Steve has started (restarted) his Ask Egg series which provides insightful advice to the lost souls of politics. Similar to Steve, I will start a column today and it will be focused on teaching simple truths to Liberals. Liberals have a penchant for taking obvious truths and making them complex by adding multiple levels of relativism and obfuscation to the discussion. Part of my purpose is to help these lost souls regain control of simple, concise thinking. Today I start recurring column titled “Talking to Four Year Olds.”
First the Democrats had the presumptuous presidential candidate. Now, they appear to have the presumptuous Pope in waiting.
In an interview this weekend on “Meet the Press,” Nancy determined she had an appropriate pay grade to determine when life began. This account from William Donohue:
"I would say that as an ardent, practicing Catholic, this is an issue that I have studied for a long time. And what I know is, over the centuries, the doctors of the Church have not been able to make that definition." Responding, moderator Tom Brokaw told her that the Catholic Church "feels very strongly" that life begins at conception. Pelosi said, "I understand. And this is like maybe 50 years or something like that. So again, over the history of the Church, this is an issue of controversy."
I’ll let Mr. Donohue give the slap down response:
"Here is what the Catechism of the Catholic Church says: "˜Human life must be respected and protected absolutely from the moment of conception.’ It also says, "˜Since the first century the Church has affirmed the moral evil of every procured abortion. This teaching has not changed and remains unchangeable.’ Looks like Pelosi didn’t study the subject long enough. But not to worry: We are sending her a copy of Catholicism for Dummies today (the Catechism is like maybe a bit advanced).
My first attempt at educating a four year old:
I understand. And this is like maybe 50 years or something like that. So again, over the history of the Church, this is an issue of controversy.
A simple; “You’re wrong!” should suffice but ,I’ll give a bit more evidence. Donohue provides the Catechism answer. It’s source, if you claim Christianity, is authoritative, The Bible.
From Isaiah 49:
1 Listen to me, all you in distant lands!
Pay attention, you who are far away!
The Lord called me before my birth;
from within the womb he called me by name.
and
5 And now the Lord speaks"”
the one who formed me in my mother’s womb to be his servant,
who commissioned me to bring Israel back to him.
The Lord has honored me,
and my God has given me strength.
(Emphasis mine)
Isaiah made a claim of God personally knowing him while he was in the womb! He didn’t say “you named me at my birth,” or “You developed me from birth to manhood.” He specifically referred to activity while in the womb and he referred to “me” and not ” a pile of plasma.” And, just for the record, most of the Bible was written a bit more than 50 years ago.
OK, if Bible talk is a bit too advanced for your four year old try this one:
The basic argument of the “pro choice” crowds is that abortion is a women’s choice and it’s OK because it’s not a life. Let’s deconstruct that a bit:
Let’s stipulate that if you can survive outside of the womb, you are a life. I think we can also stipulate that you are a life even if you have to use extraordinary means. Even four year olds believe that people who have horrible diseases should get the benefit of extraordinary means to extend their lives.
When I was born if you weren’t nearly a full term baby, your chances of survival were very low. In fact (not that you’d know it now) but I was a full term baby and the story goes that my Great Grandmother told my Grandmother, out of earshot of my mom, that I was too small and wouldn’t survive. To the disappointment of many, I fooled her! Today, babies at 24 weeks are considered viable and the shortest gestation which the baby survived was about 21 weeks.
So what’s changed in the past (mumble, mutter, harumph, harumph) half a century? Well obviously, the medical community has gotten a lot smarter and technology has gotten much better. What’s not changed? Conception still occurs the same way (sperm fertilizes egg) even though we’ve found ways to help that and babies still develop in the same way and the same rate that they always have. In other words, what God designed hasn’t changed a bit but what Man understands about it continues to evolve.
Which brings me to a simple question:
If the only thing that is changing is our understanding and ability to define “viable,” doesn’t that mean that the fetus is viable and therefore a life from the day of conception and the only thing that prevents it is that we aren’t smart enough to successfully intervene…..YET?
