As if there isn’t enough divisiveness in the world right now; as if there aren’t enough people pointing out that divisiveness; as if there haven’t been enough post-apocalyptic movies, within past 20 years, showing that we are so divisive, that we will pretty much nuclear blast each other into smithereens; as if social media is not drenched in vitriolic wars over identity politics, here I am bringing up the one of the most controversial arguments – if not THE most controversial — in modern times: Abortion.
However, this article is not just about showing why abortion is fundamentally immoral – and, yes, it fundamentally does mean killing a human life, no matter which side of the argument you line up on – the recommended videos below also show just how unbelievably irrational – and absolutely sad – some of the pro-choice arguments represent. Yes, I may not gain some subscribers from this video. And my tone may sound a little harsh when compared to my other videos. But that’s because life, while beautiful and amazing in so many ways, is also horribly messy at times. Or at least there is some degree of cringeworthy mess to contend with every day.
We humans are complicated. We are another example of being a double-edged sword: We live for each other, we love our families and friends, we work hard to pay our bills and have some sense of normalcy in life, and we thirst for knowledge and progress. Yet we can also be belligerent, bigoted, chronically angry, abusive, manipulative, and massively destructive.
Considering that *all* of us are capable of all the adjectives I just listed, now add a controversial topic to the mix – and let the maddening games begin. Case in point with abortion: As you will see in one of the recommended videos, Jeff Durbin, a Protestant pastor from well-known church here Phoenix, Arizona, spends much of his time and efforts challenging pro-life advocates at rallies, in front of Planned Parenthood, you name it — Durbin and his team have probably participated.
Although Durbin is essentially a Calvinist who supports Sola Scriptura, and he unfortunately has a distorted view of the Catholic Christian faith (for which Trent Horn thoroughly rebutted Durbin’s videos on the subject), I have a lot of respect of Durbin’s approach to street evangelization, including his clearly persistent courage to speak out against abortion. I agree with just about all of Durbin’s arguments for being pro-life – and he uses sound logic to show why it’s not so easy to boil the argument down to “it should be a woman’s right to choose”. (Not to mention that it’s more than time that ALL Christians stand up together against blatant immorality that is disguised as law and oversimplified as a “woman’s choice about her body”).
What we have now is an immorality pandemic. That’s not to take shot at Covid by using the word “pandemic”: No, we NEED to call our current state of moral thuggery a pandemic. It’s not just the U.S. that is divided about abortion. The whole world is divided about it. Namely, the whole world is divided about what constitutes reality. My video on Eddie Trask’s book, “Confession All…” covers this problem in some detail. In short, though, words such as truth, reality, identity, and facts are being hijacked into a mind-numbing number of splinter definitions. You know things are bad when Tik Tok influencers out there spew out made-up definitions about identity and lifestyles and then push them as “#facts”.
That being the case, how we can even begin to have more productive conversations about controversial topics? And let’s raise the stakes even more: Now we also have scores of individuals who want so much for their view to be right, they will sacrifice their own humanity for it.
Here is one example. Call it anecdotal evidence if you will – but just read any comment exchange about abortion / pro-life versus pro-choice, and you undoubtedly see similar statements. That is, I happened to catch a post on Facebook that “it’s time to ‘cancel’ Texas” because the government there is not budging on their abortion laws. I then responded to a comment by a woman who defended pro-choice as “nobody should tell a woman what to do with her body. She has her own rights.” Ok, so then I asked her the following questions: 1.) Knowing that scientific studies have empirically proven that human life does in fact begin at conception, does the baby in the womb not have rights to his/her own body? 2.) How exactly do we determine when it is ok or not ok to end a human life, including outside the womb?
To use one of Durbin’s examples, if a mother gives birth to a severely disabled child, and the mother thinks she is unable support the child financially, or that the experience will be too overwhelming, should the mother then have her child killed? Where are the lines?
Speaking of scientific studies, the abortion debate has been compounded and convoluted that much more, largely because of the rise in scientism and atheist driven world views about morality. Therefore, arguments such as the abortion debate get reduced to “it’s all about evolution. We build morality, freedom of choice, and human cooperation based mostly on utility. We have reconciled that killing each other off in droves can evolutionary processes and human progress overall. “
Outwardly, some of that statement may have its own utility: Yes, we can well conclude that rampant murder and mass oppression do not make for a wonderful world around us. Yet scientism conflates that with muddied ideas about choice and human rights. Another case in point, the other video I am recommending: How to be Christian, one of my favorite channels on YouTube, recently posted a video that, with the sound help of logic and reason, shatters the scientism view of abortion and a woman’s right to choose. As you will see in the video, Ferris, the host for How to Be Christian, shows the many flaws in a video by Bill Nye, “the science guy” – who is an outspoken advocate for abortion rights and divorcing them from Christian teaching.
Note: I am not here to fire insults at Bill Nye – yet he must be called out for the disturbingly incorrect information he is disseminating. Particularly that, whether he realizes it or not, it fans the flames of moral thuggery. When I ask a person, “Knowing that scientific studies have empirically proven that human life does in fact begin at conception, does the baby in the womb not have rights to his/her own body?”; and they answer, “At the end of the day, the woman’s rights trump the baby’s rights”, what more can I say? I can’t possibly be the only person who sees that as morally bankrupt. Or prove me wrong. Or first, watch the videos below – in their entirety – and then feel free to weigh in on the discussion.
“Science vs “The Science Guy'”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m4-dKGSHFX4
Dialogue with Pro-choice supporters: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aiyHYjFcX50&t
“Is a fetus a living person? (Trent Horn response): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TeYqc7SvXx4
The Catechism of the Catholic Church, #2270 – 2275 (on the topic of abortion): https://www.usccb.org/sites/default/files/flipbooks/catechism/548/