Dr. Phillip McGraw is a PhD holding self-help guru who is extremely popular. Here he is counseling youngsters. He's being a father to these "brats". He's gentle and calm but consistent and firm.
Dr. Phil with 5th Degree Nadia Suleman
on this show, Dr. Phil confronted Suleman
with the moral issues of IVF
People either love or hate Dr. Phil. I have a personal liking for the guy, but my husband can't stand watching his show. I like how he tells people truths that they need to hear in order to be better and more tolerable people. He helps people become the people they really want to be. Unfortunately, Dr. Phil serves the roll of confessor for the guests on his show. Human beings have a need for confession, counsel, redemption, and a fresh start. The only place to get this is in the sacrament of confession, but millions turn to people like Dr. Phil instead. While Dr. Phil can give excellent confession, counsel, and a fresh start, he cannot give redemption. Only Christ can do that.
It is my fervent prayer that people will discover the joy of confession. Hey, let's start with those who are practicing Catholics. If you haven't been to confession in a while, GO. It's amazing how a tongue-tied, awkward priests can become eloquent and give the true words of Jesus to a penitent. HE really works through priests. Come home to the forgiving arms of Jesus. Go to confession this week!
3 Degrees
Dr. Phil and his wife Robin were on Robert Schuller's Hour of Power.
Second Degree, Dr. Robert Schuller is a member of The Reformed Church in America. It is the oldest Protestant denomination in the United States. Dr. Schuller always seemed like a denomination unto himself. He doesn't sound like a Calvinist, does he?
First Degree, Billy Graham has appeared on The Hour of Power several times. Here is one where he espouses the same sentiment as Schuller. They speak as pastors for a Universal Church. Are they reletivists? Unitarians at heart? Or is this Christian love?
Nadya became a tabloid flash in the pan instead of a
National sweetheart. A miscalculation that cost her.
In January of 2009, Nadya Suleman gave birth to 8 babies. She was an instant celebrity and was given the name, "Octomom." She was unmarried and used artificial means of pregnancy. I will discuss these issues more fully at the end of the post.
Nadya is an Assyrian Iraqi American. Her heritage is in the ancient and persecuted church in the Middle East. To read more about that persecuted church, click here for the Barak Obama post.
5 Degrees
Fourth Degree: Denis Beaudoin, purported father of the octuplets, gave an interview with Good Morning America in 2009. He is an ex-boyfriend of Nadya. Here he is interviewed by third degree, Chris Cuomo.
The absence of a father
There are a couple of issues regarding the absence of a father/husband in this situation that bear discussion.
1. The financial and physical needs of these children are not sufficiently taken care of without a father in their lives. This might not be the case if Nadya had become the sympathetic celebrity that she had wanted to become. Her press ended up being a mockery of her life instead of a sympathetic tribute to it. As a result, Miss Suleman is relying on the state and federal governments for support of her child and help with child care. This is not responsible parenting.
2. Nadya Suleman was married. She divorced after attempts to become pregnant did not result in a child. Her husband, Marco Gutierrez, was against In Vitro Fertilization (IVF), and the couple divorced. One of the blessings that marriage bestows is the temperance of the spouses of one another.
"No, getting those hair plugs is a bad idea."
"Maybe we should hold off on doing over the bathroom until our credit card debt is gone."
"Perhaps gastric surgery is not the right choice for you. Let's sit down and figure out how to be a more active family."
"Let's sleep on this decision."
Nadya was obsessed with becoming a mother, but was going too far with her fertility desires. Rather than accept her husband's objections, she rejected him! In any friendship, especially that of spouses, submission to a less radical view helps us make right decisions. Nadya did not accept her husband's temperate view.
Miss Suleman began her journey down the IVF road without giving the matter full consideration. Once she had created many embryos and had several pregnancies, she was left with 8 frozen children. She did not have the funds to have more than one implantation and she did not want to thaw (kill) her remaining babies. These are the reasons, (bold type above), why she had all 8 implanted and carried all 8 to term.
Nadya saw the wisdom of the Catholic (which includes the Chaldean Church) view was right after she had disobeyed that view. That disobedience lead to her divorce, the stressing of her body, the freezing of children whose lives were under constant threat, and their birth into a fatherless family.
