So, just like any normal day, I sat down after work to read a few articles on two of my favorite websites: Relevant Magazine and New York Times. Low and behold, the two articles I ended up reading on both of them were about abortion. I personally have always been Pro-Lifer, but not an extremist. For the past few years, I’ve often felt like the right-wingers have been putting way too much emphasis on abortion and not enough on other issues that are just as important. However, I will say that, after reading both of these articles, my heart has been put in a different place. There is often so much attention paid to the “unborn fetus” or the “life” in the womb. So much attention is given to the baby-to-be that often no one acknowledges that there is someone carrying that baby. Or, if they are acknowledged, its only to be called names or condemned to a firey hell if they even mention the unforgivable sin of abortion. Wait, no, that’s right, it’s not unforgivable. Unfortunately though, for that poor conflicted mother, she is most certainly made to feel as though it is.
Often people forget the anguish the mother must be going through. Some may say,”Well, she should have been protecting herself” or, “She shouldn’t have been having sex in the first place” or, even worse, “You must not be a ‘real’ Christian if you were having sex or seriously considering abortion.” My thoughts on all of this: Where is the love in any of those statements? Do these words make the hurt go away? Do people not understand that these statements serve no purpose other than to further conflict a poor soul whose heart is already so twisted with confliction that they are hardly able to look at themselves in a mirror without feeling disgust? From my view, that isn’t even in the same universe as the Love that Jesus taught.
Are we somehow missing the point? I think we’re all missing the mark in some way or another. Some more than others. So much more could be accomplished if we would put ourselves into their lives. Sacrifice of ourselves so that they would see that we are so much more than words, protests, picket lines, and boycotts. How much of a stretch would it be for a true, die hard, God fearing Christian, to walk into an abortion clinic once a month (if allowed) and just spend the day loving the patients. Reaching out to their heart. Looking them in the eye. Forget proselytizing. Just loving on them. Learning their story. Being a friend, not a salesman. At least then we may be in the same solar system as the Love about which Jesus often spoke.
Call me crazy, but is it not better to disciple people in how to love unconditionally instead of how to bitch, moan, and groan about an issue?
Truth be told, I read articles like this quite often. Not just about abortion, but about almost every hot-button issue the “Church” likes to rally against. That true, unconditional love just seems missing from it all. There’s a song I’ve been listening to lately. The lyrics bring up the same point that I made above. The band’s name is Emery and the name of the song is “Listening to Freddie Mercury” and the last few lines of the song go like this:
We are all the same people
With sinning hearts that make us equal
Here’s my hand, not words said desperately
It’s not our job to make anyone believe
So, shouldn’t we be offering our open hand, open heart, and open ears to a shattered heart instead of our desperate, over rehearsed words and phrases that come out sounding like nothing more than a script?
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