Life Begins
When?
Big
D Fifth, I con people into
preaching beliefs and concepts which, in effect, subvert your Constitution’s
provision regarding separation of church and state.
And sixth. . . Ahh, yes, number six, this is my choicest piece of insidious
manipulation, perversion, and misdirection!
With
that, Big D began to shake, and little sparkles of red and orange light, like
miniature fireworks, began to shoot upward from the tops of her ears.
Big
D I’ve even got people
preaching beliefs that ignore the words of their own God written in their own
Bible about when life begins. And
the funniest and my most masterful illusion of all is that both the promoters
and their followers see my deception right there, directly in front of their own
eyes, and, yet, they don’t even recognize it for what it is.
Oh,
fabulous day! That is one of my
finest pieces of work. Am I not
just the greatest? Don’t you
just want to pat me on the back -- or maybe even on the front?
T.L.C.
Just calm down now.
You’d best do your own patting.
I
sat in silence for almost a minute before I spoke again.
The shaking slowed and finally stopped as did the ear-top fireworks.
T.L.C.
You obviously feel you’ve done something extraordinary, so please tell
me how the anti-abortion promoters defy the words of their own God?
Big
D If you
were in a state of extreme emotional stress and you had a very limited
timeframe within which to make a critically important,
highly emotional, completely
irreversible, life-changing decision,
and I intentionally withheld from you a vital piece of information which could
significantly alter your decision, what would you call that?
T.L.C.
Technically, it’s a lie, a lie of omission.
Big
D Why would you say that?
T.L.C.
Because that would be an attempt to deceive; it
would be an attempt to subvert the truth; it
would be an attempt to manipulate me into altering my behavior to suit your
desires; and, most importantly, it would
also be a gross violation of my right of self-determination.
Big
D Ah, self-determination!
Freedom! Liberty! Sovereignty!
The greatest gift from God. One
day, you may yet taste its joys. Have
you heard these words from one of the greatest masters who ever walked the
planet: “Know the truth and the truth
will set you free.”?
T.L.C.
Of course. Everybody’s
heard those words that Jesus spoke about truth.
Big
D Apparently our
anti-abortionist friends haven’t.
T.L.C.
Why do you say that?
Big
D
Because their actions
suppress the truth and deny freedom. They
talk a good game, but when you examine the consequences of their actions,
you’ll find the truth is intentionally withheld, subverted, twisted, and/or
hidden. You'll
find that hundreds of people die or live in misery for every embryo they save.
You'll find that peoples’ freedom to make their own free will decisions about
abortion, about sex, and about numerous other aspects of their private lives
have been severely interfered with by personal religious beliefs that have been promoted
into secular law by the ant-sexual anti-abortionists.
T.L.C.
What do you mean? Can you
give me an example?
Big
D Of Course!
Since I’m also a Bible expert, let me quote Genesis, 2:7.
|
And
the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils
the breath of life; and man became a living soul.
|
And
also the Book of Job 33:4.
|
The
Spirit of God has made me, and the breath of the Almighty has given me life.
|
And
then there's Ecclesiastes
11:5, RSV
|
As
you do not know how the spirit comes to the bones in the womb of the woman with
child, so you do not know
the work of God who makes everything.”
|
T.L.C.
So, you’re saying that the anti-abortionists are ignoring the Bible and
defying their own God?
Big
D No, I’m not saying that.
I’m merely showing you some evidence that you had previously not been
aware of. It’s plain,
in-front-of-your-nose evidence that allows you to draw your own conclusions.
What does their sacred book tell the no-choicers about their
knowledge of how God works?
T.L.C.
That they can't know how God works.
Big
D
And what does that same Bible say about when life begins?
T.L.C.
You’ve
just quoted the Genesis passage which clearly indicates that, according to God,
life begins at first breath.
Big
D
Then, just look at this for a moment.
Here's the infinite, all knowing, all powerful Creator
of Everything That Is telling the anti-abortionist
that they can't know how God works and then telling them that
life begins at first breath. And what do the no-choice
peddlers do with that? They
simply ignore it!
I
invite you to turn on your brain for a moment.
Compare the infinite wisdom of God, the creator and source of
everything, to the knowledge of a bunch of mindless, superstitious,
fear-filled humans running around on in infinitely small speck
of dust called Earth -- a speck of dust which, in relation to
the rest of the physical universe, is so small that it's all
but lost in a vast array of creation which is so huge
and so variable that humans cannot possibly understand
it. When you compare those two sources of
information, who are you going to believe?
Wouldn’t it seem like
God just might be right?
That the humans whom I've been coning for centuries -- that
humans who have a track record of being wrong about just about
everything
just might be wrong about when God begins a
independent human life. He is, after all, the
"guy" who created human life. And He is the ultimate authority, isn’t He?
T.L.C.
Most people agree with that.
Big
D Then life begins at first
breath -- that is, if the Christian Bible is actually the word of God.
T.L.C.
Well, Christians believe it is.
Big
D But, my fellow Bible
experts who are spearheading the anti-abortion movement have proclaimed that life begins
at conception. So does the
evidence appear to indicate that they've set the truth aside and are defying their own
God?
T.L.C.
It certainly appears that way. So,
if they don’t believe their own Bible, what do they believe?
Big
D They believe in
instantaneous, supernatural, transcendental magic.
T.L.C.
That sounds rather strange. Is
that some far-Eastern yogi-religion stuff like transcendental meditation?
Big
D No.
T.L.C.
Then what do you mean?
Big
D Let me explain.
First, keep in mind, that when the anti-abortionists use the word
“conception,” they are not simply a referring to the biology of male and
female cells uniting. They are
referring to an additional process -- a process where God steps in and
transforms the egg and sperm into a brand new human being.
Although
equally as live and viable one moment before uniting as they are a moment after
uniting, the separate sperm and the egg are not accorded the status of a human
life by the anti-abortionists.
They
believe that at some undefined point during the process where the egg and sperm
unite, God steps in and instantly creates an eternal, everlasting life-spirit called a human
being who did not exist the moment before but will continue to exist forever
more.
T.L.C.
What about gorillas, Chimpanzees, monkeys and other primates?
Their genetic structures are almost identical to humans. What does
God do to their uniting eggs and sperms?
Big
D Nothing. Their
not good enough to go to Christian heaven.
T.L.C.
Are you telling me that gorillas, who live peacefully in the forests, eat fruit
and leaves, nurture each other, and make love but not war are excluded from heaven?
Big
D Yup!
Heaven is reserved for the God's true believers - - the anti-choice humans who, in His
name, use lies of omission, half truths, distortions of the truth, inflammatory
rhetoric, and intimidation
- - humans who,
engage in harassment, invasion of privacy, threats, assault against persons and property,
violence, vandalism, arson, and murder.
T.L.C.
That must be some heaven! Do you mind if I go elsewhere?
Big
D Oh you certainly will
because you've just questioned their dogma and when they find out some of the
most ardent believers will personally condemn you to another of their fantasy
creations - - the one they call hell.
But
we're getting way off track here. Let's go back to talking about the
uniting human egg and sperm.
T.L.C.
OK.
Big
D According
to the beliefs of the anti-abortion promoters, it is not the uniting of sperm
and egg which creates a new human being, it’s God’s magic that transforms
the united egg and sperm into a human being.
T.L.C.
But, that’s not biology! That's
religion!
Big
D I’m well aware of
that.
T.L.C.
And it’s not even in the Bible.
Big
D I’m well aware of that,
too. That’s what makes it an
even better example of supernatural, transcendental magic.
T.L.C.
So where did this instantaneous creation story come from?
She
just looked at me and grinned.
Big
D Do you really need to ask?
T.L.C.
I should have known.
Big
D The anti-abortion promoters
can’t give you a legitimate answer to that question because they created the
transcendental magic story by still another act of transcendental magic.
P.F.A. as some people would say.
T.L.C.
What’s P.F.A.?
Big
D Plucked from the Air.
T.L.C.
You mean it’s something someone simply made up, and now many people
believe that it’s reality?
Big
D Yup!
That’s it. It has no
factual basis whatsoever, and it defies God’s words in their own Bible.
T.L.C.
But lots of people believe things that aren’t true, so what’s the big
deal?
Big
D It’s perfectly normal and
acceptable to hold anything, even this, as a personal belief.
It’s something else entirely to proclaim it to be provable, factual reality
and then, without a single lick on proof, try to shove it . . . Let
me say this politely; shove it down everyone else’s
throat.
T.L.C.
So you’re not questioning their right to believe in transcendental
magic?
Big
D Of course not.
T.L.C.
Then the issue is
that they have taken an un-provable, personal belief and
proclaimed it to be objective reality?
Big
D
Yes, that and their attempt
to force it onto everyone else. That
fairytale proclamation and the anti-choice attempt to force it onto
everyone is one of my grandest and most brazenly shining piles of bullshit.
It’s the foul-smelling, false foundation of their entire anti-abortion
campaign and not one in a thousand of it’s peddlers sees or smells anything
but sunshine and roses.
T.L.C.
You are obviously proud of this.
Big
D Of Course!
Who but I, the Prince of Hubris, could inspire the wooden-brained,
would-be do-gooders to spew out such a blasphemous proclamation -- such a heresy
of esoteric pride? Who, but I
could foster such a blatant denial of
their own Bible -- such a masterful piece of insidious, mind-bending nonsense --
and then get them to proudly peddle it as if it were objective truth and never once stop
to look at the absurdity of making such a ridiculous proclamation.
T.L.C.
Yes, that is quite an accomplishment.
Big
D Let me quote one of
my most revered disciples, Adolph Hitler, who, by the way, was a staunch
anti-abortionist: "Tell a lie lie loud enough, often enough and
long enough and people will believe it."
T.L.C.
So you’re telling me there’s no scientific basis for this claim that
an individual human life begins at conception?
Big
D Nyet!
Nay! No!
None! Nada!
Zero! Zippoooo...!
Even the United States Supreme Court could not find even one lick of
factual evidence or any scientific research data to support such a claim.
T.L.C.
Is there any proof that an individual human life does not begin at
conception, or that it begins at some other time?
Big
D If you choose to accept the
word of God as written in the Christian Bible as proof, then Genesis 2:7 proves
that an individual human life begins at first breath.
T.L.C.
Let me ask this again, slightly differently.
Is there any scientific proof that an individual human life does not
begin at conception or that it begins at some other time?
Big
D
Again I get to say
Nyet! Nay!
No! None!
Nada! Zero!
Zippoooo...!
T.L.C.
So
when the Supreme Court case was being heard, where was all the
evidence we keep hearing about from the anti-abortionists?
Were they asleep? Didn’t they know about this
case?
Big
D
They
certainly knew about it, but didn’t provide any evidence
because they don’t have any. They have a lot of
opinions which, when grouped together, can sound like proof —
that is, as long as you don’t listen closely to what they’re
actually saying.
T.L.C.
So when does an individual human life begin?
Big
D Where does the sky begin?
When does day become night? How
high is up? At what exact moment
do the ingredients of a cake become a cake?
At what point does a caterpillar become a butterfly?
When does an individual human life begin?
The only answer to those questions is, “Whenever you say it does.”
T.L.C.
So, to claim that life begins at the moment of conception is like saying
day becomes night at precisely 5:17 p.m., that
“expensive” is anything costing more than 99¢,
or that a human being becomes an adult at 12:00:01 a.m. on the day of his
21st birthday.
Big
D Exactly.
And when making such completely arbitrary decisions, two questions always
arise:
“Which choice is to be followed?” and
“Who gets to make that decision?”
_______________________________
Copyright
© 1989 Revisions Copyright 2001-2003 Rev. Robert E. Cote'
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rights reserved. No part of this
work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form by any means, electronic or
mechanical, including photocopying and recording or by any information storage
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Act or in writing by the author and the copyright owner.
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