Chapter Six             Life Begins When ???

T.L.C.   What do you mean?   Can you give me an example?   

Big D   Of Course!    Several of them.   In Texas it’s perfectly legal to sell handguns and assault riffles, but you can go to jail for selling dildos.   

T.L.C.   That’s a bit absurd.   

Big D   If you think that’s far out, how about a Biblical example?    Since I’m also a Bible expert, let me quote Genesis 2:7

And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.

And also the Book of Job 33:4

The Spirit of God has made me, and the breath of the Almighty has given me life.

Then there's Ecclesiastes 11:5, RSV

As you do not know how the spirit comes to the bones in the womb of the woman with child, so you do not know the work of God who makes everything.”

And in Ecclesiastes 12:7,  where the Bible talks about death, distinction between body and spirit becomes eve  more clear.

"Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was: and the spirit shall return unto God who gave it.”

There are several more relevant Biblical passages,***^ps-6-1  but let's not get carried away.   I'll share just one more with you from James 2:26.

 " . . . the body without the spirit is dead . . .."

T.L.C.   So, you’re saying the fundamentalist Christians are ignoring the Bible and defying their own God?   

Big D   No, I’m not saying that.   I’m merely showing you some evidence that you had previously not been aware of.   It’s plain, in-front-of-your-nose evidence that allows you to draw your own conclusions.   What does their sacred book tell these people about their knowledge of how God works?

T.L.C.   That they can't know how God works.

Big D   And what does that same Bible say about when life begins?

T.L.C.   You’ve just quoted the Genesis 2:7  passage which clearly indicates that, according to God, life begins at first breath.

Big D   Then, just look at this for a moment.   Here's the infinite, all knowing, all powerful Creator of Everything That Is  telling the fundamentalist Christians that they can't know how God works and then telling them that life begins at first breath.   And what do the no-choice peddlers do with that?   They simply ignore it!

         I invite you to turn on your brain for a moment.   Compare the infinite wisdom of God, the creator and source of everything, to the knowledge of a bunch of mindless, superstitious, fear-filled humans running around on in infinitely small speck of dust called Earth -- a speck of dust which, in relation to the rest of the physical universe, is so small that it's all but lost in a vast array of creation which is so huge and so variable that humans cannot possibly understand it.   When you compare those two sources of information, who are you going to believe?

         Wouldn’t it seem like God just might be right?   That the humans whom I've been coning for centuries -- that humans who have a track record of being wrong about just about everything -- just might be wrong about when God begins a independent human life.   He is, after all, the "guy" who created human life.   And He is the ultimate authority, isn’t He?

T.L.C.   Most people agree with that. 

Big D   Then life begins at first breath — that is, if the Christian Bible is actually the word of God. 

T.L.C.   Well, Christians believe it is. ^***ps-6-2  

Big D   But my fellow Bible experts, who are spearheading the forced motherhood movement, claim that life begins at conception.   So does the evidence appear to indicate that they set the truth aside and defy their own God?   

T.L.C.   It certainly appears that way.   So, if they don’t believe their own Bible, what do they believe?   

.

Big D   They believe in instantaneous, supernatural, transcendental magic.   

T.L.C.   That’s sounds pretty strange.   Is that some far-Eastern yogi-religion stuff like transcendental meditation?   

Big D   No.   

T.L.C.   Then what do you mean? 

Big D   Let me explain.   First, keep in mind, that when the fundamentalist Christians use the word "conception," they are not simply a referring to the biology of male and female cells uniting.   They are referring to an additional process — a process where God steps in and transforms the egg and sperm into a brand new human being. 

            Although equally as alive and viable before uniting as they are after uniting, the separate sperm and the egg are not accorded the status of human life by the fundamentalist Christians.   

            They believe that at some undefined point during the process where the egg and sperm unite, God steps in and instantly creates an eternal, everlasting life-spirit called a human being who did not exist the moment before but will continue to exist forever more.   

T.L.C.   What about gorillas, Chimpanzees, monkeys, and other primates?    Their genetic structures are almost identical to humans.   What does God do to their uniting eggs and sperms?

Big D   Nothing.   Their not good enough to go to Christian heaven. 

T.L.C.   Are you telling me that gorillas, who live peacefully in the forests, eat fruit and leaves, nurture each other, and make love but not war are excluded from heaven?

Big D   Yup!   Heaven is reserved for the God's true believers -- the anti-choice humans who, in His name, use lies of omission, half truths, distortions of the truth,***^ps-6-3  inflammatory rhetoric, and intimidation -- humans who, engage in harassment, invasion of privacy, threats, assault against persons and property, violence, vandalism, arson, and murder.

T.L.C.   That must be some heaven!   Do you mind if I go elsewhere?

Big D   Oh you certainly will because you've just questioned their dogma and when they find out some of the most ardent believers will personally condemn you to another of their fantasy creations -- the one they call hell.   

When the Earth was flat, hell was a physical place beneath the surface of the Earth.   Now that the evidence  is so overwhelming that they can't deny that the Earth is round, they lost hell.   Nobody seems to know where it is.  

T.L.C.   They've lost heave too.   Nobody can find it above the cloud, but we're getting way off track here.   Let's go back to talking about the uniting human egg and sperm.

Big D   According to the beliefs of the forced motherhood promoters, it is not the uniting of sperm and egg which creates a new human being, it’s God’s magic that transforms the united egg and sperm into a human being.

T.L.C.   But, that's not biology!   That's religion!

Big D   I’m well aware of that.  

T.L.C.   And it’s not even in the Bible.   

Big D   I’m well aware of that, too.   That’s what makes it an even better example of supernatural, transcendental magic.   

T.L.C.   So where did this instantaneous creation story come from? 

She just looked at me and grinned.   

Big D   Do you really need to ask?   

T.L.C.   I should have known.   

Big D   The forced motherhood promoters can’t give you a legitimate answer to that question because they created that transcendental magic story by still another act of transcendental magic. P.F.A. as some people would say. 

T.L.C.   What’s P.F.A.?

Big D   Plucked from the Air.   

T.L.C.   You mean it’s something someone simply made up, and now many people believe that it’s reality?   

Big D   Yup!   That’s it.   It has no factual basis whatsoever, and it defies God’s words in their own Bible.

T.L.C.   But lots of people believe things that aren’t true, so what’s the big deal?

Big D   It’s perfectly normal and acceptable to hold anything, even this, as a personal belief.   It’s something else entirely to proclaim it to be provable, factual reality and then, without a single lick on proof, try to shove it . . .   Let me say this politely; shove it down everyone else’s throat.

T.L.C.   So you’re not questioning their right to believe in transcendental magic? 

Big D   Of course not.

T.L.C.   Then the issue is that they have taken an unprovable, personal belief and proclaimed it to be objective reality?   

Big D   Yes, that and their attempt to force it onto everyone else.   That fairytale proclamation and the attempt to force it onto everyone is one of my grandest and most brazenly shining piles of bullshit.   It’s the foul-smelling, false foundation of their entire forced motherhood campaign and not one in a thousand of its peddlers sees or smells anything but sunshine and roses.   

T.L.C.   You are obviously proud of this.   

.

.

T.L.C.   Yes, that is quite an accomplishment.

Big D   Well, actually it was rather easy.   I'll show you why with a quote one of my favorite disciples, Adolph Hitler, who, by the way, was a staunch anti-abortionist:   

“Tell a lie loud enough, often enough, and long enough 
   and people will believe it.”   

In other words, if you keep peddling the same lie, eventually, people will stop questioning it and accept is as if it were the truth, particularly if someone in a position of authority is doing the peddling.

T.L.C.   So you’re telling me there’s no scientific basis for this claim that an individual human life begins at conception?

Big D   Nyet!   Nay!   No!   None!   Nada!   Zero!   Zippoooo...!   Even the United States Supreme Court could not find even one lick of factual evidence or any scientific research data to support such a claim.

T.L.C.   Is there any proof that an individual human life does not begin at conception, or that it begins at some other time?   

Big D   If you choose to accept as proof the word of God as written in the Christian Bible, then Genesis 2:7, the Book of Job 33:4, and several other Biblical passages prove that an individual human life begins at first breath.   

T.L.C.   Let me ask this again, slightly differently.   Is there any scientific proof that an individual human life does not begin at conception or that it begins at some other time? 

Big D   Again I get to say Nyet!  Nay!  No!  None!  Nada!  Zero!  Zippoooo...!    

T.L.C.   So when the Supreme Court case was being heard, where was all the evidence we keep hearing about from the Conservative Christians?   Were they asleep?   Didn’t they know about this case?   

Big D   They certainly knew about it, but didn’t provide any evidence because they don’t have any.   They have a lot of opinions which, when grouped together, can sound like proof — that is, as long as you don’t turn you brain on and think about what they’re actually saying. ***^ps-6-4  

T.L.C.   So when does an individual human life begin?  

Big D   When does day become night?   Where does the sky begin?   How high is up?   At what exact moment do the ingredients of a cake become a cake?   At what point does a caterpillar become a butterfly?   When does an individual human life begin?    The only answer to these questions is, “Whenever you say it does!” 

T.L.C.   So to claim that life begins an the moment of conception is like saying day becomes night at precisely 5:17 p.m., that “expensive” is anything costing more than 99¢ or that a human being becomes an adult at 12:00:01 a.m. on the day of his 21^st birthday.   

Big D   Exactly.   And when making such completely arbitrary decisions, three questions always arise:  “Which choices are to be followed?” and “Who gets to make the decisions?”   And . . .  

T.L.C.   And what?

Big D   Does anybody have the right to force his or her opinion up . . .    down someone else's throat?

T.L.C.   What about some of the landmarks along the road from conception to birth, such as the beginning of sensory awareness when the fetus begins to react to stimulation, or when the heart begins to beat, or when the fetus could survive outside the womb?  

Big D   If you place any significance on any of these points, that significance is still arbitrary, it’s still done simply by choice and by intention.   If you force your opinion onto everyone, you’d still be selling the pregnant woman’s life, her rights, and her future for the next eighteen years.   You’d be selling her rights in exchange for the continuing development of a fetus.   You’d be selling her life based on the belief that God’s instantaneous, supernatural, transcendental conception magic act is actually true.  

            You’d still be facing the same questions I just asked — “Which choices are to be followed?”   “Who gets to make the decisions?”   Does anybody have the right to force his or her opinion down someone else's throat?   You’d also have to decide exactly when each of those changes occurs.

            And you’re still faced with the same long list of completely unanswerable questions  --questions such as:  What is the nature and purpose of human life?   Are we our physical bodies?***^ps-6-5   Is the fetus an independent human being or is it a developing physical body that will become the host for a human being?   How does the demise of our physical body affect us?   Were we created at conception?   Does a spirit enter the physical body?   If so, when and what is it that enters the body?   Who’s in charge of your life?   Who owns a woman's body?   Does she own it or is it state property?   How, when, and under what circumstances does society get the right to interfere with your private personal choices?   The price of forced motherhood is extremely high but the ant-choice leaders simply don’t care. 

T.L.C.   Why?

Big D   Because it's someone else who is paying the price and the ultra-conservative Christian leaders are raking in billions of dollars by peddling forced motherhood.   But that's another story for another time.***^ps-6-6    Let's look at the price women pay for being forced into motherhood.

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The Story Continues in Chapter Seven`    

Interview with The Devil  --  Table of Contents`