In early February the pro-life group liveaction.org released an undercover video recorded at a Planned Parenthood clinic in New Jersey, USA. In it, a man pretending to be a pimp (someone who owns prostitutes) gets advice from Planned Parenthood nurse Amy Woodruff about obtaining contraceptives and abortions for the teenage prostitutes he pretended to own. If one of these teenage girls needs an abortion, the nurse suggests taking the prostitute to another facility because "their protocols aren't as strict as ours and they don't get audited the same way that we do". The clinic worker suggests the pimp say his prostitutes are students, so that they can receive contraceptives at a lower price: "If they're minors, put down that they are students-we want to make it look as legit (legal) as possible", said Woodruff. A pretend prostitute who came along with the pretend pimp asked how long after the abortion prostitutes could start sex acts for money. Woodruff said "minimum of two weeks". A further question was, what acts could a prostitute perform during that waiting period. Woodruff replied "Waist up, or just be that extra action walking by"-by which she meant be a living, breathing advertisement for sex with strangers in exchange for money.
The entire video is available at www.liveaction.org/traffick
As this episode shows, sexual sin and the shedding of blood go together. God declared this principle through Ezekiel, the Old Testament prophet, in chapter 23 verse 37 of Ezekiel's book: "For they have committed adultery, and blood is on their hands".
No decent society wishes its daughters to be exploited, abused, and killed in this way; yet this is precisely the exploitation, abuse, and killing legalized abortion brings. The solution? Men stay faithful to their wives and be the protectors of their daughters. For the unmarried, no sex before marriage, sex only with one's spouse after marriage. A life of faithfulness will build strong marriages and families and avoid the shedding of innocent blood. Yes to faithfulness, yes to love, yes to life.
Rudy Poglitsh
rpoglitsh@live.com
more letters at http://letterstotheTOS.blogspot.com
Saturday, February 26, 2011
Saturday, February 19, 2011
Egumeni
Last Wednesday's Times told us about the Egumeni program of the Anglican Church. Egumeni will approach the HIV scourge by focusing on girls.
It's great to help the victims of the HIV plague, but I've been wondering: in addition to addressing the heavily-impacted girls and women, how about convincing men to become allies in this fight? Imagine if we taught our sons to save sex until they are married. Imagine if we taught young men to steer clear of situations where they would be tempted to have non-marital sex. Imagine 20- and 30-something unmarried men encouraging their sisters and female friends to stay virgins until marriage. Think about married men working hard to provide for their wives and children, and training those children to be daughters and sons of integrity. Imagine dads protecting their daughters' virtue. Swazi society would be positively transformed as HIV rates plummeted and girls and women felt loved, respected and protected.
It seems the overwhelming majority of NGO programs focus on girls and women, and again-they deserve our attention. Still, it seems that men are mostly left out of the picture; the most they get is a soccer league. If Swazi men would make virtue their modus operandi and passed that upright lifestyle onto other men, the young girls targeted by Egumeni would be safe almost automatically.
Rudy Poglitsh
rpoglitsh@live.com
more letters at http://letterstotheTOS.blogspot.com
It's great to help the victims of the HIV plague, but I've been wondering: in addition to addressing the heavily-impacted girls and women, how about convincing men to become allies in this fight? Imagine if we taught our sons to save sex until they are married. Imagine if we taught young men to steer clear of situations where they would be tempted to have non-marital sex. Imagine 20- and 30-something unmarried men encouraging their sisters and female friends to stay virgins until marriage. Think about married men working hard to provide for their wives and children, and training those children to be daughters and sons of integrity. Imagine dads protecting their daughters' virtue. Swazi society would be positively transformed as HIV rates plummeted and girls and women felt loved, respected and protected.
It seems the overwhelming majority of NGO programs focus on girls and women, and again-they deserve our attention. Still, it seems that men are mostly left out of the picture; the most they get is a soccer league. If Swazi men would make virtue their modus operandi and passed that upright lifestyle onto other men, the young girls targeted by Egumeni would be safe almost automatically.
Rudy Poglitsh
rpoglitsh@live.com
more letters at http://letterstotheTOS.blogspot.com
Saturday, February 12, 2011
Human Persons and Abortion
Life begins at conception. Medical science increasingly corroborates this fact. What, then, can the abortion lobby say to keep abortion palatable? Since no one wants to say "I support killing babies", how can the taking of human life in the womb be made "okay" for those who wish to promote abortion?
One recent strategy is to invent a class of human non-persons. Some individuals at the highest academic levels-levels at which, all too frequently, common sense no longer dwells-suggest that the right to life comes from "morally significant traits". One current list of "morally significant traits" includes being able "to reflect upon ourselves as a continuous locus of consciousness", "to form and savour plans for the future", and "to dread death, and to express the choice not to die". Humans not possessing these traits are not persons in this scheme, and so have no inherent right to life.
Note first that anyone asleep possesses none of the traits on this list. I guess, according to some geniuses at major universities, we all shift from being human persons to human non-persons and back again each evening and morning. Would these individuals suggest that anyone asleep may rightfully be killed? Hopefully not-but as philosopher Peter Kreeft has observed, there is no idea so crazy that someone with a doctorate has not thought it.
More importantly, however, consider where this line of thinking takes us. If some individual or group of people can make a list of "morally significant traits" and define personhood (and with personhood the right not to be arbitrarily killed) according to that list, then no one (except maybe the list-writer) is safe. Anyone lacking one or some number of these all-important traits could be ruled a non-person, and their life would not deserve protection.
Tragically, this has been done before. Nazi Germany's killing spree began not with Jewish people, but with a program to make a perfect Aryan race. Near the end of the Third Reich, German doctors were full-blooded German children who wet the bed, had misshapen ears, or had learning difficulties.
Let us learn from the past and use common sense. Let all human life be protected from conception to natural death. No to abortion; yes to life.
Rudy Poglitsh
rpoglitsh@live.com
more letters at http://letterstotheTOS.blogspot.com
One recent strategy is to invent a class of human non-persons. Some individuals at the highest academic levels-levels at which, all too frequently, common sense no longer dwells-suggest that the right to life comes from "morally significant traits". One current list of "morally significant traits" includes being able "to reflect upon ourselves as a continuous locus of consciousness", "to form and savour plans for the future", and "to dread death, and to express the choice not to die". Humans not possessing these traits are not persons in this scheme, and so have no inherent right to life.
Note first that anyone asleep possesses none of the traits on this list. I guess, according to some geniuses at major universities, we all shift from being human persons to human non-persons and back again each evening and morning. Would these individuals suggest that anyone asleep may rightfully be killed? Hopefully not-but as philosopher Peter Kreeft has observed, there is no idea so crazy that someone with a doctorate has not thought it.
More importantly, however, consider where this line of thinking takes us. If some individual or group of people can make a list of "morally significant traits" and define personhood (and with personhood the right not to be arbitrarily killed) according to that list, then no one (except maybe the list-writer) is safe. Anyone lacking one or some number of these all-important traits could be ruled a non-person, and their life would not deserve protection.
Tragically, this has been done before. Nazi Germany's killing spree began not with Jewish people, but with a program to make a perfect Aryan race. Near the end of the Third Reich, German doctors were full-blooded German children who wet the bed, had misshapen ears, or had learning difficulties.
Let us learn from the past and use common sense. Let all human life be protected from conception to natural death. No to abortion; yes to life.
Rudy Poglitsh
rpoglitsh@live.com
more letters at http://letterstotheTOS.blogspot.com
Saturday, February 5, 2011
Unworkable Marriages?
Last Wednesday's Times carried a story about Titus Mlangeni saying couples in Swaziland are stuck in "unworkable marriages". Mlangeni promised to spend his remaining time in the Law Society working for reform in Swazi family law, presumably making it easier for couples to end their marriages.
Marital dissatisfaction may indeed run high, and certainly marriage should not be a threat to life and limb. Still, most people want to be happily married. Wouldn't it be better to find ways to make unhappy marriages happier, rather than making it easier to end marriages?
Below is a 10-point list entitled "How To Keep a Christian Marriage Alive". It will work for Christian and non-Christian couples. Each spouse can read over the list every morning, and choose one of the items to practice through the day. I suspect that if couples put these simple ideas into practice, marriages will prosper. I know it works for my wife and I.
Research shows that couples greatly underestimate the pain and suffering that a divorce causes. Couples using this simple plan can restore their marriage to the "dream come true" they had on their wedding day. The spouses, their children, and society will benefit.
How To Keep a Christian Marriage Alive
1. Pray for your mate each day.
2. Express appreciation for each other.
3. Show respect to each other.
4. Do small favors.
5. Pray together.
6. Have fun together.
7. Develop mutual interests.
8. Forgive each other daily.
9. Listen to each other/Talk to each other.
10. Smile at each other.
Rudy Poglitsh
rpoglitsh@live.com
more letters at http://letterstotheTOS.blogspot.com
Marital dissatisfaction may indeed run high, and certainly marriage should not be a threat to life and limb. Still, most people want to be happily married. Wouldn't it be better to find ways to make unhappy marriages happier, rather than making it easier to end marriages?
Below is a 10-point list entitled "How To Keep a Christian Marriage Alive". It will work for Christian and non-Christian couples. Each spouse can read over the list every morning, and choose one of the items to practice through the day. I suspect that if couples put these simple ideas into practice, marriages will prosper. I know it works for my wife and I.
Research shows that couples greatly underestimate the pain and suffering that a divorce causes. Couples using this simple plan can restore their marriage to the "dream come true" they had on their wedding day. The spouses, their children, and society will benefit.
How To Keep a Christian Marriage Alive
1. Pray for your mate each day.
2. Express appreciation for each other.
3. Show respect to each other.
4. Do small favors.
5. Pray together.
6. Have fun together.
7. Develop mutual interests.
8. Forgive each other daily.
9. Listen to each other/Talk to each other.
10. Smile at each other.
Rudy Poglitsh
rpoglitsh@live.com
more letters at http://letterstotheTOS.blogspot.com
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)