The Peril of "I Made You"

There is a trend which is captured in a recent commercial when a woman says to her mother-in-law: “how did you make someone I love?”

I've noticed the same idea in different media as well. Our culture subtly is altering the definition of life--eroding human dignity. The fear is people, once reduced to having only a human origin rather than a divinely willed one, may be subjugated to the will of the powerful few.

We know as Catholics that without the will of God no human being can be created. If we allow secular humanists a pass on this alteration of our beliefs stating to us that a person alone has power to create life, we will lose our own children to their seduction. Their definition of life will eradicate a Catholic teaching about God and our human role in His world.

We should recall shortly after The Fall Eve demonstrated God's grace profoundly when she declared: “With the help of the LORD I have brought forth a man.”

In Genesis we see the new humility of Eve fulfilled God's plan, making her the mother of the living, thereby making her a saint as she aligned her will to what God desired. It is here at the birth of Eve's firstborn that she learns that without God nothing is possible, but with God, all things are.

Imagine if she would have said: “I made a man” without acknowledging Who is the Author of Life-- what would have befallen the human race?

The “Frankenstein mindset” of stronger human beings having power over life allows for others to be viewed as property. Weaker and vulnerable human beings are in danger when we accept the premise that we create life alone without God.

God has ultimate authority over human beings even if He gives us free will. But an increasingly secular society that crowds out people of faith will ultimately destroy real and genuine equality for all. The value all have under the proper acknowledgment to God's authority protects the very weakest among us.

To say someone “makes” another person goes to a fundamental issue further: are people merely property, and if then, whose property are they? Do we have rights by our very nature as human beings?The United States Constitution states citizens have certain rights based on us being created by God. What will happen if a majority of people no longer see God as relevant to human creation?

When I taught school, one of the teachers once made a crude and horrible remark saying that one boy was a mistake, and society would be better off if the child would have remained a stain on a bed sheet. In the minds of many, a human being is not better than a weed.

In a world where we create others, power to kill will not be limited. Every weak or undesired person may be eliminated in such a world.

For example, in Pennsylvania a state representative discussed a proposed bill which would grant a dignified burial for aborted babies and stated miscarriages were “just some mess on a napkin.”

These words present a dangerous place for us, for if the most vulnerable are a commodity to be done away with when inconvenient or expensive, all of us are a commodity.

A commercial or movie that teaches a paradigm shift may seem harmless, but without an counter-argument, we fail as a Church to pass on the truths of Jesus. We need to state clearly: We don't have power over life; life rather is a God-given gift and a responsibility. Let us speak clearly about what it is that makes us above animals: we are able to cooperate with God's plans and are called to trust in Him, not ourselves. The human heart which is figurative is still very real, and the truth of God's message will resonate therefore.

We must demand respect in regards to our Judeo-Christian beliefs, without which human freedom could not exist.