– Pastor Erik Reed
Over the last several months I have had a growing conviction about my role to speak up as an advocate for the unborn. I posted several remarks over Facebook and Twitter over the weekend on the subject. My position on abortion is not new, nor is my belief for Christians to be more vocal on this subject, but my understanding of my role has been more clarified. You see, for far too long, I have given my opinion when asked about the subject, but I have seen it as too much of a politically charged issue to be too vocal about. I was wrong.
God has been burdening my heart to be more vocal about this subject. I do not want to be labelled or tagged as the “abortion” pastor, or in my case, the “anti-abortion” pastor, but I would rather be known for standing up on this issue instead of being silent. Silence cannot be an option any longer.
THE HISTORY BOOKS
What will the history books say about this? Well, ask yourself the this question: “What do the history books say about those individuals and Christians who were slave owners during the 18th and 19th centuries in America?” History tells us they were in the wrong. This does not mean that these individuals did not have a genuine love for God. It does tell us, however, that they had a major blind spot in their thinking on the subject of slavery, because they lived in a society that made it normative and amoral.
One of my favorite preachers of all time is the 18th century evangelist, George Whitefield. Whitefield was the spark God used to ignite the Great Awakening in both Europe and America. He was a phenomenal preacher and man of God. No one in America did more to see that slaves received the opportunity to hear the gospel and be a part of the community of believers than George Whitefield. However, in spite of being an advocate for the slaves, he did not do enough to reprimand the practice of slavery and speak out against it. The history books put him on the wrong end of this issue, despite being the man of God that he was.
When it comes to the subject of abortion, the history books are going put those who were for abortion, and those who were silent, on the wrong side of the issue. Despite how godly we may claim to be, if we do not open our eyes and see the seriousness of this issue, time will show we were fools.
POLITICIZING A MORAL ISSUE
This may be a political issue, but the heart of this subject is not political. It is moral. This is not an issue over women’s rights. This is an issue over the life and death of the unborn. In our society, everyone is hyper-sensitive to all people having a voice, and having their rights protected. That is, everyone except the unborn. It seems that the unborn are the only ones without a voice, or rights to protect them.
What has happened on the political side of this issue is that, being against abortion has become equated to being against women’s rights. This is just simply not the case. I am all for women’s rights. However, abortion does not fall into the category of a women’s rights issue.
Many try to blur the lines of this by claiming that it is a woman’s body, and the baby’s life depends on the mom. While “the baby’s life depends on the mother” is a true claim, it still does not give the mother the right to terminate the pregnancy. Think about it. A newborn baby out of the womb is still completely dependent on its parents for nurture and care, or the baby will die. It may not be attached to the umbilical cord any longer, but if a child is laid in the crib and left there, never to be tended to again, the baby will die. The child is still completely dependent on the parent(s) for his/her life. And we all know what would happen to the parents who dared do something like this, don’t we? They would be in jail for life…for murder.
This is a living human being. A fetus is a human. Life happens at the moment of conception, and to end that life is murder. That sounds harsh and terrible, doesn’t it? This is why that language is not used by the advocates of abortion, because when you use the language of what it really is, it shows the heinousness nature of it. So instead, words like “terminate” “abort” and “pro-choice” are used. These are not the politically correct terms to use.
It is time to take the blinders off to what is happening. Around the world, every day, the biggest human rights issue in the history of man is taking place. Every day, around the world, 115,000 babies are killed. It is estimated that 50 million babies have been killed through abortion in America, since Roe Vs Wade became law. These numbers are staggering. And because of this, we need to start speaking up and demanding that these murders be stopped.
I ask that you join me vocalizing this issue. This week, I will be posting two more blogs discussing the particulars of this issue, especially the arguments deployed by those who are for abortion, and why I believe they fall short. I will also explore how we can be vocal while being graceful to those who have had an abortion or are on what we would consider, the wrong side of history on this issue.
Weigh-in with your thoughts. Why do you think that those who are pro-life are not as vocal on this subject as those who are not? Why do you think abortion has not been viewed, by the majority, the same as slavery, or the Holocaust? Is it different from these two things?
-Erik Reed
