I am going to give you an analogy and a case study that will help you to understand "how" God "thinks" (by that I mean his perspective on human actions). My purpose is not to help you to try to understand what cannot actually be understood by humans (or even by angels, who while they share God's vision they cannot comprehend how its perfection originates in God, which is why they constantly praise God in heaven). Rather, I am going to help you to look at a sad and unpleasant earthly issue and be better able to make just, righteous and virtuous choices and thus form your own opinions accordingly. I've thought of a few analogy and case studies so here is the first one.
As you know, many people who oppose abortion understand that even certain forms of birth control have shades of abortion, since they destroy the created embryo by not allowing it to implant, etc. While the Catholic Church and others of their belief oppose all forms of terminating preborn life, they recognize that there is a difference between contraception (preventing the embryo from even forming in the first place) and abortion (destroying or hindering the growth of an actual embryo). Thus the Catholic Church opposes both but for different reasons, though both rest on the reverence and valuing of all human life. Contraception is opposed because there is a Biblical prohibition of "spilling one's seed on the ground," which means that all sex acts should occur in a marital situation that is open to the possibility of a pregnancy occurring. So contraception is opposed because it appears that God has instructed that the raw material of pregnancy should not be discarded, wasted or hindered from combining into a pregnancy. Abortion is opposed because it is viewed as not only being devaluing of life and irreverential toward God's commission to be fruitful and multiple, but because it also violates the Commandment against killing. So that is the medical and spiritual background against which this case study takes place.
One way people promote both birth control and abortion is to accuse those who oppose either or both of those practices of being "insensitive" and "cruel" in certain situations. The usual situation is whereby a victim of rape seeks an abortion. Now, the specific case study I want to give to you is the situation regarding why some people oppose giving "morning after" so called "emergency contraception" pills to a rape victim. In other words, working in slightly different ways, these pills create an environment hostile toward a pregnancy either occurring (if it has not yet happened) or the embryo if it is in place being able to attach and grow. Many people, including those of good will and emotional thoughtfulness, wonder how people can be mean as to "condemn" a rape victim to a possible pregnancy.
Before I move to the analogy, where I explain God's way of thinking in the matter, let me remind you that I am not an absolutist, as I have blogged before. I believe that a small child who is raped and pregnant and who is seeking an abortion for the good reasons of her extreme youth and her fragile health, should receive one, and the sin of abortion thus rests upon whoever allowed the rape to occur. I remind you that I blogged about the most recent case of this happening so that you are not distracted in reading my analogy by the thought that I am insensitive and inflexible, for I am not, obviously.
So let's go back to the case study, which is a teenage or adult woman (in other words, not a child as I outlined above) is raped and seeks immediate "after the rape" "emergency contraception," which is medicine that either aborts the newly formed embryo or prevents the sperm and egg from fertilizing, if they had not yet. So I am speaking of someone who could bear a child with the normal risks of pregnancy, but not the additional risk and trauma of a little child being raped.
Here is the analogy that helps shed some light on how God views this dilemma. Imagine there is a poor and primitive village of indigenous people in a remote area, where they barely eke out a living to support themselves, but are otherwise content. One day a man goes insane and kills a married couple, leaving their small child alive, but now with no one to provide for her. How would you feel if the village decided to kill the small child, because they could not support her in the place of her parents and, and this is the important point, the fact that she is now unsupported is the result of a crime.
So think this through. These well meaning villagers have now lost two pairs of hands and legs that used to raise food, build dwellings, haul water, etc due to the crime of murder, and now with that loss of sustenance providing married couple, the village is stuck with a burden, the little girl, that did not exist before, and all because of a crime.
I'll bet many of you have to haul yourself back from the slippery slope of "understanding" that the "poor indigenous" people just "might have to" make a "tough decision" and being "unable to support the little girl" "through no fault of their own" and "because of someone else's crime," they just "can't support the little girl due to this crime" and thus (how long can we delay saying it?)... they kill her, either outright or by allowing her to starve or perish due to wild beasts in the forest, or from exposure to the cold.
No, God would not "understand" that. God would think that the people who do have enough to eat and shelter don't deserve to have even the little they do have if they cannot raise, support and comfort the little girl whose parents, those two able bodied workers, were murdered. Odds are that God would hardly bless the future of the village who killed the child because "they could not support her." Indeed, these villagers would all have to answer to him when they receive on their inevitable death personal judgment.
Now that you understand "how God thinks" in the analogy, now look back to the case study. In both situations you have a helpless child due to a crime (in the case study, due to rape, in the analogy, due to the murder of the parents). God does not want to hear lame, selfish and craven excuses from a poor village who murders due to poverty, so how much less does God want to hear such excuses from a society that has health care, hospitals, welfare, parents and grandparents with salaries, and the potential for adoption?
It is a hard message to understand how God thinks because his thought is entirely based on love and justice. No human can ever live up to that, but they sure should not provoke the obvious because of greed and selfishness, or, and this is understandable, where shattered emotions and self pity due to the rape can lead, due to the weakness of human nature, of blaming the child for "ruining" their "plans." "My life has been ruined, I've been raped and if I have this child I have to pay money and lose a year of college before getting my high paid job and giving the baby away in adoption." Put in God's point of view, while he understands the broken, selfish weakness of humanity (after all, Eve had everything and she still wanted more in the Garden of Eden), it is hardly as noble and kind hearted as humans think they are being when they urge a rape victim to consider "emergency contraception" and/or abortion.
Back to the analogy. Maybe those lazy ass villagers ought to work a little harder to grow a few more crops, rather than just the bit they have, in order to not murder the child. Maybe their doing so would result in them discovering a vein of gold in a stream that they had not noticed before. Sometimes even those in extreme economic situations through genuine kindness can exert themselves even more to support a child, rather than say "We'd like to but we can't."
God is the ultimate democrat, because every life is equally precious in its creation and its potential in his eyes. Many people alive today exist because somewhere in their family tree someone did not abort a child due to rape in warfare or other circumstances.
I hope that this case study and the accompanying analogy has helped you understand one aspect-a very important one-of God's "thoughts." More so I hope this helps you to not have knee jerk reaction to even painful events when developing your own stance, attitudes, thoughts, feelings and ultimately policies and decisions, where you react to the obvious sympathy and empathy without considering all the routes that genuine mercy, virtue and righteous do take place.
Showing posts with label babies. Show all posts
Showing posts with label babies. Show all posts
Tuesday, January 12, 2010
Sunday, December 21, 2008
The Nativity of Jesus brought great danger
Even in the time of joy of Advent, with the anticipation of the birth of Jesus Christ, and the wonder and glory of the actual Nativity, one must keep a very important grim reality in mind, if one is to truly understand God, the gift of Jesus Christ, and humans’ own behavior.
The best way to do this is to recall the following while celebrating Christmas. While the faithful celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ over at least a long weekend, most likely a week, and of course many celebrate throughout the month or more, the actual Infant Jesus and the Holy Family, Joseph and Mary, barely had a day to celebrate his birth. One might assume that I mean the temporary lodging in the stable and the poverty of the Lord’s birth, but no that is not what I mean.
Matthew 2:1-3, 7-8, 11-13, 16
Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea, in the days of King Herod, behold, Magi came from the East to Jerusalem, saying, “Where is he that is born king of the Jews? For we have seen his star in the East and have come to worship him.” But when King Herod heard this, he was troubled, and so was all Jerusalem [comment: meaning the powerful in his court and among the priests] with him.
Then Herod summoned the Magi secretly, and carefully ascertained from them the time when the star had appeared to them. And sending them to Bethlehem, he said, “Go and make careful inquiry concerning the child, and when you have found him, bring me word, that I too may go and worship him.”
And entering the house, they found the child with Mary his mother, and falling down they worshipped him… And being warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they went back to their country by another way. But when they had departed, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph, saying, “Arise, and take the child and his mother, and flee into Egypt, and remain there until I tell thee. For Herod will seek the child to destroy him.”
Then Herod, seeing that he had been tricked by the Magi, was exceedingly angry; and he sent and slew all the boys in Bethlehem and all its neighborhood who were two years old or under, according to the time that he had carefully ascertained from the Magi.
Then was fulfilled what was spoken through Jeremiahs the prophet, A voice was heard in Rama, weeping and loud lamentation; Rachel weeping for her children, and she would not be comforted, because they are no more.
Yes, within mere days of the birth of Jesus, angels warned both the Magi, who had innocently given Herod the news of the Savior’s birth, and Joseph to flee for Herod planned to kill Jesus. So much faster than we have our tree, our gifts, and our dinner, the Holy Family had to run to save the life of the newborn Jesus.
What is worse, Herod had no way of knowing that the angels had warned the Magi and Joseph, so when he got no further information from the Magi, he decided to have killed every innocent baby who MIGHT be Jesus. Thus he had all infant boys under the age of two in two villages cruelly slain by sword. Imagine the innocent families who had no knowledge of anything having soldiers storm into their village, declaring war on their baby boys and spitting them on swords right in front of the mothers.
Because Herod had no way of knowing that the Holy Family had been warned by angels and fled, he did not pursue them, thinking they were still in the region. Thus those baby infants were the first martyrs of the Church, and are honored three days after the Nativity of Jesus Christ, on December 28. Herod in his deep and dark evil killed every little baby boy who “might” have been Jesus, and thus never thought to mount a pursuit of the Holy Family (since he knew not who they were but yes, think about it, his agents could have found out). But he thought he “took care of the problem” by slaughtering every little baby boy in those two villages under the age of two.
Imagine being Joseph and Mary. Many focus on the Holy Family being away from their home when Jesus was born, and being poor having to be in the stable. But mere days after the birth of Jesus they were fleeing the soldiers of King Herod who came with slaughtering swords, so at Christmas one must also remember the dire peril they were in, and the sacrifice of the innocent babies, who distracted Herod and thus saved Jesus from pursuit.
One cannot really understand the gift of Jesus from God without understanding this slaughter at the mere rumor of his arrival. This is something older children, and most certainly adults, must understand and remember in order to truly appreciate the risk and the grace of the gift of the Infant Jesus to a world ensnared by the most wicked of sin.
From Christian Prayer, the Liturgy of the Holy Hours:
December 28
Holy Innocents, Martyrs
Come let us worship the newborn Christ who crowns with joy these children who died for him.
Clothed in white robes, they will walk with me, says the Lord, for they are worthy.
These children cry out their praises to the Lord; by their death they have proclaimed what they could not preach with their infant voices.
From the mouths of children and babies at the breast you have found praise to foil your enemies.
The just are the friends of God.
They live with him forever.
-The just are the friends of God.
They live with him forever.
God himself is their reward.
-They live with him for ever.
Glory to the Father…
-The just are…
At the king’s command these innocent babies and little children were put to death; they died for Christ, and now in the glory of heaven as they follow him, the sinless Lamb, they sing for ever. Glory to you O Lord.
…The Holy Innocents gave witness not by words but by their life’s blood,
-give us strength to be your witnesses before men, both by words and by actions.
They were not ready for battle but you made them fit to win the palm of victory,
-now that we are prepared for victory, do not let us despair.
…You rewarded the child martyrs with the first share in your kingdom,
-do not let us be cast out from the unending heavenly banquet.
You knew persecution and exile as a child,
-protect all children whose lives are in danger from famine, war and disasters.
Our Father…
You see, Catholics do not worship the infant martyrs, but they remember them, 2000 years after they, through no choice of their own, were slaughtered as the first martyrs. We also allow ourselves to imagine their joy and reward from God, as they would have been the "first" into heaven to learn of the arrival of the Messiah and their role.
Understanding the Holy Innocents, Martyrs helps you to understand the Catholic attitude toward saints. They honor and revere with great solemnity the reality that the Infant Jesus had to flee with his family mere days after birth to save his life, a life that was put at risk by naive Wise Men with enthusiastic and worshipful big mouths. Honoring these little baby saints reminds us all that martyrdom at the hands of evil humans accompanies the arrival of good. This is one reason the Catholic Church often references the blood of martyrs, not because they are gory or wishing for such a fate, which is so obviously unjust. The newborn Jesus' life was preserved as innocents were slaughtered by their own people sent by their own King and his evil insecurity.
December 28 is a very important day to me, it always has been, for this reason, to honor the Holy Innocents and their grieving families, and to explain to people to recall that the gift by God of Jesus to humanity was not just someone who “understood poverty,” but whose very life was at risk at the hands of the very people he came to save. This, incidentally, is why fictionalized ex-Bible accounts of the boy Jesus performing miracles is not true; after the slaughter of the Holy Innocents it is not as though the Holy Family exactly proclaimed any miracle working of Jesus and thus might draw down not only on themselves but others another slaughter such as had taken place days after his birth.
Many wish that the spirituality of Christmas could be enhanced. Well, a first step is learning the facts that Jesus had less time in the manger than the average family has a long weekend of Christmas celebration, before he had to flee, and the Holy Innocents became the first martyrs even before one word was preached, and John the Baptist would have been only six months old himself.
I hope that you have found this helpful.
The best way to do this is to recall the following while celebrating Christmas. While the faithful celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ over at least a long weekend, most likely a week, and of course many celebrate throughout the month or more, the actual Infant Jesus and the Holy Family, Joseph and Mary, barely had a day to celebrate his birth. One might assume that I mean the temporary lodging in the stable and the poverty of the Lord’s birth, but no that is not what I mean.
Matthew 2:1-3, 7-8, 11-13, 16
Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea, in the days of King Herod, behold, Magi came from the East to Jerusalem, saying, “Where is he that is born king of the Jews? For we have seen his star in the East and have come to worship him.” But when King Herod heard this, he was troubled, and so was all Jerusalem [comment: meaning the powerful in his court and among the priests] with him.
Then Herod summoned the Magi secretly, and carefully ascertained from them the time when the star had appeared to them. And sending them to Bethlehem, he said, “Go and make careful inquiry concerning the child, and when you have found him, bring me word, that I too may go and worship him.”
And entering the house, they found the child with Mary his mother, and falling down they worshipped him… And being warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they went back to their country by another way. But when they had departed, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph, saying, “Arise, and take the child and his mother, and flee into Egypt, and remain there until I tell thee. For Herod will seek the child to destroy him.”
Then Herod, seeing that he had been tricked by the Magi, was exceedingly angry; and he sent and slew all the boys in Bethlehem and all its neighborhood who were two years old or under, according to the time that he had carefully ascertained from the Magi.
Then was fulfilled what was spoken through Jeremiahs the prophet, A voice was heard in Rama, weeping and loud lamentation; Rachel weeping for her children, and she would not be comforted, because they are no more.
Yes, within mere days of the birth of Jesus, angels warned both the Magi, who had innocently given Herod the news of the Savior’s birth, and Joseph to flee for Herod planned to kill Jesus. So much faster than we have our tree, our gifts, and our dinner, the Holy Family had to run to save the life of the newborn Jesus.
What is worse, Herod had no way of knowing that the angels had warned the Magi and Joseph, so when he got no further information from the Magi, he decided to have killed every innocent baby who MIGHT be Jesus. Thus he had all infant boys under the age of two in two villages cruelly slain by sword. Imagine the innocent families who had no knowledge of anything having soldiers storm into their village, declaring war on their baby boys and spitting them on swords right in front of the mothers.
Because Herod had no way of knowing that the Holy Family had been warned by angels and fled, he did not pursue them, thinking they were still in the region. Thus those baby infants were the first martyrs of the Church, and are honored three days after the Nativity of Jesus Christ, on December 28. Herod in his deep and dark evil killed every little baby boy who “might” have been Jesus, and thus never thought to mount a pursuit of the Holy Family (since he knew not who they were but yes, think about it, his agents could have found out). But he thought he “took care of the problem” by slaughtering every little baby boy in those two villages under the age of two.
Imagine being Joseph and Mary. Many focus on the Holy Family being away from their home when Jesus was born, and being poor having to be in the stable. But mere days after the birth of Jesus they were fleeing the soldiers of King Herod who came with slaughtering swords, so at Christmas one must also remember the dire peril they were in, and the sacrifice of the innocent babies, who distracted Herod and thus saved Jesus from pursuit.
One cannot really understand the gift of Jesus from God without understanding this slaughter at the mere rumor of his arrival. This is something older children, and most certainly adults, must understand and remember in order to truly appreciate the risk and the grace of the gift of the Infant Jesus to a world ensnared by the most wicked of sin.
From Christian Prayer, the Liturgy of the Holy Hours:
December 28
Holy Innocents, Martyrs
Come let us worship the newborn Christ who crowns with joy these children who died for him.
Clothed in white robes, they will walk with me, says the Lord, for they are worthy.
These children cry out their praises to the Lord; by their death they have proclaimed what they could not preach with their infant voices.
From the mouths of children and babies at the breast you have found praise to foil your enemies.
The just are the friends of God.
They live with him forever.
-The just are the friends of God.
They live with him forever.
God himself is their reward.
-They live with him for ever.
Glory to the Father…
-The just are…
At the king’s command these innocent babies and little children were put to death; they died for Christ, and now in the glory of heaven as they follow him, the sinless Lamb, they sing for ever. Glory to you O Lord.
…The Holy Innocents gave witness not by words but by their life’s blood,
-give us strength to be your witnesses before men, both by words and by actions.
They were not ready for battle but you made them fit to win the palm of victory,
-now that we are prepared for victory, do not let us despair.
…You rewarded the child martyrs with the first share in your kingdom,
-do not let us be cast out from the unending heavenly banquet.
You knew persecution and exile as a child,
-protect all children whose lives are in danger from famine, war and disasters.
Our Father…
You see, Catholics do not worship the infant martyrs, but they remember them, 2000 years after they, through no choice of their own, were slaughtered as the first martyrs. We also allow ourselves to imagine their joy and reward from God, as they would have been the "first" into heaven to learn of the arrival of the Messiah and their role.
Understanding the Holy Innocents, Martyrs helps you to understand the Catholic attitude toward saints. They honor and revere with great solemnity the reality that the Infant Jesus had to flee with his family mere days after birth to save his life, a life that was put at risk by naive Wise Men with enthusiastic and worshipful big mouths. Honoring these little baby saints reminds us all that martyrdom at the hands of evil humans accompanies the arrival of good. This is one reason the Catholic Church often references the blood of martyrs, not because they are gory or wishing for such a fate, which is so obviously unjust. The newborn Jesus' life was preserved as innocents were slaughtered by their own people sent by their own King and his evil insecurity.
December 28 is a very important day to me, it always has been, for this reason, to honor the Holy Innocents and their grieving families, and to explain to people to recall that the gift by God of Jesus to humanity was not just someone who “understood poverty,” but whose very life was at risk at the hands of the very people he came to save. This, incidentally, is why fictionalized ex-Bible accounts of the boy Jesus performing miracles is not true; after the slaughter of the Holy Innocents it is not as though the Holy Family exactly proclaimed any miracle working of Jesus and thus might draw down not only on themselves but others another slaughter such as had taken place days after his birth.
Many wish that the spirituality of Christmas could be enhanced. Well, a first step is learning the facts that Jesus had less time in the manger than the average family has a long weekend of Christmas celebration, before he had to flee, and the Holy Innocents became the first martyrs even before one word was preached, and John the Baptist would have been only six months old himself.
I hope that you have found this helpful.
Sunday, September 7, 2008
The body, even just a single cell, is soul temple
People have fallen away from understanding what the soul really is and its relation to the body. The Bible is clear that the body is to be honored because it is the temple of the soul.
It is through the body that the soul receives its shaping during its time in the material realm of time, energy and matter. Thus a soul gets "dirtied" by continual sin, where sin is an act performed by the mind and/or the body. Or the soul is glorified through the goodness of the mind and body's daily activities. Thus when one dies the soul returns to God, who had made it in the first place, and the condition of the soul is judged based on the effects that the deeds of mind and body experienced through his or her one and only life.
So here is the modern (and sometimes the ancients got confused) error in logic. I refer to it in my previous post. The ancients were better than the moderns are today at remembering that the body is the temple of the soul, and that the soul is present at some point before the baby is born. Moderns have drifted into ridiculous and dangerous lack of understanding that the soul is shaped (benefited or harmed) by the living human's bodily and mind experiences and thus seem to think that the soul is just along for the ride, or doesn't really exist. That's like thinking the passenger in a car doesn't matter, only the car matters. The soul is like the passenger in the car and God will judge how that passenger arrives. The other error in logic is that both ancients and moderns are tempted to think that the soul does not experience life unless it is at some sort of recognizable human looking and appearing stage of maturation. I explain why the ancients felt that way in my previous blog. But here is the problem.
We know that from the moment of attachment to the womb the embryo is a passenger in a car and it is already affected by its environment. The soul is already being shaped from the first cell division of its single cell body. How do we know that? Well, simple logic that whatever food, beverage or substance a woman consumes immediately affects the cell of the embryo. The ancients did not really understand biology and how life works (for example, they did not know about cells, or how nutrients are passed through the body and utilized). They could deduce things like what is healthy to eat, but they did not know that food is comprised of fat, protein, carbohydrates, etc and the cellular mechanisms of digestion. But moderns know better. The baby's soul is either supported or harmed by whatever the mother experiences through ingestion from the very first moment of its life. So the soul is definitely becoming shaped and unique by what it experiences. Suppose the embryo is in a starving woman in Darfur. The scarcity and inadequacy of the nutrients she can provide the embryo is "felt" by the soul. When that soul returns to God, after whatever its length of life, that soul is shaped by privation in a different way than the soul of a well fed and nourished European woman, for example. One is not better or more worthy, it is just an example of how the body does not have to be self aware and developed to have an immediate impact on the shaping of the soul. And we also know that caffeine, prescription or illegal drug or alcohol use is also immediately transmitted to the embryo at its earliest stages. The soul is in there, being "shaped" by that experience.
The second thing that moderns know that ancients did not is that even a single cell embryo is directed by the incredible complexity of its individual genes. Even if the embryo has not yet grown its "blue eyes" the genes for blue eyes are going to work to make that happen. Thus the biology and temperament of the future adult is already present and active on an individual basis, baby by baby, embryo by embryo. And what if the baby is one of twins? The soul of the embryo is already "exposed" to closely proximate life from its earliest cellular life. That too "shapes" the soul.
This is why the Bible explains that God knows the person before they are born. They are an individual person with a growing temple that houses the soul from the moment of conception. God creates the soul and sends it to the body-its very temple-the moment the temple is made, which is conception and attachment to the womb with the first pulse of life. To use the car and passenger analogy, one is in the car from the very beginning of the journey, one does not pop into the car only when the car has reached thirty miles per hour. Think of the embryo being made, attaching and quickening as the moment when the car passenger first turns the car key and the car engine turns on. The car is on even though you have not yet left the driveway. An embryo has a soul the moment it exists and "turns on" by being viable, by demonstrating it is alive by performing its first cell division. That is why the Catholic Church is gravely disturbed by frozen embryos. While there is not yet a soul or "passenger" "trapped" in there, it is right on the edge of that happening, all the embryo needs is to be quickened to receive its soul. That should be both comforting and also deeply disturbing to you, if you think about it. Embryos are not to be trifled with.
So the soul is "aware" from its very arrival in the quickened embryo that has had its attachment to the womb and first cell division of life because it is instantly bathed in the experience of the physical reality of containment (the womb and the embryonic cell), the variety of substances of nutrients and otherwise it receives through the mother's placenta, including whether they are adequate or not, healthy or damaging, and also the genetic mandates that initiate growth in the entirely unique bodily temple, plus whether there is another life in the form of a sibling "on board." These are all experiences that do not require a body to be mature enough to be "self aware." The soul does not need a body with a brain, a heart, ears, eyes and limbs, or the ability to feel pain or not to experience life. I mean, duh, the soul is created in God's realm where there is no physical bodily reality at all yet. The soul "arrives" in the embryo having already experienced a material life formative event, which is feeling God's love and desire for the baby to live. So the very first thing that every pre born baby embryo soul feels is that this is a "wanted pregnancy," that God is the parent and loves the child. This is why babies cannot "understand" not being wanted, because every soul arrives with its first experience of being cradled and loved by God.
Thus if, sadly, there is a miscarriage, the soul returns to God with most assuredly a "personality" based on its bodily life temple experience. The soul of a miscarried deprived baby in the Sudan region of Darfur will have a different shaping than the soul of a baby who is miscarried because of a genetic flaw, or because the mother ingested substance, or because of a tragic accident to the mother. Each pre born baby has an already individualized soul from their totality of individual experience in the womb. Obviously babies that are aborted have that experience on the shapes of their souls, and they are comforted in heaven with "extra super duper" love and "you are wanted" in heaven to compensate and erase the rejection of them in life via abortion. They find themselves among those of the ancestors of their biological parents who are righteous and who have merited heaven, even if that has to go back some generations. The souls of babies who perish with their mothers each experience whatever those circumstances were, but are in the company of their mothers to heaven (hopefully for the mother, but a pregnancy is not a free ticket to heaven). Babies who are miscarried by parents who deeply loved them and for no fault of their own cannot thrive also carry with them to heaven the shaping of that parental love on their souls. So there is a wealth of "experience" that is different for every soul from the moment it arrives to the new embryo throughout pregnancy, and each is totally individual. That's how they tell each other apart in heaven, by the way, because each human is individual and different based on their experience throughout whatever the span of their life was, and so there is a "visible" uniqueness that is incredibly obvious to anyone in heaven even if the pre born infant had lived only for days, weeks, or months.
I hope this is helpful.
It is through the body that the soul receives its shaping during its time in the material realm of time, energy and matter. Thus a soul gets "dirtied" by continual sin, where sin is an act performed by the mind and/or the body. Or the soul is glorified through the goodness of the mind and body's daily activities. Thus when one dies the soul returns to God, who had made it in the first place, and the condition of the soul is judged based on the effects that the deeds of mind and body experienced through his or her one and only life.
So here is the modern (and sometimes the ancients got confused) error in logic. I refer to it in my previous post. The ancients were better than the moderns are today at remembering that the body is the temple of the soul, and that the soul is present at some point before the baby is born. Moderns have drifted into ridiculous and dangerous lack of understanding that the soul is shaped (benefited or harmed) by the living human's bodily and mind experiences and thus seem to think that the soul is just along for the ride, or doesn't really exist. That's like thinking the passenger in a car doesn't matter, only the car matters. The soul is like the passenger in the car and God will judge how that passenger arrives. The other error in logic is that both ancients and moderns are tempted to think that the soul does not experience life unless it is at some sort of recognizable human looking and appearing stage of maturation. I explain why the ancients felt that way in my previous blog. But here is the problem.
We know that from the moment of attachment to the womb the embryo is a passenger in a car and it is already affected by its environment. The soul is already being shaped from the first cell division of its single cell body. How do we know that? Well, simple logic that whatever food, beverage or substance a woman consumes immediately affects the cell of the embryo. The ancients did not really understand biology and how life works (for example, they did not know about cells, or how nutrients are passed through the body and utilized). They could deduce things like what is healthy to eat, but they did not know that food is comprised of fat, protein, carbohydrates, etc and the cellular mechanisms of digestion. But moderns know better. The baby's soul is either supported or harmed by whatever the mother experiences through ingestion from the very first moment of its life. So the soul is definitely becoming shaped and unique by what it experiences. Suppose the embryo is in a starving woman in Darfur. The scarcity and inadequacy of the nutrients she can provide the embryo is "felt" by the soul. When that soul returns to God, after whatever its length of life, that soul is shaped by privation in a different way than the soul of a well fed and nourished European woman, for example. One is not better or more worthy, it is just an example of how the body does not have to be self aware and developed to have an immediate impact on the shaping of the soul. And we also know that caffeine, prescription or illegal drug or alcohol use is also immediately transmitted to the embryo at its earliest stages. The soul is in there, being "shaped" by that experience.
The second thing that moderns know that ancients did not is that even a single cell embryo is directed by the incredible complexity of its individual genes. Even if the embryo has not yet grown its "blue eyes" the genes for blue eyes are going to work to make that happen. Thus the biology and temperament of the future adult is already present and active on an individual basis, baby by baby, embryo by embryo. And what if the baby is one of twins? The soul of the embryo is already "exposed" to closely proximate life from its earliest cellular life. That too "shapes" the soul.
This is why the Bible explains that God knows the person before they are born. They are an individual person with a growing temple that houses the soul from the moment of conception. God creates the soul and sends it to the body-its very temple-the moment the temple is made, which is conception and attachment to the womb with the first pulse of life. To use the car and passenger analogy, one is in the car from the very beginning of the journey, one does not pop into the car only when the car has reached thirty miles per hour. Think of the embryo being made, attaching and quickening as the moment when the car passenger first turns the car key and the car engine turns on. The car is on even though you have not yet left the driveway. An embryo has a soul the moment it exists and "turns on" by being viable, by demonstrating it is alive by performing its first cell division. That is why the Catholic Church is gravely disturbed by frozen embryos. While there is not yet a soul or "passenger" "trapped" in there, it is right on the edge of that happening, all the embryo needs is to be quickened to receive its soul. That should be both comforting and also deeply disturbing to you, if you think about it. Embryos are not to be trifled with.
So the soul is "aware" from its very arrival in the quickened embryo that has had its attachment to the womb and first cell division of life because it is instantly bathed in the experience of the physical reality of containment (the womb and the embryonic cell), the variety of substances of nutrients and otherwise it receives through the mother's placenta, including whether they are adequate or not, healthy or damaging, and also the genetic mandates that initiate growth in the entirely unique bodily temple, plus whether there is another life in the form of a sibling "on board." These are all experiences that do not require a body to be mature enough to be "self aware." The soul does not need a body with a brain, a heart, ears, eyes and limbs, or the ability to feel pain or not to experience life. I mean, duh, the soul is created in God's realm where there is no physical bodily reality at all yet. The soul "arrives" in the embryo having already experienced a material life formative event, which is feeling God's love and desire for the baby to live. So the very first thing that every pre born baby embryo soul feels is that this is a "wanted pregnancy," that God is the parent and loves the child. This is why babies cannot "understand" not being wanted, because every soul arrives with its first experience of being cradled and loved by God.
Thus if, sadly, there is a miscarriage, the soul returns to God with most assuredly a "personality" based on its bodily life temple experience. The soul of a miscarried deprived baby in the Sudan region of Darfur will have a different shaping than the soul of a baby who is miscarried because of a genetic flaw, or because the mother ingested substance, or because of a tragic accident to the mother. Each pre born baby has an already individualized soul from their totality of individual experience in the womb. Obviously babies that are aborted have that experience on the shapes of their souls, and they are comforted in heaven with "extra super duper" love and "you are wanted" in heaven to compensate and erase the rejection of them in life via abortion. They find themselves among those of the ancestors of their biological parents who are righteous and who have merited heaven, even if that has to go back some generations. The souls of babies who perish with their mothers each experience whatever those circumstances were, but are in the company of their mothers to heaven (hopefully for the mother, but a pregnancy is not a free ticket to heaven). Babies who are miscarried by parents who deeply loved them and for no fault of their own cannot thrive also carry with them to heaven the shaping of that parental love on their souls. So there is a wealth of "experience" that is different for every soul from the moment it arrives to the new embryo throughout pregnancy, and each is totally individual. That's how they tell each other apart in heaven, by the way, because each human is individual and different based on their experience throughout whatever the span of their life was, and so there is a "visible" uniqueness that is incredibly obvious to anyone in heaven even if the pre born infant had lived only for days, weeks, or months.
I hope this is helpful.
Saturday, May 31, 2008
Sad brave story raises baby transplant awareness
When a baby dies it is heartbreaking, I know. But this story raises awareness that if bereaved parents can be courageous and give permission for organ donation, another baby's life can be saved. This story is of a baby, born to a widow, who died before he could get a transplant. Prayers for comfort to the mother and all her extended family.
http://www.sbsun.com/ci_9421767?source=most_viewed
snip
Baby dies while waiting for heart
Debbie Pfeiffer Trunnell, Staff Writer
Article Launched: 05/29/2008 08:58:27 PM PDT
The family of Jared Donald Magnus knew he could never be a football player, but they hoped the baby who was born with a fatal heart condition would at least get the opportunity to grow up.
That hope was shattered when the baby's organs gave out May 18 at Loma Linda University Children's Hospital.
He was 10 weeks and 2 days old.
Jared was born March 7 to Denise Magnus, of Rancho Cucamonga, a widow whose husband died in a workplace accident.
http://www.sbsun.com/ci_9421767?source=most_viewed
snip
Baby dies while waiting for heart
Debbie Pfeiffer Trunnell, Staff Writer
Article Launched: 05/29/2008 08:58:27 PM PDT
The family of Jared Donald Magnus knew he could never be a football player, but they hoped the baby who was born with a fatal heart condition would at least get the opportunity to grow up.
That hope was shattered when the baby's organs gave out May 18 at Loma Linda University Children's Hospital.
He was 10 weeks and 2 days old.
Jared was born March 7 to Denise Magnus, of Rancho Cucamonga, a widow whose husband died in a workplace accident.
Wednesday, August 29, 2007
Bible Reading: Sirach, and historical context
Sirach 34
Empty and false are the hopes of the senseless, and fools are borne aloft by dreams. Like a man who catches at shadows or chases the wind, is the one who believes in dreams. What is seen in dreams is to reality what the reflection of a face is to the face itself. Can the unclean produce the clean? Can the liar even speak the truth? Divination, omens and dreams all are unreal; what you already expect, the mind depicts. Unless it be a vision specially sent by the Most High, fix not year heart on it; for dreams have led many astray, and those who believed in them have perished. The Law is fulfilled without fail, and perfect wisdom is found in the mouth of the faithful man.
A man with training gains wide knowledge; a man of experience speaks sense. One never put to the proof knows little, whereas with travel a man adds to his resourcefulness. I have seen much in my travels, learned more than ever I could say. Often I was in danger of death, but by these attainments I was saved.
Lively is the courage of those who fear the Lord, for they put their hope in their savior; he who fears the Lord is never alarmed, never afraid; for the Lord is his hope. Happy the soul that fears the Lord! In whom does he trust, and who is his support? The eyes of the Lord are upon those who love him; he is their mighty shield and strong support, a shelter from the heat, a shade from the noonday sun, a guard against stumbling, a help against falling. He buoys up the spirits, brings a sparkle to the eyes, gives health and life and blessing.
Tainted his gifts who offers in sacrifice ill-gotten good! Mock presents from the lawless win not God’s favor. The Most High approved not the gifts of the godless, nor for their many sacrifices does he forgive their sins. Like the man who slays a son in his father’s presence is he who offers sacrifice from the possessions of the poor. The bread of charity is life itself for the needy; he who withholds it is a man of blood. He slays his neighbor who deprives him of his living; he sheds blood who denies the laborer his wages.
If one man builds up and another tears down, what do they gain but trouble? If one man prays and another curses, whose voice will the Lord hear? If a man again touches a corpse after he has bathed, what did he gain by the purification? So with a man who fasts for his sins, but then goes and commits them again: Who will hear his prayer, and what has he gained by his mortification?
***
The Book of Sirach was written by Jesus, son of Eleazar, son of Sirach, in Hebrew, between 200 and 175 BC. The text was translated into Greek by the author’s grandson, who also wrote a forward to the text. Read what he wrote and remind yourself that this grandson wrote this introduction sometime around 132 BC, very near to the time of the birth of Jesus of Nazareth just over a hundred years later:
Many important truths have been handed down to us through the Law, the Prophets, and the later authors; and for these the instruction and wisdom of Israel merit praise. Now, those who are familiar with these truths must not only understand them themselves, but a lover of wisdom, be able, in speech and in writing, to help others less familiar. Such a one was my grandfather, Jesus, who, having devoted himself for a long time to the diligent study of the Law, the Prophets, and the rest of the books of our ancestors [comment: he means here the Sacred Scriptures of the Old Testament written before the time of Sirach, according to the threefold division of the present Hebrew Bible], and having developed a thorough familiarity with them, was moved to write something himself in the nature of instruction and wisdom, in order that those who love wisdom might, by acquainting themselves with what he too had written, make even greater progress in living with conformity with the Divine Law. [comment: Though not included in the Hebrew Bible after the 1st century AD, nor accepted by Protestants, the Book of Sirach has always been recognized by the Catholic Church as divinely inspired and canonical, except for this forward, which is important for its information.]
You therefore are now invited to read it in a spirit of attentive good will, with indulgence for any apparent failure on our part, despite earnest efforts, in the interpretation of particular passages. For words spoken originally in Hebrew are not as effective when they are translated into another language. That is true not only of this book but of the Law itself, the Prophets, and the rest of the books, which differ no little when they are read in the original. [comment: Are you not amazed to read the words of the translating grandson of an author of a Bible book, 2139 years after they were written? And how plain and relaxed they are about the problems of translation that the holiest men of their times faced then? It makes the harshness and rigidity of argument on this subject nowadays even more painful in comparison. The holiest people of the time of the Bible authorship did not act as though every word was life or death in its exact accuracy of translation. Instead they kept their priority on conveying the divine wisdom.]
I arrived in Egypt in the thirty-eighth year of the reign of King Euergetes and while there, I found a reproduction of our valuable teaching [comment: this is the source of the 132 BC date for the writing of this forward.] I therefore considered myself in duty bound to devote some diligence and industry to the translation of this book. Many sleepless hours of close application have I devoted in the interval to finishing the book for publication, for the benefit of those living abroad who wish to acquire wisdom and are disposed to live their lives according to the standards of the Law.
**
Is this not a wonderful forward by a religious and charmingly open grandson? Bless his heart, along with of course his grandfather, the author of Sirach, for their holy work. By reading this you are first hand experiencing the thoughts of the grandson of the author of a Bible book that has contributed to the Catholic Church liturgy. Read Sirach 1: 1-13 here:
All wisdom comes from the Lord and with him it remains forever. The sand of the seashore, the drops of rain, the days of eternity: who can number these? Heaven’s height, earth’s breadth, the depths of the abyss: who can explore these? Before all things else wisdom was created; and prudent understanding from eternity. To whom has wisdom’s roots been revealed? Who knows her subtleties? There is but one, wise and truly awe-inspiring, seated upon his throne: It is the Lord; he created her, has seen her and taken note of her. He has poured her forth upon all his works, upon every living thing according to his bounty; he has lavished her upon his friends.
Fear of the Lord is glory and splendor, gladness and a festive crown. Fear of the Lord warms the heart, giving gladness and joy and length of days. He who fears the Lord will have a happy end; even on the day of his death he will be blessed. The beginning of wisdom is the fear of the Lord, which is formed with the faithful in the womb. With devoted men was she created from of old, and with her children her beneficence abides.
**Notice the beautiful last few sentences that refer to the preborn baby as having the beginning of wisdom in the fear of the Lord! I’ve alluded to this in my writings that the soul is received by the baby upon its conception and quickening, and also the accompaniment and instruction of its guardian angel. People two thousand years ago understood the sanctity and perfection of preborn life. How smart are people today?
Empty and false are the hopes of the senseless, and fools are borne aloft by dreams. Like a man who catches at shadows or chases the wind, is the one who believes in dreams. What is seen in dreams is to reality what the reflection of a face is to the face itself. Can the unclean produce the clean? Can the liar even speak the truth? Divination, omens and dreams all are unreal; what you already expect, the mind depicts. Unless it be a vision specially sent by the Most High, fix not year heart on it; for dreams have led many astray, and those who believed in them have perished. The Law is fulfilled without fail, and perfect wisdom is found in the mouth of the faithful man.
A man with training gains wide knowledge; a man of experience speaks sense. One never put to the proof knows little, whereas with travel a man adds to his resourcefulness. I have seen much in my travels, learned more than ever I could say. Often I was in danger of death, but by these attainments I was saved.
Lively is the courage of those who fear the Lord, for they put their hope in their savior; he who fears the Lord is never alarmed, never afraid; for the Lord is his hope. Happy the soul that fears the Lord! In whom does he trust, and who is his support? The eyes of the Lord are upon those who love him; he is their mighty shield and strong support, a shelter from the heat, a shade from the noonday sun, a guard against stumbling, a help against falling. He buoys up the spirits, brings a sparkle to the eyes, gives health and life and blessing.
Tainted his gifts who offers in sacrifice ill-gotten good! Mock presents from the lawless win not God’s favor. The Most High approved not the gifts of the godless, nor for their many sacrifices does he forgive their sins. Like the man who slays a son in his father’s presence is he who offers sacrifice from the possessions of the poor. The bread of charity is life itself for the needy; he who withholds it is a man of blood. He slays his neighbor who deprives him of his living; he sheds blood who denies the laborer his wages.
If one man builds up and another tears down, what do they gain but trouble? If one man prays and another curses, whose voice will the Lord hear? If a man again touches a corpse after he has bathed, what did he gain by the purification? So with a man who fasts for his sins, but then goes and commits them again: Who will hear his prayer, and what has he gained by his mortification?
***
The Book of Sirach was written by Jesus, son of Eleazar, son of Sirach, in Hebrew, between 200 and 175 BC. The text was translated into Greek by the author’s grandson, who also wrote a forward to the text. Read what he wrote and remind yourself that this grandson wrote this introduction sometime around 132 BC, very near to the time of the birth of Jesus of Nazareth just over a hundred years later:
Many important truths have been handed down to us through the Law, the Prophets, and the later authors; and for these the instruction and wisdom of Israel merit praise. Now, those who are familiar with these truths must not only understand them themselves, but a lover of wisdom, be able, in speech and in writing, to help others less familiar. Such a one was my grandfather, Jesus, who, having devoted himself for a long time to the diligent study of the Law, the Prophets, and the rest of the books of our ancestors [comment: he means here the Sacred Scriptures of the Old Testament written before the time of Sirach, according to the threefold division of the present Hebrew Bible], and having developed a thorough familiarity with them, was moved to write something himself in the nature of instruction and wisdom, in order that those who love wisdom might, by acquainting themselves with what he too had written, make even greater progress in living with conformity with the Divine Law. [comment: Though not included in the Hebrew Bible after the 1st century AD, nor accepted by Protestants, the Book of Sirach has always been recognized by the Catholic Church as divinely inspired and canonical, except for this forward, which is important for its information.]
You therefore are now invited to read it in a spirit of attentive good will, with indulgence for any apparent failure on our part, despite earnest efforts, in the interpretation of particular passages. For words spoken originally in Hebrew are not as effective when they are translated into another language. That is true not only of this book but of the Law itself, the Prophets, and the rest of the books, which differ no little when they are read in the original. [comment: Are you not amazed to read the words of the translating grandson of an author of a Bible book, 2139 years after they were written? And how plain and relaxed they are about the problems of translation that the holiest men of their times faced then? It makes the harshness and rigidity of argument on this subject nowadays even more painful in comparison. The holiest people of the time of the Bible authorship did not act as though every word was life or death in its exact accuracy of translation. Instead they kept their priority on conveying the divine wisdom.]
I arrived in Egypt in the thirty-eighth year of the reign of King Euergetes and while there, I found a reproduction of our valuable teaching [comment: this is the source of the 132 BC date for the writing of this forward.] I therefore considered myself in duty bound to devote some diligence and industry to the translation of this book. Many sleepless hours of close application have I devoted in the interval to finishing the book for publication, for the benefit of those living abroad who wish to acquire wisdom and are disposed to live their lives according to the standards of the Law.
**
Is this not a wonderful forward by a religious and charmingly open grandson? Bless his heart, along with of course his grandfather, the author of Sirach, for their holy work. By reading this you are first hand experiencing the thoughts of the grandson of the author of a Bible book that has contributed to the Catholic Church liturgy. Read Sirach 1: 1-13 here:
All wisdom comes from the Lord and with him it remains forever. The sand of the seashore, the drops of rain, the days of eternity: who can number these? Heaven’s height, earth’s breadth, the depths of the abyss: who can explore these? Before all things else wisdom was created; and prudent understanding from eternity. To whom has wisdom’s roots been revealed? Who knows her subtleties? There is but one, wise and truly awe-inspiring, seated upon his throne: It is the Lord; he created her, has seen her and taken note of her. He has poured her forth upon all his works, upon every living thing according to his bounty; he has lavished her upon his friends.
Fear of the Lord is glory and splendor, gladness and a festive crown. Fear of the Lord warms the heart, giving gladness and joy and length of days. He who fears the Lord will have a happy end; even on the day of his death he will be blessed. The beginning of wisdom is the fear of the Lord, which is formed with the faithful in the womb. With devoted men was she created from of old, and with her children her beneficence abides.
**Notice the beautiful last few sentences that refer to the preborn baby as having the beginning of wisdom in the fear of the Lord! I’ve alluded to this in my writings that the soul is received by the baby upon its conception and quickening, and also the accompaniment and instruction of its guardian angel. People two thousand years ago understood the sanctity and perfection of preborn life. How smart are people today?
Tuesday, July 3, 2007
A growing Knut is no longer cute?
Just looked at some up to date pictures of Berlin's sensational polar bear cub Knut. He's growing up and now there's the inevitable comments that he's no longer the cute little bear! Sure he's growing up but still fascinating. It's like human babies... why do people not hug them enough and enjoy them when they are little? Because so soon they grow up and then it's time to love them as little people. Don't waste the "baby" times, savor them all, even the sleepless nights when crying baby awakes you! Can't recapture those times.
Thursday, June 21, 2007
All babies go to heaven, not limbo
There are many ongoing discussions about what happens to unbaptized infants when they die. I am always amazed at the convoluted philosophy (including the well meaning ones!) about this question when the truth is so simple.
All babies have an individual guardian angel when they are conceived and they "quicken," that is, their cells start to grow and thrive so there is indeed a living being present. So Christian or not, every baby has a guardian angel. If a baby dies either pre-birth due to miscarriage or that horror of abortion, or as a born infant, but one that has not been baptized, the baby goes to heaven because the guardian angel is their "godparent." So all babies who die go to heaven, regardless of their religious identity or baptism.
How do we know this? We all agree that even the worse sinner who truly repents and confesses before death, and whose heart is converted, is saved. If such a grace is given to a person who may have led a deplorable life of many decades, God provides an instant "benefit of the doubt" for every baby that this baby would have lived a righteous life, but never had a chance. So the baby is in essence baptized in heaven by their receipt into heaven with escort and sponsorship of their guardian angel. They do not go to "limbo" as there is nothing to atone for. They are baptized in heaven of their original sin because just as baptism is available to any adult who wants to be saved, the baby who has not received baptism does so upon their entry into heaven. So all babies who have ever perished are in heaven. And family members who merit and achieve heaven will see them there.
All babies have an individual guardian angel when they are conceived and they "quicken," that is, their cells start to grow and thrive so there is indeed a living being present. So Christian or not, every baby has a guardian angel. If a baby dies either pre-birth due to miscarriage or that horror of abortion, or as a born infant, but one that has not been baptized, the baby goes to heaven because the guardian angel is their "godparent." So all babies who die go to heaven, regardless of their religious identity or baptism.
How do we know this? We all agree that even the worse sinner who truly repents and confesses before death, and whose heart is converted, is saved. If such a grace is given to a person who may have led a deplorable life of many decades, God provides an instant "benefit of the doubt" for every baby that this baby would have lived a righteous life, but never had a chance. So the baby is in essence baptized in heaven by their receipt into heaven with escort and sponsorship of their guardian angel. They do not go to "limbo" as there is nothing to atone for. They are baptized in heaven of their original sin because just as baptism is available to any adult who wants to be saved, the baby who has not received baptism does so upon their entry into heaven. So all babies who have ever perished are in heaven. And family members who merit and achieve heaven will see them there.
Friday, May 25, 2007
More about babies and loving them
Yesterday I bought a baby rattle, because it is fashioned as a Holstein cow and I love cattle, both the real fragrant living things, and knick-knacks of them. As I unwrapped it I thought again about how so many parents do not understand the need for tactile play with their babies, rather than any television time at all. (See my previous rant on this subject). I thought about the babies I've helped raise (like my niece) or have had the pleasure of cuddling and how this new rattle would have been such a simple yet wonderful shared experience. I'd have the baby on my lap and first show her how I pry open the container to remove the rattle. This shows baby how things come apart and something else can seem to "appear" to them. I'd actually also help baby touch the edges of what I'd just done, and maybe open and close it a few more times. This helps baby see three dimensionally, comprehend figures, and develop tactile sensitivity and confidence... something that not even the most "educational" or "fun" video can do. In fact, this is one reason we have so many learning issues with children. They are seeing on a flat screen activities that are too rapid, too flat, too non-contextual. They can't touch the bouncing ball on TV, for example. I could easily spend a half an hour showing baby a new rattle. I'd help her hands move over it's surface and show her that shaking it moves the 3 dangling keys on it. I'd show her that it could "disappear" behind something and reappear. This is something that is vital to healthy baby development, by the way. Again, TV gives a weird perspective that's not right, things pop up all around and there's no 3D reality. Babies need to have parents play with them in order to calmly and happily understand the 3D world. Hide and go seek with the rattle shows baby that she can have confidence that something that is there can be out of sight for a moment, and then recovered. TV makes the unreal real all the time, and all at too high an electronic pace for babies, whose brain circuitry is still forming. Time spent with the simplest of toys with a baby is such fun (when else can you see a sweet face so easily happy, in this otherwise sad and stressful world?) And this time helps the baby to learn, to have joy and confidence, and gives the baby the true grounding in the real, three dimensional warm world that her brain needs to develop, to say nothing of the wonderful bonding. I'm always amazed at how some parents have no idea how simple and fruitful that real play is with their babies.
Wednesday, May 16, 2007
Recovering love for babies and paternal tenderness
Recovering love for babies and paternal tenderness
The pro life fight is so wearying yet it is the vital issue of our times. As relief from just the sadness and terror of the subject, every few days I'm going to post something positive and loving about babies, and about being a parent. Some will be quotes from the Bible, but many will be just sweet, secular musings about the family. For the first, here is one of seven births in the Bible that were foretold.
Genesis 16: 7 And the Angel of the Lord found her by a fountain of water in the wilderness, by the fountain in the way to Shur.
Genesis 16: 11 And the Angel of the Lord said unto her, Behold, thou art with child, and shalt bear a son, and shalt call his name Ishmael; because the Lord hath heard thy affliction.
The pro life fight is so wearying yet it is the vital issue of our times. As relief from just the sadness and terror of the subject, every few days I'm going to post something positive and loving about babies, and about being a parent. Some will be quotes from the Bible, but many will be just sweet, secular musings about the family. For the first, here is one of seven births in the Bible that were foretold.
Genesis 16: 7 And the Angel of the Lord found her by a fountain of water in the wilderness, by the fountain in the way to Shur.
Genesis 16: 11 And the Angel of the Lord said unto her, Behold, thou art with child, and shalt bear a son, and shalt call his name Ishmael; because the Lord hath heard thy affliction.
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