Thoughts on California's Marriage Ruling

The cultural understanding of the purpose of marriage has been destroyed over the last 40 years because almost all sense, reason and respect has disappeared in public discourse.

Serious discourse on weighty culture-altering matters is practically non-existent, beaten down by drumbeats of obnoxious self-centered demands. For many, debate over the deep issues of life counts simply as a sideshow distraction from other forms of amusement. Most simply argue with a great unwillingness to get past their own ignorance and educate themselves, choosing instead to accept the shallow and trivial moment and every position that supports their own desires.

As a nation, we suffer terribly from a lack of rational imagination to foresee long-term consequences.

The California judicial fiat is only a spasm in the death throes of the Republic of the United States. The Cold-War era idea that relaxing laws on contraception could eventually lead to a devaluation by society in the sanctity and purpose of marriage seemed so incomprehensible as to be laughable. Yet we see the destruction all around us, some more aware of the source than others.

We try to interpret specific court rulings as though spotting a bullet in mid-flight without trying to understand the trajectory; without comprehending the pattern and result. You never see the one that hits you.

Those who believe that this ruling has few long term consequences upon families completely overlook the power exerted by a particular lobby towards manipulating judicial and public opinion in complete disregard for the natural order of things. To say that this particular power will not be exploited shows an ignorance of the degenerate state of man.

Forty years from now, the unexpected consequences will be known.

Those consequences simply won't be a joyous matter, any more than people take joy in divorce, having an abortion, fearing for their lives or struggling with an incurable or life-altering disease contracted through promiscuous relations.

As we descend into darkness, it's inevitable that the Lord shines brighter. So it must be.

More thoughts on Abortion and the Holocaust

Is worldwide abortion a Holocaust?

The word Holocaust, for all practical purposes, has become a "reserved" label for the death of the Jews and their supporters at the hands of Nazi Germany in WWII. So I wouldn't use the word directly, to imply genocide in general. This respects everyone.

I do consider abortion a kind of genocide because a specific group, the unborn, are targeted as being subhuman or non-human, and then power is exercised over them which leads to their destruction. I think that because the mother (and often the father) are complicit with that destruction, it "orphans" the child and strikes with a particular viciousness at the idea of family, and the ideal that God calls us to in this regard. Clearly it's Satanic mockery of God's plan of salvation towards us as His children, becoming part of His family.

Please understand why I write what I do because I'm not unsympathetic to the plight of the unborn, but we need to be clear as to what is different in these cases, and then use those differences to explain why people need to change from the heart and not simply because the state has imposed laws.

What is fundamentally different between these two calamities is the decision point of those given the power (the mothers alone) and the consequences they bear. The Jews as a people were being destroyed by a state - Nazi Germany. But Germany, as a state, was only halted through violence, so those who lived by the sword also died by the sword - Nazi Germany fell. The German people suffered as a side effect of their political and moral ignorance.

In the case of abortion genocide, the mother, for all practical purposes, decides - and yes pressure and coercion have their influence - however, the mother also has risk and suffers the consequences for having made that decision. In effect, the mother puts herself into a kind of "concentration camp". That's a vastly different situation - incredibly wrong, horrible consequences, but not the same situation as the Germans who relinquished their political sovereignty. We don't do either case a favor by framing them as similar when they really aren't the same when it comes to the decisionmaker's consequences.

Sidewalk counselors, and those who regret abortion and speak out about it - such as Annie Banno over at After Abortion understand the persecution, and perhaps have come to a place of healing, but they really can't be compared in the same way to Irena Sendler, for reasons I gave previously.

One of my favorite Scripture passages is what our Lord read in the synagogue from Isaiah 61:

The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight to the blind, to release the oppressed and proclaim the year of the Lord's favor [NIV Lk 4:18-19]

The captivity of sin which leads to the despair of abortion, and the death of the child is something from which freedom needs to be proclaimed and embraced. The truth needs to be revealed - massively, and completely, but we can't be false in how this comes about.

If the contentious issue on this matter is one of value judgement, then that is where the focus should be: why it is a value judgement to begin with? Which brings us solidly back to the pointed question - "what are the unborn? - are they human like us?"

This is far more fertile ground for discussing our condition, than drawing parallels that paint others who are blind to the truth as demons.

Abortion and the Holocaust

Jill Stanek posted a story about a true Polish hero, Irena Sendler who was instrumental in saving nearly 2500 Jewish children from the Warsaw Ghetto during WWII. A truly amazing story and a beautiful woman.

At the end of her post, Jill made a comparison between this woman and activists within the pro-life movement:

Such a beautiful woman and story. Someday many in the pro-life movement, like sidewalk counselors outside abortion mills, will be similarly honored.

The comments section soon blazed.

I'm hoping here to add a perspective that adds some light, and a lot less heat.

In 1991 I walked the ground of the Warsaw Ghetto area for six weeks. Among the dilapidated remaining buildings, complete with bullet holes and other signs of combat, I saw continued anti-semitism, particularly against the synagogue where I was conducting computer training.

One summer, when I was 12, I saw enough of the concentration camps through B&W footage at a local college to know I didn't want to visit those camps when co-workers invited me to join them in 1991. Those who had visited the camps woke from horrible nightmares for weeks after.

Jill's post is a fallacious equivocation - a comparison between these two situations - the nightmare of the Warsaw Ghetto/Holocaust, and the genocide of the unborn.

They aren't the same. And we shouldn't paint them as such.

One could draw many comparisons, but the differences are primarily in the overwhelming despair and state imposition of the Holocaust and the distributive nature of the decisions made by millions of women for the genocide of the unborn. Each genocide has an incidious nature, but Jill's efforts, the amazing numbers of PRCs, the efforts of so many pro-life proponents in a land where people still have freedom to choose (with caveats), speaks to the light that shines brilliantly, whereas Europe was immensely dark at that time.

What makes Irena so special was her duty to save lives, at the continual extreme and imminent danger of losing her own.

While sidewalk counselors may be exposed to extreme hatred and potential violence, our rule of law still protects their rights as citizens, when all hope of such protection was missing in Poland at that time.

We should recognize Irena Sendler for her extreme dedication and sacrifice, but let us pray that things do not deteriorate to the point where such personal heroism is again necessary in the face of a state imposed genocidal solution.