Feeling Thinky.

[ihrketayhl]

For the curious, I love my new job. But that's not what this post is about.

Any of you who know me IRL, and a handful of those who only know me online, know that I spend a lot of my time in...let's be generous and call them "conversations"...with those who hold viewpoints that oppose mine.

Put bluntly: I like to argue. A lot.

And for the past handful of years I've felt drawn particularly to religious or religion-based arguments, possibly just because of the sociopolitical climate, or possibly because I like my debates with a healthy dose of batshit. Who knows.*

I'm Catholic, if anyone's wondering; I'm just a pro-gay marriage, pro-evolution, pro-Choice and pro-religious-freedom Catholic who doesn't believe in Hell, which according to a lot of people makes me a very BAD Catholic. XD

Anyway, there's your background. Today's topic is abortion, specifically late-term abortions. No, I'm not planning on making this a terribly long post, I just...needed to vent this at somebody.

I keep hearing from the Pro-Life segment that one of the reasons abortion, especially late-term abortion, is wrong is because God has a purpose for suffering. Today I heard an example of a man whose wife had lung cancer: he claimed it served the purpose of bringing them closer. Now, I know nothing about this man, barring what he says in these comments.

But I'm REALLY BOTHERED by the notion that just because some good comes out of the pain, it somehow JUSTIFIES the pain.

When I was a kid, that was called "looking on the bright side." Which I appreciate! I think it shows great strength of character to take a painful, horrible event, and bring something good out of it. I think people who can do that are the strongest in the world.

That said, the painful, horrible event? Still sucked. Saying that something good came out of it does not transform the event itself into a good thing.

So, to bring it back to the original topic, just because one might grow personally from the experience of watching their malformed child live a short, painful life, doesn't mean that the short, painful life of the child was a wonderful thing. (This is ignoring, even, the idea that painful things happening to others only happen to help YOU grow, an idea which kind of disgusts me.)

Sure, there are bright sides to everything. But deliberately seeking a painful experience--for yourself and for this child? Because God has a purpose for everything and you might grow from it?

I'm not sure what you call that.

(Though, after typing that out, it does occur to me that this is kind of a common theme in the Christian faith. We celebrate Christ's death on the cross. Some of us even celebrate the existence of Hell because the possibility of Hell allows us to appreciate God's love.** Perhaps we need to examine where this comes from before we can really get to the root of the issue.)

*not meant to imply all religious folks are batshit. though i'm religious and i'm pretty batshit, so make of that what you will. XD

**edit to the last *: yeah, never mind, we're batshit.

Interested in other points of view. Sharing welcome.

Comments

[jibii.livejournal.com]

Yes, I'm aaaall about making adoptions and access to contreceptives easier. Because if a women who doesn't want/can't take of a baby doesn't have one to begin with, there's no need for abortion.

But the very concept that a women can say "I don't want this baby I conceived" for no reason other than "she wants to" and go and get an abortion repulses me down to my very core. I believe that abortions for a medical (physical or mental) reason are a woman's right, but I don't believe that an abortion for any other reason is a right. I believe the right of the child to live trumps the mother's "right to chose". I also believe is fathers' rights if they want to keep the child..

I do try, however, not to judge people or tell them what they believe is wrong or right. This is just what my heart tells me.