[Again, I know I'm supposed to be on a blogging break, but these next two posts couldn't wait (again). I wrote them both about a year ago in March.]
steady the knees that give way;
say to those with fearful hearts,
‘Be strong do not fear; your God will come.’”
- Isaiah 35:3-4
You’ve seen something like this before, right? Who are they? They are Christian Pro-Life Activists — and I am one of them. And by this post, and the moving of the Holy Spirit, I hope to encourage you to consider becoming one as well.
(The following thoughts and statements are wholly my own and do not venture to speak for the entire movement, or all those individual Christians involved. It is written from my own perspective as a conservative Southern Baptist, and therefore may differ from others within the movement.)
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What is a Christian Pro-Life Activist?
a) Above all else, we are Christians. Our calling as children of God has burdened our hearts against the shedding of innocent blood, and given us a burden for the mothers and fathers who abort their children, or consider doing so. We take our doctrine from the Bible, and the Bible alone. Though we are called to subject ourselves under the law of government, we are bound by our Christian consciences to take a stand against this government sanctioned taking of innocent blood. “Their feet run to evil, and they make haste to shed innocent blood: their thoughts are thoughts of iniquity; wasting and destruction are in their paths”. We understand that where darkness is, the light of Gospel Hope must be infused.
b) We are Pro-Life – fully and completely. Nominal moral or ethical acknowledgment of certain ‘exceptions’, we do not regard as viable. Either you value the sanctity of human life, or you do not. We do not take the “Pro” in Pro-Life lightly. Additionally, we understand that in order to be Pro-anything you must be active in support of it.
c) Therefore, we are Activists. We understand that words of agreement and acknowledgment of truth is one thing — but those things are far removed from the actual activities that would move to ‘Pro’-tect life. In a sense, we are led by our hearts — to back up our words — with our presence. We will be the first to acknowledge that the power of prayer in this environment is paramount. We understand that not all are able to stand with us physically, but we expect that all Christians will stand with us spiritually.
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What do Christian Pro-Life Activists do?
Simply put, we pray and minister.
a) When we go to an abortion facility (Planned Parenthood being the largest of these in America), we go in a spirit of prayer. We pray for the mothers and fathers contemplating abortions, that they would have their eyes opened unto the Truth. We pray for those women who have had or are having an abortion, that conviction, repentance, and then comfort and forgiveness would be given to them. We pray for the brothers and sisters of these aborted children, that they would be comforted as well. We pray for the workers at the abortion clinic, that God would touch their hearts, and convict them of their sin. We pray for the abortionists themselves, that God would pierce their hearts, and that they would turn and repent. We pray for the other activists, that they would be encouraged and that their feeble hands would be strengthened, and that God would steady their knees. We pray for the community in which these abortions occur, that God would stir them, that their complacency and apathy towards sin would be broken and they would rise up against such a place as Planned Parenthood that wantonly kills the unborn.
b) Just as importantly, we minister. In the same way that you don’t just pray about evangelism, but actually go out and evangelize — we believe that being at the place in which women are confronted with the question of life, is imperative to the movement’s success. Is there any time in which it is more important for a women to be met with a compassionate minister of life, than as she enters an abortion facility? The same for when a women leaves the clinic no longer a mother, broken and stripped of the fruit of her womb — what better place is there for a minister of God’s love to be, reaching out to heal?
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Why do we believe in Rallying, Praying, and Marching for Life?
We believe that the nature of abortion requires it. When comparing modern day movements, many folks are quick to remind us, “Abortion is different….” And they are more right than they may know. Abortion is unlike any other modern day movement — in scale, scope, or magnitude. Not even in Sodom, did they murder their children the way that we do in Louisville, Ky. However, there are at least a few similarities with those moral injustices of the past. I’ll provide a metaphor:
Imagine, if you will, that every Saturday, 30 University students were taken behind the Academic building and summarily executed. They were picked at random, and given no recourse – only bound, gagged, and then murdered. These students were guilty of no crime, and had no actual judgment against them.
If this were at your University, what would you do? Would you sit around a coffee shop and talk about how you wish that kind of thing wasn’t happening? If there were a gathering against such murders, would you join? Perhaps even protest?
What if I were to tell you that this happened all over Europe during the Holocaust, not to University students, but instead to Jews, and Gypsies, the deformed, and handicapped — and not just 30 people every Saturday, but to MILLIONS UPON MILLIONS over the course of years?
“But abortion is different,” right? Wrong. Estimates for the death toll of the Holocaust hover around 6 million. For perspective – well over 43 millions babies have lost their lives to abortions in America since the 1970’s – and that is just in AMERICA. Not as much difference as you may like to think.
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What drives us and what should drive you?
a) A love for God, and a love for God’s people. And God’s people are not only those people that can walk, or talk, or thank us for our efforts — but every soul that has breath.
“In whose hand is the soul of every living thing, and the breath of all mankind.” – Job 12:10
“Let every thing that hath breath praise the LORD. Praise ye the LORD.” – Psalm 150:6
b) This is no small matter brothers and sisters. In 2000 alone, more children died from abortion than Americans who died in the American Revolution, the Civil War, World Wars 1 and II, the Korean War, Vietnam, and the Gulf Wars combined! In fact, one American baby was killed by abortion every 24 seconds. By the time you get done reading this post, at least 6 children would have been murdered.
c) Martin Luther King, Jr. once said, “The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy.” The controversial challenge to Pro-Life Christians today, is this: Will you take that “stand” that King was speaking of.
Consider where the Civil Rights movement would have been without the DC Civil Rights March, or the Chinese protest movement without Tienanmen Square, or the Fall of the Berlin Wall without Reagan’s famous speech to ‘tear it down’? History has proven that presence makes a difference. What exactly that difference is, I can not say – but one thing is certain – Christian brethren throughout the ages have been willing to step up and step out in defense of God’s Truth – and we should be willing to follow their example.
So let us, like Moses and Aaron before us, venture to the house of Pharaoh that is the abortion industry – and demand that they “let our people go”! Before the Israelites could be delivered from their bondage, Moses had to go to Egypt…and may we be willing to do the same.
Make no mistake, the “hands that shed innocent blood” (Proverbs 6:17) will one day face the consequences of their actions (Ecclesiastes 12:14; Hebrew 9:27) — and we will be required to give account for the part that we had in it — even if it was only our silence.
‘BH
(Sources cited within article: National Right To Life, *Apologetics Press-Dave Miller)
12 Comments
February 17, 2008 at 11:11 pm
[...] Steady The Knees: Confessions of a Christian Pro-Life Activist [...]
February 17, 2008 at 11:21 pm
Please, I mean no disrespect by my questions so please take them with honest sincerity and curiosity. As a Pro-life activist, where do you stand on the issue of war? Are Pro-life activists typically pacifists as well? Is the “Pro-life” stance strictly applied to unborn infants as opposed to grown human beings? When do you consider a human being alive and essentially, “human”? Do you consider a brain dead human alive?
-peace&love
February 17, 2008 at 11:51 pm
Great questions worldcityzen.
1) War – I believe that the Bible makes very clear distinctions between murder and war. I wouldn’t say that the Bible is necessarily “pro-war”, but it is by no means pacifistic. There is more war and bloodshed in the last book of the New Testament (Revelation) then all the other books of the Bible combined. To imply or assume that Christ was some kind of pre-1960’s “make love not war” guru, is clearly ignoring the totality of his ministry, his historical and eternal perspective, and God’s institution of human government post-Flood in Genesis 9:6 – “Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed, for God made man in his own image.”
2) Pacifism – Many Pro-life activists are pacifists, but that is because a large number of these activists are Roman Catholic, and that stance is inherent in their theology. I’m a Reformed Southern Baptist, who would probably hold more closely to Augustine’s “just war theory”.
3) Pro-”life” – That’s just it, the push of pro-life activists is to get the dignity that is already applied to “grown human beings” to be extended to the smallest and most helpless humans. As Christians, this goes even deeper, because we understand what Christ meant when He said, ” The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.” (John 10:10) We want not just life, but the ‘abundant’ life that can only be had in knowing Jesus Christ, the Son of God.
4) When are we essentially human? – The simple answer is conception. That is why this kind of activism extends to embryo freezing for ‘invitro fertilization’ and stem cell research. Scripture makes clear that God is the sovereign over the womb, and man has no right to tamper with what He is “knitting together”.
5) Brain dead, alive? – Yes. The same way I consider you alive when you go under anesthesia, or get knocked out on a football field. Brain activity is a poor standard for evaluating human-ness. God makes clear that what makes us human is that we are made in the divine image, the imago Dei – not our size, not our level of development, not our environment, and not our degree of dependency.
Hope this helps with your considerations.
Thanks for the visit!
‘BH
February 18, 2008 at 6:44 pm
An excellent blog post – and very timely. In this election year when pro-life organizations are more vocal and visible, it is very important to help people understand what a pro-lifer really is… and why we do what we do.
In His Grip – Reformed Faith
February 18, 2008 at 8:19 pm
So
1) Where do you stand in regard to the death penalty? Letter ‘b’ on your list says “we are pro-life fully and completely” Does that include those on death row? If not, how do you justify that in light of the rest of this post?
2) I’m of the impression this situation is unique. 2 beings sharing the same flesh. How can you tell someone, if they are the only one capable of making a competant medical decision, they cannot save their own lives?
February 19, 2008 at 12:31 am
I certainly can’t answer for the thoughtful writer of this post, but as a believer I can tell you that many of us do indeed struggle with the issue you bring up in your first question set…and extending to the war question in the earlier comment. As a believer, I have long struggled with those very questions. There are no easy answers on either side of the equation.
I would like to mention that not all pacifist believers are Roman Catholic. There are a great many protestants, fundamentalists and evangelicals who are pacifists as well. I grew up in a very fundamentalist denomination in which several “sects” (for lack of a better descriptor) were pacifists to the point of facing imprisonment rather than serve in the military.
February 19, 2008 at 3:51 pm
Reformed -
Thanks for the encouragement! And welcome to the blog.
Dsrtrosy –
You make a valid clarification. I apologize if I implied that only RCs are pacifists and only pacifists are RCs. The pacifistic ideology finds adherents in a vast array of Christian churches. And thanks for being clear that these questions are indeed difficult to struggle with. Praise the Lord that he has not left us blind!
Madmong -
1) As I mentioned in a previous comment, I do believe the Bible lays out a balanced foundation between capital punishment (Genesis 9:6) and murder (Exodus 20:13), the former being admissible by God’s decree, the latter being prohibited. Whether or not the death penalty as it is “applied” in America is biblical, that can be debated, but its institution in human government seems quite clear. I don’t think it should be taken lightly, or administered unjustly, but neither of those issues affects the biblicity of its divine origination.
2) I posted an in-depth response to this very question here: Murder for the Life of the Mother. Hopefully that will address your issues.
Thanks for taking the time to question.
February 19, 2008 at 8:36 pm
Why should those of us who don’t labor under your religious beliefs be bound by them in law? Why should we take your arguments seriously, when you back them up with biblical support rather than science?
February 19, 2008 at 10:46 pm
Dan-
You ask apt questions. I believe you should take these arguments seriously for many reasons. For instance…
1) Can science prove that man should not murder? Why not? Because it’s not a scientific question, it’s a moral and philosophical one (even if you reject religion – although I’d argue that we all have religious ideals – even a rejection of God is a wholly religious idea, one that can not be answered by science). We deduce many things, every day, that science does not have the ability to speak to. Should you kiss your wife? Why or why not? Perhaps Einstein forgot that chapter…
2) That being said, what is to stop anyone from murdering anyone else? Law? Morality? Justice? Where do these ideas come from? They are not found in the animal kingdom. Plants have no concept of morality. Pigs cannot fathom injustice. These ideas have come from outside of the created realm, and are undeniably ‘religious’ in origin.
3) Because of this, whether you realize it or not, you are most likely already bound by my religious beliefs in the form of law. If you live anywhere that has a law against theft, you should reject it, because I believe that God is the one who told us, “Thou shall not steal.” But why don’t you? Because that law serves you, and protects you. The reason that you reject the particular line of reasoning against abortion is because you do not see its effect on you, or society as a whole. You assume that its the only law with historical ties to a belief in God. But If you were that baby, I have a sneaking suspicion that you would be claiming that you “have a right to live!,” whether a court case agrees with you or not.
If we are going to reject law based upon its inability to be corroborated by science, then lets be consistent, and place a call to the IRS to tell them that you’re not going to be paying your taxes anymore…
February 19, 2008 at 11:44 pm
Hey Hank,
1) Science isn’t the only alternative to a biblical source of law and ethics. As you aptly noted, philosophy also works. We are quite capable of using our faculty of reason to determine what is, and is not, ethical. But do understand what science is. It is simply inquiry backed up by empirical verification. So yes, some forms of justice can and should be scientific. For example, how we treat people who commit minor but violent offenses could very well impact how these people act when released back into society.
2) I had to laugh at this one. Have you conversed with pigs? If they are conscious, perhaps they do have a sense of justice. But anyway, this is a gigantic and fluffy strawman. The choice is not “bible or pigs! Choose your legal system!”. We can look at precedent and history (which, believe it or not, stretches far past the start of the Christian religion, and encompasses countries with legal systems far outside those provided by religion). In fact, looking at truly theocratic courts, one begins to see one reason why the dark ages were so called. Why return to that?
We can get ideas of Law and Morality from our ability to think, feel, and choose.
Stating flatly that justice is undeniably “religious” in origin is false, unsupported, and contrary to the many forms of justice that have evolved in direct contradiction to religious impositions of “justice”. Freedom of religion is one such point. There was a time you could be executed for blasphemy.
3) Your premises collapsed, there’s no conclusion for you to claim anymore. Justice does not come from religion, and it need not come from religion.
The question you raised about murder is an interesting one, and one that I don’t think anyone has fully solved. How does one stop someone from committing murder? If you find out, society would be warmly in your debt.
February 20, 2008 at 1:30 am
Dan-
This a great interaction brother. I appreciate you taking time to comment in length. You’ve brought some great questions to this debate.
1) I’m not convinced (nor do I think you really are) that there is any way to “empirically verify” ethics, morality, or law. But we can all admit that those things exist, right? So where did they come from? Was there an “ethical” Big Bang that brought philosophical thought into the mind of man one day? Or perhaps a “moral” asteroid came plummeting to earth a few million years ago, and it progressed from there? I know this is ludicrous, but I hope it highlights a very real problem for you. It would seem by your assertions that if we can’t measure such a thing, then it must not exist – and yet we know by experience that these things do in fact exist – so then there must be an explanation of their origins.
Your example of punishment, though interesting, seemed to be grasping for something that I think we both know wasn’t there. Moral “reason[ing]” is inconsistent with your philosophical construct, because that would imply a universal morality to draw from – and I’m assuming you would deny that.
2) I’ve talked to a few pigs, but they haven’t developed a proper concept of ’self’ yet, so it’s remained a one-way conversation…lol. My main point here was to beg the question (which you graciously admitted that you are unable to answer) – “What is to stop anyone from murdering anyone else?” If we merely get our ideas of Law and Morality from ourselves, then if someone else thinks it’s okay to murder you, must you oblige his conscience? I have a feeling you wouldn’t be to keen on that. Why not? Because you know deep down inside that it’s not up to individuals to develop there own ideas of right and wrong – there is a universal that ties all Justice together. Hmmm…I wonder what that is….?
As for my claim that all ideals of justice “have come from outside of the created realm, and are undeniably ‘religious’ in origin,” a simple glance at history should suffice for ample support. Those “many forms of justice that have evolved in direct contradiction to religious impositions of ‘justice’” only prove my point. For someone to contradict so-called religious justice, one must be already be acquainted with the presence of justice itself. And we’re back to the underlying question in all of this – Where’d that idea come from? I’m unaware of any culture, ever, that has not had some belief in some religious power – even if its a rejection of that power, and worship of the king — and therefore, any idea of justice that they would have is colored in their religion.
There is a reason that America (even with its many, many failings) is still considered on of the most “just” societies in the world -it’s because the Founders recognized (even if it was only in their worldview) that “certain inalienable rights” are “endowed to us by the Creator”. The further you move from the truth of that statement, the more unjust a society will become.
3) Unfortunately, my arguments were not A + B = C or 1 + 2 = 3. Skirting philosophical questions does not count as dismantling them, and ignoring difficult conclusions does not make them collapse. The burden of proof rests heavily upon your shoulders, to prove that you shouldn’t take my moral rhetoric seriously, when you’ve already admitted that these issues are nothing less than philosophical at the heart…
In farming language, we call that a hard row to hoe…
March 8, 2008 at 1:48 pm
[...] shares a Christian view of Abortion. [...]