We the Purple .4
Part One- Review
Part Two- Politics and the Internet
Part Three- The Old Guard of Conservative Christianity
Today we’re going to finish the series by getting into one of the biggest issues for Christian voters: abortion. I completely understand how sensitive this issues is and am welcome to dialoguing through the contact box and over email if comments are too public with this. I will do my very best to be sensitive to the various views on these issues. Please keep your comments uplifting to one another.
Conservative estimates say that 18% of evangelical women have abortions every year. I took my glasses off to read that twice. The information comes from the Center for Bio-Ethical Reform in Lake Forest, California.
Nancy Hird, of Moody Magazine says, “I think there is more pressure for Christians to abort than in secular society. In secular society there is not a lot of shame involved about sleeping with your boyfriend or in having a child out of wedlock.”
Let that sink in. Something is wrong with the picture Nancy presented. There is a strong disconnect. Somehow many Christians have not been able to teach their message in love. We are losing a generation of women because these women do not feel comfortable going to church because their sin is greater in many eyes, because they “killed a baby”. I can’t tell you how much it pains me that we throw arrows from the highest mountain top we have no business being on. And I’m not even saying Pro-Life is wrong, I’m simply saying that its never the stance that is rejected, it is the way the stance is presented. We, as believers, have done a very poor job of presenting our case in love.
Ford says, “Pro-choice women miss that sense of deep conviction when all they hear in the media is that the religious right wants to take away their right to decide what to do with their own bodies. Likewise, pro-life women miss the deep convictions of some pro-choice women about what they see as interference in their personal lives.”
As abortion and politics collide I think we see that partisanship obscures the problems faced by women, fathers who played no role in the choice, and medical workers.
What are some ways that we can bypass politics and still deal with abortion in a Godly way?
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Tyler Braun.
Those statistics are astounding and speak profoundly to the need for discipleship and education among evangelical women. Where did you locate that stat??
Walk nine months in their shoes and then walk some more.
I recently heard the story of a young lady who was going to abort who had a church step up and talk her out of it. They even helped her while she was pregnant. When she had the baby the church was gone and she was confused.
The biggest problem for the church is we would have to get involved. Whether we know it or not it looks like we are more interested in condemning and judging then really helping. People in those positions get that.
If we are really going to impact that number we would have to be willing to get more involved in a woman’s life.
You happen to hit an area that really gets to me.
Sarah- It was in the book. Where she got the statistics from and used them is the place I said in this post.
Darin- Great points. We have to get involved, to be against something and yet not helping the solution is hypocritical. The problem I see then is that most pregnancy centers have so much privacy it is so hard for the average person to know how they can get involved.
i am curious as to why you chose to touch on this topic verses..say..another? out of curiousity, of course.
i don’t think it’s because women feel “guilty for having had an abortion.” for SOME that may be the case, but the i think the problem lies in the fact that the church, in general, condemns even the very thought of abortion, esp for christian girls and then of course non believing ones. unfortunately, that thought is a natural occurance and women feel angered that the church would tell them that their thinking makes them bad…there are also too many “church going people” that stand in front of abortion clinics and bull-horn, others have been caught trying to blow up clinics so on and so forth….
the challenge of an unwanted pregnancy is SO difficult, esp for women who may have been raped in the process. and they wrestle with their thoughts about these things. the fact is, the solution is- as people we should not see them any differently than we do anyone else. as far as fathers are concerned, there are fewer fathers than you would think that actually take interest. while i agree there are some…even christian guys are no better. i know this for a fact. and a guy should NEVER try to understand the heart and mind of the woman or the mother and what she is going through.
it should not be a political issue at all. it’s unfortunate that it has become one.
but i will not go further, could get me more passionate than i want to in speech.
ashley-
good points. i touched on this topic because the book did at great length. my 4 posts on the book walked through 4 different topics in the book. there were a lot more, i just touched on what i felt were the best 4.