I’m aware that some of you who’ve read my blogs may believe that Christians should not be so concerned about something like politics. It seems like such a contentious area that you may have concluded it to be “a waste of time” and/or “too nasty or dirty” for believers to pay it any attention. Obviously I disagree and let me explain why by sharing with you my awakening in this regard.
In the fall of 1987, I attended a 3 month retreat with about 100 other Christians to learn more about developing a Christian worldview. One day, for our class session, we were shown the film “The Silent Scream” (which I had never heard of before then) in which a former abortionist described the nature of an abortion by using sonogram images. Though the images were not as clear as 3D imaging available today, I remember feeling very uncomfortable a the final sequence showed a scalpel being inserted into the mother’s womb and the baby inside instinctively backing away from what it recognized as impending danger. While the film thankfully did not show the actual work of dismemberment of the very alive baby that is the work of the abortionist, by that point I was out of my seat and standing at the back of the room.
When I realized later that abortion had been legalized in our country the year I became a Christian (1973), I began to reflect on my never having heard anything about this from the churches I had belonged to or the ministry I had served with since 1975. I was shocked when I concluded that the omission of any reference to the subject came with the implication that abortion was simply “a Catholic issue” and that we evangelicals were involved in the “more important thing” of doing evangelism. Seeing the images in that film made me realize that that perspective was simply wrong as abortion was not only a human rights issue but was an offense to our Holy Life-Giving and Life-Sustaining God. That film was a turning point in my Christian life as I came to realize that Christians were never meant to divorce themselves from the issues of society, especially from an ongoing evil that so blatantly destroys unborn human life and damaged women emotionally, spiritually, and very often even physically.
Beginning with abortion, I believe that Christians have a responsibility before God to stand up for righteousness in the public square. I believe that with citizenship as Americans comes an inherent duty to be educated about the issues of the day in order to be good stewards of this great country that God has truly blessed . I find it appalling that I have rarely even heard a prayer for our nation uttered from pulpits I have sat in attendance over the years. The relative absence of any comment about what is going on in our country – if only to offer the prayers of the Body of Christ - communicates to non-believers as well as believers that we just don’t care or just don't have anything to say in regards to the issues of our day. And it’s not just social issues such as abortion and homosexuality but even such things as the economy and foreign affairs. While in fact the Bible has so much to say on so many public policy issues, the shear absence of any comment from our pulpits Sunday after Sunday instead implies that the Bible and Christianity is silent and irrelevant concerning those things that trouble our nation and the world.
I’m obviously not advocating promoting a political party or politician from the pulpit but simply that we be educated from time to time about a clearly Biblical position on issues of the day. (For example, simply knowing that “abortion is wrong” is not being prepared to engage with the non-biblical pro-abortion position we will often hear.) God has placed us in the world to be “salt and light” (Matthew 5:14-16) and we can’t do that if we excuse ourselves from the pivotal discussions in our society by being uninformed or indifferent. And as far as politicians go, it has been my experience that just where he or she stands on the issue of the sanctity of human life is a great determinant of whether the individual has a humanistic or Biblical worldview. (Knowing that our current President was the only US Senator to vote against a bill that protected an aborted baby if it was somehow born alive was all I needed to know in voting in the last Presidential election.)
And that is why, dear friends, I started this blog. You will note that I will often just post the commentary of Chuck Colson of Breakpoint ministry since he is faithful to eloquently give a clearly Biblical worldview of some item in the news. (You may subscribe to his free email commentaries at Breakpoint.com) Whenever possible, I will also give you references to the writings of others who present what are in essence a Biblically sound viewpoint on an issue. For example, I refer you to:
THIS SUNDAY IS A SANCTITY OF HUMAN LIFE SUNDAY. IF HE DID NOT LAST WEEK, PLEASE CHECK WITH YOUR PASTOR THAT HE RECOGNIZES THIS EVENT WITH AT LEAST A PRAYER FROM THE PULPIT. (On January 22, 1973, the US Supreme Court legalized abortion throughout the entire term of a mother's pregnancy. As a result, in the past 38 years, over 50 million unborn babies have been murdered and tens of millions of mothers and fathers left wounded.)
1. http://michellemalkin.com/? fronthttp://www.newsmax.com/InsideCover/Franklin- … in which the author gives details of the abortionist in Philadelphia who was arrested this past week for the murders of 7 babies whom he stabbed with a scissors when they were born alive and also caused the death of one mother.
2. http://michellemalkin.com/2011/01/20/h-r-3-the-no-taxpayer-funding-for-abortion-act/ This is an article about the bill just submitted to the House of Rep. to ban ALL federal funding of abortions. I would think this would be one bill that could be prayed about from pulpits, especially this Sunday, the second Sanctity of Human Life Sunday for the year.
3. Please remember to check out the “Coral Ridge Ministries” broadcast this Sunday (in Central Florida, 10 a.m. and 5 pm). This Sunday’s broadcast (I understand) will deal with the sanctity of human life and also the effort in the House to de-fund Planned Parenthood. Please also encourage your friends to check it out.
4. Also, I ask you to check out the editorial cartoons of World Magazine (though not necessarily Biblically based) ar:http://www.worldmag.com/editorialcartoons/ as well as the articles in the bi-weekly issues themselves in this Christian news publication.
Finally, I welcome a healthy discussion of any position I post and so please leave me a comment after you’ve read any blog, whether or not you agree with the content or not.
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