Abortion (Because I haven't been offensive enough around here...)

Ok. I am absolutely choking on my sermon right now. Nothing good is coming out. So I needed to blog to try to loosen the ketchup bottle, and I'd like to talk about something that yet again may offend people. Straight out offending is not my goal here, however I do want to challenge us this time around to think critically about something that is deep and divisive. If we can do that without hurling insults at each other, it will be a good day.

Today in Washington DC, somewhere in the neighborhood of 200,000 Christians will participate in the March for Life. I know that abortion is an absolutely volatile and divisive topic in our country. Those of us who value life at the deepest levels think it's wrong to end a life before it's given a chance. There's also an argument to be made that women should be able to do as they please with their bodies, and that no one tells men what they can or cannot do in the doctors office. This is also fairly valid.

However, (and here's where people are going to yell at me) I have a feeling that Christians don't care any more about the life of the children. They care about the issue.

Let me explain my thoughts there. Being a youth pastor, I would guess that the cost of a trip to Washington DC for the day would be somewhere in the neighborhood of $50 (you figure in your bus fair, food, souvenirs or whatever). If attendance at past March for Life events is any indication of where we'll find it this year, about 200,000 people are going to be there. That means that if my guess on the money is even a little bit right, that somewhere in the neighborhood of 10 million dollars will be spent by the folks attending the March. (And that may or may not include promotional materials from the group hosting the March)

$10 million? I'm not genius or anything but that sounds like a lot of money. Plus, the March for Life has been happening for almost 40 years, and no one's mind has really been changed by it. The government still does what it does, and desperate people in difficult situations are still getting abortions. I guess my question is if we truly value life, is this a wise and successful strategy, or do we just like yelling at each other?

Or how about the fact that Tim Tebow is going to be doing a Super Bowl commercial about abortion. $2.5 million for 30 seconds. Even before I get into how I don't think a 30 second advertisement is in any way capable of doing justice to such a deep and profound topic (I don't care how passionate you are about it, it's going to take you longer than 30 seconds to prove it), that's a whole lot of money for 30 seconds. Do we really care about life, or do we care about getting people to agree with us?

If we cared about life, if we truly honored and loved these unborn children, wouldn't we cancel both of these events, take the $12.5 million and give it out to people who were willing to adopt unwanted children? Rather than spending time and money trying to get people to think right, shouldn't we be spending time and money getting people to act right?

If we cared about life, rather than sending our best protestors to the front of the abortion clinic to degrade and insult the women walking in, wouldn't we send our best parents to beg and plead with these women to give the child to them if they didn't want it? Wouldn't we station those who have a heart for special needs children there, who would adopt the kid regardless of the risk of mental or physical handicap?

Don't get me wrong, I'm not a big fan of abortion. I think it's a horrible decision to make that often has to be made in a horrible situation. I just think the way we're handling it is horrible, and getting us absolutely nowhere. Actually the argument could be made that we're losing yardage on this issue, because people don't often associate our actions on abortion with the love of Christ. People see our bumper stickers and our marches and demonstrations and assume that we hate them because of the choices they've made or are about to make. I am certain of nothing more than this: people will not come to Christ unless we show them his love and his grace.

So with that love and grace, I welcome your thoughts and comments below. Let the conversation continue!

Godspeed,

Jason


0 comments: