When I was in seminary, I took a Christian Ethics class. It was probably one of the best classes in all of my years of seminary and I didn't expect it to be that way. I thought, "What do I need to take a class on Christian Ethics for? I already know what is ethical and what is not." I could not have been more wrong. What that class did was open my eyes to reality. Before that class, I saw things in black and white. Everything had a definite, uniform answer. However, that class showed me that mentality does not always work.
Like I mentioned yesterday, there are times when abortion is not such a black and white issue. In this ethics class, we discussed this idea. The professor posed the question, "Is abortion always wrong?" We began to discuss this and most people in the class said that it was wrong without question. Then the professor posed a scenario to consider, "What about a case where a mother of three is expecting her fourth child and the doctor told her that if she had the baby, her life would be severely threatened." That put a whole new spin on the discussion. Now, we had to consider the health of the mother and not just the health of the child. We also had to think about the health of the husband who could be left to care for his three young children by himself and those children had to grow up without a mother. An abortion would save the mother, but the baby would obviously die. So, what do we do with that?
There are definitely cases where the mother's health is compromised. The doctors run tests and know that if the mother goes through labor and delivery, the mother will likely die and so will the baby. Now, as a Christian, the mother could put her faith in God who can deliver her and the baby from this. But, that is not a guarantee. That may not happen because we do not know the will of God. We trust and put our hope in God, but that does not mean we will get what we want. As we discussed this scenario in my class, we came to the conclusion that if the mother's health was definitely at risk and she had a family to take care of already, then ethically it would be okay to abort the baby to protect the mother and her family. This would be a hard decision and I don't envy anyone who would be in that situation. I bring this up because those who are on the pro-life side have to consider a scenario like this occurring and not see every situation as black and white.
Now, let me address another reason for abortion: rape. That is the most popular answer to justify abortion used by those who support abortion. However, we have to look at the stats. The facts are that only 5% of abortions are due to rape. That is not a big percentage, but that does not mean that it does not happen. Unfortunately, we live in a fallen world where people have perverted what God intended for pleasure and procreation. But, does rape justify abortion?
Rape is a horrible crime against someone. There is no excuse for it and should never be justified. Victims of rape are scarred for life and my heart breaks for those who have been raped. With that being said, if a woman is raped and becomes pregnant, I can totally understand why she would want to get rid of that baby. But, will getting rid of the baby get rid of the pain she experienced? Do two wrongs make a right?
I am a pastor who believes wholeheartedly in the God revealed in the Bible. The God of the Bible is all about redemption. Redemption is simply making what was broken new again. That is the whole reason Jesus Christ came to this earth. He came to make our broken relationship with God new again. That relationship was broken when Adam and Eve sinned in the Garden of Eden and they passed that broken relationship down to all of their ancestors. Therefore, we needed God to fix that broken relationship because there was nothing we could do to fix it ourselves. God spoke through the prophet Isaiah to the people of Israel who constantly sinned against Him saying, "Come now, let us reason together,' says the Lord, 'Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow, though they are red as crimson, they shall be like wool" (Isaiah 1:18). God promised to take wrongs and make them right. God is the God of redemption.
Now, back to a woman pregnant by rape. Can't God redeem that situation? What the rapist did is horrible. But, is it the child's fault? No it's not. Now, I'm not saying that it would be an easy decision for a woman to go through this pregnancy because the pregnancy would be a constant reminder of what happened to her. But, what if she did endure it and either kept the baby or gave the baby up for adoption? What if that child had a chance at life and God used that child to redeem a horrible wrong that was done? Again, not trying to oversimplify the situation, but it is something that we have to think about. Rape is horrible, but aborting a baby due to rape does not make it better.
The other reasons for abortion are more black and white issues. The rest of the reasons (and the most common ones) are for reasons of convenience. Women want to end their pregnancies because they can't afford a baby, they are too young to be a mother, a baby will interfere with their lives (school, career), or because the baby is going to have some sort of defect (mental, physical). We can try to justify any of these reasons, but there really is no justification. We have to call these reasons for what they are: selfish. We can say that we can't afford to feed another mouth or our lives are not conducive to a baby or the mother is too young. But, is that the child's fault? Give the child up for adoption. Now, we can say, "But, a lot of children just become wards of the state and never have a chance at any kind of life. Isn't it more merciful to end their life?" Well, let's put it this way. Say you had an accident and were paralyzed from the neck down. You couldn't do anything yourself and had to be taken care of the rest of your life. Wouldn't it be more merciful to kill you than let you live? Not as easy to answer now is it?
How about aborting babies who are going to have deformities or retardation? Is that merciful? I used to work with handicapped people and let me tell you something about them, they were the most heart warming people you could ever be around. I loved being with them every day. I looked forward to hanging out with them. Who are we to say that they aren't "normal" and their lives should be ended before they begin?
What about those babies who are going to be born without arms or legs or both? Check out this website (http://www.lifewithoutlimbs.org/) to here the story of a man who was born without arms and legs. You'll find that he is thankful his parents gave him a chance and not only them, but thousands more whom he has inspired with his story.
This post is not meant to be political. It's not meant to be the definitive answer to abortion. This will be an ongoing issue in our society. This post is meant to challenge our thinking on both sides of the argument. I believe abortion is more wrong than right. But, I don't believe in demonizing people who go through it. I believe there is always redemption in Jesus Christ. He can redeem a horrible situation and make it good. He can redeem brokenness and make it whole. Instead of seeing #ShoutyourAbortion, I would rather see #ShoutyourRedemption. I want to read stories of things being made new. I want to read stories of life.
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