~ WHEN PEOPLE TALK ABORTION, I tend to think of real people. My wife, born to a grade 10 kid not ready for motherhood, who in a decade later would have ended up in the medical incinerator; my own sons, one of whom our wretched OB/Gyn told us we might want to abort one to give the other “a better chance”, and that it would make an easier pregnancy for the She-Binks. Tell me, then, how the world would be better without her, or one or other of my two boys? Go ahead.
The abstractions of ‘foetus’ or ‘choice’ or the feelings of fear and uncertainty do not bear up in the face of this person, with a name and reality and purpose, a unique existence. It’s a bit like how some people drive, imagining and acting as if being in a car makes them anonymous: thus they may drive without common sense or courtesy, and not even meet your eye when they do it, because– abstractly, being wrapped in metal and glass, it’s not them, or their fault dontcha see? It just happened, is all. Imagine that.
In Canada, 100 000 somebodies are ripped apart, chemically boiled, left to starve or choke every year– sometimes in the very same hospital setting where not far away, tens of thousands a day are being spent on younger preemie babies in a state of the art NICU unit. That is our current society. Unlike ancient Carthage or Phoenicia, we’re not incinerating our children as offerings to Ba’al, in fulfilment of a mistaken understanding of divinity and nature. Sad to say, our reasons are lust, fear, convenience, or even as a belated form of ‘birth control.’
Abraham on the mountain where he prepared to sacrifice his only son in obedience to God’s command was following the way of nature, and of most religions of his time– and God showed a better way, and provided a ram– no more human sacrifice to dark gods. Of Abraham’s seed would come the lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world, God’s Only Son, God incarnate. Thus is revealed the freedom, the glory, and the destiny of God’s children: his service is perfect freedom, for he is our good, he is love, he is truth, he shares his infinite life and divine nature with us.
Otherwise, we become our own gods, dark and merciless, however nice we imagine ourselves to be. That our human sacrifices take place in clean hospital rooms instead of dark temples of fire and pain makes it all the more evil, for it blinds us to what our actions morally mean: and yes, It’s two people who make a baby, and both bear the blame, however much our society puts the burden and choice on women. ~
Yea, the sparrow hath found an house, and the swallow a nest for herself, where she may lay her young, even thine altars, O Lord of hosts, my King, and my God.
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Tuesday, January 06, 2009
Binky: a Canadian Blogging Hero,
gets on my side of the internet for a few minutes and dishes up the goods:
Wonderful piece.
ReplyDeleteGenerations of males were not permitted to express an opinion about the "abortion issue" in the 1960s, 1970s, 1980s and well into the 1990s. If one dared, he was derided and/or ignored. Underlying the illogical feminist ideology of the time was the warped belief that not having a uterus rendered a man's opinion superfluous. Hmm...
ReplyDeleteIn my own life, I have never knowingly been associated with an actual abortion. Indeed, I repeated my parents' mistake. My wife and I have five children.
As I entered my forties, the subject came up in conversations with my children. After years of relative silence, I was amazed at the at the degree of my conviction that abortion is virtually ALWAYS morally and ethically wrong.
I'm a boomer. I'm a parent. I'm a man. I'm not alone. I've spoken to other fathers of my generation and been surprised to discover that many have lived the same silent experience of the issue that i lived through.
There are now a couple of generations of kids coming up with a keen sense of the sacredness of human life. It takes time to move a mountain, but that doesn't mean it can't be done. Have faith.