As mentioned on Sunday I’m not mocked by individuals I disagree with in face to face interaction , as I can be online. If I was the idiot or ignorant bigot that is mostly stated by dissenters on other blogs, I truly would be publicly shamed on the streets of Lowell. It's just that we disagree without dehumanizing one another.
Instead after any possible knee-jerk reaction and a pause, everything I’m really talking about are anti-poverty and pro-woman issues in respect to motherhood. The ability to be a mother is a part of being female. It can’t be ignored and shouldn’t be lowered in status in the name of feminist liberation.
Men, as a father and as a husband, play an important role in the empowerment of women. The support and flexibility these roles have for women are vital. The same can be said of a mother’s and a wife’s role can play in a man’s life. Family is not the enemy; rather it’s the answer to the resources a pregnant woman needs to survive and succeed. Even for the non-religious, the biology and reason is there. One can not simply dismiss it, because it’s in the Bible so it must be wrong. Disagreeing, solely because a Christian supports it is rather irrational and lacks independent objectivity or logic.
Two weeks ago, The Harvard Crimson published in op-ed, Reclaiming Marriage in defense of the institution. I was happy to see that there was a conversation still happening on Ivy League campuses. Despite a well stated column, the comment section was littered with mocking hecklers. Very few of the dissenters wanted to touch the subject of marital breakdowns and the affects on children, mothers, and fathers. One post in all capital letters of course, screamed “CORRELATION IS NOT CAUSATION”.
So I googled "How does a woman get pregnant?" looking for a cause. Wiki Answers sponsored by Planned Parenthood agrees with me and Opine. A woman gets pregnant from sex with a man! Science has verified a clear answer on the matter. As the young-ins would say, "No sh!t, Sherlock.*"
It also states a woman should be in a stable relationship with the father of the unborn child! What should we call that relationship? Something specific, it sounds real important? Could we give it a name in our vernacular language for later reference?
But is there another way a woman could get pregnant without a man, if sex with a man isn’t the causation of a woman getting pregnant? Well unless you have faith that a virgin can be impregnanted by the Holy Spirit, then we’re talking about a whole different subject.
As always trying to put my name on it,
Renee Aste
Lowell, Massachusetts
* I apologize for the reference with profanity, but since we've lost sense of what is obvious it felt warranted.
And, from the Christian perspective, that same virgin, who conceived by the power of the Holy Ghost (essentially carrying the Child of a Man not to be physically present in her life), was not left to raise that child alone as a single mother; no, God provided that Mary should be espoused and then married, so that His Son would be raised by the finest step-dad available.
ReplyDeleteAccepting the virgin birth is probably one of the hardest parts in accepting a Christian faith. If a young woman was pregnant, or even years later said they were a virgin when they gave birth would you believe them? Accepting all the miracles, teachings, parables, and even resurrection is one thing. Virgin birth? I would role my eyes.
ReplyDeleteHmmm. I hadn't considered that one miracle would be harder to accept than another. Is there a degree of "miraculousness?" If I had to depend completely upon my own intellect to find the truth, I would probably roll my eyes, too. I guess it's fortunate that we don't have to depend entirely on our own intellects for that answer.
ReplyDeleteIt's my secular point of view, sometimes that creeps in. If Jesus was, who He said He was? Why would he comes as a baby starting from conception? Yes, I understand why now, just saying from a secular 'flying spaghetti monster' point of view, deities should make their entrances a little more flashier.
ReplyDeleteRenee,
ReplyDeleteThose with a rational argument to make make it. The rest just call everyone who disagrees a bigot.
"deities should make their entrances a little more flashier."
ReplyDeleteBut that's the genius, isn't it? While skeptics are waiting for that "flash," God sends a baby (babies being miraculous in their own right), and those with eyes to see, may see. There are many ways of knowing, and not all can be documented scientifically, or with the 5 senses. But if one is waiting for a spectacular entrance, I understand, from some reading I've done, that He will be making a spectacular re-entrance, and no one will be able to miss it. :)
I know, it is pretty genius isn't.
ReplyDeleteOp-ed, True. There are points to be made for acceptance and recognition, but I hate how a conversation can deteriate if I acknowledge the real differnces. Who says we have to call everything marriage? Well, the government the is, by special interests with financial means to influence.
ReplyDeleteLife is confusing enough, we have language to express ideas and yet we end up in this misunderstanding, that we can't communicate differing types of relationships with different words and find different solutions for different problems.