Wednesday, March 17, 2010

First and foremost, Life

Okay, so this is my first real post and I'll be keeping it short. I chose "Life, Liberty, Pursuit of Happiness" for the name of this blog from this quote from the Declaration of Independence "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness". Even the order is important and correct. Life is the most fundamental, therefore it comes before liberty & pursuit of happiness. Liberty of one cannot trump the Life of another. Similarly, the pursuit of happiness of one cannot trump the liberty of another. The statement is similar but slightly different in the bill of rights. It is written "Life, Liberty, Property".

I am pro-life and I have found this position to be correct. I am Catholic but I've always been somewhat of a free-thinker having been away from the church for over a dozen years before my conversion of heart (of which I'll speak about at a later time). This hasn't changed. What has changed is I've carefully reviewed my beliefs and tried my best to find where they are in line with the truth and where they are at odds with the truth.
I expect this process to continue throughout my lifetime. The "Inalienable Rights" statement is in support of the truth of the pro-life position. I have yet to hear an argument except "for saving the life of the mother", which is actually pitting life against life, that is even remotely valid. All other pro-choice arguments change the order. Generally I hear the reverse. For ones own projected (as yet realized and possibly never to be realized) happiness and/or liberty it is believed there is some sort of inherent right to destroy the life of another because that life is dependent upon the mother. The main way I've seen this done is through the dehumanization of the life in the womb. It is called "a blob of cells" etc.

Sure I'll have more to write on this later. But it's a start.

God Bless,
JD

Tuesday, February 2, 2010

About this blog

For my first post I'd like to briefly introduce myself, why I am creating this blog, and what I expect to be writing about. For quite some time I've wanted to write about the following things:
  • Why I am Christian.
  • My conversion experience. A deeply personal mystical experience.
  • Why I am pro-life. The logical foundation for my convictions.
  • Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness.
  • Reflections on world views and a variety of books, websites, and videos.
  • Occasional random things
  • Perhaps some music too

About Me:

Hi all, thanks for visiting my blog. I'm JD. I am a musician & songwriter. I have played the bass guitar for the past 8 years or so at church. I've been playing the guitar since high school. My undergraduate degree is in Psychology and my graduate degree is in Computer Science. I've played in a variety of bands since high school. Mostly rock and alternative but more recently also Christian rock. I've written a half dozen songs that have been completed and another few that are still unfinished. I've also written some music for church.

Thanks for visiting!
JD