Artificial Insemination

In class and through an array of articles we read regarding sex and consent among other topics regarding the psychology of those involved, and what is and isn’t moral.

In the Bellioti article sexual exploitation and respect were covered. I think in terms of respect Bellioti covered accurately what you should or should not have sex with if respect for the object or person are the only thing governing your choices. The statement I liked best from the Bellioti came towards the end, (no pun intended). It states. “It must be pointed out that to state that a certain act is not immoral does not entail that it is advisable to pursue.” That statement sums up my reaction the article. I understand that other people might not think like me, but most of those things have never even crossed my mind up until reading the article. Recently, after reading through the plethora of sex related articles and dealing with members of the opposite sex, my thoughts aren’t what the human race can have sex with but how can we get away with not having sex with the other race. Maybe instead of worrying about all of this we should just stop having sex all together. At this point we don’t really even need to come into contact with the other sex in order to reproduce. We have artificial insemination. In the case of sex, we wouldn’t have to worry about consent or disrespect. I realize that this doesn’t solve the problem of sexual desires but it does solve the predicament of consent. Unless a woman steals a mans sperm out of a test tube, there is consent. See clip from The Switch posted at the bottom.

This is a lot more clear cut then deciding if a woman is consenting to sex if she takes of her clothes or kisses you while on top of you. Here are some more questions that went through my head that Im going to do my best to work out on paper.

What do people have the right to consent to?

How do you know if someone has consented?

Can you prove someone consented?

As you can see by these tough questions and the obvious difficulties that come from dealing with the opposite sex, it’s no wonder I think that test tube babies would be the simplest answer to all of our sex related problems. Plus, we would no longer have to worry about STDs or accidental pregnancies.

Now to attempt to answer the first question: What do people have the right to consent to? More directly is who do you belong to? Who has authority over your body. Most people would answer (yes I’m speaking generally) would say that “I have authority over my own body, no one can consent except me!” But there is a lot of other answers that one might not think of right of the bat. Like when you are under 17 years of age. The age of consent. Does that mean your parents can consent for you? Under U.S. law, no. but does that mean it is illegal to have sex under the age of 17? No, not if your partner is also under age. But your parents are your legal guardians so shouldn’t they have the authority over your body until you turn 18? You can’t tattoo your body without their permission until your 18, but you can have sex without their permission as long as your partner isn’t an adult? This doesn’t make sense. Cant sex do a lot more harm than a tattoo? It doesn’t add up. Ok, so what if you are over the age of 18, are you the only one that has authority over your body? What about God? (I know, predictable answer to come from B.G.B) In romans it discusses that you are either a slave to sin or a slave to God. (later it discussed that we are friends and sons and daughters of God thanks to the death of Jesus on the cross but that is unrelated to this topic). So from my view point God has authority over your body, whether you chose to adhere to that authority or not, whether you believe in God or not. But even if you don’t believe in God and that type of authority is irrelevant doesn’t your spouse, if you ever get married, have some authority over who you can consent to? When you get married aren’t you promising to “love, honor and respect” that person. And if you’re not, why get married? For financial reasons? Insurance reasons? Arranged marriage?

Advice from B.G.B.-Don’t get married for any of these reasons.

So my conclusion in this is, that in my lifetime, I have never and will never have the freedom to consent without the prior consent of God first, for a period of time, my parents, and at some point my husband. That’s a lot of people to get permission from in order to have sex. (just saying)

Next question-How do you know if someone has consented?

We wrote a summary for class, or brought a clip of consent for class but I bet not all of our answers were the same. My point in this being is that the only way for someone to absolutely positively know that someone is consenting is to ask this “are you consenting to me putting my hand on you hip?” other person: “yes, I consent.” And so on and so forth until its over. But the other question is how do you know if that person is legally able to consent? You better get a BAC test and make sure you test for GHB and other date rape drugs! Some might think that the Antioch College sexual offense policy was too extreme, it’s probably the most accurate way to protect the students and avoid lawsuits and crime.

The next question, Can you prove someone consented?

So on pondering this question the answer is yes. How you might ask?

Get a tape recorder, ask the accomplice if they consent, what day it is, and what time it is, (because you can consent to sex in the same day at one point in time and be raped by the same guy later that day. ) Have your accomplice initial by the test strip for the BAC level and GHB test that he/she is neither drunk nor drugged and is capable of consent. Leave the tape recorder on during the activities so that as both are consenting to every progression there is a record of consent. Keep a copy of every sexual contact consent packet just in case there is a legal discrepancy. Sounds like a lot of work to have sex doesn’t it?

This is my reasoning behind the push for A.I. all the way around. There would be no STD’s, wife battering (no need to get married if there is no need for sex), no need for paternity test, and above all, NO ISSUES with consent.

Note: I realize that I didn’t address how people would release sexual tension if we only used A.I. I’m not even sure A.I. matches up with my religious beliefs so honestly, I don’t think I have answer to what you should do to get rid of that pent up sexual frustration. Bellioti might be able to help you though. <-disclaimer: the Bellioti statement was a complete joke.

link to an example of non consent using A.I.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HkuOg4DxeK0

Selfishness, Harry Browne’s big rubber ball, and a probable truth

I will write this post in chronological order of thoughts from reading to class to thoughts I had after class.

As I read Harry Browne’s article the thing that bothered me the most was his read ball theory. Who decided there was only one read ball? Who says only one person can be happy at one time? I don’t know who wrote those ruled of life, but Im pretty sure if there is only one red ball full of happiness is this whole world, I must have already been a lot more fortunate than most, because I have had it a lot in my life. Im not saying my life has been a barrel full of monkeys; I have had my share of catastrophe and sorrow, but it’s those who surrounded me in those times that helped me get out of that sorrow. We should share in each others sorrow and joy. Why cant we all have red balls don’t we all have happiness to share? Whether your selfish or not, life is going to be difficult. Things are going to happen that selfishness cannot fix or cope with. No one is going to want to help you if you have only ever looked out for yourself, thus creating a selfish misery.

My next train of thought turns to how I deal with my own pain and anguish. When my sister passed away, the best way for me to cope was to be strong for my parents and friends of my sister; Encouraging them, loving on them, and trying to comfort them in a time of pain, even though I was in pain as well. Thinking about other people’s problems and trying to help them deal help me not to dwell on my own. What would have happened to me, who I would be if I would have focused only on myself and dealt with everything internally. My misery would have lasted a lot longer. I’m not saying my sadness is gone, but my “joy” comes from something that is so much more permenant than my temporary situation and if my smile, or kind act can bring someone happiness than, I am will to do that. Even when I feel like I am dying inside. I don’t believe that happiness can be found in a certain situation, you have to create your own happiness. Sometimes certain situations get in the way of that, but I have learned you gotta fake it until you make it. And helping someone else “make it” is where my happiness can be restored, even though my joy never left.

In my leadership program we talk a lot about service and sacrifice and how those are foundations leadership is built on. In my reading following this class this is something I found in one of my books. “Your service could inspire people and your sacrifice could help lighten someone’s load opposed to everyone dealing with their misery alone.” Pg. 74

No man is an island.

How would the government work if we only looked out for our own interest? People already think politicians are self-serving as it is, what if they didn’t even pretend to care for people other than those who could benefit them? The answer is, we would be better off with no government that be in a country led by someone only looking out for themselves.

But then again I am not exactly like everyone else in this world. I thrive off of the energy I receive from others. People (and Jesus of course) are what I live for. It’s why I get out of bed every morning. I love people too much to shoot for my happiness at the expense of others.

Now here comes the Jesus stuff. I realize that it might seem like the only reasoning for any of my thoughts that I have, but the Bible is my philosophy. In John 15:13, Jesus is talking and he states, greater love in none but this, that he lay down his life for his friends.

My purpose in life is love, not happiness. Love is above all things. (scripture can be provided ig you like). This will be discussed further at the end of the blog. I believe that from love, comes happiness at times.

My probable truth was discussed in class as well as the article and it is the closest thing that was stated in the article that I can agree with.

Probable truth- to some degree, helping others is for my own good and happiness.

So does this mean that I believe in transactional happiness? Judging by the way I live, one might say yes, however; I strive to love regardless of what I can get out of the situation. Transactional happiness in discussed in the Bible as well, again, straight for Jesus’ mouth.

Matthew 5:46-If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that? 47And if you greet only your brothers, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that? 48Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.

I guess the difference is where I plan on receiving my reward. If I am rewarded on this earth for the good that I do on earth, I need not be rewarded in heaven, and scripture points towards a conclusion that I wont. I would much rather be rewarded in heaven than here on this earth where the rewards are temporary. Eternity is forever. Doing what the Lord wants me to do, (serve others) brings me joy in the long term which is much greater than the temporary satisfaction one gets from making a decision to serve themselves.

Now let’s return to purpose. “I want to be happy” is probably the most common answer when people are asked what they aspire to in life. For me, Happiness doesn’t bring meaning. What brings meaning to your life? My purpose and goal in life is much more than just being happy. Once again, this world is temporary. But even so, my goal isn’t to rack up treasures in heaven, at least I don’t want it to be. I want to fall in love with service. I want to be obedient to Christ not so that he will bless me, but because of who He is. He gives me something that is not even comparable to happiness, and that is joy. Joy never leaves.

souls

The question was posed in class, Do animals have souls? The has been a widely discussed issue in my life because I am friends with lots of animal lovers who could not imagine that their best friends, didn’t has souls. My stance has always been no. I had never really thought about why not, until now. This has caused many different theories to pass through my brain in relation to souls.

First I will discuss what thoughts went through my head. Animals don’t have souls because they weren’t created in the image of God, so why would they have souls. This thought starts with that God cared for humans by allowing us to have knowledge of him. We have the bible not animals. Im not saying that animals don’t know that God created them. I have no way of knowing that. But Im pretty sure that Christ died for us, not animals. Im not certain but the Bible states that he died for us while we were still sinners. I have never considered an animals wrong doing against me, a sin. But maybe it is. John 3:16 says God so loved the world that he sent his only Son that who so ever shall believe in him shall not perish but have eternal life. Animals are not aware of Christ so how could he die for them.

Secondly, if animals do have souls that means everything has a soul, insects, reptiles, amphibians. All living things. Maybe even plants. This directly sent me to the fact that animals are different from plants and insects because God told noah to put them on the ark. Not insects or plants just 2 of each animal. So animals could possibly have souls, even if plants and insects do not.

Thirdly, I had not consulted the bible nor could I recall any bible verse that related to whether animals had souls or not. So..I consulted a book I have by Hank Hanegraaff, also known as the Bible answer man. The book is called the complete bible answer book that answers many questions people have about the bible. The question most closely correlating to our discussion in class that was in the book was, “Will there be animals in heaven?” The book describes that scripture doesn’t conclusively tell us but there are certain clues. The first being, there were animals in the garden of eden so that is presendent that there will be animals in eden restored as well. The book goes on to say that some of the keenest thinkers like C.S. lewis and Peter Kreeft are not only convinced that animals in general but pets specifically will be restored in resurrection. That it would be a sign of God’s overwhelming grace and goodness. The book goes on to say that scripture suggests that animals have souls. Both moses in genesis and John in revelation communicate that the creator endowed animals with souls. Genesis 1:20 and revelation 8:9. The book refers to philosphers of Descartes and Hobbs when saying it wasn’t until philosphers like the 2 previously named and others in the enlightenment era that people thought otherwise about animals.

But!!!! The bible answer book goes on to say that an animal’s soul is qualitatively different than a human soul there is reasonable doubt that it can survive the death of its body. Scripture in Isaiah 11:6 suggests once again that there will be animals in heaven. “the wolf will live with the lamb, the leopard will lie down with the goat, the calf and the lion and the yearling together; and a little child will lead them. Parts of this were adapted from a book called resurrection.

So in conclusion with this thought, based on my belief that the Bible is true, I was wrong. Animals do have souls, they are different from human souls and my friends will be happy to hear they will be joining us in heaven. I would venture to say that a human soul has more value than an animal soul, at this point in my life. This could change in my fute but for now it is what seems right.

Now we also discussed in class the treatment of certain objects, items and things based of the fact that they have souls. The conclusion on this that I have come to is, whether something has a soul or not. I will respect it. Dog, cat, spider, blanket, marker, what have you, I try not to destroy any of this or anything else without a purpose. I’m not going to break something just for the sake of breaking something. I try to respect all things and be intentional and have a purpose for my actions. It’s the logical part of me. I treat things according to their functions and that is why I have no problem eating meat. I believe it is part of their function. If I don’t value, respect or have a use for something, I will give it to someone who does. So these are the conclusions I have come to about things, alive or not alive, those that have souls and those that are soul-less.

The search for objectivity

In class we discussed after reading the allegory of the cave that we should search for objectivity. The more we know and the more we search the closer we are to enlightenment. This might seem like an odd statement coming from someone with such strong spiritual beliefs but I don't really believe in absolute truths. I would gamble in saying that there is no way to prove something is absolutely true. There is no Truth, only opinions and everyone's opinions are relative to their life experience and the way they have been nurtured and taught. if your goal is knowledge and you believe that learning as much as you can will enlighten you or even bring you joy, you are certainly not me. I would say that I am a person who is uncomfortable with ambiguity.

I don't like being unsure of things but I think I am pretty sure that in searching for "Truth", proof, and more knowledge with only bring more confusion. What I am sure of is that on this earth I am not going to find proof that I was I believe is absolute truth without someone finding some reasonable explanation of why what I think to be true is doubtable. I think that this is true in everyone's life. I have found peace and solace in the fact that I dont have proof,and that I don't need to have proof. That is where faith steps in.

Faith is necessary for what philosophers refer to as enlightenment. The knowledge found here on earth is temporary. we live short lives and I don't want to spend my short time her trying to figure out things that, if I was supposed to know, would be revealed to me. I trust that there is someone who has much more control over my enlightenment than I do, so instead of searching for knowledge on this earth which in my opinion is temporary, I chose to search for love and dig deep for love, because love never fails and never dies. But once again this is a subjective point of view and I have little power to change what someone believes to be absolute truth. Only God has the power to do that. my absolute truth come from the Bible.

In John 2:23-24 Jesus explains that he doesnt trust the kind of faith that comes from seeing miraculous things. Its not difficult to imagine why. Such faith is likely to be fair-weather faith. It will believe when signs are performed, prayers are answered, things are going well. Bit it is not the sort of faith that will survive the loss of a child, a period of illness or some other trauma. Persevering faith comes through the word of God.

Once again this is my subjective view, based on my life experiences and what my teachings growing up taught me. I have been through severe trauma in my life, more than the vast majority, if not all the 20 year olds, I know. If I spent my time searching for proof that there was a God, instead of spending time trying to help others heal, love God, be loved by God, and love other people, i would be in a world of hurt. Because if I would have been looking for proof, I would have never found it. I need faith in order survive, to find joy and peace in my life. I need faith, not objectivity.

God is true to me and he has the power to change what someone feels about him or anything else. People chose to react in whichever way they chose based on their opinions based on their perception of reality based on their experiences. My point being, everything is subjective. In this line of thinking, of faith, I wont know if I'm right but whatever the cost of believing, its worth it for the hope and peace that believing brings. the ideas of a rationalist, believing that reason is the only way to reach absolute truth seams like a very sad life. Life as a philosopher, always searching for something that is unattainable and having faith in your own self, in nothing else, seems like a shallow and miserable life. Im so glad I dont aspire to be a philosopher. To spend every day revolved around my own knowledge and my own thoughts. Getting lost in my own brain everyday. I think it is a shallow existence. i want to live for something bigger than myself. Philosopher's seem to be very self absorbed. People are in pain, they struggle with death, and life and depression and philosophy only seems to confuse them further.

If people knew the answers,we wouldnt spend hours discussing why something is wrong or right and never come up with a definitive answer. so instead of telling a hurting person to search for objectivity, I am going to love them, to listen to them, pray for them, feed them and try to bring them a little bit of joy in hopes that the person who has all the answers to all the hard questions no one here on earth knows, will bring them the peace that he brought me in my struggle and hard times.

A Call to Die

When you read that statement you probably thought of suicide bombers, soldiers, or martyrs. But the truth is we all have a call to Die, To die to our self every day, and live in Jesus Christ. A Call to Die is a forty day, devotional type book that goes through a forty day journey of fasting from the word and feasting on God. The book was written by a man named David Nasser that was a Muslim until he was a freshman in high school. His family kicked him out of the house when he told them he was going to be baptized but eventually every member of his family came to Christ. I have heard his speak and he is amazing. The way he has persevered in his faith after facing so much adversity is amazing. We probably all have friends and family that are Christians, and most of us still find it too hard to throw out the things of this world and pick us your Cross. This was the first devotional book I ever did. I was a freshman in high school and had come to a brand new understanding of Christ the summer before when I went to church camp for the first time. I had truly dedicated my life to Christ for the first time that January. It was probably around may and I decided to stop feeding off of everyone Else's knowledge and relationships and decide to start my own, just me and God. People had really hurt me in the past, when I was in Jr. high. The rumors about me were terrible and the people starting them were the people I called friends, I had no where to turn and I was spiraling down a destructive path at the age of 14. His words opened my mind and made me want to learn more, be a better person and help more people and realize that people are always going to theme down. Nasser said,

“I realized people are always going to let you down. Churches will always let you down but Jesus Himself never will. He was the one calling me, and I said, ‘Jesus, I want You to save me from myself, from religion, from performance, from all these different things. It doesn’t mean that struggle goes away. It doesn’t mean that persecution goes away. It doesn’t mean that doubt goes away. It just means that you begin a new journey as a new you and that you’re not alone.”

As I tried and tried to do as the church, the Bible and the book told me I began to realize that, I would never be able to do it all, but then I read theses words.

“It’s not that salvation is easy. It’s that salvation is impossible when it comes to you being good enough because when are you good enough? When are you ever righteous enough? When are you ever pure enough? If there’s one thing I know I’m going to be consistent in today, it’s in being inconsistent. We all fail everyday."

I have done the 40 day fast from this book 3 times, every time I learned more and got something else out of it. Doing this blog over it just got me excited and I just want to do it again. I just wanted to briefly describe to you one of the devotionals for the day. Day 1 is called take up your cross. The verse used is Matthew 16:24, Then Jesus said to his disciples, "if anyone would come after me, he mus deny himself and take up his cross and follow me."

The first thing you must do is deny yourself. That is your innate selfishness. Your selfish ambitions to rise above others,our behaviors to get what we want when we want it, our attitude of caring only for out own interests and putting our own needs first. These selfish interests include gossiping, criticizing, cursing, lying, stealing, and acting selfishly in any way shape or form.

Next is obeying where God leads you wherever that might me. This means being attentive of what he wants when it comes to you friends, schools you attend, careers to pursue, who to marry,and how far to go in significant relationships. There is a journal with questions at the end of every devotional with a bible verse to learn and memorize every 3 days. I learned so much when I did this when it came to knowledge about the Bible and it truly helped me in my personal relationship with Christ and I would suggest it to anyone.

I love to Sleep!

The fourth series on my list is The Phoebe grant series by Laura Jensen Walker. The Two books in this series are called dreaming in black and white and dreaming it technicolor. I do love to sleep, in fact it is probably my favorite pass time, but I prefer to dream while I'm awake, thus, I am in love with these books. These books are in my favorite genre, Christian fiction. These books aren't the left behind type of Christian fiction though, they are so close to life that any christian girl trying to fight off the things of this world can relate. Walker has had quite a life before she came to write Christian Fiction! She joined the air force and traveled the world after graduation but a year after she got married she was diagnosed with breast cancer. It was the defeat of cancer that made her decide to take the plunge and become an author. walker states, "Strangely enough, I’m grateful for the cancer because it compelled me to follow the dreams God placed in my heart as a little girl. Dreams He has since made come true—once I stepped out in faith." She writes about real life problems in the Phoebe Grant series as well as her other books. Phoebe Grant is every one's favorite movie geek-unbeatable at trivia, convinced that all the world's a movie screen. She can organize a four-hankie chick-flickathon with a wave of her tall, nonfat, double mocha. And she's a shoo-in for the job of her dreams-movie reviewer for the newspaper where she works and then Alex Spencer-not only gorgeous but also a film buff, perfectly cast for a celluloid kiss and a fade to sunset. Unfortunately, Alex is the villain who sends Phoebe packing to the last place on earth she wants to be-back home to boring little Barley, California. But then Alex arrives in Barely and the plot thickens. The book is Witty and realistic and reminds me a lot of my favorite show, the Gilmore Girls with its humor and fast passed dialog. In Dreaming in technicolor the happy ending begins to shatter and Phoebe is trying to put humpdy dumpdy back together again. Its disastrous but all well that ends well. All girls should read this! Its a great read that isn't just another trashy novel. With ups and downs in her love life most girls can relate and enjoy the fact that they aren't the only ones who's life, at times doesn't make sense.

Things of Nature

Twilight New Moon Eclipse and Breaking Dawn

are all have to do with Nature but they are also the names of Stephenie Meyer's Series about vampires. Did you know she's a Mormon? I didn't until recently. Well anyway, this book has gotten so much attention from teenagers and adults are age. I feel like these were a good think for the Y generation because a generation who might not have read 5 books in their life that they weren't required to read, picked up a book and found interest in reading again. I am an avid reader but I have friends that haven't enjoyed reading since the second grade that simply just couldn't put this book down.

The girls all drool over Edward Cullen,

and although I think it is mostly girls that got into this series, the boys I'm sure like the blood, gore and violence and the chance that someone is almost always going to die. Since it is fiction is was nice, to read something that wasn't so...real. Its nice to step out of the world. As we have grown up from fairy tails to reality, the world is telling us to keep our feet planted firmly on the ground and not to bother with things that wont give you a foot up in life. Take this computer class for example. Its practical. Most parents want us to be learning things and doing things that are useful, not reading about vampires.

My father wanted me to go to college and major in public administration,something practical, but my mother is a bit more of a free spirit and encourages me to read whatever I please and do whatever I please. I feel like books like these are not at all a distraction from the "important" things of this world but they allow us to gain a different perspective on things like morals, and life and and get our brains going. Watching TV can be thoughtless as we watch as the plot follows a predictable story line but when u read, it can get your blood flowing as well as your emotions, and your thoughts. Reading improves your vocabulary and allows you to sound more educated when you speak. My sister is a publishing major at an art school in Boston called Emerson College and she feels like twilight it trash, written all about sex, but to advocate abstinence. Although she might be right, I really truly believe that anything that gets young adults reading for fun for maybe the first time in their lives, can do nothing but good; thus, advocating my blog title, reading is knowledge. Anything to bring knowledge to the people. Any girl can get her hopes up about her very own Edward Cullen who is much more that normal but can see the differences in a very normal girl. I believe that Stephenie Meyers' books bring hope to those who are looking for that special someone, and that is important too.