Indian man to sue his parents for giving birth to him 'without his consent

Can You Believe It?

I had a hard time believing it when I heard about it. Yet, I suppose that I shouldn't be surprised.

The headline read, "Indian man to sue his parents for giving birth to him 'without his consent',
wants to be paid for his life." What?

In a YouTube video, a 27-year-old man, Raphael Samuel, claims that he is suing his parents because
"he was conceived without his consent and therefore his parents should pay for his life."

"I want everyone in India and the world to realize one thing that they are born without their
consent. I want them to understand that they do not owe their parents anything," he said. "If we are
born without our consent, we should be maintained for our life. We should be paid by our parents to
live."

Lukas Mikelionis of Fox News states that "Samuel has been reported as a follower of antinatalism, an
increasingly popular yet bizarre ideology that believes that it's morally wrong for people to
procreate and takes a nihilistic approach towards human life, saying [that] humanity brings only
suffering."

Samuel says he loves his parents. "I love my parents, and we have a great relationship, but they
had me for their joy and their pleasure," he told The Print last month. "My life has been amazing,
but I don't see why I should put another life through the rigmarole of school and finding a career,
especially when they didn't ask to exist," he said. Samuel appears to be speaking of his own life
in that statement.

Interestingly, Samuel shared a Facebook post that is said to be from his mother in which she
allegedly states: "If Raphael could come up with a rational explanation as to how we could have
sought his consent to be born, I will accept my fault." *

What are we to make of Samuel's position?

This writer believes this is selfishness gone to seed. Samuel would suggest that it was the
selfishness of his parents that brought him into the world; they were seeking only their own
pleasure. But Samuel's focus is only on himself. "My parents should pay for my life." Samuel's
comments may be summarized by, "It's all about ME."

But it's not.

To be self-centered is off-center. The world doesn't revolve around me. And if I think or act like
it should, I am setting myself up for misery.

If we're going to "get it right," we must recognize that our world should "revolve around" Christ.
He should be the "center of our universe," the focus of our lives.

Christ created us as an expression of His power and of His love (Colossians 1:16). He created us
with the ability to choose to love Him in return, or not. When we choose to make Him the center of
our universe, we get it right. When we put anything or anyone else in that place, we are off-center
because we are self-centered. Self-centeredness (selfishness) leads to self-deception and sin.

But here's the amazing thing: God still loves us and He wants to save us (1 Timothy 2:4)! God gave
His Son Jesus to die on the cross for our sins and when we submit our lives to Him, He will save us
and give us eternal life (Romans 6:23; Ephesians 1:7).

God will save and give eternal life to those who place their faith and trust in Jesus (Acts
16:30-31), turn from their sins in repentance (Acts 17:30-31), confess Jesus before men (Romans
10:9-10), and are baptized (immersed) into Christ for the forgiveness of sins (Acts 2:38). He will
continue to cleanse from sin those who continue to put Him first by walking in the light of His Word
(1 John 1:7).

No, Samuel, life is not all about you. It's not about me either. It's about Christ. If we'll just
put Him at the center of our universe and submit our lives to Him, then "our world" will be right.

-- David A. Sargent

* Information gleaned from "Indian man to sue his parents for giving birth to him 'without his
consent', wants to be paid for his life" by Lukas Mikelionis of Fox News, www.foxnews.com, 2/7/19.