Rob Colquhoun

Two Ethical Questions

Q1: If you knew a woman who was pregnant, and she had 8 kids already, three who were deaf, two who were blind, one mentally retarded, and she had syphilis; would you recommend that she have an abortion?

If you said yes, you just killed Beethoven.

Q2: It is time to elect the world leader, and your vote counts. Here are the facts about the three leading candidates:
Which of these candidates would be your choice?

    * Candidate A associates with crooked politicians, and consults with astrologists. He's had two mistresses. He also chain smokes and drinks 8 to 10 martinis a day.
    * Candidate B was kicked out of office twice, sleeps until noon, used opium in college and drinks a quart of whisky every evening.
    * Candidate C is a decorated war hero. He's a vegetarian, doesn't smoke, drinks an occasional beer and hasn't had any extramarital affairs.

Candidate A is Franklin D. Roosevelt
Candidate B is Winston Churchill
Candidate C is Adolph Hitler

(Apparently the Beethoven story is a slight exaggeration on what really happened here as the story has been slightly adjusted).

In the book of Tobit, there is a beautiful prayer that Tobias makes by his wedding bed for God’s grace and protection. It is especially fitting as his wife Sarah had been in seven previous marriages and a demon called Asmodeus had killed her bridegrooms before they had ever slept with her! Tobias prays, “I do not take my sister for any lustful motive; I do it in singleness of heart. Be kind enough to have pity on her and on me and bring us to old age together.” (Tobit chapter 8:7).

In the book of Proverbs, there is an alphabetic poem on the perfect wife. It describes her attributes and virtues. Such alphabetic poems occur frequently in the psalms. The idealized woman concentrates on her usefulness to her husband: “advantage and not hurt she brings him all the days of her life.” Being ‘far beyond the price of pearls,’ the perfect wife is hardworking, earnest, generous, clothed in strength and dignity and keeps watch over the conduct of the household. (Proverbs chapter 31: 1-31).