Monthly Archives: September 2010

Random Image: Complex Cassette Camera

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Try your hand at writing 300 or more words about this picture, without using any of the words in the title ^_~

I found the image from this ffffound.com page, which was an image found on this todayandtorrow article, which linked to this berglondon article, which linked to this kodak article.

A Fetus Cannot Be Born Again, And Is Therefore Not “Whosoever”

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I am a Christian and I am in favor of pre-birth abortions, and I can explain why using the same scriptures anti-abortion Christians use and more.

Truly, I am a Christian specifically because I trust Christ’s perfect obedience to God’s law (righteousness), unwarranted death as a disruption in the “if you sin, you die” code, and confirming resurrection — enabling me, as someone who was formerly infused in unrighteousness, to now be graciously counted as an outsider to the legalist mindset of sin and death.

Going to church, giving to the poor, being a “good person” or holding specific opinions that are popular among Christians (such as biblical inerrancy) are not what make me a Christian. Christ, specifically, and alone, does. I have been given a full-body-immersion baptism, but that’s not what my salvation pivots upon. Christ’s merit, actual death, and resurrection is what my salvation rest squarely and soley upon.

I also consider myself a very non-traditional Christian. I don’t think that the issue of biblical inerrancy is a point worth debating, and I will concede to support a ban on late-term abortions merely as a point of negotiation — but not out of belief that it’s wrong. I think general, macro-evolution is overwhelming plausible, that Adam and Eve could merely signify the birth of self-awareness, and the literal sun-up to sun-down days of the first week from Genesis chapter one doesn’t really jive with how light from stars a million light years away could have reached earth this soon — but I was not there, so I can’t really say one way or the other so I will concede them as merely a point of mystery. We can ask him about it later.

Something I am confident about is that abortion is not murder, nor against God’s will, nor unbiblical, nor wrong. I think the scripture used to justify an anti-abortion/pro-life stance is ambiguous at best, because of the ample reasons it could be used for arguments for and against without being resoundingly and overwhelmingly clear. It doesn’t go as far as to say, in any stretch of the imagination, “terminating pregnancy before birth is an abomination.”

The crux of my pro-abortion stance is a single, scriptural proposal of which I have not yet found a counterargument:

If all people are eligible for salvation through Christ, and all of those “people” must be born again, are the unborn who have not yet been born once therefore “people,” and thus ineligible for salvation (as well as “death” of an unborn be eligible for a murder charge). It is overwhelmingly clear that Christ blatantly states, I tell you the truth, no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again (John 3:3). If a fetus is not born once, it are therefore not a person, never had a soul or spirit, never had self-awareness, and is not eligible for salvation. A fetus, also, therefore, has not sinned, and the bible is overwhelming clear that all people except Christ have sinned.

When exactly an infant becomes a person and eligible to contientiously break the “honor your mother and father” commandment, is another matter entirely.

Other sites worth mentioning, regarding Christians who are pro-choice —

Abortion And The Bible – “The purpose of this article is to address Biblical citations used in the abortion debate and evaluate their effectiveness and relevance.”

Why Abortion Is Biblical – “With all these groups chanting the same mantra, there must be some pretty overwhelming biblical evidence of abortion’s evil, right? Wrong.”

Is the Fetus a Person? The Bible’s View [PDF, 4.4mb] – “If nephesh is the fundamental term of the living being, the “person,” in Hebrew thought, and if nephesh is basically understood as a creature that breathes, then a fetus is not a nephesh, not a living person.”

If you have a verse that you would like me to address, that you think abruptly ends the abortion debate in favor of pro-lifers, please post it in the comments and I will thoroughly trounce your confidence in it =) …but in a spirited, brotherly, iron-sharpening-iron (Proverbs 27:17) kind of way ~_^

Debunking Forwards: Lindsay Lohan & Marines Who Died

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There seems to be a popular Facebook “status” going around claiming that:

Lindsay Lohan, 24, is all over the news because she’s a celebrity drug addict. While
Justin Allen, 23, Brett Linley, 29, Matthew Weikert, 29, Justus Bartett, 27, Dave Santos, 21, Chase Stanley, 21, Jesse Reed, 26, Matthew Johnson, 21, Zachary Fisher, 24, Brandon King, 23, Christopher Goeke, 23, and Sheldon Tate, 27 are all Marines that gave their lives this week, no media mention. Honor THEM by reposting!

I replied sarcastically with, well, if all you watch is E!, then sure — you’ll probably see more of LL than of Marines who died in a war.

However, I decided to look up and find out if these folks did die this week and if they were even Marines for that matter. As it turns out (all dates listed are for 2010):

Justin Allen, 23, was an Army Ranger from Ohio who had a wedding date set for the upcoming November 20th, killed in Afghanistan on July 18.

Brett Linley, 29, was a Staff Sergeant for the Royal Logistic Corps (UK) and died on July 17 while defusing explosive devices, having already disabled 100 such bombs in five months.

Matthew Weikert, 29, died on July 17 in Afghanistan, as a member of the US Army (although was first a Marine for 5 years, and took a year break before re-enlisting).

Justus Bartett, 27, may actually be Justus Bartelt [according to this] because I could not find a single reference to that spelling. Bartelt was a Marine who died on July 16 in Afghanistan.

Dave Santos, 21, was a Marine corporal from Saipan (a US territory in the deep in the Pacific, lattitude even with southern Vietnam, longitude even with northern Japan) who was “stabbled in the neck and killed by a fellow Marine.”

Chase Stanley, 21, was an Army soldier from California, serving in Afghanistan when he died on July 14, along with three others when an improvised explosive device struck their vehicle. The other three killed were those listed next —

Jesse Reed, 26, from Pennsylvania, was the Army driver for a vehicle searching for roadside bombs, having sent home as a memento a picture of himself and a few others sitting in a crater of one such roadside bomb only a week prior.

Matthew Johnson, 21, from Minnesota, was an Army soldier who died on July 14th (although the article linked says he died “Tuesday” which is the 13th), as an “engineer equipment operator and mine-resistant, ambush-protected operator during route-clearance operations.”

Zachary Fisher, 24, of Missouri was an Army Sergeant who died in the IED attack that killed the three men listed immediately above on July 14, was a disarmer of roadside bombs, and son to a retired Army Master Sergeant.

Brandon King, 23, an avid Spades player, was a Private First Class in the Army from the capital of Florida, killed while serving in Afghanistan on July 14th, “when insurgents attacked his unit with small arms fire.”

Christopher Goeke, 23, was an First Lieutenant for the US Army from Minnesota who died Tuesday July 13th defending an Afghan police compound. He was a West Point Military Academy graduate and had been married only 18 months prior.

and Sheldon Tate, 27, who was an Army Staff Sergeant known in his youth to be a prankster, died on July 13th, also in an attack on an Afghan police location, “assisting a young paratrooper to safety.”

They got the media coverage that their particular respective locales warranted, to the people that those soldiers mattered the most. In one sense, having your son’s story broadcast to the entire nation may not be what the surviving relatives want.