Tuesday, June 10, 2008
On being Pro-life
One of the elists I belong to someone brought up being more or less persecuted for his "pro-life" stand. I wanted to challenge his thinking with a few of the things that have challenge me. Here's what I shared:
I think the overarching principal in all this is remembering the admonition of speaking the truth in love. I am a very pro-life person, my wife and I suffered through two miscarriages and no one on earth can tell me that it is not a baby. Through the grieving process I became a staunch republican because they always seemed to be taking the pro-life stand. But here's the thing. They have been against abortion since there's been legal abortion and little if anything has changed. In becoming a staunch republican, I fell into sin during the Clinton administration because I spent most of my life speaking out against the president rather than praying for him as I was instructed to do by my Father. I have now moved completely out of politics (besides praying for the leaders), because I realize that there is little hope that politics will change the situation. This is an issue that will be changed by hearts that are changed by Jesus so I have placed my focus on being for the Gospel rather than being against anything. Here are some things I have observed.
Much of the pro-life movement in the church is disturbing and to me comes across as hateful, this approach will rarely work. If I see one more Rock for Life Abortion is Homicide t shirt, I am going to vomit. Why, it doesn't help anything. It doesn't save babies and it heaps condemnation on hurting people. Even worse than that are the folks who come to Promise Keepers Rallies and other Christian gatherings and hold up pictures of mutilated babies. Can you say preaching to the choir? Where is the love of Jesus? I can't find it in your signs.
Secondly I never again in my life want to hear a pro-life Christian gripe about welfare. We expect young single women to keep the babies and then want to cry because we have to help feed it. If we are the body and we want to be truly prolife, the church (stop waiting for the government to do it) needs to be helping the women who keep their babies support their babies.
Lastly, we need to invest in our youth and even more importantly our youth leaders in the church. These are the people on the front lines of this battle and too often in churches our youth budgets are a joke. What other group in the church has to do fund raisers to support their ministries? Answer, none! The statistic is that 80% of all people who come to Christ will do it by the age of 18, do our youth ministries get 80% of the church budget, no, but maybe they should? Youth leaders get the questions kids won't ask their parents and they need to be able to answer them scripturally without getting castigated by parents. In one week I was confronted by two parents one who asked when I was going to teach about safe sex (when pigs fly was my answer) and another who said I spent too much time on sex and dating (to which my answer was if they could come to you with their questions, I could cover other stuff). The average youth leader lasts less than 18 months in a church, many are forced out over this very issue, leaving us in a situation where kids don't talk to their parents, can't build a lasting relationship with a trusted adult youth leader, so they learn their values from their peers.
I guess what I am saying is there are a lot of ways to be pro-life and the most effective ones happen long before abortion is even thought of. We wouldn't have to be so desperately pro-life if we were a little more pro-active. We get so tangled up in sexual sin because it can be easy to condemn, especially if we are happily married and our sexual sinning years are behind us, but the truth is when people brought someone to Jesus who was caught in the act, he said let Him without sin cast the first stone. The great part of this is the part rarely examined which is he was without sin and could have cast the stone, (yes I know this was a trap of the Pharisees but I don't have time for the whole sermon) but he didn't, instead he showed her love and grace and said go and sin no more. If we, the church, loved like Him I think our world would look very different.
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One of the elists I belong to someone brought up being more or less persecuted for his "pro-life" stand. I wanted to challenge his thinking with a few of the things that have challenge me. Here's what I shared:
I think the overarching principal in all this is remembering the admonition of speaking the truth in love. I am a very pro-life person, my wife and I suffered through two miscarriages and no one on earth can tell me that it is not a baby. Through the grieving process I became a staunch republican because they always seemed to be taking the pro-life stand. But here's the thing. They have been against abortion since there's been legal abortion and little if anything has changed. In becoming a staunch republican, I fell into sin during the Clinton administration because I spent most of my life speaking out against the president rather than praying for him as I was instructed to do by my Father. I have now moved completely out of politics (besides praying for the leaders), because I realize that there is little hope that politics will change the situation. This is an issue that will be changed by hearts that are changed by Jesus so I have placed my focus on being for the Gospel rather than being against anything. Here are some things I have observed.
Much of the pro-life movement in the church is disturbing and to me comes across as hateful, this approach will rarely work. If I see one more Rock for Life Abortion is Homicide t shirt, I am going to vomit. Why, it doesn't help anything. It doesn't save babies and it heaps condemnation on hurting people. Even worse than that are the folks who come to Promise Keepers Rallies and other Christian gatherings and hold up pictures of mutilated babies. Can you say preaching to the choir? Where is the love of Jesus? I can't find it in your signs.
Secondly I never again in my life want to hear a pro-life Christian gripe about welfare. We expect young single women to keep the babies and then want to cry because we have to help feed it. If we are the body and we want to be truly prolife, the church (stop waiting for the government to do it) needs to be helping the women who keep their babies support their babies.
Lastly, we need to invest in our youth and even more importantly our youth leaders in the church. These are the people on the front lines of this battle and too often in churches our youth budgets are a joke. What other group in the church has to do fund raisers to support their ministries? Answer, none! The statistic is that 80% of all people who come to Christ will do it by the age of 18, do our youth ministries get 80% of the church budget, no, but maybe they should? Youth leaders get the questions kids won't ask their parents and they need to be able to answer them scripturally without getting castigated by parents. In one week I was confronted by two parents one who asked when I was going to teach about safe sex (when pigs fly was my answer) and another who said I spent too much time on sex and dating (to which my answer was if they could come to you with their questions, I could cover other stuff). The average youth leader lasts less than 18 months in a church, many are forced out over this very issue, leaving us in a situation where kids don't talk to their parents, can't build a lasting relationship with a trusted adult youth leader, so they learn their values from their peers.
I guess what I am saying is there are a lot of ways to be pro-life and the most effective ones happen long before abortion is even thought of. We wouldn't have to be so desperately pro-life if we were a little more pro-active. We get so tangled up in sexual sin because it can be easy to condemn, especially if we are happily married and our sexual sinning years are behind us, but the truth is when people brought someone to Jesus who was caught in the act, he said let Him without sin cast the first stone. The great part of this is the part rarely examined which is he was without sin and could have cast the stone, (yes I know this was a trap of the Pharisees but I don't have time for the whole sermon) but he didn't, instead he showed her love and grace and said go and sin no more. If we, the church, loved like Him I think our world would look very different.
Tuesday, June 03, 2008
Lessons from Painting a Shed.
Well my denominational discussion group is at it again. Someone just asked whether we thought she was a conservative or not based on her beliefs and some Spiritual experiences she has had that are outside the norm for some in our denomination. Here is my response
I used to consider myself a conservative 'til some people on this list told me I was not a conservative but rather an evangelical. I thought all Christians were supposed to be evangelical. Not long after that interchange I realized something that has helped me a great deal. I now pretty much reject all labels but one. I am a Christ-follower. He's out there leading the way and I am just trying to keep up. He's my father, I'm His child, some days I'm an honor student, some days I'm a dunce, but at the end of the day I am His beloved child. My relationship with God is pretty much like my favorite photograph in the whole world. There's this photo of me painting my shed, beside me is my son Chris, two years old at the time with a brush in his hand and he's painting too. Now truth be known I didn't need his help, he even slowed me down. He made a mess in a lot of ways, but as I look at that picture I realize something important. That's how it is with God, he doesn't need my help, I probably slow him down and sometimes I make a huge mess but somewhere in my heart I realize that my feeble efforts put a smile on his face just like my son put one on mine. It was great that my son wanted to be a part of what I was doing. I think that's how God sees our service to Him and we dare not switch this around. He is blessed that we want to be a part of what He is doing, and we dare not try to make him part of what we are doing.
I have been so performance driven in my life that I have had a hard time comprehending God's love for me. I felt it when I felt successful but when I felt weak or stupid or made a mistake, it was hard for me to comprehend that his love for me was still the same. I was driven by the opinions of others. I can't really let that concern me anymore. I am a Christ follower. Sister, God will speak to you as He sees fit. You have the counsel of the word to help you to discern what is of Him and what isn't. You don't need a label, if God is speaking to you, listen. He will lead, you follow and may God bless you as you walk with him.
I think we need to let the labels go. The survival of the COB should not even be our primary concern. If we follow Jesus and are faithful, we will be successful in the eyes of the only One whose opinion means anything. Survival is the baseline anyway, I don't just want to survive, which reminds me of a life of just barely hanging on. I want to thrive.
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(0) comments
Well my denominational discussion group is at it again. Someone just asked whether we thought she was a conservative or not based on her beliefs and some Spiritual experiences she has had that are outside the norm for some in our denomination. Here is my response
I used to consider myself a conservative 'til some people on this list told me I was not a conservative but rather an evangelical. I thought all Christians were supposed to be evangelical. Not long after that interchange I realized something that has helped me a great deal. I now pretty much reject all labels but one. I am a Christ-follower. He's out there leading the way and I am just trying to keep up. He's my father, I'm His child, some days I'm an honor student, some days I'm a dunce, but at the end of the day I am His beloved child. My relationship with God is pretty much like my favorite photograph in the whole world. There's this photo of me painting my shed, beside me is my son Chris, two years old at the time with a brush in his hand and he's painting too. Now truth be known I didn't need his help, he even slowed me down. He made a mess in a lot of ways, but as I look at that picture I realize something important. That's how it is with God, he doesn't need my help, I probably slow him down and sometimes I make a huge mess but somewhere in my heart I realize that my feeble efforts put a smile on his face just like my son put one on mine. It was great that my son wanted to be a part of what I was doing. I think that's how God sees our service to Him and we dare not switch this around. He is blessed that we want to be a part of what He is doing, and we dare not try to make him part of what we are doing.
I have been so performance driven in my life that I have had a hard time comprehending God's love for me. I felt it when I felt successful but when I felt weak or stupid or made a mistake, it was hard for me to comprehend that his love for me was still the same. I was driven by the opinions of others. I can't really let that concern me anymore. I am a Christ follower. Sister, God will speak to you as He sees fit. You have the counsel of the word to help you to discern what is of Him and what isn't. You don't need a label, if God is speaking to you, listen. He will lead, you follow and may God bless you as you walk with him.
I think we need to let the labels go. The survival of the COB should not even be our primary concern. If we follow Jesus and are faithful, we will be successful in the eyes of the only One whose opinion means anything. Survival is the baseline anyway, I don't just want to survive, which reminds me of a life of just barely hanging on. I want to thrive.
