5/23/24 Word Count – 1,935 Reading time – 8.5 minutes

I have a horizontal ridge across my butt that is the result of perpetual fence sitting. I have been blessed/cursed with a high level of empathy for both sides of almost any argument. This is because I see the image of God in almost every person with whom I come into contact. It has much less to do with who they are than who they might become.

In spite of this proclivity, I find myself in the position of having to make some firm and clear decisions on what principles and values I espouse on tilting point issues. Ok, enough dancing around the subject. There are 2 problems that face our culture, society, and species that I feel I must state my perspective on. They are abortion and sexual preference. Big surprise, huh? Everybody is sounding off on these topics and I am late to the party, as usual.

One of the reasons for my perpetual fence sitting is my very slow processing speed. My old brain has built up a significant amount of sludge over many decades of use and abuse. The gears just don’t turn as freely as they once did.

Also, I am plagued with the malady that I believe affects many Christians. It is a lot easier to profess that you should “hate the sin, but love the sinner” than it is to apply it. As Christians we are admonished to at once “love our neighbors” and decry sin. The emotional and mental juggling required to accomplish this feat is sometimes beyond the capabilities of many, especially when interactions among Christians and gays (pardon me for not using all the current descriptors for the various iterations) are laced with a lizard brain fear on both sides of the equation that overrides the logic and courtesy necessary for relevant conversation among the 2 positions.

I believe that the underlying beliefs held by both sides of the debate are deeper and broader than the platitudes and insults being slung by both sides indicate. I am not such a Pollyanna that I expect to see people on either side to abandon their position as the result of a calm and reasonable conversation. But I do believe that if the true goal is to arrive at an understanding that seeks to create a peaceful environment in which both sides can exist, as opposed to generating more chaos and malcontent, a deeper understanding of the underlying components of each position are more helpful than insults and hatred.

I have been working on establishing my own point of view on these topics for several years and have finally come the following conclusions:

There is a specific point in time when the male sperm and female egg unite, and a zygote is formed. My reading indicates that the zygote can split into 2 cells in as little as 2 days past the point of conception. To me, the splitting of the zygote is a clear indication that a new being is in the making.

The time it takes for the sperm to reach the egg can be from 15 to 45 minutes if the egg is in the woman’s reproductive tract. In my mind, any pregnancy intervention beyond 15 minutes after ejaculation has the potential for ending an individual’s life.  From this perspective, any intervention that takes place after pregnancy is confirmed is murder. I know that seems pretty harsh to some, but it is necessary to draw lines, and that is the most obvious place to me.

The extenuating circumstances of rape and the endangerment of the mother’s life certainly require a fuller understanding of the individual circumstances but need to be decided by the people involved on a case-by-case basis. And the decisions made in these cases should consider the embryo as a person with rights equal to those belonging to others involved in the decision. Additionally, options that favor maintaining the life of the embryo should be fully considered as preferable to ending that life. I also feel that there should be robust and immediate spiritual counseling in these cases.

The reality of unwanted pregnancy is that it is, for the most part, totally preventable. It is my fervent hope and belief that in our society and culture there is still enough support for intelligent family planning to provide assurance that young people who have enough respect for the wisdom and counseling of trusted elders can stave off the urges of raging hormones and psychological pressures long enough to make thoughtful decisions about such an immensely important decision as bringing another human into existence. I’m probably grossly naive in this opinion.

Clearly the moral standards and ethical environment present in today’s world are working with extreme vigor against intelligent family planning. But an additional question is why is there such a lack of respect for the older and wiser members of our society? Unfortunately, it appears that we are a few generations past the point where common sense and experience took precedence over immediate personal gratification. Those persons who in the past would have represented moral considerations, well-reasoned thinking and calculated decision making in providing advice to young people have succumbed to the same moral infirmity and disregard for well thought out planning that is missing in many of our youth today. Rather than doing the hard work of guiding children along a straighter and narrower path many of the elders of the present generation have abdicated setting the guidelines for acceptable behavior and moral values to pop icons, the media, and educators.

It is sad to me that so many young women are being egregiously manipulated by persons who not only have blatant disregard for the individual woman’s personal well-being and dignity, but for the sake of their own personal agenda and aggrandizement. Those people are taking advantage of the overwhelming combination of a young woman’s need for recognition and self-worth along with inescapable hormonal urges. Young women who question their value are easy prey in a society that provides very little support for reasoned decisions and self-control, a society that places greater value on notoriety and subversions masquerading as freedoms than on integrity, humility and self-control.

I’ll say it again. Abortion is murder. Please think clearly about the consequences of unprotected sex. Although my mind is well made up about abortion, I have not ingested enough information to have an opinion about contraception. Except, that it seems far preferable to murder.

Where I see getting pregnant as a choice, I’m not so certain about sexual preference. I do believe that, for the most part, the trend towards homosexuality and transgenderism is the result of choices by most of the people who are attracted to that lifestyle. Many of these choices are being made by children who are being heavily influenced and seriously mislead by a segment of our culture who seeks to justify their own aberrant behavior by luring children into making decision that they have neither the experience nor psychological development to make. Influencing children to take on sexual roles that are unnatural to their biology is perverse.

Pastor Vodie Bachman makes a good point in his observation that there is no gene, or any other physical apparatus that indicates homosexuality is in any way a natural occurrence.

However, I do concede that there may be instances where unnormal sexual preference is the result of early psychological trauma or an errant biological development. In these cases, I would conclude that the compulsion to assume the behaviors and characteristics of a sex not consistent with one’s original biology are the product of a mental disorder. I believe these situations should be looked upon the same as other mental disorders such as depression and schizophrenia. And the people affected by these disorders should be treated as people suffering from a form of mental illness. This does not excuse inappropriate behavior, nor should it exclude them from punishment for criminal acts. Nor does it mean that there is an easy and adequate cure. Those suffering from any mental disorder are destined to serious and debilitating physical, mental, and emotional struggles that most of us can’t imagine. I do not wish to diminish the claim among homosexuals that it feels natural to them. But that is the point. Sexual acts perpetrated between same sex individuals goes against the natural order of things.

One thing that gets overlooked or underplayed in the discourse on sexual preference is that there are a minimum of 2 primary components that make up what we perceive as sexual attraction, psychology, and chemistry. But there is another factor that is very impactful which is the sociological impact on the psychological processing taking place when making decisions about sexual preference.

Reproduction is an important aspect of life. Without it, where would we all be? As we age past childhood the natural chemical/hormonal changes that take place in our bodies produce sexual urges that drive us to perform sexual acts that relieve the mental and physical tension produced by these hormonal gyrations. There are several ways by which this sexual tension can be relieved. Were it not for the intervention of psychology nothing would be safe from the passion of a teenager overcome by their chemistry.

When everything is in balance and running smoothly our psychology directs our attentions to the appropriate target for our sexual urges. But our psychology can be heavily influenced by extraneous influences. Unlike our body’s chemistry, which happens without much regard for attempts at control. Rather, our psychology attempts to add a rational quality to the decisions we make. We are perpetually juggling the “if this then that” propositions of life in an attempt to arrive at conclusions that bode well for our particular situation.

Sociology tends to hijack our patterns of thinking by importing ancillary information into our psychological equations. This ancillary information is not necessarily accurate or even true. Nevertheless, it is taken into the psychological processes quite readily. As beings that form large social groups, allegedly to our ultimate benefit as individuals and as a species, the information we process having to do with society is important.

But, when a society allows its information to become corrupted by trends and ideas that  run counter to reasonable thinking that takes more into consideration than unnatural and immediate gratification, when a society’s moral values are compromised or completely disregarded in favor of actions that pander to aberrant behavior perpetrated by individuals who have no concern for the impact of their personal issues may have on society and particularly the youth of that society, then that society has abandoned any hope of virtue.  

The bottom line for me in these matters is that regardless of how you believe it came into being, there is a natural order to the world. All the biological species in existence have a set way of going about reproduction that was inherent in their make-up. In human beings the natural order of things is that there is male and female, with no notable natural occurrence of gender changes. Each gender has a specific and massively important role to play in reproduction and child rearing.

 The belief that it is prudent to take nature into one’s own hands is to usurp the power of the natural processes that have kept the world in one piece for eons. Frankly, as I look at the fine tuning and efficiency of the planet earth and how nature has been able to maintain its balance since forever, I tend to believe it is despite man’s influence rather than because of it.

Up to this point I have resisted invoking influence of the religious imperative in these matters. However, I must point out that most religions state their opposition and intolerance of homosexual behavior. Much of the benefit to societies provided by religious teachings is to provide a functional pathway through the obstacles human beings encounter on their way to a life beyond our physical existence. If you don’t believe in a conscious existence after death or the everlasting consequences extending from your behavior during your physical life, then the concept of sin has no meaning to you. The problem with this position is that by discounting the veracity of the moral positions of religions you are condoning not only the sin of homosexuality but also murder, rape, child pornography, human trafficking, and a multitude of other heinous behaviors. Perhaps you feel that your personal moral standards draw the line at what you consider to be greater evils. But in the absence of a God given standard individuals can impose whatever moral standard they are strong enough to enforce. My worldview as a Christian includes recognition of God as the sole designer and creator of our universe and world. To me, this means He gets to make the rules.

And although I refuse to belittle the amazing, beneficial, and brilliant work mankind has done, and is doing, on our planet, I do not believe our current social and political situations is incentive to trust in mankind to remake the natural order of human reproduction and social development. When it comes to gender selection, I side with God and nature.