Life Is Not For Sale!
- By Anne Van Tilburg
- Published 11/27/2011
- Catechism
- Unrated
In the past and even today, human beings are bought and sold at a price. The theories, justification and even the ethics of this trade exist to support it. Though there are many who dared to object to this trade, they are horrified by the many others who subscribe to it. As Christians and members of the human family we adhere to Christ's teachings and thus respect the dignity of every person. All human beings are equal as St. Paul states: "So there is no difference between Jews and Gentiles, between slaves and freemen, between men and women; you are all one in union with Christ" (Gal. 3:28) and we are all children of the one Father.
The fervent promotion of human rights has not totally eradicated the age-old tendency to treat persons as mere commodities. Many individuals presume they have a legitimate right over others and so exploit them. In many parts of the world the rich oppress the poor. This oppression has become the way of life in some countries.
This craving for control was already prevalent at the dawn of life. Today this takes the form of abortion, trading in body parts, training child soldiers or trafficking child prostitutes. There are little children subjected to child abuse and child laborers who are exploited and underpaid. In each of these cases human life is degraded and humiliated, disfigured and treated with contempt. These strategies of exploitation are so refined that manipulating persons through the media have become the tool that demeans the dignity of the human person.
This gets more serious when science becomes an industry that directly attempts to manipulate physically and biologically the human person. In the name of science and medicine individuals try re-programming human life at its very inception. They believe life at this stage is cheap and expendable so what is 'botched up' is simply destroyed. Even some individuals tamper and tinker with human life thus violating the inalienable rights of the smallest, weakest and most defenseless human being in the embryo. Men and women of science try to use stem cells to cure present human ailments and in order to do this they launch indiscriminate experimentation on human embryos. They believe that this experimentation justifies in vitro manipulation and/or suppression of life. They believe that they are legitimately permitted to invade the sanctity of the marriage union thus allowing anyone to conceive, nurture, bring to birth and care for a child out wedlock. This not only flies in the face of the sanctity of the marriage union but it insults the very institution of marriage. (Catechism # 1652-53) The absence of any ethical criteria regarding the identity of the embryo and its inalienable rights opens up the road to abuse already at the inception life thus treating the human embryo as an object or a commodity on the market.
LIFE IS A GIFT NOT FOR SALE
It is a noble and brave desire to want to be a father or a mother but one cannot 'have' this at any cost. A child has a right and deserves to be born through an act of love.
(Catechism # 1650) This comes from the total and mutual union between man and woman united in a genuine, stable and spousal love. The child then becomes a gift of this love to this union. )Catechism 1644-48) If this were not so then the child is just the result of an instinctive act that is selfish and/or often commercial. In a genuine marriage a child is born out of a free creative act of both the husband and the wife who are free beings. They have received their freedom from God since they are God's children from all eternity. When families treat children as commodities or as expensive liabilities rather than as gifts from God then life is not respected nor welcomed or cherished.
Life cannot be treated thus! This affirmation is not arbitrary, nor is it a mere exhortation. Healthy family life is a necessary foundation for a human society. Denying this affirmation insinuates that individuals treat others as objects only to be possessed. Any society that 'objectifies' life advocates avenues of choice without limit to who or what one can possess.' Reason and good sense reveal that the Christian Faith is not only refined but is based on the respect for the human person 'at any of his/her development! We need to cherish life from its very beginning. This should be the mind of those who make our laws, those entrusted with safeguarding and respecting life and all those in between. We need to adhere to clear and ethical principles regarding the respect and protection of human life. Then we will realize that human beings are not expendable commodities that can be bought or sold.
As Christians we powerfully proclaim with courage the illuminating truth of the love of God who gave us life. Human life does not have a price! It was bought at a 'very high price'
(Cor. 7-23) from the Lord. "Behold everything that lives is mine" (Ez 18-4) says God reaffirming that every life comes from him. The Christian community is a "people of life," where everyone is cherished as an individual, precious in the eyes of God. (Ref, Evangelium Vitae 10-1).
Source: Don Bosco's Madonna
The fervent promotion of human rights has not totally eradicated the age-old tendency to treat persons as mere commodities. Many individuals presume they have a legitimate right over others and so exploit them. In many parts of the world the rich oppress the poor. This oppression has become the way of life in some countries.
This craving for control was already prevalent at the dawn of life. Today this takes the form of abortion, trading in body parts, training child soldiers or trafficking child prostitutes. There are little children subjected to child abuse and child laborers who are exploited and underpaid. In each of these cases human life is degraded and humiliated, disfigured and treated with contempt. These strategies of exploitation are so refined that manipulating persons through the media have become the tool that demeans the dignity of the human person.
This gets more serious when science becomes an industry that directly attempts to manipulate physically and biologically the human person. In the name of science and medicine individuals try re-programming human life at its very inception. They believe life at this stage is cheap and expendable so what is 'botched up' is simply destroyed. Even some individuals tamper and tinker with human life thus violating the inalienable rights of the smallest, weakest and most defenseless human being in the embryo. Men and women of science try to use stem cells to cure present human ailments and in order to do this they launch indiscriminate experimentation on human embryos. They believe that this experimentation justifies in vitro manipulation and/or suppression of life. They believe that they are legitimately permitted to invade the sanctity of the marriage union thus allowing anyone to conceive, nurture, bring to birth and care for a child out wedlock. This not only flies in the face of the sanctity of the marriage union but it insults the very institution of marriage. (Catechism # 1652-53) The absence of any ethical criteria regarding the identity of the embryo and its inalienable rights opens up the road to abuse already at the inception life thus treating the human embryo as an object or a commodity on the market.
LIFE IS A GIFT NOT FOR SALE
It is a noble and brave desire to want to be a father or a mother but one cannot 'have' this at any cost. A child has a right and deserves to be born through an act of love.
(Catechism # 1650) This comes from the total and mutual union between man and woman united in a genuine, stable and spousal love. The child then becomes a gift of this love to this union. )Catechism 1644-48) If this were not so then the child is just the result of an instinctive act that is selfish and/or often commercial. In a genuine marriage a child is born out of a free creative act of both the husband and the wife who are free beings. They have received their freedom from God since they are God's children from all eternity. When families treat children as commodities or as expensive liabilities rather than as gifts from God then life is not respected nor welcomed or cherished.
Life cannot be treated thus! This affirmation is not arbitrary, nor is it a mere exhortation. Healthy family life is a necessary foundation for a human society. Denying this affirmation insinuates that individuals treat others as objects only to be possessed. Any society that 'objectifies' life advocates avenues of choice without limit to who or what one can possess.' Reason and good sense reveal that the Christian Faith is not only refined but is based on the respect for the human person 'at any of his/her development! We need to cherish life from its very beginning. This should be the mind of those who make our laws, those entrusted with safeguarding and respecting life and all those in between. We need to adhere to clear and ethical principles regarding the respect and protection of human life. Then we will realize that human beings are not expendable commodities that can be bought or sold.
As Christians we powerfully proclaim with courage the illuminating truth of the love of God who gave us life. Human life does not have a price! It was bought at a 'very high price'
(Cor. 7-23) from the Lord. "Behold everything that lives is mine" (Ez 18-4) says God reaffirming that every life comes from him. The Christian community is a "people of life," where everyone is cherished as an individual, precious in the eyes of God. (Ref, Evangelium Vitae 10-1).
Source: Don Bosco's Madonna