The Polarization Trap
CS Lewis lived around the time of World War II, a time of polarization, and he saw how secular societies become polared between individualists (those who believe the extreme that everybody is different) and totalitarianists (those who believe the opposite extreme that everybody is the same). He noticed that people don't become divided over which of two good things is better. Rather, they become divided over which of two evil things is worse. Hence, the Devil is the author of such divisions. It's a polarization trap that many fall into. But Lewis gives us insight into how the polarization trap works and how we avoid falling into it. Let's use a Venn diagram of societies to illustrate his insight. In "Mere Christianity," he says the following:
"The Devil always sends errors into the world in pairs, pairs of opposites and he gets us to spend all our time thinking which error is worse."
Figure 1- Which error is worse, individualism or totalitarianism?
"...He relies on our extra dislike of one error to draw us into the opposite one."
Figure 2- We are drawn into one error or the other.
"...We have to keep our eyes on the goal and go straight through between both errors."
Figure 3- The goal is the heavenly kingdom and Christianity is the way to reach the goal.
Now, let's apply the insight of CS Lewis to the most polarizing issue of our day, that of abortion. The two sides call themselves "pro-choice" or "pro-life." But those labels are misnomers, because they are not divided over which of two good things is better, choice or life. Rather, they are divided over which of two evil things is worse, forced pregnancy (forcing a female to remain pregnant against her will) or elective abortion (letting a pregnant female get an abortion). Hence, the Devil is the author of today's division too. We will illustrate this using a Venn diagram of reproductive outcomes.
"The Devil always sends errors into the world in pairs, pairs of opposites and he gets us to spend all our time thinking which error is worse."
Figure 4- Which error is worse, forced pregnancy or elective abortion?
"...He relies on our extra dislike of one error to draw us into the opposite one."
Figure 5- We are drawn into one error or the other.
"...We have to keep our eyes on the goal and go straight through between both errors."
Figure 6- The goal is elective pregnancy and stopping forced abortion is the way to reach the goal.
Today's division has been the Devil's greatest polarization trap, because EVERY CHRISTIAN has fallen into it, thereby threatening the survival of Christianity, since a house divided against itself cannot stand. But by the grace of God, Chrestians have been pulled out of the trap, so that we can help Christians be pulled out and show them how to avoid falling back into it. If you are "pro-choice", please review proofs 1 through 3 below; and if you are "pro-life", please review proofs 1, 2, and 4.
Proof #1 (for those who don't know that forced abortion happens)
Forced abortion happens more often than it should.
1. Homicide is a leading cause of death for pregnant females. (See 2022 Harvard study.)
2. Gravicide (the homicide of a pregnant female) is the most violent form of forced abortion.
3. Gravicide has the same motive as every other form of forced abortion, that motive being the remission of a postnatal support debt.
4. Homicide is not even close to being a leading cause of death for females who are not pregnant.
5. Therefore, gravicide happens more often than it should.
6. Therefore, forced abortion happns more often than it should.
Proof #2 (for those who don't know that forced abortion is a sacrifice)
Forced abortion is the most unholy sacrifice.
1. A sacrifice is the act of giving up something to obtain something else for oneself or for others. For example: Signing the RTCL petition is a sacrifice, because it is the act of giving up something (a few minutes of time) to obtain something else (protection) for others (pregnant women and their offspring).
2. The Most Holy Sacrifice is the act of giving up one's own life to obtain for others the remission of their debts to God. Only God's Son is qualified to make the Most Holy Sacrifice, and he made it almost two thousand years ago.
3. Therefore, the most unholy sacrifice is the opposite. It is the act of giving up the life of another to obtain for oneself the remission of a debt to the other.
4. To incur a debt is to owe something as a result of doing something.
5. Therefore, a man who makes a female pregnant incurs a debt of postnatal support to his offspring.
6. If a man forces his pregnant girlfriend to get an abortion, then he gives up the life of his offspring to obtain for himself the remission of his debt of postnatal support to his offspring.
7. Therefore, forced abortion is the most unholy sacrifice.
Proof #3 (For pro-choice people)
If we stop forced abortion, then forced pregnancy will also be stopped.
1. The way to stop forced abortion is to disincentivize it.
2. The way to disincentivize forced abortion is to give every pregnant female the option to certify the debt of postnatal support, which is owed to her offspring, so that the debtor cannot get his debt forgiven
by forcing her to get an abortion.
[If she is forced to get an abortion after certifying the postnatal support debt, then that debt would not be forgiven but would instead be converted into reimbursement for wrongful death,
payable to the caretaker of somebody else's child. Therefore, by certifying the postnatal support debt, she gives the debtor the option of either letting her remain pregnant and paying child support to the caretaker
of his child or forcing her to get an abortion and paying reimbursement for wrongful death to the caretaker of somebody else's child. He will want to choose the former option. She can exercise the option safely (ie.
without fear of retaliation by him), because advancements in DNA science enable her to submit proof of paternity, in the form of a blood sample, as early as 7 weeks gestation, long before she begins to show.]
3. Since it would be unjust for her to certify the debt of postnatal support without also certifying the debt of prenatal support, the debt of prenatal support will also have to be certified.
4. Since the debt of prenatal support will be certified, elective abortion will be disincentivized.
5. Since elective abortion will be disincentivized, she will want to remain pregnant.
6. Since she will want to remain pregnant, remaining pregnant will not be against her will.
7. Since remaining pregnant will not be against her will, nobody will be able to force her to remain pregnant against her will.
8. Since nobody will be able to force her to remain pregnant against her will, forced pregnancy will have been stopped.
[If you would like to participate in stopping both types of reproductive coercion, then you can participate by signing THE PETITION for the Right to Choose Life Act, the bipartisan bill of law,
which would give every pregnant female the option to certify the debts of prenatal and postnatal support that are owed to her offspring.]
Proof #4 (For pro-life people)
If we stop forced abortion, then elective abortion will also be stopped.
(The first 5 steps are the same as in the 8-step proof for pro-choice people.)
2. The way to disincentivize forced abortion is to give every pregnant female the option to certify the debt of postnatal support, which is owed to her offspring, so that the debtor cannot get his debt forgiven
by forcing her to get an abortion.
[If she is forced to get an abortion after certifying the postnatal support debt, then that debt would not be forgiven but would instead be converted into reimbursement for wrongful death,
payable to the caretaker of somebody else's child. Therefore, by certifying the postnatal support debt, she gives the debtor the option of either letting her remain pregnant and paying child support to the caretaker
of his child or forcing her to get an abortion and paying reimbursement for wrongful death to the caretaker of somebody else's child. He will want to choose the former option. She can exercise the option safely (ie.
without fear of retaliation by him), because advancements in DNA science enable her to submit proof of paternity, in the form of a blood sample, as early as 7 weeks gestation, long before she begins to show.]
3. Since it would be unjust for her to certify the debt of postnatal support without also certifying the debt of prenatal support, the debt of prenatal support will also have to be certified.
4. Since the debt of prenatal support will be certified, elective abortion will be disincentivized.
5. Since elective abortion will be disincentivized, she will want to remain pregnant.
6. Since she will want to remain pregnant, she will not want to get an elective abortion.
7. Since she will not want to get an elective abortion, she will not get an elective abortion.
8. Since she will not get an elective abortion, elective abortion will have been stopped.
[If you would like to participate in stopping both types of reproductive coercion, then you can participate by signing THE PETITION for the Right to Choose Life Act, the bipartisan bill of law,
which would give every pregnant female the option to certify the debts of prenatal and postnatal support that are owed to her offspring.]
