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Overview - Abortion
The last point is particularly telling. Most of you are Christians, yet far too many among your ranks rely on spiritual mortars lobbed from a safe distance—behind picket lines and in your homes and churches. The most Biblically literate and “moral” people of Jesus’ day were the Scribes and Pharisees. He had this to say about them,
“They tie up heavy burdens, hard to bear, and lay them on the shoulders of others; but they themselves are unwilling to lift a finger to move them.” - (Luke 11:46)
He of course, made plenty of moral demands also. But unlike them He chose to leave the safety and privilege of Heaven and become one of us. He made our tears and joys His own, bore on His own back the full weight of our humanity, and was faithful in love and example even to the point of death by crucifixion—in His day, a death of disgrace reserved only for the lowest of criminals (Phil 2:4-11). In so doing, He earned the right to be heard.
Those of us who claim Him as Lord have no right to impose harsh moral demands and sacrifices on others in His name without following His example—and there’s a lot more to this than praying for fetuses on Sunday morning or opening “counseling” centers where women considering abortion are subjected to moral admonishment and all the pseudoscience discussed earlier.
If they’re laboring under financial, relational, child care, or other burdens, we should be bearing those. If a woman chooses to carry an unwanted pregnancy to term, we should be beside her every step of the way, holding her hand at the hospital, and being there for her as she begins what will likely be for a difficult and costly journey in to motherhood.
In short, it’s time for you to stop focusing on how to punish people whose morals you disapprove of, and start working toward fewer abortions and less suffering.
Regardless of our views, each of us needs to earn the right to be heard, and this requires more than diatribes, talk shows, picket lines or bumper stickers. There are no short-cuts to taking up a cross and following the One who showed us what real moral leadership looks like… even though it led to an unjust death in the hands of His enemies.
Nothing less will heal our wounds.
Footnotes
- The Pro-Life movement is based almost entirely in the Roman Catholic and conservative Evangelical churches. As such, they feel that providing birth control to unmarried couples encourages promiscuity. Catholics also believe that contraception itself interferes with the sacredness of intercourse and God’s plan for bringing souls into the world. Hence the emphasis on abstinence-only.
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