Friday, November 7, 2008

Something Less Than Human

Go read this post by Jen at Conversion Diary.

In it she talks about times in history where ordinary people were surrounded by evil and goes on to wonder if she herself would have recognized the evil for what it was:
"If were a 31-year-old woman with three little kids in a busy house in Germany 1941, would I have fully understood the evil that surrounded me?"

Then she asks how you would know if you were surrounded by such evil when the forces of evil tell such slick lies to make it all seem okay:
"What litmus test could you offer that would apply to all places and all times as a way for a person to look around themselves with completely clear eyes, piercing through even the thickest fog of self-delusion and widespread cultural acceptance, and see that they are surrounded by grave evil?"

Finally, she offers a common denominator in all of the cases:
"One thing that stands out in all these examples is that the victims of the widespread evil were categorized as something less than human."

What is it is our time that is of such grave evil? Well, she knows and we know, that it is abortion. What can we do to speak out against such evil? What work can we do now to stop it? These are questions we can all ask ourselves, especially now that we will have a pro-abortion president and Congress majority.

2 comments:

Dawn said...

Hi Janet!

I've been thinking about the questions you ask a lot during the past few days. What now? I'd like to write a blog post on it, but I'll post some of my thoughts here, too. Sometimes, I feel like I'm just talking into the air when I post my thoughts on my blog. This way, it feels more like a conversation!

I think one of the most important things we can do is to continue to work to raise our children to know, love, and serve the Lord. In another 20 years, our children will be voting citizens, and (hopefully!) will vote pro-life. And, just as importantly, we hope that they will live in a way that is pro-life. I really believe that the long-term solution to abortion is to teach our children to live chastely, whatever their state in life is. After all, abortion is the fruit of contraception and promiscuity. If our children don't engage in either of those behaviors, then, hopefully, there will not be any temptation to abort "unplanned" children. I think when we live the Church's teachings on sex and marriage, we recognize that there is no such thing as an unplanned child, because we respect the life-giving power of the marital act, even when we know we are in an (apparantly!) infertile time of the cycle. We know that we are sending an invitation to God to create a new life everytime we have marital relations...we may be surprised that God answered our invitation at times :), but after all, we did send Him an invitation! :)

I have more thoughts, but my kids are melting down! It's been a loooooong day!

House of Brungardt said...

Hi Dawnie,

We were out of town this weekend and are just now getting back to "normal." :)

I totally agree with everything you said. Dan's dad always used to say that we pro-lifers will eventually pull ahead because the pro-aborts will breed themselves out of existence. Like the people say when they see me with 4 little ones, "Better you than me." Maybe so. Probably so.

By the way, we know all about meltdowns over here!
Janet