It is my habit to challenge my brothers and sisters who spend time and energy denouncing this form of abortion, that reason for abortion, or the other context for abortion. The problem with late term or partial birth abortions isn’t late term or partial birth, but abortions. The problem with sex selection, multiple reduction or Down Syndrome abortions isn’t sex selection, multiples or Down Syndrome, but abortions. The problem with unsafe, unsanitary abortions in run down, unregulated buildings is not unsafe, unsanitary, run down or unregulated. The problem is abortions. The problem isn’t when, why or how they are murdering babies. The problem is they are murdering babies.
That said, I fear one reason we refuse to come to grips with the horror of abortion is because of its horror. That is, if we live in a country that every five years kills more babies than the Nazis killed Jews, well, we live in a country worse than Nazi Germany. That would mean shame. That would mean darkness. That would mean revulsion. That would mean we have to do something.
That would mean having to completely restructure our meta-narrative. That is, we would have to recognize that our simple view of the world, where Nazi Germany, North Korea, China are on one side, while the white hats are places like Canada, Australia and these United States is not only self-serving, but wrong. Given the scope and power of sin in general we ought to be suspicious of putting white hats on just about any institution, especially our own institutions. Given the desperate wickedness and deception in our own hearts, however, we tend to do so.
Syria, Iran, Venezuela, Iraq all have far greater restrictions on abortion than most western countries. There are, of course, all manner of great evils in those countries. But abortion mills on every other corner is not among those evils. When it comes to the murder of the unborn, however, there is an axis of evil. Four nations stand apart from the rest of the world. Four nations, not Muslim, not isolated, not under-educated, four nations alone freely protect the “rights” of moms even beyond twenty weeks pregnant to murder their babies. The four most radically pro-abortion nations on the entire planet are China, North Korea, Canada and these United States. That is our axis of evil.
I know it is a painful truth. I do not delight to speak it. We are not merely off track, losing ground, beginning to stray. I know it sticks in the craw, that it is hard to swallow. But the truth is we are an evil nation. We are a nation that since 1973 has elected seven presidents who promised at least to protect the legal “right” of some moms to murder some babies. We are a nation where tens of millions of moms have murdered their own children, with the help of tens of millions of fathers, boyfriends, husbands. We are a nation where Christians, real Christians just like me, spend more time and energy worrying about our favorite sports team than murdered babies.
When we find blood on our hands we are fools to close our eyes. Instead we must wash them in the blood from His hands. We must repent, confess ourselves to be guilty before God. Guilty of blasphemy in thinking we are God’s favored ones. Guilty of taking His name in vain by vainly asking that He would bless this nation. Guilty of rebellion against the wisdom of our fathers. Guilty of adultery in chasing after our nation more than our Husband. We are guilty of stealing the future of God’s children, guilty of lying to ourselves. We are guilty of coveting a reputation we haven’t earned. We are guilty of being the axis of evil because we are guilty of murder. Lord grant us the wisdom to see us for what we are, and the faith to see what You are making of us.
Studies from NIH.gov show that 20-80% of all fertilized eggs are terminated naturally. Meaning, without the assistance of any other person these people are miscarried or fail to implant.
Now I might call this natural abortion. But since many believe that every conception is a gift of God, we can blame Him for all miscarriages. Your God is the greatest cause of the loss of life before birth.
Studies also show that 100% of all humans die. Which doesn’t keep us from prosecuting murderers. Studies also show 100 % of all humans stand guilty before God and are due death. Which doesn’t keep us from prosecuting vigilantes. Your argument holds no water. But you know that. It’s just pro-baby murder talking points. My counsel is you repent and turn to Christ that your sins, like mine, might be forgiven and that you might be adopted into God’s own family.
Hey, R.C.,
There are valid reasons to push back on a particular reason, type, or circumstance for abortion. They all hinge on one question: What is a person?
You and I, as Christians would hold up the Bible as the standard to determine this, yet even in the Bible you don’t see a scripture that unequivocally states that life begins at conception. I would suppose that we both have drawn the same inferences and have come to the conclusion that all human organisms are people and have eternal souls.
The problem is that this is not an issue of morality; most pro-choice people would agree that killing an innocent person is wrong. The issue is a philosophical argument of when a human organism becomes a person.
I have given up on treating people outside the Christian faith as if they shared the same standards that I have. American democratic government is not in a position to support biblical values and ideals when we live in an increasingly secular society.
The most good comes when we can reason with people on the basis of sound logic, agreed-upon truths, and shared values. In the case of late term or partial birth abortions, it become much harder to argue the woman should have say over the life of someone who could survive without her. On the liberal side of the political spectrum, it’s much harder to be consistent on issues of gender or disability equality if you support sex selection, multiple reduction or Down Syndrome abortion. Taking steps in the right direction is better than standing around wishing you could teleport.
You say that it is your habit to challenge my brothers and sisters who spend time and energy certain forms, reasons, or contexts of abortion. This is my answer to that challenge: I would rather make steady progress in pursuit of my ideals than try to entirely persuade a secular society of my worldview before any progress is achieved.
Thanks!
Slight tangent:
I believe that it is wrong, and offensive to God, but convincing unbelievers of that is challenging, since we don’t have the same standard of truth. Applying harsh terms to people only makes it harder to reach those who disagree. It’s especially hard to have productive discourse when someone won’t begin to listen to a differing perspective after they or a friend (1 in 4 women having gone through an abortion) has frequently been referred to as a “murderer” by people who disagree with them over a decision that they made in an extremely difficult time in their life. I don’t think God has a problem with speaking truth, as long as it is in love. We are called to be wise as serpents and harmless as doves. Being tactful is not ignoring the offense, but rather allows the choice to treat the disease instead of focusing on the symptoms.
I don’t know if that made sense. All I’m saying is that calling women who have abortions murderers tends to burn bridges with the people who need to be reached the most.
Brother,
I appreciate the thoughts, but disagree. I disagree that the humanity of the unborn question makes any difference on any of the “kinds” of abortions. I disagree that pro-aborts don’t know the unborn are human persons. In fact the pro-aborts are getting increasingly honest about this. I disagree and instead believe that just as all men know there is a God, (Romans 1) but suppress that truth in unrighteousness, so all men know the unborn are human persons and suppress that truth in unrighteousness. I disagree that anything short of telling the honest truth is a healthy strategy, in any circumstance. I disagree that “steady progress” is what your strategy has given us. It has instead given us 60 million dead babies. Abortion friend isn’t a knowledge problem. It’s a wickedness problem. Hope that helps, and again, I’m grateful for you giving your thoughts on the matter. God bless you brother.