'Loving God and loving neighbor are not separate choices. One flows sweetly from the other. Loving my neighbor will always mean a desire to help him or her find the grace of God in all its manifestations. Loving my neighbor will occasionally arrest me, and maybe even require me to help prevent someone from being murdered. Loving God and loving neighbor are never at odds with each other. Those who try to do one at the expense of the other offend both God and neighbor.'
- John Ensor, Innocent Blood - Challenging the Powers of Death with the Gospel of Life, p. 14
'The most fundamental expression of love is care, concern, and protection of human life. The foundational obligation of all government is to protect, sustain, and maintain human life. This is the very reason for government.'
- R.C. Sproul, Abortion, A Rational Look at an Emotional Issue, pp. 87-88
One of the greatest indicators of the church’s commitment to the pro-life cause is whether she will commit herself to becoming dissatisfied with the status quo. Let’s face it; the abortion debate has been around a long time. The destruction of human life far precedes the recent Veritas videos, and yet heretofore the cost to the church has been minimal. It is one thing, albeit important, to vote for pro-life candidates, and quite another to materially help a young woman with an unwanted pregnancy as she struggles to get on her feet. The pro-life battle comes much closer to home when we invite the stranger into our own living room. To adopt or foster a child is to invest in something far greater than creature comforts, and at the time it's much more difficult to see a return on our investment. It’s a matter of historical record that the early Christians were pro-life, believing that God was the giver of every life. When Roman citizens looked for ways to dispose of unwanted children it was the Christian communities that took them in and raised them as their own. The early church saw the risk and took it. They knew the way of the cross was costly, particularly for their Lord, but they also knew the servant is no greater than the Master.
As long as the church loves her ease and eschews her discomfort it’s likely the pro-life battle will be consigned to a passive yawn. We’ll soon forget the videos and settle back into the routine. You see…to care is to commit time and resources. To care is to cast comfort to the wind. To care is to make hard choices. And frankly, there is a certain risk to it all, and risk is…well, it’s risky. There is a war in our midst, with real bloodshed for the innocent, and as long as the church is satisfied with where she’s at there will be little light and little salt. We shouldn’t wonder why the world then looks at us with eyes aglaze and yawns.
- DJM
Adapted (1/18/20) from a September 2, 2015 post
