Burden & Blessing

For me, part of preparing to register my vote in this year’s election involves reflection on the last few years. I am continually led to think not so much about President Barack Obama, but rather his wife, first-lady Michelle Obama. It’s becoming more common for the first-lady to push for significant change while her spouse is in office. It almost becomes a position in and of itself. Mrs. Obama has devoting significant work in the last eight years to educating young children in healthy living. She has helped create a movement called “Let’s Move” which encourages five pillars:

1. Creating a healthy start for children
2. Empowering parents and caregivers
3. Providing healthy food in schools
4. Improving access to healthy, affordable foods
5. Increasing physical activity

“Let’s Move” prides itself as “America’s Move to Raise a Healthier Generation of Kids”. Who can argue with this motto or any of the pillars it supports? Healthy eating and exercise are great things to teach kids about and encourage them in. In this effort I certainly support Mrs. Obama. At the same time, I can’t help but cringe at the blatant contradiction that exists in reality. Any political candidate who claims to care about children, yet supports and promotes abortion, is simply hypocritical. This is why I think of Michelle Obama during this election season. She has a track record of supporting abortion through politics, both for her husband and for other politicians. It’s not so much that this is a new issue for our country; it’s certainly been around for much longer than the last eight years. The thing that bothers me most is this recent insistence by those who promote abortion that they care so much about children. If Mrs. Obama would at least be honest about her position I could respectfully disagree with her and appreciate her candor. But, for her to put on the front of making her life’s work about helping kids and growing a healthy next generation, while promoting the senseless murder of millions of unborn infants, is a most despicable evil.
I don’t think it’s a coincidence that along with the growing discussion of the morality of abortion in our country also comes a growing promotion by abortion supporters of the ways in which they support children. It reeks to me of a man-made salve to alleviate the consciences of those who know better.
This is why a vote for life matters. When election season comes around, abortion is relegated by many to a strictly political topic. Questions of right and wrong take a backseat to questions of personal rights. What people say becomes more important than what God says. Righting the economy, fighting terrorism, preserving 2nd amendment rights, and determining which tax plan helps me the most all help us collectively drown out the blatant horror of stripping a helpless child from the protection of a mother’s womb.
Please don’t take this as calloused indifference toward a pregnant mother’s difficulty, especially that of a single mother or a rape victim. But, no atrocity demands a further atrocity as retribution, especially when that retribution is directed at the innocent. To speak out against the plague of abortion in our country and to vote for life is not to ignore the pain or rights of women. A system which advertises murder as the first and best choice is a broken system. We can do better.
So many people have complained this election season about the presidential candidates of the two major parties. It feels like no one is happy with our options. The problem is always passed off as someone else’s fault. In truth, I believe that the candidates we have are a reflection of the individual citizens of our country. That’s how a democracy works. Our government leaders’ morality is a litmus test for our own morality. To blame the candidates, but not see oneself as a contributor to the problem, is an element of personal hypocrisy too, equally as damning as standing for healthy eating while vacuuming wombs bare.

This is why moral and religious issues absolutely matter when it comes to our vote. You can buy into the “political” label for abortion but that’s willful ignorance. When we’ve allowed such a blatant moral tragedy to exist and prosper for so long (roughly 55 millions abortions since 1973), should we be surprised when immorality seeps unchecked into other areas of our nation; into the economics, into transparency of government, into the military, and even into the personal and professional lives of our leaders? If we’re willing to talk away what is done to a helpless infant in the most fragile of states, we’re going to be willing to talk away anything.
Those who vote based on abortion are looked at as religious zealots or simpletons; people who are willing to overlook the important things for an idealistic crusade. Abortion is not the only important issue which our vote impacts, not even the only moral issue. But, there is no doubt, it is the most glaring evil in our country, especially when one considers the moral and rationalistic gymnastics which are used to excuse it. We know more about a mother’s womb today than ever before in history. There is no doubt that life begins as God teaches, at conception. A child’s heartbeat alone begins within 18 days of conception. We cannot claim ignorance about what abortion really does. What a blatant contradiction, that in this supposedly great age of science and reason our culture has found more and more ways of ignoring the clear evidence in favor of sinful desires.

Common objections to voting pro-life:

1. It violates the mother’s rights. We often hear this as the most common objection to the government getting involved in ending abortion or setting rules on abortion. It’s true, in one sense, that the government has no right to infringe upon a woman’s rights, or any other citizen’s, without just cause. We certainly don’t believe the government should never get involved, or never restrict anyone, because all laws are restrictive in some way. Laws are necessary, both by logic and by what God says in the Bible (Romans 13:1-7). The question comes down to what the law says and why. Is there a reason for restricting a woman’s right to procure an abortion? It depends on the reason. If a woman is in serious health trouble due to the pregnancy and could lose both her life and potentially the life of the child, there is an obvious moral reason for possible termination of the pregnancy and it shouldn’t be determined by the government. However, this situation describes less than 1% of all abortions, and even in these cases the right decision is never clear cut. Most abortions are done because the mother decides, or is pressured to believe, that it would be too difficult or inconvenient to raise the child. Abortions also occur frequently as a last-ditch effort at birth control. In such cases, the government’s responsibility should be to protect the innocent and provide support for expectant mothers who need help. Advocating death over life is never supportive. In no other realm of society do we force the agenda of death as much as abortion. In any other area it would be considered barbaric, but somehow we’ve allowed that exact system to exist for over 40 years in this country.
2. Christians have no right to legislate their beliefs on others. This argument assumes that opposition of abortion is unique to Christians. Although Christians are often the most outspoken voices against abortion, it is by no means simply a Christian issue. Most religions in the world respect the life of the innocent in some way. As Christianity itself teaches, the basic moral law that murder is wrong is in the heart of all people since God created them to recognize that in the conscience. Therefore, to relegate the pro-life stance to promotion of only one religion is a fallacy. The fact that abortion without just cause is immoral is not just some ancient tenant of Christianity, it is an unchangeable moral law, set in our hearts by our Creator. It is true whether you believe it or not. Christians who say they shouldn’t vote based on their faith should also check where their loyalty rests. When human governments allow things that a morally wrong, Christians are to obey God above all. Saying that a Christian should not vote against abortion because it is forcing one’s religion upon others is putting government above God. We, obviously, are not to use the government to do the church’s job, but we are also to be lights that shine forth the truth of Christ in the decisions we make, a vote being one such decision. I encourage Christians who think this way to diligently consider the import of Matthew 10:32-33 when it comes to their view of government: “Therefore whoever confesses Me before men, him I will also confess before My Father who is in heaven. 33 “But whoever denies Me before men, him I will also deny before My Father who is in heaven.”
3. Abortion is a necessary evil because chastity is not realistic in our society and the world is overpopulated. First of all, regarding chastity, it may be extremely rare in our society but that doesn’t mean it can’t work. God clearly wants man and woman to wait until marriage before sexual contact. This is clearly not the norm in our culture, but it remains God’s commandment. While it is very difficult to keep chaste before marriage, God promises, “No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it (1 Corinthians 10:13).” To say that it is impossible to be chaste is to tempt God by doubting His promise to help in temptation. It also reveals that the one who doubts is in danger to more than just sexual temptation, but also to idolatry, by trusting in their own word over God’s.
The argument about overpopulation is so over-the-top it is almost not worth commenting on. What you see in it is the honest practice of evolutionary philosophy. If we are truly animalistic organisms with no Creator, then life is all about survival at all costs. Why not destroy the weak and fragile to preserve resources for ourselves? It is truly the most shameful and baseless defense for abortion, but you will see it employed by many.
A vote for life matters greatly. It matters to other issues as it seeks to root out evil in our government and culture. It matters to God, Who says that murder is wrong and Who is our Creator and the One who fashions life from conception. It matters to our fellow citizens, many of whom live without the light of Jesus in their lives, and could use a Christian’s solid and Biblical witness of the truth. It matters to mothers who are pregnant and are pressured to take the “easy” way out while not realizing the great pain, anguish, and guilt that they are acquiring in the process. It matters to the helpless child in the womb, who has no voice in our nation, except perhaps yours.
I encourage you to get out next week and exercise your blessed civic right to vote. Vote as one whose ultimate trust is in what God says, not the world. Vote as one who reflects the value of life with which Jesus has enlightened your heart. In His cross, we have a continual reminder: Life is always greater than death! A vote for life matters for many reasons.

1 Peter 1:17-19 Since you call on a Father who judges each person’s work impartially, live out your time as foreigners here in reverent fear. For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your ancestors, but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect.