The Tragedy

Today marks the 35th anniversary of the Roe v. Wade decision legalizing abortion in the U.S. It is impossible to put into words the tragic and horrifying nature of what is going on in our country every day.

Last night I sat down and read Randy Alcorn’s little book “Why Pro-Life?” As he presented the facts surrounding abortion, unborn babies, and the women who choose abortion I found myself wanting to weep. Thousands of children are killed each day in the name of choice, privacy, convenience, and even love!

Abortion and the Gospel

In thinking about the gospel, it seems, that for many people, abortion becomes a savior bringing to them their ultimate salvation of ease, financial freedom, convenience, protected reputation, or whatever else has been put on the throne.

From another perspective, I pray God’s compassion displayed in the gospel to us as helpless and needy sinners is reflected in us as we consider the helpless victims of abortion. God has redeemed us to be a people who hate injustice and care for the oppressed.

In addition to this, it is astounding and sweet to think that there is hope and forgiveness for sinners in the gospel. The blood of Christ is sufficient to cover the sins of murder and idolatry committed in the aborting of a baby.

What are We to Do?

On a personal level I’m not quite sure where to start. It is amazing to me that something as common as abortion (one statistic I read stated that one out of every four babies conceived is aborted) seems to be practically invisible in our communities.

One simple place to start would be with support and prayer for the New Life Pregnancy Center right here in our community. Some of you may even be able to find a way to step in as a volunteer counselor at one of the centers.

Being open and ready to talk with those who support abortion is another way we can contribute to the saving of lives. It is amazing how convincing the arguments for life are and how illogical those for abortion are. We have an opportunity to lovingly and winsomely ask questions and present facts as we interact with the people around us. I think we will also find that these kinds of conversations will often lead us to our most treasured topic and message- the gospel.

Another avenue for action is the political sphere. As citizens of a country that welcomes our input it would be irresponsible to neglect opportunities we have to influence our laws towards making abortion illegal.

Finally, we need to be ready to love, nurture, and support women in crisis. This might mean providing financial support, emotional support, lodging, or whatever else might encourage them to spare the life of their child. It will also mean a readiness to point women to the gospel as they cope with the intense regret and guilt that often comes long after the abortion has been performed.

There are probably more ways to take action but these are a few. Overall of these things prayer for the unborn babies, doctors, women, men involved is needed. I encourage you to take to pray about how God would have you display the gospel in this arena.

Resources

Here are several resources that are helpful in informing and equipping us to that end.

• The book I mentioned earlier- “Why Pro-Life” by Randy Alcorn is an excellent resource. While it is quite helpful for believers it is directed towards those who are pro-choice and who are by and large unbelievers. This morning I ordered 30 copies of it from Eternal Perspective Ministries for a $1 per copy. I’ll be giving these away at church when I receive them so keep an eye out for them in the next couple of weeks.
• New Life Pregnancy Center- offices in Auburn (downtown) and Roseville (right next to Sierra College). This ministry is headed up by the Schauers and is supported by our church as a local missions agency. I would strongly encourage you to know something about their ministry and be ready to make those in our communities aware of it.
• Stand to Reason- an apologetics ministry with numerous articles on abortion.
• Abort73.com- a good basic primer on abortion and the basic issues at stake (note: some of the images on this site are disturbing- however they are also reality).
• John Piper Audio Sermons on Abortion- John Piper at Desiring God has close to 20 sermons available relating to the topic of abortion available in both audio and manuscript form. I also came across a link today to a chapter from Piper’s book “A Hunger for God,” entitled “Fasting for the Little Ones,” available online in pdf format.

This entry was posted by Tim Pickard on Tuesday, January 22nd, 2008 at 3:51 pm and is filed under Main. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.