A Few Words on Abortion

In ancient times, when women needed to give birth, they endured suffering the likes of which most American women today cannot even begin to imagine. Without anesthesia, without the sterility of an operating room, and without a doctor, these women gave birth through hours (sometimes days) of excruciating pain. Giving birth to a child was a grave risk for a woman in those days. A birth that went wrong could end in a death which was at once visceral and terrifying--both for the mother and for her loved ones, who could only look on as she struggled vainly for life.

And yet, in Genesis 29:32-30:24, we see 2 sisters vying for the prospect of giving birth. We see the same thing in 1 Samuel 1, and in Luke 1, we see a woman who had been unable to bear children throughout her life celebrating at the news that she would have a child.

The pain of childbirth is real, and it is something that most women today dread, but in a country where we have doctors, prenatal exams, and special medical procedures which can save the life of both the mother and the child if something goes wrong, we don't see very many people celebrating the birth of children, do we? Strange that in a world where a woman knew she could die a horrible death during pregnancy or childbirth, big families--and the joy of expecting a new child--were common, while in our society--in which mortality during labor and delivery is at an all-time low--childbirth is viewed with much more anxiety. Children are often considered a burden in the United States, something to be avoided at all costs, and more and more, we seem to be turning into a very child-unfriendly people.

I don't think that abortion is responsible for these problems. After all, we wouldn't have legalized abortion (and wouldn't continue to legalize it) if we didn't have those feelings in the first place. However, abortion demonstrates exactly the kind of attitude we have toward children: Raise 'em if you've got the means or can spare the time, but get rid of 'em otherwise.

The reason why abortion is a multi-billion dollar industry today is plain and simple: Children are inconvenient. They are needy, they are always hungry, they demand more attention from us than we feel they deserve, and they require so much teaching and direction in the elementary principles of life that raising them seems an exercise in the ridiculous. As a parent, I can also say that children are not always the sweet little dolls they are made out to be on television. They push your buttons, they challenge your authority, and they won't accept your word when you try to tell them things that are important.

However, they are valuable--just like you and I are valuable. And I think that any woman, any man, and especially any feminist who does not make it his/her mission to defend children is not worth my ears, my heart, or my time.

In 2 Chronicles 28:3, we learn about a man named Ahaz, who ruled a kingdom called Judah, and among his sins, we learn that he burned his sons to death as a sacrifice to pagan gods. We tend to laugh at examples like this today because the idea of a man killing his own sons to please a pagan god seems barbaric, primeval, and utterly foolish to us. However, we kill our children (to the tune of over 2 million each year) for other gods--like money, like independence, like popularity, and (all to often) like our parents. I don't know about you, but I've never met a teenage girl who became pregnant outside of wedlock and was not afraid that her parents would find out. So, to satisfy our wallets, our sense of personal destiny, our need for applause from others, and our need not to let inconvenient secrets out of the privacy of our homes, we sacrifice our children and our children's children, repeating the same dark, twisted, and idiotic sins that King Ahaz committed thousands of years ago. And we call ourselves a Christian nation.

I'm not concerned about whether or not the government makes abortion illegal. I'm not interested in running for political office, and frankly, I think that most "anti-abortion" candidates are really posers who use the issue to gain votes from the "gullible" Christian crowd. However, I AM concerned with what CHRISTIANS do with abortion. If you're a Christian, you may not agree with what I just said, and you may feel like I'm casting the issue in very harsh, black and white terms, but whatever feelings you may have on the subject of abortion, you have an obligation as a Christian to, at the very least, not have the procedure done on yourself--or to put your children in a position that might make their decision to undergo the procedure more likely. The Bible says that the angels of children are always before the throne of God, which means that if there is any chance that the embryo inside of you or your daughter is a human being, that human being's prayers will always be heard by the Lord. Even if you do not recognize him or her as a child, even if you dismiss abortion as a simple, safe procedure that removes an "embryo" harmlessly from a woman's body, that "embryo's" prayers may mean the difference between a life of futility and a life of hope in Christ. Children pray for us, more often than we like to admit, and their prayers often transform the world around them. If the "embryo" inside of you or your daughter is a child, what prayers do you want that child to pray?

My son is a bundle of trouble. He came at a time when my wife and I were just getting to know each other as a married couple, and he has brought a lot of heartache and suffering into our lives. However, without that little boy, I know I wouldn't be half the man--or half the Christian--I am today. He's changed my life, and he's changed his mother's life, in ways we'd never take back. WE could have done the popular thing, the "financially wise" thing, and gotten rid of him, but I know that we'd be harder, colder, and more heartless for it. In that way, he is truly the beginning of our strength. If you are looking at the prospect of having an abortion and you are a Christian, I beg you . . . remember what you have to gain by keeping that child inside of you alive. Even if you were to give birth only to give your child up for adoption, you would still have done right by that child, and his or her lips would still whisper your name--"Mommy" or "Daddy."

And if you are a Christian who has committed abortion, it isn't something I can hold against you as a brother in Christ. (After all, I've been forgiven for far worse sins.) Just know that the child who was inside of you forgives you for what you did, and so does the Maker of that child. I say this because there are a lot of self-serving people out there who would love to shred the dignity of someone who has had an abortion--and to be honest, I was one of them for a while--and far too many women are finding the church to be an unsafe place for them because of one simple act done in the desperate dark of uncertainty. If you're a Christian, the sin of abortion is just like the sin of pride or greed or lust--it's gone. Jesus saved you from it. So why are you letting other people beat you up over something God forgave you for?

For a woman, the pain of childbirth is often something that brings terror. I wish more of us in the Christian community could really take the time to understand where many women are coming from and why abortion is, for too many of them, a legitimate option after discovering that they are pregnant. I wish more Christian families could be understanding of the need that these women--some of whom may be their daughters--have for guidance, security, and reassurance. Most of all, I wish more Christians would stop playing games with this issue and make a clear stand--through their actions instead of their vote--that life, in the eyes of God, is too sacred to burn.