This is a first for me. I usually avoid anything political, but some very dear friends did not find my feeble reasons for avoiding it convincing. I hope I have maintained a certain amount of vagueness about my beliefs, but...
Why is it that I have such a trouble with understanding the implications of faith. I am not sure that I have said that correctly, but it really is difficult for me to express.
I will give you an example. If I believe a friend really cares about me, then I will know that if he does not call for a while there is a good reason for it. I don’t become frustrated or concerned until I first suffer a chink in the armor of security in my friends love. The implication of my belief in my friend’s love is trust. Complicated? Yeah, tell me about it. Welcome to my world.
I guess what I am saying is that the implication of faith is the action that results from it. The problem is that implication of faith should be more like a chain than a link, contrary to my previous opinion. I will explain. If by faith I believe that a fetus is a human being from conception, then I will behave in a way that honors that unborn child from that point on. For many years that duty of honor for an unborn child ended when it wasn’t unborn anymore. The implication of my faith was more like a link than a chain. I was terribly wrong.
Let’s face it. The social footprint of those facing the decision of honoring an unborn child with birth or destroying it with abortion is somewhat consistent: young, poor, scared, uncertain. If I choose to tell a young woman not to abort but have the child, If I choose to support a candidate that says that abortion is wrong, if I proclaim to the world that my God does not condone the murdering of the innocent, but I then back away from this child born poor, to young, inexperienced, scared and uncertain parents I have…completely dishonored the gospel of Christ.
For too many years I have supported a certain party because I felt that they stood for the implications of my faith. They don’t. I am not condemning them because if the voice of the people is loud enough a candidate will emerge to grease the squeak. I am instead saying that we (those who try to live by a similar faith) have sold our vote short. We have decided that being against abortion is enough which makes us look callous and uncaring when confronted with the portrait of poverty and underage pregnancy.
How dare we shout out that abortion is wrong and then turn our heads and whisper insults and sneers at single young women doing the best they can with their children? How dare we say that mothers brave enough to follow through with what we say is right are to be abandoned to find their own way.
Please understand that I am not saying we need more welfare so that mothers can unzip their wombs and pull out lots of meal tickets, but I am saying that their should never be a child born in the richest country in the world that cannot have access to health care. I don’t care what economic, social argument you put out to suggest otherwise; it is wrong.
I will give you an example. If I believe a friend really cares about me, then I will know that if he does not call for a while there is a good reason for it. I don’t become frustrated or concerned until I first suffer a chink in the armor of security in my friends love. The implication of my belief in my friend’s love is trust. Complicated? Yeah, tell me about it. Welcome to my world.
I guess what I am saying is that the implication of faith is the action that results from it. The problem is that implication of faith should be more like a chain than a link, contrary to my previous opinion. I will explain. If by faith I believe that a fetus is a human being from conception, then I will behave in a way that honors that unborn child from that point on. For many years that duty of honor for an unborn child ended when it wasn’t unborn anymore. The implication of my faith was more like a link than a chain. I was terribly wrong.
Let’s face it. The social footprint of those facing the decision of honoring an unborn child with birth or destroying it with abortion is somewhat consistent: young, poor, scared, uncertain. If I choose to tell a young woman not to abort but have the child, If I choose to support a candidate that says that abortion is wrong, if I proclaim to the world that my God does not condone the murdering of the innocent, but I then back away from this child born poor, to young, inexperienced, scared and uncertain parents I have…completely dishonored the gospel of Christ.
For too many years I have supported a certain party because I felt that they stood for the implications of my faith. They don’t. I am not condemning them because if the voice of the people is loud enough a candidate will emerge to grease the squeak. I am instead saying that we (those who try to live by a similar faith) have sold our vote short. We have decided that being against abortion is enough which makes us look callous and uncaring when confronted with the portrait of poverty and underage pregnancy.
How dare we shout out that abortion is wrong and then turn our heads and whisper insults and sneers at single young women doing the best they can with their children? How dare we say that mothers brave enough to follow through with what we say is right are to be abandoned to find their own way.
Please understand that I am not saying we need more welfare so that mothers can unzip their wombs and pull out lots of meal tickets, but I am saying that their should never be a child born in the richest country in the world that cannot have access to health care. I don’t care what economic, social argument you put out to suggest otherwise; it is wrong.
3 comments:
Where do you draw the line? One could make the argument that you are basically endorsing some form of socialism, and basically taking away any accountability for one's actions. I don't believe our current system provides absolutely no assistance to those you describe in your post. We simply need to provide incentives for people to be able to support themselves and not be supported by the government their entire lives.
Maybe what we should be discussing is the ridiculous expense of healthcare in this country and how it got that way. We need to fix our current system which is an easy target for fraud on a grand scale, leaving the honest citizens to pay the costs for other's corruption. Where's the politician who says he (or she) is going to address this in some manner other than saying we'll just have universal healthcare (which, again, places the burden on everyone else to pay for)?
Trent!! Can I say how impressive this blog is to me? Growing up with a doctor for a dad and being very involved with science, abortion has always been an interesting and complex issue for me. I love you mention how this one issue seems to become a cornerstone for a political party and how people of faith seem to blindly obey this party due to a tough abortion stance.
One thing you did not mention about abortion (as most people don't) is something I can see as a viable solution for some. Adoption is an AMAZING option. I don't know if I even mentioned my family history this summer, but I have two younger adopted brothers. But what a lot of people do not know is the fact of how young both of their mothers were. My first adopted brother's mother was only 14! I can not explain how much I love my brother and how happy I am this 14 year old girl saw adoption as her option. My youngest brother's mother was a young 20 without a boyfriend and left him at the hospital.
I do realize the state of foster care around the country and realize if adoption and not abortion was chosen not all of those infants might have a family wanting them. I am just very glad to see other people are looking deeper into this issue and looking at the women that it effects! Most of the stories I remember of Jesus were ones that looked past the issues of people being unclean or Samaritan and helped them as they were. Sorry this is so long! Hope to travel to Shawnee sometime soon and see some ropes people!
-Kristy
Thanks for this post Trent. It has been something I have been struggling with alot. But last week, I heard a quote that has really made me think alot. "Sometimes to be Biblically Consistent, you have to be politically inconsistent." Unfortunately, I have had friends who have had abortions and then some who seriously considered having them but didnt. The one that didnt have the abortions is struggling to make life ok for her and her girls. Its a confusing time we live in.
Post a Comment