My stance on the sanctity of life

Lawryde left some comments in the comment box of the post below. He scanned our blog and has a few questions. I thought I'd answer here since the post below was on a completely different topic.

Here's his original comment:

I see that you are Pro-life, and hold life as a sacred thing. So does that mean that you are against the death penalty and anti-war? If you aren't then I really wonder about your whole moral system and how you can pick and choose what life is worth saving. I thought only God could do that?

Let's see. . . a lot of my morals and opinions have been changing lately (as in the last ten years or so). When I was younger, I believed in abortions. I thought that choice was up to the woman because it was her body and her decision to make. In high school, I came to the conclusion that sure abortions are okay, but I would definitely never have one. Now that I am more mature, I think that abortion is wrong. I believe that from the moment of conception, there is a precious child in a pregnant woman's womb.

As far as the death penalty is concerned, that's another one of my morals that's changing. It's taking longer than the abortion issue, but I am slowly becoming more and more against the death penalty. I think it may be because I grew up in Texas where it is frequently enforced. I've only recently decided that there are other ways to solve this matter. I would much rather see a criminal rehabilitated than executed. What surprised me was that when Scott Peterson was found guilty and sentenced to death, I was saddened. I do think he is guilty, but I don't think killing him will make the situation better.

Am I anti-war? No. With that said, I don't believe in sending soldiers to battle with the sole purpose of killing our enemies, but I do believe that when those in charge of other countries fail to abide by the laws governing our world, they need to be held accountable. In this war, despite the fact that there have been many deaths, I think Iraq is and will continue to be a better place without Saddam Hussein in charge.