These Are My JOTtings...

Freedom is Limited for the Protection of Others.

Proverbs 14:34New King James Version (NKJV)

"Righteousness exalts a nation,
But sin is a reproach to any people."

"Does any government have a right to say what you can or cannot do with your body?" is the prompt for today.
The response is even prompter. Governments have the responsibility to insure, that no other human lives are harmed by the freedom of expression, exercised by one human or by any other group of humans.

1. Humans are not allowed to drive drunk. Drunken driving can maim or kill other humans.
2. Humans are not allowed to swing their arms nor their legs without restraint. To do so could maim or kill other humans, especially in the presence of small children or senior citizens.
3. Humans are not allowed to steal property from other humans, like cars, books, jewelry, clothing and other important (or seemingly unimportant) items. (Value is both intrinsic and is heightened, personally, in the eyes of the beholder.)
4. Humans are not allowed to harm nor kill children in the womb for the same reason, that all other humans are not allowed to be harmed nor killed, regardless of their race or their so-called "quality of life." Humans in the womb, that are younger than a varying number of weeks are considered to be "non-human." The same label, "non-human," has been used for the purpose of categorizing certain so-called "inferior" races by the so-called "superior" races. Human life in the womb, arguably begins at conception. Conception means, "This life has begun." After conception the newly-formed chromosomes of the new human being can never again be separated into the original egg and sperm chromosomes. Abortion in its original meaning is "to stop an action, that has begun." Therefore, Abortion in the womb does not have the ability to stop the action of beginning the new life. Abortion kills the new life.

(Controversial subjects like this are no longer my favorite form of writing. I have tried to respond to the prompt with the best honesty and courage I can muster. I do not wish to cause harsh debates with others, who do not hold my beliefs, but I do not have the ability to hold any other beliefs, myself, regardless of the number of people, who argue for another viewpoint.)

The point is simply this. When we are small children, we have parents, who act as final arbiters, protecting the weaker siblings from the stronger siblings. As I have grown into adulthood and have lived in that state for many years, I realize, that many adults act like "spoiled children," who want to "hold all of the marbles," demanding that their freedoms are more important than anybody else's freedoms.

I think this requires Governments to insure, that adults and teens, who do not have sufficient self-control to keep themselves from harming other human beings, must be compelled by the least amount of force necessary,...not to do so. Governments protect the weak in Society from the strong in Society, who lack self-control, while maintaining the rights of the strong to act responsibly.

This is the physical side of the use of one's body.
The spiritual effects of the moral side of the usage of one's body takes things to a whole different level.

I close with a quote by one of our original Presidents in the United States. I can't speak for the Governments in other countries, but I can speak to the purpose of the Government in my own.

"Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other." (Founding Father & Former President John Adams)
Read more at: https://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/j/johnadams391045.html