My good friend Gary Dotson, of Lightning Spear, recently wrote a scathing blog, rightfully so, on the silence of some Christians on the issue of abortion. Before I respond, not necessarily to his post, but to the issue, I’d like to share that it was 1990 when my girlfriend aborted my child without my knowledge. Not a year goes by when I don’t think of my little one who would be 29 years old. I didn’t get to have a birthday party. There was no prom, there was no college graduation, there was no wedding to either walk her down the aisle or stand next to him. There were no baby steps. The only thing I hear in my spirit till this day is quoted from an excerpt of a poem I wrote years ago.
And I scream when I dream of a child saying,
“Daddy you never took time to raise me, you never took time to let my mother carry me, yet you have no problem burying me”
From the forthcoming Poetry Book, Drops of Ink ~ Trials of the Endurer
Yet, I reflect back to this issue of abortion. As a Christian, I do not support abortion that exist outside of an instance that is a threat to the life of a mother. I don’t believe that “at birth” is a justifiable reason. But I also have to face the reality that I am one of the Christians that Gary is talking about. As a voter I do not put my stock in one barrel any more. My friends know I was a supporter of President Bush, a pro-life candidate. I served under his administration in the United States Navy. Yet, the atrocities we inflicted in Afghanistan and Iraq are irreparable. We dropped bombs on babies and we cheered. We toppled two countries (or so we thought) and cheered. We took innocent lives, tortured them, abused them, and murdered them. Under Obama’s administration we did the same thing in Libya. So, is the life in the womb hold more value than a 10 year old girl from Iraq that was killed when a drone strike hit the building she was living in and rubble crushed her poor body? I’m asking, because after all, no Christian would or should sanction such actions, right? We say that the child in the womb is the voice of the innocent that can’t speak for themselves. Did the innocent people, murdered in a church as they prayed and worshipped, have anyone speak for them?
Does that disqualify me as a Christian? Does this mean I am not a lover of Yeshua because I no longer align my party affiliation with the hoodwearers of the Republican Party? Oh, wait, yes I should stand with them. After all, Republicans, the pro-lifers, voted in an adulterer as the POTUS. They voted in a man who has mocked the disabled, called NFL players the “sons of bitches”, and has lied over and over and over and over (insert yawn, I can go all day with this).
What the readers of this post think about abortion goes to the heart of their deeply-held religious beliefs (if, indeed, they hold any) and in particular what their God thinks about abortion, and life, for that matter. If one considers themselves a Bible-believing Christian, they cannot endorse abortion as a valid method of dealing with pregnancies, wanted or not.
Gary Dotson: https://garydotsonblog.wordpress.com/2019/01/27/your-god-is-dead-if-hes-fine-with-abortion/
You see all that ranting I did? It’s all deflection. It’s necessary. It’s necessary because I believe there are some issues so complex and we like to put weights on them. And then, we like to get personal and questions the salvation of people. But, you know what’s interesting? When I read the comments that people make on LifeNews in their replies to a post, I am saddened. I am saddened that these same Christians make comments that are just as vile as the act of abortion. “I wish their mothers had aborted them” is what I read when they are talking about the Democratic Party. “They are going to the pits of hell”. “They should be killed”. Yes, so many wonderful Christian comments and I know that God is truly pleased with them. Judge me if you must, I’m not here to argue. Life is complex and so are these issues.
Gary is right. Abel’s blood does cry from the ground. It cries every day when a young black life is snuffed out by gun violence. It cries every day when black children go missing across this country for the black-market body parts and organs. It cries out for the people in Tent City who have been kicked out of parts of Lower Wacker Drive in one of the coldest cities in the winter. It cries out every day when a black man gets out of prison after 43 years for a crime he didn’t commit. It cries out every day from Jasper, Texas, to Mississippi. It cries on from college campuses from Madison to Tennessee when students are racially harassed. It cries out every day for the unrepentant country I live in that has murdered millions of people. Yes, Planned Parenthood was put in our communities to control the population of the African community. I am sure of that. But, they’ve done no more damage than colonization has to my people.
Am I deflecting again? Absolutely. It’s because I believe that abortion is a sin, no greater than bombing babies, no different than incarcerating innocent black men for decades, no different than the Chicago Police Department murdering Fred Hampton, no different than the US government murdering JFK and Robert, no different
If it’s true that abortion has reduced the potential of the black population in America by a staggering 62,000,000, you can believe it was White Christians’ that spearheaded the charge. New York should be ashamed of their recent bill, and we should be ashamed as Christians because we pick and choose which values of God to uphold. Republicans are not more valuable than Democrats and I refuse to believe the lie. After all, how many families had to eat out of food pantries for 38 days due to Republicans? Oh, that doesn’t matter, nevermind.
Abortion is rampant because sin is rampant. If bringing a concept to a larger thought makes me less of a Christian, then I no longer desire to be a Christian. I’ll remain a follower of Yeshua. When they were hungry I fed them. When they were naked, I clothed them. When they were scared, I protected them. Life doesn’t only apply to the
Sir, yet another post of pure brilliance! I think that the balance of both, or should I say ALL sides of this argument are necessary for healthy and suitable dialogue and reasoning. I think we are of ine mind but just two prongs of the underlying issue which is the GREAT sin of this nation that indulges in abominations like a thirsty man drinks water. While I still do regard the killing of innocent babies as the greater sin, perhaps the greatest of this hour, I’m not in favor of pitting one group-especially in the Church-against another. My brother, THIS is why we need to get this media thing off the ground ASAP. I think you are an exceptional writer with a gift at encapsulating the prescient emotional tone of the moment. Well done.
My brother. I appreciate your passion for Christ and the Church as a whole. These are pressing times and when I am finish with school I am awaiting what Lord will do with this temple and anxiously awaiting a future platform that will bless our children for generations. Thank you for your support, candidness, and always being the bar for “iron sharpens iron”.