As I have previously shown, abortions because of fetal disability or deformity cannot be morally justified. But now we’ll look at another hard case, the cases of rape and incest. … [Read more...]
Responding to Cultural Buzzwords: Tolerance, Multiculturalism, and Relativism
Have you ever been placed in a situation where you have pointed out particular problems in our culture, only to have someone respond back with "Judge not, lest you be judged..."? In that encounter were you ever given the chance to finish it for them? In many cases, Christians are not given a chance. It is because we are told that "toleration" in a pluralistic, multicultural … [Read more...]
Zombies, Meth, and Games With Thrones
Two of the most popular current television shows are also two of the most grim: AMC's "Breaking Bad" and "The Walking Dead." If you want to go for a really depressing TV trifecta, throw in "Game of Thrones," which is not yet as grim as it’s going to be. Trust me. All three of these stories come from brilliant people with amazing talent. (I saw Vince Gilligan of "Breaking … [Read more...]
Is Abortion Justifiable in the Hard Cases? Part I
Now we get to the really tough questions about abortion. Can we justify abortion in the really hard cases? Some might say that certain situations are so bad that even if we grant that the preborn are full human persons, we should still allow abortions to be legal, either for the sake of the woman or because it is assumed that a child would not want to grow up in one of these … [Read more...]
Are Reproductive Rights Civil Rights?
Does a woman's "right to choose" constitute a civil right? Does the reproductive rights movement have the right to compare itself to the civil rights movement? Organizations like Planned Parenthood would argue in the affirmative, “Planned Parenthood believes that reproductive rights are deeply connected to civil rights for all Americans(1).” Is this true? Does the analogy fit? … [Read more...]
On hypocrisy in the church
One common criticism of the church is that it is full of hypocrites, people who say one thing and do another. The problem with countering this criticism is that it is true. If we are honest, we will have to admit that none of us lives up to our own standard of behavior, let alone the standard set before us in Scripture. We all practice some level of hypocrisy in that there is a … [Read more...]
Sins and Superheroes
Question: When is it acceptable for a young man to pretend to respect authority but not actually do so; get revenge on people who embarrass him; break promises just because he doesn't like them; believe himself to be smarter than everyone else; act as a vigilante instead of working within the system; sneak his girlfriend out against her parents' wishes; and steal the identity … [Read more...]
Cherry Picking the Bible? Are Christians Expected to Follow the Levitical Laws?
Very frequently, the Christian claim that the Bible provides valuable information on morality, including sexual ethics, is met with the objection, “But aren’t you cherry picking the Bible? After all, you don’t follow all those laws in the Old Testament either. If we should refrain from an activity because it is outlawed in the Bible (such as the sexual prohibitions outlined in … [Read more...]
Thought Experiment: The Burning IVF Facility
Dean Stretton imagines a case in which an emergency arises and a person is faced with the choice of rescuing ten frozen human embryos or five adult patients. Since virtually everyone would choose to save the adult patients rather than the embryos, this indicates that the patients have a higher moral status than the frozen human embryos. [1] … [Read more...]
Bodily Rights Arguments
So far we’ve considered three different objections to the pro-life case: that the preborn are not humans biologically, that the preborn are human but are not persons, and that the preborn are humans biologically but are not full-fledged human beings in a morally relevant sense. That is, when someone claims the preborn are human but not persons, they agree that they are human … [Read more...]