Somehow, it received the most aggressive comment anything on this blog has ever received. The comment reads,
"An Embryo Liberation Front ought to be established to unshackle those trembling, quivering persons, presently imprisoned in frosty tombs by evil-slut progenitors who won’t submit to morality. We should burst in to an Embryo Storehouse to tip trays on floors, letting us enjoy the spectacle of protoplasm bidding for freedom.I have no idea what Matt was implying in the last sentence other than, possibly, pointing out what he meant by "faith-driven insanity." I think that the insanity, the madness, is more likely to be found on the other end in this case. It is insanity, pure madness, to devalue human life to the point that the embryo is just a little lump of nothing! Now, I'm not one to get in blog controversies. I don't like them. But such ad hominem aggression deserves a gentle and loving response. I say this
Saletan should be in a secure Centre, sat beside a man who believes he’s Napoleon, murmuring ‘I’m a pretty embryo’ as a Nurse gently strokes his hands. Those who share his beliefs would be consigned to such places if faith-driven insanity were appropriately treated as madness.
Enamoured of. Israel-loving. The Gospel of the Sovereign Grace of God."
"That may be the oddest and most aggressive comment this blog has ever encountered.Anybody have anything else to say?
I wonder, is it insanity to protect the dignity of a human life? Is it insanity to express concern over the growing and nation-wide disdain for the human reproductive processes? Is it insanity to call out in desperation to an increasingly immoral and rudderless society that sees the embyro as little more than a lump of cells fit only for scientific testing? Is it insanity to protect human life of which yours is included? I would imagine that a person of your persuasion believes in social goodness and working for the good of society. If you continue to hold to the unfounded BELIEF that Christians and those who protect the dignity of the embryo are merely deluded and insane you will continue to see the degradation of society until the society is left in utter oppression and NO human life is considered dignified.
You have a weak position when all you can do is hurl insults from outside the walls.
The only thing worse than being blind and deluded is actually being blind and deluded while standing outside the camp accusing everyone else of being blind and deluded.
Is your life, YOUR life, worth anything? Think carefully because how you answer that question bears very much on whether your own worldview is consistent. If the embryo is nothing more than a lump of cells to be toyed with and disposed of you yourself are nothing more than a lump of cells to be toyed with and disposed of.
That you would see that truth is very close to my heart."
Loving the Whole Person (as Christ Does) with You Brethren,
R. D. Thompson
7 comments:
(edit the title quick! it's supposed to be 12 December 2008!)
I've noticed that people think that by using forceful language and clever turns of phrases, they can preclude another person's position entirely. By calling you insane, he avoids having to explain why you're wrong, because it's so obvious.
Agreed.
Hyperbole can be used either for certain.
I attempted to avoid hyperbolic overstatement in my response.
(Fixed.)
Perhaps MattR would be interested in actually defending his position instead of taking a Dawkinian abuse stance and failing to even engage.
We get a lot of this type of stuff at Grab a Brew. "If I speak as though majority opinion clearly agrees with me, it adds credibility to my argument." It's kind of like a fake appeal to authority, which thereby creates that authority (because everyone else thinks everyone believes it but them, so they go along with it). The media thrives on these tactics and they are very effective because of it.
2 Cor. 4:3-4
"If our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost: In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them."
My immediate thought was that MattR's blind rants ought to be pitied, seeing as we have received our light through the Divine fiat. Our understanding unto faith was literally "spoken into existence," and for that reason, we can be full of mercy to such deluded persons.
I found your reply to the point and tactfully affable, if necessarily direct. Well said.
I apologise, my post was intemperate, and your blog should not have been visited by me. The fate of those of your Nation is not a concern of mine. I don’t believe Christians to be deluded or insane, and may loosely be one. Finally, I believe (Human) Life is an idol to be smashed with a hammer.
The final part of my last post was an attempted correction to your blog by-line. You are enamoured of Israel, not with her, which would be an entirely different kettle of fish.
MattR I appreciate and am astounded that you returned. That shows courage :-) Your apology garners my instant respect. It seems so odd to me that those who scream that Christians are intolerant can turn around and skewer them with gross ad hominem type arguments without hesitant. Who ends up being intolerant?
I'm not a Jew. I'm an Israel Loving Biblicist. That is nice way of saying that, from a Biblical standpoint, I believe that the Jews are God's chosen people based on God's literal, eternal and unconditional promises and covenant with Abraham in Genesis 12 (promises) and Genesis 15 (covenant).
I'm enamoured with the gospel of the sovereign grace of God. I love it. It is my only hope for eternity and meaning in life. God loves me and offers the gospel to me and then sovereignly turns my heart to believe it. Beautiful.
I'm unsure about your last sentence in the first paragraph...what does it mean? Human Life is an idol?
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