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Is There Such a Thing as an Autonomous Human Being?

Matt Walsh has written another great post.  I encourage you to read it before you finish my post. You can access it if you click here.  In this post he answers an email that was sent to him by a pro-choice advocate named Rachel.  Rachel argues that abortion is a right for every woman because of something she calls "body autonomy".  Her argument is that humans have the complete and autonomous decision making authority over their own bodies.  Therefore, if a woman, acting as an autonomous unit, decides to withdraw life-sustaining support from a fetus in her womb, she has the right to do so.  After all, the fetus is no more than a parasite if the woman has not consented to the fetus being in her womb in the first place.

According to the dictionary, autonomous means "self-governing; independent; subject to its own laws only". [1]  Rachel holds to the idea that humans have no one to answer to but themselves when it comes to choice. A woman is subject only to her own laws when it comes to her own body.  In essence, this argument means that a woman is her own god.  A woman, acting as her sole decision-maker regarding what she does or doesn't do with her body, or who she allows to be nurtured from her body, answers to no higher authority. In pregnancy then, the baby is at the complete mercy of the mother goddess.  If the goddess does not give her consent to the baby, then the baby should be made to go away. Get rid of the baby like you would an unwanted tapeworm.

Matt Walsh had some great arguments against Rachel's twisted and barbaric philosophy of body autonomy. Again, I encourage you to read his article.  One thing that was missing from his post is the fact that, according to Scripture, there is no such thing as an autonomous individual.  God's Word tells us that He created us.  Man is made in His image.  He says the thing created has no right to argue with its Creator. Psalm 100 says that it is God who has made us and not we ourselves.  Since God is our Creator, He is the ultimate rule-maker.  He decides what is right for us and what is wrong for us.  All of us are answerable to Him.
"...You are not your own, for you were bought at a price.  Therefore glorify God in your body." (1 Cor. 6:19b-20) HCSB
There is no such thing as an autonomous human being.  These bodies of ours belong to God, we are His stewards and must submit the choices we make concerning our bodies to His will, not our own.

What do you think?  Do you agree with me that there is really no such thing as human autonomy? You can leave a comment for me by clicking on the Comments link below. Please feel free to share this post on Facebook or Google by choosing one of the share buttons below this post.

END NOTES:

[1] autonomous. Dictionary.com. Dictionary.com Unabridged. Random House, Inc.http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/autonomous (accessed: March 11, 2014).

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