So there’s been this sign being shared on Facebook lately. On the surface, I think a lot of people agree with the sentiment. It’s pretty easy to say “yeah, well I choose not to drink, but it’s okay if someone else does”. Same thing for several items on the list.
But here’s the question… who has the right to decide what’s on the list and what’s not. Sure it’s easy to come up with a list that everyone can agree with. The real question is what about what’s not on the list?
What if I choose to add “Don’t like child porn? Don’t watch it”. Or “Don’t like theft? Don’t steal anything”. Or maybe “Don’t like murder? Don’t kill anyone”. Those rights have been taken away from us haven’t they?
Well, yeah, but those things affect innocent people. Yeah. Doesn’t porn in general? How many women have been victimized by the effects of porn addiction? How many have been sucked into a life of porn just because they didn’t know anything else? Has an innocent person ever been killed due to the effects of alcohol? I think you’d be hard pressed to argue that no one has ever been hurt by it.
So the question becomes, why are these things on the list, but not the other things? If we don’t have a firm moral standard such as God’s Word as written in the Bible, then we have nothing. As humans, we will never have complete agreement on a list such as the one above. It’s just a list of personal opinions that a few people can agree on. Sure, it’s a nice sentiment to say “Don’t like your rights taken away? Then don’t take away someone else’s”, but then again, creating a pure race that has no infirm or less than desirables is a nice sentiment. The means to get there are a bit less than desirable however.