One of the many abortion myths I’ll be addressing in the coming months is this: “Denying abortion results in unwanted, neglected children.” We hear this argument so often that even some Christians believe it. We must stop waffling in regard to the sanctity of life and be able to discuss these lies and offer people the truth. The lives of many, many children depend on it! So please spend the next ten minutes with me as I explain why this particular argument is utterly false.
Which of the arguments for abortion listed below is most confusing to you as a Christian? Let’s talk through one at a time to see why they are all myths that don’t hold up under scrutiny.
About ten years ago, when I first saw the ocean, the Lord began to show me why we should never shy away from the fear of God. In fact, pursuing the fear of God will allow you to be fearless about the very things that used to cause you to panic. In this video, I discuss this subject along with a few others, including the question, What does God’s wrath have to do with His love?
Warning: this post concerns Halloween. If you love Halloween, you might want to keep scrolling. But if you’re feeling the nudge of the Holy Spirit to steer clear of it, keep reading.
Are you struggling with how to align your love for the Light of the world with that time of year that endorses fear, death, and darkness? Are you on the verge of saying, “I can’t do this anymore”? I want to encourage you to follow your conscience. Contrary to popular belief, your kids won’t die without celebrating Halloween. They’ll probably wail and feel persecuted, but they won’t be damaged. Think about it: When has obeying God, even when it involved sacrifice, ever damaged you? It might have caused you discomfort or even pain, but it also made you stronger, more settled, and perhaps even joyful. If you’re hesitant about forfeiting Halloween simply because it’s fun, ask yourself—Do you really want to make decisions about how to live the Christian life according to what’s fun? Good luck with that. (And no, I’m not implying that the Christian life is void of fun. Far from it! But I will say that when you stop indulging in certain types of “fun,” you start having joy.)
If you decide to replace typical Halloween festivities with something else, please consider a movie or pizza versus a “Christian replacement.” Don’t teach your kids that Halloween is so important that avoiding it altogether is simply out of the question. Dressing up in costumes and going someplace to collect candy equals Halloween. Your kids won’t be fooled into thinking otherwise just because it takes place in a church parking lot. If it looks, sounds, and tastes like Halloween, it’s Halloween.
And please don’t fret about robbing your kids of a childhood tradition. No doubt your children have iPads, soft beds, ice cream, trendy clothes, and more toys than they know what to do with. To deny them of one night per year because it flies in the face of everything you’ve tried to teach them the other 364 days of the year is not robbing them, it’s teaching them to have a backbone and to put the Lord’s wishes before their own.
I’m convinced that there’s at least one person who will read this who knows it’s time to break ties with Halloween but needs someone in his/her corner who will say, “You can do it!” Like I said, if you love Halloween, I’m not here to talk you out of it. Maybe I’ll do that next year. But if you’re in the “I-don’t-feel-right-about-this-but-my-kids-will-disown-me-and-my-friends-will-think-I’m-a-religious-nut” frame of mind, where you’d love to put a stop to it all but feel like you have no choice, I’m here for you. I’m here to remind you that you definitely have a choice, and this is a perfect opportunity to exemplify what it looks like to stand firm in your faith and devotion to Jesus. This year, turn off the porch light and order a pizza. Watch a silly movie. Play Uno. You’ll never regret forgoing the glorification of darkness and death in favor of what pleases the Lord.
Don’t continue to team up with unbelievers in mismatched alliances, for what partnership is there between righteousness and rebellion? Who could mingle light with darkness? —2 Cor. 6:14, TPT
Once again, the catch phrase “judge not” has been tossed my way in an attempt to get me to quiet down about the abortion issue. At first I did what I always do when I hear that phrase—groan loudly and hold my head in my hands, because it’s such an absurd, senseless thing to say that I don’t even want to waste my breath talking about it…
And yet I know that once in a while, it IS effective. Once in awhile, a pro-lifer hears, “Judge not!” and thinks to him/herself, “Oh gee, maybe I’m being judgmental” and brings it down a notch in their defense of the innocent. But the unborn can’t defend themselves, and we can’t continue to stand silently as they’re slaughtered, so I’ve got to address this nonsense.
First of all, by “Judge not,” what do the pro-abortionists mean? I dare say they don’t even know. It’s a phrase they’ve adopted and parroted for many years as though it’s a biblical principle when it’s nothing of the sort.
If by saying, “Judge not” the pro-abortionist means, “Stop making judgment calls as to what is right and wrong,” well, that’s just ludicrous. Human beings MUST use their mental faculties to discern right and wrong, and we do so every day, many times a day. If we had no right to do this, then we’d have no right to voice an opinion about much of anything; we’d no have no basis for insisting that someone stop abusing his wife or even for correcting a misbehaving toddler. After all, “Judge not.”
Maybe by saying, “Judge not,” the pro-abortionist means, “Don’t get involved when someone does something that you think is wrong,” but then they must be willing to carry that “logic” to its conclusion. If I see someone on the street yelling obscenities at an elderly or disabled person, am I to keep my opinions to myself and keep walking? Is that what you would do? These days, animals are far more valued than children, so let me use this example: If you look out your window tonight and see your neighbor beating his dog, are you going to keep quiet? According to your “logic,” you should not only hold your peace, you should fix that person a cup of hot chocolate and then hold it for him while he mistreats the poor animal.
Maybe the pro-abortionists mean, “Don’t condemn a woman who has already had an abortion.” In that case, I say, when have you ever, ever seen or heard me do that? Anyone who has known me for more than five minutes knows that I’ve dedicated my life to spreading the word about the radical love, forgiveness, and healing power of Jesus. I have never implied that women who have experienced the trauma of abortion are excluded from that love—especially when many of them made the choice to abort because they themselves were victimized and lied to by the abortion industry.
To believe that a certain behavior is a sin and a crime is NOT the same thing as dishonoring those who have “been there.” In the last week alone I’ve loved, laughed with, and shared a meal with several addicts and a couple of prostitutes. I’ve worked side by side and shared stories with a convicted felon, and hugged a former sex offender. So don’t even go there with me.
Fellow pro-lifer, don’t ever stop defending the innocent and unborn. Don’t ever sugarcoat the fact that abortion is child dismemberment, and always extend compassion to women who have “been there.” And in the meantime, when someone yells, “Judge not,” hear it for what it is: a lame, senseless attempt at making you stop talking about something that makes them uncomfortable. Human beings SHOULD be uncomfortable with the mass murder of children. Don’t ever forget that.
One of the consequences of posting my thoughts on difficult topics such as abortion is an onslaught of angry responses about why right is wrong and wrong is right… which has led me to the conclusion that there are various popular lies that we, as a nation, tell ourselves so we can sleep at night as thousands of unborn children are being slaughtered. One of these is that an unplanned child who is allowed to live will be abused. It’s better to abort, we claim, than for that child to endure a life of abuse and poverty—as though the only women whose birth control fails are poverty-stricken, cruel, and unfit to love another human being. To say that an unplanned pregnancy carried to term will surely result in a miserable, neglected child is to say that women capable of love, or with decent jobs, or with loving support systems, or with an education, or who do not mentally or physically abuse children, do not get pregnant before they’re good and ready.
Image: Legalzoom
Seriously? Do we really believe that? Of course we don’t! It’s just easier to say, “Kill that wretched, doomed child” than to acknowledge that most women are quite capable of tapping into their maternal instincts and raising a little girl or boy versus dismembering him/her.
But even if the lie were true—even if the 750,000 abortions in the U.S. every year involved only young, inexperienced women in the grip of poverty—even then, how could we possibly back up the claim that the best recourse for a child being born to a young, inexperienced woman with no plan for her life is murder?
“You don’t know what it’s like,” you might say. That’s where you’re wrong. When I became pregnant with my son, my life was in shambles. I was 19 and ridiculously immature and naïve. I made very little money as a part-time dime store cashier, had no education beyond high school, and had no plan for my life whatsoever. Several people asked me if I was going to keep the baby. I remember thinking, “Versus what?” The thought of having my baby mutilated just because he was unplanned was inconceivable. Even as a teenager who had made lots of bad choices, I had sense enough to know that ripping the arms and legs from a child constituted murder, no matter how you sugar-coat it. I was shocked and outraged that anyone would think me capable of killing a child to make things easier for myself.
I had almost no experience with children. My family lived barely above poverty level, in a housing project. I knew I would receive no support from the baby’s father. I knew zilch about raising an infant. In the pro-abortion mindset, my son was destined for a life of abuse, neglect, and destitution. In the pro-abortion mindset, I was doomed to be a sadistic, irresponsible parent. In the pro-abortion mindset, my son—who is now a 34-year-old husband and father of three—would have been better off dead.
To that pro-abortion mindset, I say, How dare you.
How dare you assume that a girl who is ill-equipped for motherhood cannot suck it up, buttercup, and learn to be a responsible, loving mom. How dare you tell her that her child would be better off dead than in her care, or in the care of adoptive parents. How dare you assume that rather than falling head over heels in love with her baby upon meeting him in the delivery room, she will become hateful and abusive.
Granted, unplanned pregnancies don’t always turn out well. Children are neglected and abused every day all over the world. But to say that those who are born to especially young women—or women with little education or low-income jobs—run a higher risk of being victimized and therefore we must murder them is reprehensible.
Shame on you.
Until a few years ago, freedom of religion = freedom to hold, and live according to, one’s religious beliefs. It even meant the right to “discriminate”—that is, to classify certain behaviors as immoral. There was a time we didn’t have to defend our right to simply embrace a certain moral code. But recently, the governor of Georgia vetoed a bill that would have protected pastors and religious organizations from being forced to perform gay weddings; it would also have protected those organizations from being forced to hire someone who opposed their beliefs. He caved in to extreme pressure and declared that religious organizations merit no such protection.
We wouldn’t dream of forcing an orthodox Jewish community to roast and consume a pig lest they offend us bacon-lovers. We wouldn’t think of suing a Muslim establishment, with its modesty codes, for asking us to leave if we paraded around in our undies. And we’d surely see the foolishness of applying for a job at a Hindu school if we were opposed to the beliefs of Hinduism. But more and more, Christians are being told we must stop living according to our beliefs.
Religious freedom should mean that a Hindu school can teach its students about Brahman, or a Mormon organization can turn down a Wiccan job applicant, without repercussion. It should also mean that a Christian minister can decline to marry a gay couple without fear of jail time. But soon, that might not be the case at all.
We must stop dismissing issues like this as though we’ll never come face to face with them. The attempt to annihilate Christianity altogether is happening. Now. In our nation. Georgia is not Neptune; it’s our back yard. This is scary stuff.
What has become of religious freedom? I asked this question on my Facebook page. I also asked those who would shoot down a bill like this to define the phrase “religious freedom.” What, exactly, does that mean to someone who believes that a Baptist preacher should be jailed for choosing not to perform a same-sex “wedding”? I asked people to be respectful of anyone willing to answer the question, but I did not get a single answer. So I’m asking again, here on my blog: if religious freedom, which is a Constitutional right of every American, does not mean the freedom to believe and
live according to a moral code, then what, exactly, does it mean?
