Pastor Sid's Journal

Choose Life

This is a picture of my friends' baby. The baby is due in couple of weeks. Try and tell me that this child is only worth valuing when he/she breaks out of the womb and I'll tell you that you're..., well I'll put it nicely, you're wrong.

On Sunday the local chapter of Pro-Life had their annual Life-Chain. It's always held on the first Sunday of October which unfortunately this year fell on Thanksgiving weekend. The turn out was...ok...depends on what your expectations are I guess. There certainly wasn't the volume of Christians that used to come out for this event, it seems that the cause is not "in vogue" these days. Here are some thoughts.

Why is it that more Christians don't get involved with Pro-Life these days? You look at the picture I've included and then think about the fact that many people out there are freely aborting children (fetus or child aren't two separate categories as some would like to argue, puh-lease) should cause us all to get involved. If we call it a cultural genocide, would that grab people's attention? (I think that's been done and it still hasn't helped the cause). How do we get Christians to get more involved in a local justice issue like this?

I think that a part of it is that people are for Pro-Life but the hesitate to be antiabortion. "What's the difference" you ask? If we talk about Pro-Life as a concept, most Christians agree that it's a cause they stand up for, but to be antiabortion suggests that one might be one of those crazy people that blows up abortion clinics, or assaults girls as they try to enter a clinic. Most Christians are against abortion, but the term antiabortion includes a certain religious fanatic fundamentalism that people don't want to associate themselves with. Christians that shy away from the Pro-Life organization tend to be people that don't want to be associated with radical Christian fundamentalism. It's too bad, because I don't think that it's fair to simply equate Pro-Life with "crazy people."

...but this got me thinking about Sunday. When I arrived at the starting spot, I sifted through the available signs. I went looking for the one I usually hold, "Jesus Heals and Forgives." I avoided the other two that say "ABORTION KILLS" or "ABORTION HURTS WOMEN." Why did I avoid them? I guess it's because I'm uncomfortable with them. They seem to spew a certain hatred that makes me cringe. Does abortion make me angry? Yes, from a justice stand point it does, but I am also very aware that there are many issues involved that don't always make things simple. If someone comes in to my office and says, "I'm thinking of having an abortion." Do I look at them and say, "ABORTION KILLS" or "ABORTION WILL HURT YOU." It's what I believe but that's not how I approach them. In the same way, if someone comes into my office and says, "I believe it's the mother's choice" I don't say "ABORTION KILLS" or "ABORTION WILL HURT YOU." I don't think I would at all affectively communicate the fullness of the gospel by doing so.

So maybe Pro-Life needs to rethink it's strategy and it's message. What if we would get all the Christians out on a Sunday to line the road with signs that say,

"Life is Important" or "Jesus loves Life" or "Life is a Gift" or "Jesus Heals and Forgives the Hurts of Life" mixed with signs that say "Conception starts Life" or "Conception = Possibilities"

The question for me is "How can we fight for life and be grace filled people while we fight?"