point a few years ago some army leaders gave my wife and I a choice.Either remove this child from our home or leave the army. Fortunately that was not the feeling of some other leaders. It also helped that a few years before my wife and I had permmission to adopt. Eventually
the territorial commander told us to move ahead and adopt Phineas as soon as possible and we did. Phineas just turned fourteen years old and we adopted him at age two.
Life is very complex at times. There have been situations that we did not expect or ask for, but through it all the Lord gave us grace and strength and blessed my wife and I.
Ad Fontes! *
* A Latin expression which means "to the sources", literally: "to the fountain”.
Former
UKT
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