Westboro Baptist Church and the Poor Fools Therein

So guess what's coming to a town near me?
"The circus!?"
Nope!
"The Rolling Stones?"
Nope!
"The Airshow?"
Nopety, nopety, no.
This Sunday, a church in our bay area called Our Lady of Peace will be the sight of picketing by protesters from Westboro Baptist 'Church'. I put that in quotes because a hateful group like them have no right to call themselves a church. More like a cult, but I'm trying to be Nice Monica, not Evil Monica today.
They are protesting at this beautifully named church, because they claim that Catholics spew lies about Jesus, promote idolization of Mary, and of course everyone's favorite accusation, rape children.
Let me start with the last one. If you're going to judge the ENTIRE Catholic church by the disgusting pedophile priests, let me ask two things.
First. The problem of pedophile priests has the postmodern movement of the 60's to thank. So say hello to one of the many fruits of your work, libertines.
Second. Allright! Let's judge ALL Catholics by the sins of some monsters who call themselves Catholic. Let's also judge ALL Muslims by the terrorism of those ISIS fellows who call themselves Islamic. Oh, I'm sorry, was that logical consistency too much for you? Do you need a pacifier and a safe space?
[Deep breath, suppresses Evil Monica]
Can I just say that it is deeply ironic for them to be protesting at a church called Our Lady of Peace?
They are going to bring their evil signs, "God Hates F**s*", and stand in front of a church called Our Lady of Peace. A Church known all around the area for its 20+ foot tall statue of Mary the Mother of God, with her arms outstretched in welcome and kindness to a weary world.
They say that we are promoting idolatry by honoring the Mother of God. Yeah sure, just like you worship your favorite singer or a leader you admire! Oh wait, I'm pretty sure I meant honor, or in the case of a singer or leader, admire.* Big difference between worshipping and honoring. Look at Marian Icons, especially in the Byzantine tradition.
In these Icons, Jesus is always in the center of the picture, sitting on His mother's lap. Her arms are protectively wrapped around Him, but also gesturing towards Him. Because Mary is a way to know Christ. Jesus wants you to honor His mother. And there is plenty in the Bible to promote that.

And Mary said, My soul doth magnify the Lord,
and my spirit hath rejoiced in the God my Savior.
For He hath regarded the low estate of His handmaiden:
For, behold, from henceforth all generation shall call me blessed.
For He that is mighty hath done to me great things:
And holy is His name
And His mercy is on them that fear Him from generation to generation
He hath shewed strength with His arm,
He hath scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts
He hath put down the mighty from their seats and exalted them of low degree
He hath filled the hungry with good things
and the rich He hath sent away empty.
He hath holpen His servant Israel
in remembrance of His mercy.
As He spake to our fathers, to Abraham, and to His seed forever.
Luke 1: 46-56

And there appeared a great wonder in heaven;
A woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars;
Revelations 12:1

You can ignore the above passages and others like them, but you can't deny that Catholics are not inventing this out of nothing.
And about God hating certain people?
What, you think that Jesus died on the cross for perfect people? Why would He die on the cross unless there were sinners to save? You remember the Samaritan woman at the well, right? Living with a man who wasn't her husband? That's sinful, and she was forgiven. Cohabitation is a sexual sin just like homosexual behavior (note I say 'behavior', that means acting on the feelings. I don't say being homosexual is a sin in and of itself), and she was forgiven. God does not hate gay people. God loves them and wants them to come home. How much does God love gay people? Refer to the top of this paragraph, He died on the cross for them!
It may be hard, Westboro, but God loves gay people just as much as He loves you. He wants you BOTH to be in Heaven with Him. You can start down that path by putting down your hateful sign and starting to spread the word of God through love.

*I'm not putting Honor of Mary in the same box as admiring a singer, that's just an easy metaphor for what I was trying to demonstrate.

Why Ignorance Is NOT Bliss

Whew, haven't written anything on this blog for about (checks) a year. A year.
So what happened? Well, as a young adult in the midst of education and job stuff, KC suddenly became very busy. And because she wasn't there to remind me, I forgot to. I also lost confidence in my ability to write about a controversial issue without sounding like I'm spitting venom.
But I'm back, because when I'm passionate about something, I see it through to the end!
So here we are, and I'm just going to touch briefly on something that made me and KC really irritated back at school.
One of her friends, let's call him Chuck for the sake of having something to call this anonymous person. One of her friends at school was personally a very committed prolifer. But when asked to join our group (keep in mind, we did things like baby bottle drives and praying in front of clinics. Nothing too hard!) he said "Well, I think that the less we say about abortion, the better. Ignorance is bliss, right?"

Is it April Fools day or are you being serious?

Now Chuck is agreeable and smart, but in this one area we were flabbergasted (that is a fun word).
Ignorance is most definitely the problem here. You are not helping babies by keeping your mouth shut.
Ignorance about the abortion issue hurts everyone involved. It hurts the woman who thinks she only has one option. It hurts the baby who is killed as a result of the woman's ignorance. It hurts prolifers, who are assumed to be crazy nuts.
If you make an effort to educate people, then the woman won't feel so trapped. She will know that she has other options. And as a result, more babies will be saved. You can show people that prolifers are normal people like everyone else, and that we are open to conversation.
Don't use tired clichés like 'Ignorance is bliss' to try and justify whatever it is that keeps you from acting.

Justice For ALL, Not Just The Pretty and Wanted

Hello everyone, this is Monica. Isn't KC doing such a great job keeping the prolife blog going? Let's have a round of applause throughout the blogsphere!
Anyway, I hate to say it, but I'm here to let the air out of something that's well meaning, and sadly quite common in the prolife movement.
How many times have you seen an image like this while hanging around in prolife circles, be it on the web or elsewhere?

Caucasian, blue eyes, perfectly chubby cheeks. Most likely wanted and planned, too. This image bothers me for several reasons.
First off, this baby is so obviously beautiful and perfect that there's no question of it's parents wanting it or not.
Secondly, a picture with a beautiful baby with the words PRO LIFE stamped on it is sadly doing the opposite of what it's trying to do.
Let's see, as prolifers, what do we believe?
We believe that ALL life is precious and worth protecting, despite all that may be physically or mentally wrong with a person. We believe that even if a person is severely disabled or in a really bad social situation, it's not fair to kill them under the assumption that their lives will be terrible. We believe that the right to life (which is right there in the constitution, by the way! It even comes before liberty and pursuit of happiness...) is the most important right, and when that that is taken away the other rights can't be far behind.
The above image and many like it sadly buy into the pro choice belief that people are only valuable if they are beautiful or talented. It's the same as that old, overused prolife argument "What if the world's next great artist or scientist was aborted?" It's true, we've probably lost a lot of talented people. But the loss of a person who wasn't really going to be anyone is just as tragic as the loss of a person who was going to be 'important'.

This young lady probably won't grow up to look like a
super model, but the glow of joy in her face is more
lovely than any physical beauty could ever be.

I hate to say it (okay, no I don't.), but the above image makes us look like hypocrites. It tells pro choicers that we may act like we love all babies, but we really only value the pretty ones. Looking at pictures of cute babies makes us feel all warm and cuddly inside, but the prolife movement is not about being warm and cuddly. It's about the truth. And the truth is that all life is beautiful and worth celebrating. So rather than constantly celebrating just the cute and the planned, why don't we give some love to the less fortunate?
I'd like to remind you also that pro life activity doesn't stop when the baby is born. If you know somebody who has a special needs baby, YOU can help to make a difference for that child and his or her mother. You can make a difference in that child's life.

This being said, Monica does not hate cute babies. She would just like to point out that they aren't the only one's who's pictures are worth being stamped with a prolife caption. Monica would also like to point out that while all babies aren't necessarily 'cute' by modern standards, they are all precious children of God and deserve to be treated as so.

Now You Know!

Ever wondered how those tiny, beautiful bundles of cuteness fit inside Mom? Now you know...

http://www.lifenews.com/2014/09/01/these-stunning-photos-show-you-how-a-baby-fits-in-the-womb/

~kingschild35~

Plenty of Progress for Pro-Life!

Look at these amazing stats from the accomplishments of Students for Life of America! Plus, these numbers are just from their organization alone. Imagine all the other pro-life organizations put together! The pro-life movement is truly taking giant leaps forward.

http://studentsforlife.org/look-what-youve-done/

I hope this encourages you to continue in your own pro-life efforts no matter how small they may seem. Remember, one penny added to hundreds of thousands of others makes a lot of pennies. :)

~kingschild35~

What A Beautiful Surprise!

What a special day for this family!

http://www.lifenews.com/2014/02/17/mom-expecting-identical-triplets-gets-surprise-when-doctor-shouts-more-feet/

~kingschild35~

Life

Life

Life is not defined by how someone feels about it.

Life is not defined by how useful a person could be.

Life is not defined by emotion.

Life is not defined by opinion.

Life is not defined by circumstances.

Life is not defined by outward appearance.

Life is not defined by inward appearance.

Life is not temporary.

Life is not permanent.

Life cannot be trivialized.

Life cannot be brushed off.

Life cannot be killed.

But…

Life IS a gift.

Life IS a treasure.

Life IS precious.

Life IS a joy.

Life is hard, but worth it.

Life is filled with tears, but also with smiles.

Life can never be lived without God.

Never could.

Never Will.

Life is God’s.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I wrote this about a year and a half ago when I felt inspired to write something about pro-life. I hope you enjoy it and that it reminds you how much life is a gift and a treasure and that everyone should have the right to live life!

For life,
~kingschild35~