Asst suicide, overpop., etc. - Let's debate the Bible
Claire E. O'Connor claireoc@softdisk.com
Sun, 09 Nov 1997 14:53:23 -0600 (00879130403, 346622C3.343E@softdisk.com)
Ian & Pam Dorion wrote:
>
> Claire E. O'Connor wrote:
> >
> > To Ian Dorion, Ralph Neilsen, and any and all other interested parties:
> >
> > I seem to have caused a lot of email messages to be generated by people
> > who disagree with my positions on assisted suicide, abortion, etc. By
> > the way, I don't think contraception is inherently a bad thing (because
> > a life is not being taken). I think that the Catholic Church has had
> > some good reasons for being against artificial contraception (one reason
> > is that they believe it has contributed to greater promiscuity, which
> > has had ill effects for society).
>
> IAN
>
> Claire, what you believe is your business. I don't know of one person
> who would want to force you into suicide, an abortion, or using a
> contraseptive. WHY do you feel you should force your beliefs on others?
>
> Many Christians are in favor of prayer in school but they would be the
> first to object if someone said a non-Christian prayer.
>
> Since this is a Bible erranct list, may I ask when you have read your
> Bible through? My wife knows a Presbyterian lady in her seventies who is
> reading it through for the first time and she is not happy with what she
> is reading. Of course she is only up to Samuel and not into the NT but
> the NT has it's roots in the OT.
>
> If you're taking a beatting on this subject, let's talk about the Bible.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Claire's Response:
Dear Ian:
I don't mind talking about abortion, assisted suicide, etc. at all! I
just thought that we could move the discussion to another forum, since
this is a Bible errancy mailing list. But I am happy to discuss these
issues here, if Farrell Till doesn't mind.
The place in the Bible where I see abortion being forbidden is Exodus
20:13 - "Thou shalt not kill."
I have not read the Bible through. In fact, I only recently started
attending weekly group Bible studies (January 1996). I cannot seem to
make myself read the Bible unless I have a Bible study with assigned
homework. I need to have structure. It's not very formal or scholarly,
but at least I have gained some familiarity with some parts of the
Bible.
I have participated in the following informal studies:
Genesis, Isaiah, Job, Psalms (we did only 16 of the Psalms),
Nativity Narratives (both Matthew and Luke), Passion and Resurrection
Narratives (from all four Gospels), Gospel of Luke (in its entirety),
Acts of the Apostles, and the Book of Revelation. I am nearing the end
of the Gospel of Luke study, which is not actually a group study but is
a series of lectures by a theology instructor. I am also nearing the end
of the Book of Revelation study, which is a group study.
We use materials from the _Collegeville Bible Commentary_ series and
from _Little Rock Scripture Study_.
After Genesis, I begged that the group do Exodus, but they wanted to do
Psalms instead. After Isaiah, I wanted to do Jeremiah, but they all said
that both Isaiah and Jeremiah were too "gloomy and doomy", so we did
Acts of the Apostles instead.
At each celebration of the Mass, there are readings of Bible passages
(one OT, a Psalm, a part of a Letter, and a Gospel reading). However,
some books are definitely underrepresented. I am not sure I could get a
passage from the Book of Judges unless I attended DAILY Mass over a
four-year period (I can't even make it every Sunday!). Some passages
from the Bible will never appear in the Mass lectionary.
So that's my background on the Bible. I'd probably get clobbered by
Farrell Till, or you, or some others on this list if I tried to debate
the Bible. I am here to learn, and maybe ask some questions. :)
Now, as far as my "forcing my beliefs" on someone: I think that the
"right to life" is more fundamental, and requires more protection, than
the "right to die". In Hitler's Germany, the Jews, the handicapped, and
other "undesirables" certainly had a "right to die". What they were not
allowed was their right to live. When an unborn child is aborted, the
views of someone who is stronger and more powerful are being forced on
that child. I'll say more about that later.
Claire O'Connor