Gravity

I was listening to the radio the other day, and lyrics from a song I’ve heard dozens of times suddenly jumped out at me:

“Gravity is working against me
And gravity wants to bring me down. . .
Gravity, stay the h*** away from me.”

-“Gravity,” John Mayer

I can sympathize with Mayer’s point. Who hasn’t felt this way at some time or another? Sometimes it seems that the forces of nature are against us, and in these moments, it can be tempting to wish that those forces weren’t there in the first place.

But the truth is that without gravity, we could not live life as we know it. Even if our bodies were designed to live without it, imagine how impossible it would be to develop relationships, visit favorite places, or enjoy the seasons without anything to hold us down. Though sometimes frustrating and certainly limiting, gravity enables us to experience the world around us at full potential. Its grounding force gives us constancy, without which we would be lost.

I have observed that most of the culture views morality the way Mayer sees gravity. To many, having standards to guide our decisions seems very invasive and oppressive. When speaking with college students about abortion, I’ve frequently heard comments along the lines of, “Well, I just don’t think anyone should tell women what to do with their bodies.” They view limitations as inherently bad and something that should be rejected.

As a Christian, I understand moral laws to be quite freeing. Commitment to marital fidelity allows husbands and wives to enjoy deepest intimacy without fear of being abandoned for someone better. A society that cares for the weak allows single parents and orphans to be protected. Laws that value innocent human life enable everyone to live without fear of being killed. Like gravity, morality’s boundaries permit true liberty.

Immaturity insists upon the ability to do whatever it wants, whenever it wants, with whomever it wants. But wisdom recognizes that true freedom cannot exist without limits.

Have We Lost Our Focus? (a brief reflection for the pro-life community)

Stephanie Gray, Executive Director of the Canadian Centre for Bio-Ethical Reform, wrote this yesterday. I am reposting.


As I sit at the end of a very long day that began with filming the arrest of 5 peaceful pro-life students at Carleton University, my mind swirls with reflections for the pro-life movement:

There has been an outpouring of support for these courageous young adults. From news reports to blogs to Facebook posts and tweets, everyone is talking about this injustice.

But where was that fervor for the over 270 children killed by abortion today?

As I was filming the appalling arrest of these kind and respectful students, my eyes filled with tears and I held back sobs. But tonight I found myself asking, "Did I cry for the babies who were slaughtered today?" Did you?

A whole community is rallying to action for these students because we /saw/ their plight. Perhaps we fail to rally for pre-born children with that same passion and fervour because their victimization is one we do not see.

Now, then, maybe we can understand why the students acted as they did.
They have seen the plight of pre-born children. And in good conscience, they knew they had to act to stop it. We have seen the plight of the students and now we wish to stop that.

If we wouldn't censor the pictures and video of the students' arrest then why would we censor the pictures and video of the pre-born children's deaths? If we would display the pictures of the mistreatment of the students, why not display the pictures of the mistreatment of the pre-born?

My colleague Gregg Cunningham has said, "Injustice that is invisible inevitably becomes tolerable."

Let us not criticize the university for its refusal to allow the truth of abortion to be shown on one hand, while with our other hand we censor the images ourselves. Let us not be part of the cover-up of the decapitation, dismemberment, and disembowelment of pre-born children.

Let us not stand behind the students. Rather, let us stand /with/ them.

Stephanie Gray
October 4, 2010

The Radical Generation in Canada

Please watch as dear friends of ours are silenced for exposing the truth of the grisly reality that is abortion.