A good way to measure Christian ethics is with the question "What would Christ do?" Love always triumphs. Good trumps greed or hate or any sin.
For some time I have debated whether or not to write about the thorny issue of abortion. A recent moral statement against abortion on Facebook brought a flurry of angry responses and expletives that should have been deleted.
I am sympathetic to anyone misunderstanding the issues related to abortion. I was once indifferent and uninformed about the whole question. But as I read and viewed pictures and slides (at the time) revulsion replaced indifference.
The best argument for choosing life is voiced by the unborn. At Women's Care Center in Fort Wayne, Indiana, a young mother speaks: "From the first time I saw the ultrasound and heard the heartbeat - that is what changed my mind." 97% of clients choose life after counselling and experiencing an ultrasound.
I have coached debaters on the topic of legalizing abortion, and invariably students researching the material will want to argue against abortion. Only for the sake of debate would they be ready to argue both sides.
Today the question of when life begins has been answered. A child in the womb is just that. For the Christian it has always been simple: at what point after Mary conceived of the Holy Spirit was the baby not Jesus?
Johnny Cash in "Man in Black" sang: "I wear the black in mournin' for the lives that could have been, / Each week we lose a hundred fine young men." I can't help but think of the "lives that could have been" that have ended in abortion.
Recently the film Lincoln was released. In it we hear about an 1857 U.S. Supreme Court decision Dred Scott v. Sandford which said that people of African descent, whether slave or free, were not citizens and had no rights under the Constitution.
Roe v. Wade in 1973 said that a certain class of human 小蓝视频s was excluded from the Constitutional definition of "citizen" or "person". This also caused much heated debate which has not cooled to date.
Continuing the comparison, in the Civil War that followed Dred Scott v. Sandford, 750,000 Americans died. However following Roe v. Wade, in 40 years, 55 million unborn have died.
Carol Soelberg, President of United Families International, calls this a "Life or death situation. These words strike terror in the hearts of all who hear them," she says. "What have we done for the 55 million?" she asks. That number is far greater that the Holocaust, Twin-Towers tragedy, Tsunami disasters, and all the school shootings put together!
"Within the Christian tradition," says Carl Anderson, Supreme Knight of Columbus, "we understand that, in regard to the transmission of life, we are called to cooperate with our Creator and that no person is entitled to claim absolute control over another human life already called into existence. The life of every human 小蓝视频 is first and foremost a gift of the Creator."
The question of abortion is a moral issue. The moral compass of the Christian is fixed and always points to love. Jeremiah 1:5 says, "Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you. Before you were born, I set you apart for my holy purpose."
These words may refer to Christ, but they also refer to everyone that follows Jesus. It is our mandate to spread the message of God's love to the nations. Choose life!
