Am I a Murderer

Never an abortion" is just plain unrealistic ... so, what is abortion?

Is it murder as some might say?

As one meme put it: "whether outside the womb, or inside, it's still murder" ... and I thought, "or, is it?"

Obviously it isn't ... sure, it's serious, and every decision made to end a pregnancy is a serious decision ... driven by all sorts of needs and exigencies ...

Certainly, the wealthy will always have access to abortion, even "wealthy christians" ... though they have the means to care for a child, in ways that so many poor families just don't have.

I wanted to reply to the meme, but thought: "A nuanced understanding of what murder is and isn't, and what it means to have an abortion, can't compete with mindless absolutism, a mindset set unconditionally upon the notion that abortion is evil all the time, that those who support a woman's right to choose are murderers, and so is the woman."

So, no reply ... just a deep sigh, and the hope that somewhere along the line, reality and reasonableness might creep in.

As for me:

I support all the means we have at our disposal to mitigate the need for an abortion:

1. Free and easy access to birth control.
2. Sex education throughout a child's schooling.
3. Fully funded health care for all.
4. Fully funded public schools.
5. Unions for higher wages.
6. And a thousand other social devices to make life better.

And,

I support a woman's right to make her own choices - about what she wears, what she eats, and what time she goes to bed. Yes, and with abortion, too.

And, why?

Because I trust women to think it through and make a reasonable decision for themselves, those they love, and their future.

Does that make me a murderer?

Weaponized Prayer

After a less than pleasant phone conversation, many years ago, with an Oklahoma fundamentalist, she said, "I'm praying for you."

To which I said, "Please don't, because your prayer for me is hostile and adversarial. It isn't loving prayer."

I doubt if I stopped her "praying" for me, but I've subsequently thought about how prayer can be weaponized," i.e. telling God how to change someone according to my thoughts; such prayer isn't prayer at all, but an aggression, an aggression both on the gates of heaven and upon the person's spirit. And those who engage in such prayer actually draw further from God.

So, I'm careful in offering prayer ... to not weaponize my prayer life.

In this regard, I think that no prayer is best in selective cases ... leaving the matter in God's hands, which is very much a matter of prayer.

There's so much that I pray about, but even then, I say the person's name, or name the need, and then simply say, "Jesus my LORD."

No long-winded speech about what God ought to be doing with so-and-so, no wrestling with this and that, no pleading for God to give me something, or to give something to those I love ... no laundry list of dos and don'ts for God, and how God ought to be running the world.

Yes, I know the parables about prayer - persistence, and such, but as a matter of course, I avoid telling God what to do, though I've done that a time or two in my life, especially so when I'm praying for my loved one, or have found myself in desperate straits ... there may be such moments, but ordinarily they're few and far between.

So ... I work hard to let people and things remain in the hands of God ... by refraining from expressing my expectations and needs. I think most of the time this is best for me.

Perhaps others have a different calling about how prayer ought to be in their lives ... though I think all of us are tempted to "weaponize" our prayers, i.e to call down fire from heaven ... yet, like most any weapon, zealously used, such prayer is likely to cause serious harm.

Oh well, just some further thoughts about prayer ...

I Don't Pray Any Longer ...

I used to pray regularly for those who support the man-of-lies, but I don't pray any more.

There's warrant in Scripture for not wasting one's breath on those who have hopelessly given themselves to lies, illusion and fabrication.

They have built their wall, a wall dense and high, to keep out the truth ... and why they should do this is quite beyond me, but I suppose it was their initial commitment, because they were Republicans of long standing, or conservatives of some sort, that got them on board, and now that the train of madness is plunging ahead at full steam, they don't know how to get off, and so they defend the man-of-lies all the more, to somehow save face, ease their conscience and dismiss the truth.

It doesn't take much to discern the truth ... it's just a matter of looking at this man-of-lies, his greed, his sexualizing of women, his thoughtless remarks, his cruelties toward immigrants and asylum-seekers, his unpredictability, his bombast and confusing lines of thought, his greed and his self-importance.

I keep recalling that even as Berlin was in flames and Hitler dead, the die-hard Nazis remained loyal, and to this day, there are folks who still believe that Hitler was a good idea.

Well, that's life, as Robert De Niro put it in "Joker." That's life, and how sad it is.