November 28, 2007
My feets is tired, but my soul is rested
Barack Obama is wrong. Alan Keyes is correct. Abortion is the slave holders position. The thought was that black people were not developed enough to be treated as human beings and therefore could be bought and sold at will. The thinking behind abortion is that a child in the womb is not developed enough to be treated as a human being. Keyes sights the Constitution when he says that the issue is not that we are developed or born it's that we are created equal and therefore endowed by our Creator with certain inalienable rights. Primarily, the right to life. Abortion is a civil rights issue and the battle for civil rights is a long wearisome march.
Dr. Martin Luther King spoke to this fatigue the week after the Selma March in a message titled "Our God is Marching On. "We have walked through desolate valleys and across the trying hills. We have walked on meandering highways and rested our bodies on rocky byways. Some of our faces are burned from the outpourings of the sweltering sun. Some have literally slept in the mud. We have been drenched by the rains. Our bodies are tired and our feet are somewhat sore. But today as I stand before you and think back over that great march, I can say, as Sister Pollard said—a seventy-year-old Negro woman who lived in this community during the bus boycott—and one day, she was asked while walking if she didn’t want to ride. And when she answered, "No," the person said, "Well, aren’t you tired?" And with her ungrammatical profundity, she said, "My feets is tired, but my soul is rested." And in a real sense this afternoon, we can say that our feet are tired, but our souls are rested."
Here I am in my umpteened post on voter fatigue in South Dakota on the abortion issue. The bottom line is that there is a peace (a shalom, or REST) when you are on the right side of this justice issue.
Comments on My feets is tired, but my soul is rested »
theblacksentinel @ 9:16 am
I understand where you are coming from and the position on abortion. Yet, I don't feel that my or your views on this should override the thoughts, wants and views of others. So, I can't see banning abortion as a viable option. If the person feels that is what is necessary for them then that is them, I can not decide for them what to do with their body. I guess when the constitution says creator, couldn't that be seen as the parents, since they created the new life? So, wouldn't it be their decision whether to keep it or not?
I just don't like the thought of others deciding for me what is right or wrong. So I can't support this issue. Since I can see that sure it may seem right, yet what about other issues that people believe so strongly on, should they now be able to choose what is right for you. Also, why aren't more people out there opposing war which is killing unborn as well as born babies, women, men and children. What about these lives? Don't they have any value?
Thanks
voicescarry @ 2:02 pm
Thanks for your comments blacksentinel! You are not alone in your thinking. It does seem so intolerable for one to think "their views should override the thoughts of others" as you say. However, if everyone was allowed to do "what was right in their own eyes" we'd have a society with no moral restraint.
But thankfully we have laws that restrict what people can do to others i.e. there are people who think its fine to rape children. Thank God for laws that override that thinking. People don't have a right to do what they want with their body - you can't legally put drugs in your body. If you are pregnant and take drugs, you can be charged with a crime against a child. And, it's not just the mothers body involved in an abortion. The unborn child is a separate and unique living human being. It has rights, like I say, endowed by the Creator. I have never heard anyone say before that the "Creator" is the parents. That is certainly not what is the intended interpretation in the Constitution. There is really no argument that that refers to God. A quick comment on war killing people. All people have value and the loss of human life is tragic. Yet, there is a greater evil in letting tyrants like Saddam and Osama do whatever they want - raping women, poisoning thousands of Kurds, etc. Thank God a nation rose up to deal with this evil.
theblacksentinel @ 3:44 pm
So if it is OK for a nation (ours) to raise up and deal with another nation by killing its population then what I am taking from this is that you are only pro life when it concerns unborn babies. And those unborn babies need to be from your own country, those in other countries are expendable as long as we are fighting tyranny, is that correct? …
And since there are so many unwanted children here now, what are you planning to do with them? My question to anti-abortionists is how many of these children do you plan to adopt and when? My question for pro-abortionists is how many abortions is too many and where does it stop? I think both sides have a lot of thinking to do. I am not picking on you, I do the same with the pro choice folks when they have a post as well. I have done a post on Margaret Sanger and her evil start to Planned Parenthood.
I think I am in the middle somewhere. I know what is moral and right for me. I don't know that I can come to your home and tell you what you need to do, from my standpoint…
voicescarry @ 6:19 pm
Agreed! Both sides have lots of thinking to do. Adoption is just around the corner for us (personally) and it's a big push at our church. We want unwanted children - I took an offering recently just to help a couple adopt - wasn't the first time - we have a home group in our church of parents who are trying to adopt. The trouble is an abortion is $300 and adoptions are pushing $30,000. We need laws to make adoption easier and abortion harder. But you are right, the other half of the pro-life platform must be pro-child and pro-mom-in-distress. We minister to women hurt by abortion all the time (we have a group going for them too!).
Intentionally aborting babies in any country is not the moral equivalent of unintentional death in wartime. The moral standard in our country has historically been the Bible, not anyone's own personal view of morality. Social progressives today have shifted us off that foundation and we are now adrift in the sea of relativism.
dispelthemyth @ 6:46 pm
To: theblacksentinel
Your "women ahve a right to their body" argument makes me wonder if you'd agree with those that don't see protecting life until "viability." Some argue that is months after the birth. So…
If…the baby is an independent living human, dependent on the mother for sustinence inside the womb and she can decide "Live or Die,"
Then…at what age should the independent living human, still in need of the mothers care, be free of the mother's "Live or Die" decree.
theblacksentinel @ 8:12 pm
Once the baby is able to live outside the womb with or without the mothers help that baby is free of the mothers live or die decree. So that would go well into the pregnancy stage. I mean babies can be viable when the mother is like 4 or 5 months pregnant and maybe sooner. I don't advocate abortion but I certainly am not in any position to force you into something that might not have been your fault.
My problem is that yes some people are irresponsible and get pregnant, but there are those that had no intention of even having sex. So if they are forced into something by a family member of a stranger, how can you then wag your moral finger and say you better bring that baby into the world? I don't feel that is my, your or anybodies right. That decision is between that woman and god.
If she is making a choice that will affect her moral standing in the eyes of god then she will be the only one to explain herself in front of god. You nor I will be there to argue on behalf of her, the baby or morals or whatever. I feel that if we want people to choose life, then we as a people must force our government to choose to help life flourish. By living wages, health care and access to food and services. People will be less likely to keep a child if they don't feel they can care for it and I don't care how they came to be pregnant.
So don't get me wrong, I am NOT pro live / pro choice. I don't feel that I can make a choice for others, that doesn't mean that I support abortion. I just don't support people telling me, you or others how to handle a personal health matter. Remember banning something doesn't stop it. Every law we have is broken everyday. Just putting the word banned or No on something won't make it go away. So we need to figure out another way to stop people from "wanting" abortions. And saying NO doesn't accomplish that.
ichen @ 4:44 pm
I know this is a long time since the OP(a couple years..) but thank you for this post. Your messages still rings true, there is still hope, and this battle is a long one, but truth and justice will prevail.