“All a man can do is put his sperm in a position to fertilize an egg; whether it does or doesn’t is beyond his control.”
The “all a man can do is put his sperm in a position to fertilize an egg” in this instance presumably being by forcing his sperm into an entirely unwilling, screaming woman? Is that the “all” you’re referring to? As for whether the poor woman becomes pregnant through being raped being somehow “beyond his control”, one absolutely sure fire way of avoiding any chance of pregnancy is by him not raping her in the first bloody place.
As I Brit I ultimately / obviously don’t have a dog in any of the US political races, however I do find it rather bizarre that part of the defence of this guy’s comments seems to be that the rape victim should apparently see rape-induced pregnancy as being the silver lining to the unfortunate and somewhat waved-away initial rape cloud, what with it apparently being God’s will for her to get pregnant (but not for her to be raped in the first place, obviously).
This really is a classic question of Theodicy, and I find it a really, really difficult one to answer satisfactorily.
But since you apparently need a pat on the head... yes, you're so right. Rape is bad. Rapists shouldn't do that.
There, feel better? Now, do you care to comment on the actual content of the discussion - whether Mourdock's comment was actually insensitive and worth of the media's attack on him? Most rational folk believe that his comment indicates that he believes that God is the author of life in the womb, and if He chooses to start life inside a womb (even one that was violated), then He has a reason for it. (If you bother to read Mourdock's actual comment, his words were "in that horrible situation of rape".) Most hysterical folk seem to run with the notion that since he made a comment about rape, and it included God, then Mourdock must be a jackass. Which side do you take?
You seem to be missing my point, which is that though a man can control who he puts his sperm into, he cannot create life. Only God can create life, and though the rapist may intend harm and evil through the rape, the creation of life is the work of God whose purposes are always good. He has promised that all things work for the good of those who love Him, who are called according to His purposes, and that we will never be given more than we can bear. If He allows a child to be conceived, He will somehow work that out for good.
That doesn’t diminish the horrible-ness of what the rapist did. It does, however, limit the ability of that rapist to destroy a woman’s life. He doesn’t have that power.
Have you ever experienced loss or hardship?