When does life actually begin? Is it okay to take another person’s life or suggest that someone should take their own life? As there is a current uprise in America over a leaked draft of an opinion that would reverse the longstanding opinion on the constitutional right to have an abortion. Both sides have been yelling and screaming at each other and the rest of us as well. Threats of physical violence against Supreme Court Justices have been made. I have also seen suggestions from prolife people against a young lady holding a sign that said I wish my mother had chosen abortion suggest that the young lady should choose to end her life. Where has decency in our rhetoric gone? Let me address what I have learned.
In case I was not clear enough last week if there is no life there is no hope. But God has given us a way to have hope before we die. Hebrews 9:27-28 says, “And just as it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment, so Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to deal with sin but to save those who are eagerly waiting for him.” (ESV) My hope then lies in Christ alone as I live and when I die Christ has already taken my judgement upon Himself. You too can have this hope by accepting Jesus.
Let me now address the rhetoric that is happening from both sides. I will spend very little time on the pro-abortion side. There are two arguments and one activity that bothers me in particular. The fact that they want us to keep our hands off their bodies. Let us look at the medical fact. When the sperm and the egg join together, they create a cell with a different DNA then either the sperm, provided by the man, and the egg, provided by the woman. Therefore, the cells in the mother’s womb are not part of the body but rather a body being protected in the womb of the woman. I would like to speak on behalf of all the babies in the wombs of women, keep your hands, scalpels, drugs, or anything else off of our bodies, we will come out of the womb when we are ready. The other one that bothers me is the idea that it is the woman’s right to choose. None of us have the right to choose whatever we want free from consequences some legal, some moral, some physical and some that will hurt others. I cannot choose to steal. If I get caught, I will go to jail. Besides the pregnant woman has already made choices. They chose to have sex; they chose to be unprotected when they had it. I know some will say what about rape and incest, which compromise less than one percent of all abortions. The other is that they are choosing to threaten the lives of others who have a different opinion than they do.
Now for the pro-life group. I find it hard to understand how someone who is pro-life could suggest that a person who is pro-abortion should commit suicide. I understand that this issue brings up a great deal of emotion because lives are at stack. I believe that we are called to act the opposite. Jesus tells me to love my enemies and pray for them. “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, ‘Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you,’ so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven. For he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust.” Matthew 5:43-45 (ESV) I also believe that something similar is said about our speech. The Apostle Paul tells me in 2 Timothy 2:24-26, “And the Lord’s servant must not be quarrelsome but kind to everyone, able to teach, patiently enduring evil, correcting his opponents with gentleness. God may perhaps grant them repentance leading to a knowledge of the truth, and they may come to their senses and escape from the snare of the devil, after being captured by him to do his will.” (ESV) I have found that when I am dealing with an opponent, someone I disagree with their position about what the Holy Bible teaches, and I look at them as someone who has been taken captive by Satan that I am far more compassionate with them and seek to lovingly discuss rather than yell, scream and pound them over the head with my Holy Bible.
As you can tell I am profoundly pro-life. I will defend it with my life. But I will always try to defend it with kindness and gentleness. I will be gracious, merciful and forgiving of those who have had an abortion because if God forgives so will I. I do this because I believe that God has commanded me to do it that way. I will tell you that I do not feel that way at times but my feelings never trump God’s Word
Join me in standing for life as both God and medical facts define it. Be careful however in how you defend the position of being prolife. Pastor Doobs of Grace Church Eden Prairie addressed our behavior in his Mother Day sermon. In the meantime trust the Holy Spirit as you speak or post or write on this issue that you will not hurt the cause of Christ by how you communicate the message. Know that the Holy Spirit is with you as you communicate. The Holy Spirit comes to us when we accept Jesus. Understanding that the hope you have is because of the death of Jesus Christ on the cross satisfying the penalty for sins. His payment satisfies all my sins from the past, in the present and in the future. My penalty and yours was satisfied on the cross by the death of Jesus, God’s greatest act of love and wrath, who became sin for me and you. It was also God’s greatest act of faithfulness because “God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” Romans 5:8 (ESV) Because holiness shows us, we need to believe in Jesus. I hope that you join me in helping others to choose Jesus.
If you have not read my previous blogs, you can find them here.
You can find my book, Hope Amid Hopelessness: Our Abba Father Provides a Way Through Mental Illness here.
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