Posted in
culture by Summer Carlson on 1/31/2008
In today’s society it seems there are a few staples that define a person as being a Christian, such as abortion being one of the main things we are against or avoid, along with homosexuality, alcohol, drugs, and various other "no-no’s" that many of us have heard our entire lives. The problem is I am not sure that the standards of a "follower of Christ" should be marked by that which we avoid. In fact I wonder if that should even be what marks us at all.
For a while now I have had questions that need to be tackled concerning many of these "staple" absolutes tagged onto my identity as a Christian. And I am tired of pretending these questions do not exist. Though I am starting with the issue of abortion keep in mind that it is only one of many topics I believe we have checked our reflections in the surface of without every really addressing.
I have been told that I am supposed to be against abortion because according to the "Ten Commandments, "thou shall not murder." And while I do not support abortion itself, I also do not know if I always agree with the methods the church has used to combat its practice. For instance I wonder if standing outside of an abortion clinic, waving signs and passing out pamphlets is the right thing to do, even if you do it "nicely." And at the risk of being labeled "backslidden" or "deceived" I have to admit that I even wonder if standing outside of an abortion clinic and praying for it to be shut down is right. Or if pursuing political means to induce moral "victories," by voting against the legalization of abortion, is right.
My hesitation with all of these courses of action revolves around the following thoughts. Let us say that Christians rallied around the world and managed to shut down every abortion clinic in existence as well as forcing abortion, under law, to be an illegal practice once again. I should imagine a considerable number of churches would be celebrating, with folks patting each other on the back and shouting "Hallelujah, Praise the Lord! The enemy has been defeated!"
But do we really think that shutting down clinics is the means to nullifying the existence of abortion? I have to wonder what would happen to the many women who consider having abortions. Before abortion was legalized it still occurred; in desolate, filthy trailers run by illegitimate doctors, causing many complications for the women who went to them and in some cases even death. My guess is that those trailers, seedy apartments and secret buildings would resurface. Is that victory? Is victory scooping up a mess and throwing it in a closet where it can mold and fester unseen? In Matthew 28:19 when Christ commanded us to "Go therefore and make disciples of all nations" did He mean for us to inform the world of our morals and standards and then simply force them to follow?
I believe He meant for us to bring as many people to a place where they desire a relationship with Him as possible, by sharing and living out the truth that He has triumphed and still is triumphing over evil today. This causes me to wonder why our focus is on the prevention of abortion clinics and not on reaching the mothers who are going to these clinics. If we reach the mothers, do we not also reach the babies?
I also wonder what good it does to tell a woman she shouldn’t have an abortion without hearing her reasons for wanting to. Am I willing not only to tell her to take the higher road, but then to take that road with her? Am I willing to help shoulder her burdens not only emotionally and spiritually but also in the tangible ways of financial and physical means? As a body of Christ we are more than capable of helping in every way, but how can we if the only time we acknowledge an area of sin is to preach with rabid passion against it?
So while we are busy saving the unborn, who is saving the ones carrying the unborn? Who is caring for the ones in our congregations who carry the secret of abortion in their past? It is much easier to consistently "lay down the law" of what one should and should not do, without offering to really fight along side people when they have engaged or consider engaging in the forbidden.
When Christ spoke to the masses, it was out of love and a desire to see them truly. In John 15 He commanded that we love one another, not rally with the government to establish laws that will make our world look prettier to us. I have to wonder sometimes if we march around declaring war against things out of a mistaken desire to serve Christ by rooting for the sake of a law rather than the sake of those the law is for.
Abortion is just one example of an area I believe Christians, including myself, have been terrible in addressing. I could spend pages going into countless other examples of things we preach against and want to put laws up about while having trouble making an effort to actually reach the people who are affected by them. And because I am tired of never addressing the hard questions surrounding these areas this article is simply the start of an attempt to enlist your help in doing so. I want people to know we are Christians, not because of what we stood against but because of what we loved them through and out of.
Summer
is a bewildered 24-year-old who recently graduated from college and still feels like she's playing "dress up" with the grownups downtown at work.
Very timely stuff. Thank you for this.
The main thing is to keep the main thing the main thing, Christ. We have lost the early centuries focus on the main thing. Or to put it in other words we have become focused on things that bring us recognition and the things of God rather than on Christ(God Himself). They had no bible, no buildings, no tithing(Jesus replaced it with giving from the heart) bible study etc. They lived it every moment, in your face type, survival type, beleive God or perish, perishing in His arms is still victory in Jesus, right?
But there is a move afoot. We are on a cusp!
But will it ever change? Outside of a major revolution no!
Is a revolution eminent? I like to think so. Will I be a part, yes I already am.
So are you. Keep on writing sister. Keep on throwing those impossible questions out there,do not settle for less, I will too.
Deeply in Christ, RCF
I believe the biggest thing to look at is WHO the enemy really is. Paul said, We don't fight against flesh and blood (humanistic parents, godless lawmakers), we fight against evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, master spirits who are the world rulers of this present darkness.
We grew up reading about other cultures where people performed HUMAN sacrifice to gain power and appease demonic spirits whom the people worshiped as gods. In our culture, we have sacrificed over 30 MILLION children to the god of pleasure. If you look at the historical power of blood sacrifice, it is easy to see why this evil ruler has become so strong today.
I totally understand your concern about we who pray and do little or nothing to help those in trouble. But prayer is our biggest weapon! Many of the individuals who stood strongly against slavery in our country and Great Britain years ago have confessed that they never thought they would see it abolished in their lifetime. BUT GOD HEARS THE CRY OF THE RIGHTEOUS!
I, like you, wondered why abortion has to be the number one issue for Christians politically. There are so many other important issues also. After hearing my brother talk about abortion in the terms I have above, I realized that the significance of abortion is monumental in this country. But not politically. Spiritually!
God is gathering young people, many of them young teens, all across this country who are praying together and believing God that they will see abortion abolished through prayer during their lifetime. Their faith has encouraged me to believe also for victory over this master spirit who has deceived a whole generation.
Thank you again for your article!
To stick with the issue of abortion (for now, later more topics may come up) we as a body are pro-life. We do not believe in the killing of unborn babies to cover up the fact that a person cannot control them selves or their desires...BUT I will also say that the majority of us (at my church body) don't do jack to reach these mothers or their babies. While we support a couple of local agencies that help young mothers get money, lodging, and adoptive parents for the duration of their pregnancies as individuals we do not go out to them.
That is where the problem arises. My pastor and his wife pray about this issue, they care deeply for the unborn BUT they also have a spare bedroom and a savings account with over a thousand dollars in it that they offer to every pregnant woman they met (whether they know them or not). And while not everybody has a spare room or extra money, but we do have time (often more than we think).
I agree that we need to walk these road with the mothers to-be, after all Paul did say that Faith without works is dead. But to find the mothers we need to go where they are. Christ WENT to the people, He went to the pools where the sick lay, He went to Zachariah's house, He did not just stay in the garden and pray, but went willingly to His death. The going is the key.
So what does this look like? Well while we are waiting to get the laws reversed, why don't we go work at planned parenthood? Why don't we offer to go mow their lawns so that we can be there when the mothers come in? How many more live could you change if you KNEW the names of the people you prayed for?
After all, if we won't go to the very places the mothers to be go, how will we find them? Last time I checked people don't wear a sign around their neck saying, "Hey, I'm planning on killing my baby".
So, to tie this all together, I would have to say that Christians should not be defined so much by their stances, but HOW they take their stances. We need to be against the powers of this world, Christ continually set Him self against the works of the enemy, only He managed to do it in such a way that many of the "bad" people felt loved by Him in the midst of their sin. We need to ask Holy Spirit how we should be standing against abortion, against war, against sex slaves, against child soldiers, against poverty, against broken families, against heartless christians, and against the worst thing of all....‘The only thing necessary for the triumph [of evil] is for good men to do nothing.’ -Edmond Burke
so i skimmed the article about abortion and though i understand her logic (which is undoubtedly pro-choice)... it still frustrates me that she is basically saying (though dancing around it) that abortion (the act of it) should remain legal.... and why? For the sake of the mother's struggles/ mental state/ etc? All I know is the fact remains that if abortion remains legal... hundreds and thousands, of men, women, children....will continue to think it is somehow okay.... because it is legal. And perhaps ( as in definately) the woman who is thinking to herself "i don't know....this abortion doesn't feel right" will continue on with the medical procedure because no one, no system, is going to stop her.... except for maybe the protester holding up a sign outside the clinic. And maybe, just maybe, that protestor's sympathy and stance will touch the womans heart and let her know that indeed she will not stand alone and that, "like wow" this protestor believes strongly enough in life that they are here being mocked and persecuted by society at large. Maybe that woman would examine why the protestor is taking such a stance...and turn around. (instead of accepting society's vailidation of it's practice- illustrated magnificantly by this essay)
So this essay annoys me....and frustrates me more now as i write....im actually angry. wow. She's defending abortion, only now the enemy has gotten her to approach it through such a way as for the readers to have to feel such sympathy for the mother-to-be's that they, once again, question pro-lifers and their ways of protesting this issue. uhhhhhh.
You are right in saying that we are defined by living by proper social attitudes. I have often wondered how we can condemn so easily without ever having wept over the broken promises and heartache that often surround an issue like abortion.
I pray along with you that we become a church that speaks the truth with a broken and contrite heart, walking the extra mile.
The reason I question the way we go after abortion (ie the protestors) is because they seem to be easy outs. We are too quick to tell people to take the high road without offering or wanting to take the high road with them. (And this applies to far more than abortion.) For one example I would love to see more of us offering to take women into our houses, letting them know that instead of having the abortion we we will take care of them financially, physically etc and help them through. I would love to see more small groups in churches that are specifically geared towards women who have had and who are thinking of having abortions. I would love to see us stop relying on organizations and support people individually and as a body. And I also don't have all the answers which is why I want people to start thinking about abortion from a different perspective other than "I'm a Christian therefore I'm against it… I vote, isn't that enough?"
I agree that abortion is a traumatizing and horrible experience and because we attack it with such mindless dismissal I have to wonder how many women are carrying the secret of past abortions in our congregations for fear of sharing this with such upstanding "moral" opposers.
In the end, my main point was to simply state that we need to think about the "stances" we have tacked onto what it means to be a "follower of Christ." Do we really know why we have those stances/do we really even care about the issues themselves or have just been taught this is what we do or don't stand for? Do we really want people to equate Christianity with anti/(insert political and moral issues here) rather than seeing us as a group of people who are constantly spending themselves on others (and these issues) in love and self denial? And do we really believe the government is a means to "fixing" our world or addressing any of those issues?
Please feel free to contact me (charminglyquirky@graffiti.net) if you want to discuss this further or if I didn't fully address your questions concerning the article. Or you can just comment again and I will comment back :)
I wrote that office a letter. It said I had no dauters, but I had been a dauter...and my mother & I had been very close (after my folks divorced when I was 9 and didn't see my dad anymore). I pointed out to them that, for a girl to be engaging in intimacy with a guy, she is lacking a closeness she needs - a healthy bonding and communication with her dad. When he is absent, it must be with her mother. It's not sex she needs.
I suggested they offer the public regular free support groups for "mothers & dauters", facilitated by family counselors. This would open up/enhance communication - good for bonding. They DID!
This was, as Summer points out,`rooting for the sake of' the girls (and their moms) - BEFORE there's an unwanted pregnancy. A form of prevention.
`It is better to shine a single lite...than to curse the darkness.'
Understanding cannot be legislated. Christians make value judgements, but forget to pray for Divine Insite...on pregnancy, abortion, homosexuality, etc. They seem so very sure.
But....when does the soul enter the growing fetus - the instant of conception...or several months into the pregnancy (like I was aware of with mine) ? If the awaiting soul has not entered the fetus yet and a gal has a miscarriage or an abortion....what is that? An accidental death or murder...of a piece of tissue?
And does not God care for each & every soul?
And what about "laying on of hands"? It IS possible for a miscarriage to be caused by a woman, fasting and praying that those conditions which are NOT in God' Will for her life be removed from her body, while laying on of her own hands (over the abdomin). (Betcha' never heard of THAT!)
I believe it is SO important for people to clear out others' voices...and pray for what is God's Will in their lives. They will know it by the peace that comes, in spite of others' disapproval or the hardship their decision brings. Doing God's Will does not always make things easier
If there were "healers" in the churches...and this was well-known in our culture as a regular thing....pregnant gals would go to the churches to see those healers...who would teach them about developing a relationship with God/Christ, teach them how to pray on their condition, then go on from there. Some gals would know they are to continue the pregnancy and raise their child. Some would know that they were to terminate the pregnancy. And some would know that they were to continue their pregnancy, but give the infant up for adoption...or to others to raise.
Is there only one "rite way"...for everyone? If so, then WHY did God give us free will?
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