Especially when you consider that the pro-life position is not peculiar to Catholicism.
Pro-Life Ping
Freepmail wagglebee to subscribe or unsubscribe from the moral absolutes ping list.
FreeRepublic moral absolutes keyword search
Until the Catholic Church starts excommunicating the Catholic pols who support abortion on demand, I wish they would just shut up, and stop lecturing their flock on that subject. - tom
Catholic Ping
Freep-mail me to get on or off my pro-life and Catholic List:
Please ping me to note-worthy Pro-Life or Catholic threads, or other threads of interest.
I fully agree with the part about abortion and euthanasia, but the death penalty for taking innocent life is scriptural and there is nothing I know of in scripture that expressly forbids a Christian to fight and possibly kill in defense of his nation. In fact, it is recorded in the Old Testament that God commanded the Israelis to kill all the men, women, and children of the pagan tribes and nations that occupied the land of Canaan when they arrived there after forty years of wandering in the desert. Furthermore, He later disciplined the nation of Israel for allowing some pagans to continue to live and occupy a part of the land He promised to Jacob's progeny.
I don't know how to reconcile God's command to Joshua with Jesus' command to love our enemies as ourselves. Since the pagan enemies were sacrificing their own children to idols and also warring against the Israelis I can from a human POV understand Him ordering their extermination. But then that complicates knowing how to understand Jesus' command to love our Godless enemies and do good to those who persecute us. But that's no doubt due to my inability to properly understand God's word, and not due to any fault with what seems to be His contradictory commands. More personal bible study is definitely in order for me.
There is no Catholic doctrine governing the use of the death penalty.
1: | CCC Search Result - Paragraph # 2271 (618 bytes ) preview document matches 1 Since the first century the Church has affirmed the moral evil of every procured abortion. This teaching has not changed and remains unchangeable. Direct abortion, URL: http://www.scborromeo.org/ccc/para/2271.htm |
97% |
2: | CCC Search Result - Paragraph # 2272 (580 bytes ) preview document matches 2 Formal cooperation in an abortion constitutes a grave offense. The Church attaches the canonical penalty of excommunication to this crime against human life. "A URL: http://www.scborromeo.org/ccc/para/2272.htm |
96% |
3: | CCC Search Result - Paragraph # 2322 (290 bytes ) preview document matches 2 From its conception, the child has the right to life. Direct abortion, that is, abortion willed as an end or as a means, is a "criminal" practice (GS 27 § 3), URL: http://www.scborromeo.org/ccc/para/2322.htm |
96% |
4: | CCC Search Result - Paragraph # 2274 (554 bytes ) preview document matches gravely opposed to the moral law when this is done with the thought of possibly inducing an abortion, depending upon the results: a diagnosis must not be the equivalent URL: http://www.scborromeo.org/ccc/para/2274.htm |
ping