I may not be going to a university, I may not be a bible scholar, or even a bible student and I may not be certified, approved, or seen as someone who can interpret the bible; but I know what I feel in my spirit is real, I know when things feel wrong I need to investigate those feelings, I know when things feel right I need to investigate them too. There has been much going on in my life, both personally and in the world. I know I have biases, everyone does. But is there something which nullifies those biases? Is there some reason to think that just because I have a bias everything I say is nullified? I sure hope not, look past those biases, whatever you may think they are. Do my biases hurt others? I hope not, I would never want that. Do my biases hurt my self, maybe, but I would never want that either. You see, I too am striving to become a better person. Now just because my guide to that is a “just a book” which was written thousands of years ago, over a thousand to two-thousand year period doesn’t invalidate what I think.
The majority of the western world uses the guides of Aristotle, Homer, and other ancient philosophers. They too believed in God(s), what makes them more valid? So, you say truth is relative? If truth is relative then what is right and wrong? Are they relative too? My point I’m trying to make is, unless your value system is based on something absolute, never changing, always the same, you will never have complete satisfaction in life. Now how can I say this? I can say this because I was once with out an absolute value system, I once thought truth was relative, even sometimes right and wrong.
E.G. I use to think abortion was okay if a woman was raped, and become pregnant because of the rape, now I don’t think any abortion is right, because even though a horrible thing happened to this women, there is still a living human inside of you, it’s not “part of your body”, the baby may be in your body, the child may depend on your body, but how can you call it “part” of your body, as if it had no soul, as if it was not living? Instead of abortion centers, we should have pregnancy centers, and instead of making pregnancy a burden in society we should emphasize the beauty of life! Of course coming from a man, you might be thinking, what the heck does this kid think he’s talking about, as if he would ever know? Well, you know what, your right I wouldn’t, but I know I’ve seen the hurt which women who have had abortions go through, they are constantly reminded of what they did. There is nothing we can do to bring back that child, but we can bring back her hope, and she can be forgiven. So, what’s relative to the child who will be killed if this woman gets no other option? We should provide all the help we can to women who become pregnant in bad circumstances (and of course good ones), we should support them, we should care for them and their child, but most of all we should provide the spiritual support every person on this planet needs.
Update 4/10/03 3:50pm As I was discussing this topic with a friend last night, we discussed only one situation in which, if I come to it, would require huge amounts of prayer and wise counsel. The situation? If my wife (or the mother) was in danger of losing her life, and the child would also. But if the child had a better chance of living, as horrible as this may sound, I would rather have the child be born, at the risk of losing my wife… of course, this would depend on prayer and what God spoke to us at the moment. Add one more thought, I don’t expect pre-Christians to be as convicted as myself, in this, or in anything else, I don’t even expect any Christian to be, but I do believe that God does not give us any thing we can not handle. He only gives us what we can handle. Just some food for thought.
You see, I believe that humans are made of a body, soul and spirit. We must keep care of all three; we must provide and support other’s bodies, souls and spirits. You know what motivates me to write all of this? Love. Love is the hope which compels me to do everything I do. But I am only human; I fail miserably every day to show the love I have from the one God I worship. But I know I am loved, because I have chosen to seek God, because I have accepted (in faith and w/o direct evidence) that Jesus Christ is the son of God and came to show us the way, and if we follow him, we will forever be with God.
Maybe this sounds all touch-feely to you, maybe it’s a pat “Christian” or “religious” answer. I’m not a scientist; I can’t give you scientific reasons to believe, but I can tell you I live my life for a purpose. Look at it this way; if God doesn’t exist, but you live for him as written in the bible, then you live your life with a purpose. If he does exist and you don’t live for him, then you lose everything. If God doesn’t exist, and you don’t live for him, you don’t lose anything. If God exist and you live for him, you gain everything.