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Existence versus Non-Existence
by Joyce Hampton Imagine that you are driving your car on a sunny day when all of a sudden the driver's window shatters as the metal collides with a much larger, overpowering vehicle. With brute force your vehicle is coerced onto a medium and crashes into an immense tree. Your body plunges forward at the impact, helpless to stop what is about to occur. Here is the essence of this situation. You are healthy and vibrantly alive at one minute. In the next millisecond, your life is about to abruptly end. To make matters worse, you are powerless to alter your fate. This serious situation illustrates how life can quickly change from existence to non-existence just in the time it takes to blink. A similar scenario is true in the following situation. I have never heard a woman say: "I am carrying a fetus." The most common statement is likely to be; 'I am having a baby' if it's ten minutes after finding out the news or twelve weeks later. I ask why there is so much rhetoric on when a fetus becomes a baby. It seems that the abortion option is simply the accommodation of a mindset. Basically, a woman can conclude, 'if I don't want to have this baby then I can think of it as a fetus and have it removed from my body.' Therefore, it seems that the matter of whether a conception has the status of 'fetus' or 'baby' really depends upon if it is 'wanted.' The government has done its part in legalizing this accommodation, which from their perspective is a means to control the population growth. According to statistics, legal abortions in the United States from 1973 to 2000 totaled about 40 million according to The Alan Guttmacher Institute. Contrary to the obvious statement that 'a woman has a right or choice to do what she wants to with her own body' the real question should be, "Is it right to destroy life, especially a life that was voluntarily conceived?" What are the methods for terminating the existence of a "fetus?" If we stare truth in the face we cannot sugarcoat the cruel abortion procedures inflicted upon the innocent. When we think of choice, what happened to a woman's right of choosing before the conception? Did she submit her right and will to choose what happens to her body to her partner? We should seriously consider other alternatives that will prevent conception until parenthood is desired rather than subjecting our bodies to abortion procedures. In this way, we don't devalue our own existence in privacy by destroying a life within us. God values the life of the unborn. How do we know? "And, behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son, and shalt call his name JESUS" Luke 1:31. Was this life valued from conception? Does God view the unborn as a fetus? Luke 1:41, 42 tells us, "And it came to pass, that, when Elisabeth heard the salutation of Mary, the babe leaped in her womb: and Elisabeth was filled with the Holy Ghost: And she spake out with a loud voice, and said, Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb." "Babe" not "fetus" is used in the Bible translation [KJV]. Having a baby is designed to bring joy and delight to us. It is also an affirmation that verifies our own existence through time. (c)2011 by Joyce Hampton Article Source: http://www.faithwriters.com |