By Judie Brown
Recently we have seen a growing number of articles on the tragic consequences that occur when human beings act outside the natural law. Or to put it another way when human beings commit sin.
There, I said it. And we should probably say it a lot more because in our day and age that little word hardly gets a nod from anyone.
According to the Catechism of the Catholic Church: “Sin is an offense against reason, truth, and right conscience; it is failure in genuine love for God and neighbor caused by a perverse attachment to certain goods. It wounds the nature of man and injures human solidarity. It has been defined as ‘an utterance, a deed, or a desire contrary to the eternal law.’”
The fact is that acts defying human reason have a definite name: sin. I would like to share a few examples.
Let’s begin with the report that six paramedics worked to save the life of an expectant mother who suffered a life-threatening hemorrhage after she aborted her child. The news report on this incident underscores the ravages of a cultural devotion to sin.
Abortion is a panacea for the masses, solving the riddle of what to do if one is sexually involved and becomes pregnant. But the act of abortion is a sin, and it has consequences. All of them do.
So when human beings attempt to deny nature, bad things like sickness and death happen. But no one considers this. So it should come as no surprise that some lawmakers in Washington, DC, want to enshrine a right to contraception into the law. The politicians who introduced the yet unnumbered proposal claim they are simply codifying a right to contracept based on 60 years of settled precedent. But wait a minute.
Common sense dictates that we ask a simple question of these maniacal abortion devotees. How many of them have given a second thought to the reason why we have laws in this country? The law is meant to defend and protect the innocent, not dictate that clinically produced chemicals that are deadly for the youngest people should be legal! And yet such has been the case for more than 60 years.
It should come as no surprise, then, that in Washington state there are contraceptive vending machines on college campuses. And university students across the country are demanding such machines as though it is now acceptable to treat birth control as nothing more than another snack or beverage that should be readily available. Concerns for health and long-term side effects are nil.
Despite this laissez-faire attitude, contraceptives, like abortion, are dangerous for many and deadly for children who are not yet born. That is a fact.
Meanwhile, at the other end of the spectrum of life, things are no different. Assisted suicide for those who are ill or depressed is becoming more popular these days even though the act is not only sinful but a violation of man’s nature. And, to be clear, the major reasons why people request assisted suicide are not what you might think. They are “decreasing ability to participate in activities that make life enjoyable, loss of autonomy, and loss of dignity.”
Agreeing with a loved one that death is the best option is not only callous and a sin, but it exhibits an inability to be loving and caring even when it may require selfless acts and a great deal of time.
Every human being deserves the right to be loved and affirmed, but apparently not in America. In our narcissistic age, convenience killing has become far too prevalent. It is a fact.
Over the past many years our nation has grown so far away from its founding principles that one is left asking, What exactly happened?
The Declaration of Independence states that this nation was founded so that “the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God” could be respected and enjoyed by one and all. And yet today sin is in, and virtue is a lost concept. That is the saddest fact of all.
For further information and background on attempts at ending life prematurely, see the following two articles about the Uniform Determination of Death Act on our site:
“Committee Stalemates over Controversial Changes to Brain Death Law”
“RenewAmerica Columnist Dr. Paul Byrne Requests Help from Pro-Lifers”
