At 07:18 PM 4/8/2005, Bill Shanks wrote:
>Shawn responds:
>"A baby is totally innocent, someone on death row is not, they've been
>convicted of a heinous crime by a jury of their peers, and have exhausted
>about 20 years of appeals.  I guess that since you equate an innocent
>potential child with a violent criminal, then it explains your point of
>view, which if I understand correctly is to kill babies via abortion, kill
>potential babies, but let violent criminals live."
>
>Are you really that superficial in your thinking?

do you ever actually read what I write?  Did I espouse an opinion on the
topic of the death penalty here?  You asked me the justification for a
death penalty and to be against abortion, I gave you what the reason was, I
didn't say anything about it being *my* reason.  The old testament is "eye
for an eye", the law of Isaiah, the new testament is "turn the other
cheek".  With that said, I know you have a son about the same age as
mine.  If your boy was a victim of one of these animals abducting and
murdering him, I imagine you'd want to probably kill him with your own
hands, I know that's my first inclination.  I recently wrote a concept
album about the violence that is engrained in all of us, it is being
released worldwide next week, you might find it interesting,
www.frameshift2.com - I've sent a tremendous amount of time researching the
fine veneer of civility, maybe the fact that most people are a half bottle
of gin away from turning in to an animal supports the idea of evolution.

The Pope was both against abortion and against the death penalty, he gave
forgiveness to the man that tried to kill him.  I'm not catholic, but I
have a lot of respect for the Pope.  You are making an apples and oranges
comparison.  The Pope is against all death, aren't they even against
masturbation because it kills a potential baby?

I have reasoned and intelligent discussions on these topics all the time, I
try to keep on topic instead of throwing dirt in the air and screaming like
things about the Pope and the death penalty when we were talking about stem
cell research.  Abortion is a loaded topic and I don't pretend to have all
the moral answers, I'm against abortion pretty much entirely.  I didn't
know what to think about Schiavo, it was a really tough choice, but at the
end of the day her family was willing to take care of her, and they should
have been allowed to.

As for stem cell research, I think there are plenty sources to work through
before we have to get in to destroying embryos.  It's only a short walk
from using the non-viable embryos to hanging out at the back door of an
abortion clinic for a fresh one.

>Perhaps some questions will help you think this through more deeply:
>
>Have you ever heard of people being falsely convicted?  Shouldn't we "err
>on the side of life" in order to avoid possibly putting an innocent person
>to death?  Or ar you SO sure of our justice system that you're willing to
>toss away a few innocent lives just so you can feel righteous in your "eye
>for an eye" approach?  Ever hear of mercy, Shawn?  As I understand it, the
>topic of mercy is quite important in scripture.
>
>Since you brought up morality, wouldn't you agree that the recently
>deceased Pope was a moral person?  He was against the death penalty, too.
>So do you think he favored criminals over babies?
>
>And finally, Shawn, I presume you're against abortion.  Are you in
>agreement with GWB that abortion should be illegal except in cases of rape
>or incest?  Why are the babies created by rape or incest not just
>as "totally innocent" (to use your words) and worthy of protection?
>
>I can respect someone whose beliefs favor life when those beliefs are
>consistent and logical, truly caring for the *life" of a person.  For
>example, I'd respect people who held vigil for Terri Shiavo a lot more if
>they also held vigil for people on death row about to be executed.  But to
>pick one case and ignore others seems more like a political agenda than a
>real moral belief.
>
>And again, you equate stem cell research with killing babies.  Clearly you
>are SO entrenched in your position that no amount of logic, reason, or
>facts will compel you to have an reasonably intelligent discussion about
>these issues.
>
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Regards,

Shawn Gordon
President
theKompany.com
www.thekompany.com
www.mindawn.com
949-713-3276

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