Thought of the Day 01.22.09

On this 36th anniversary of Roe v Wade, the Supreme Court ruling which made abortion-upon-demand our national norm, some are celebrating while others are protesting. The vast majority of pro-lifers are Christians. Yet in our zeal to save babies, we can run the risk of forgetting that Christ is more important than our cause.

Abortion’s awfulness can easily threaten our joy and happiness, especially because we can feel extra guilt over enjoying anything frivolous while atrocity surrounds us. But we must remember that joy comes from Christ, not from making the world a more desirable place, including the prevention of abortion.

God cares more than we do, and He knows the awfulness better than we do. But beware, lest in your passion for this very right and noble cause, you let your bitterness over the death of children poison your passion for a God who can smile in the midst of the very thing you both despise.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Andrew,

I've read several of your columns, but they all feel the same to me. They leave me wanting something more.

This article is no different. The majority of Christians around the world reject abortion, except in the west, where it is just the opposite.

Yes, it is important to love the sinner, but we are all sinners, some of us very great sinners. We fall and stumble and then must ask for God's forgiveness.

Before we can receive forgiveness from God, we must repent from our sins. We must say that we were wrong, and that we will not do so again.

Counselling post-abortive women is a necessity to show that they can make a choice, a clean break from their past, but only if they accept the responsibility. You are wrong in calling them a murderer, such is the lot of the abortionists who perform the act. The woman is an accessory. She has sinned, but because Christ died for each one of us, they can be forgiven, be washed clean and anew.

We reject sin, not because we are no longer tempted but because we wish to be clothed in faith and not in filth. We will never see the filth unless we are honest with ourselves, and are willing to walk away from everything.

The other thing we must realise is that we always have to keep putting on Christ. Our sins no longer bind us for we are free in Christ, and it doesn't matter how many times we ask for forgiveness, we will be forgiven in him after repentence.

Any sin, no matter how great can be forgiven. That is God's love for us.

Yes, there is a time and place for joy, but you would not be joyful on Good Friday. A place for everything and everything in it's place. Today is a day of sorrow, of mourning. Where we honour those who have died. We owe them nothing less.

Andrew Tallman said...

I'm surprised that you seem to think there's a great difference between anything you've said and what I've said. Other than my emphasis being on reminding pro-life Christians that through Christ we have joy at any time and your emphasis that through Christ we mourn tragedy (both of which are obviously true), I don't see anything here I would disagree with.

The key is that we must never put our passion for babies above our passion for God, a God whose passion for babies is very great, indeed. Greater, for certain, than either you or I feel.