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A Question of Choice

by John Carnes

 

  

A friend of mine called today. He was worried about his wife. In front of the retail store she manages there just happened to be an anti-abortion protest going on today. My friends wife, Jane (not her real name of course), was shaken by this. She had an abortion ten years ago.

 

Jane is a Christian now; she wasn't back then. She believes in the sanctity of human life; she was a scared and confused young adult back then. She know that her child is in heaven and the Lord has forgiven her, but yet, seeing the pictures of an aborted baby flashed in her face as she tries to go to work devastates her as if its happening all over again.

 

This has brought me to some questions in my own heart that I keep returning to. When I listen to the hearts cry of emerging churches, I hear a lot about ministering to the poor. I hear about taking up the cause of the disenfranchised, and the oppressed. I hear the pacifist cry out in opposition to the violence of war. I even hear the cry for equality of those who have chosen to seek marriage in a non-tradition, most would say anti-traditional, manner. But what I dont hear much of is a cry for the unborn, or for the millions of women who are tonight traumatized by their encounter with abortion.

 

Abortion is the biggest killer of Americans. I know that it can be argued and refuted, but if you believe, as I do, that our life begins at conception and that God knows us intimately even before we take our first breath, then we must be willing to look at the truth that abortion kills. We must also look at the truth that millions of potential great leaders, doctors, ministers, politicians, authors, poets, songwriters, actors, have never had the chance to share their gift with the world. Its my belief that the cure for AIDS or cancer may have been lost in a doctors office.

 

And what about Jane? What about the women who bear the pain of losing, for some, the only child they will ever have? Yes, I understand that its their choice, as we recently heard on the Washington mall, but I've seen too many with a sadness in their eyes when they speak of the choice they've made.

 

I believe that there must be education; there must be efforts made to curb the continuing rise in abortions performed in this nation. But most of all, I believe that the church must become who Jesus would be to those affected by this tragedy.

 

Would Jesus be protesting in such an obnoxious, arrogant way, as if to throw the sin of an ashamed, unknowing young girl in her face to prove their point? Not my Jesus. How did Jesus handle the woman caught in adultery? Neither do I condemn you, go and sin no more. He didn't condone her sin, told her flat out that what she did was sin, but she knew that already. What she didn't know is that someone could love her in spite of her sin. That's the message the church must bring.

 

But don't we have to get the truth of this atrocity out? Yes, but there is such a better way. Can we honestly believe that protests can change a persons heart, but a caring, loving person who enters someone's life and helps them through their pain, fear, and struggle wont change it?

 

You see, it really does come down to a question of choice: what we really are willing to give to what we believe. Are we willing to sacrifice enough to spend time with a young woman in a crisis pregnancy, or support a woman even after she's had an abortion, making ourselves available to her should she need a shoulder to cry on? Are we willing to enter the political process to make sure that a voice of integrity and knowledge (not just zeal and ignorance) is heard about this matter?

 

Its a whole lot easier to carry a placard and condemn someone's choices than it is to get involved in peoples lives and be Jesus with skin on.

 

Let there be no mistake: I am pro-life, but I am also pro-people. I believe the Church is Gods expression of Himself on this earth. But to a lot of people, God is getting a bad rap. Let us not allow this new, emerging generation of the Church forget to stand with those who face this tragedy. Let us never forget those innocents who have never seen daylight this side of eternity. Let us be Jesus to the moms and dads who will never hold their babies. Let us not let the politics of this issue keep us from the people of this issue.

  

__________________

john is pioneering an emerging worship gathering in his church in Fairmont, WV. He is married to his wonderful wife, Joanne (for ten years) and is the father of the beautiful little Sarah (who is five). He blogs regularly at http://skywalking.blogs.com.

  

 

  

  

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