Posted on 12/15/2014 5:29:08 PM PST by Morgana
I wrote in my book, “unPlanned,” about a church that kicked me out when they found out that I worked for Planned Parenthood. I often get questioned about that, whether I still think they made the wrong decision. My answer is a resounding YES.
I try not to go down the “what if” road very often. It isn’t fruitful and just makes you feel crummy. But, just for the sake of this article, let’s go there.
What if I had been ministered to instead of shunned by that church? How could my life be different? Well, maybe I would have realized that abortion was actually going against God’s Word. Maybe I would have sat down with my parents and had an honest discussion about their beliefs. Maybe I would have really connected with a group of pro-life women who could have mentored me during that time. Maybe I would have left. Maybe I would never have been an abortion clinic director. Maybe I wouldn’t be responsible for the deaths of more than 20,000 babies. What if…
If the church doesn’t minister to sinners, then who will? And guess what? Every church across this planet is full of sinners…every single one of them. Shocking, I know. We all sin. We all can change. We all can be reborn in Christ. But the church has fallen down on the job. Let’s do some more “what ifs.”
What if people of faith had been standing outside that abortion clinic that I went for my first abortion in 2000? You see, I walked in alone. My boyfriend dropped me off at the curb. Not a soul was outside…but the waiting area inside was standing-room only. What if someone had been there to reach out to me at that time of confusion in my life? Maybe I would have turned to them instead of the abortion clinic. Maybe I would have had the courage to talk to my parents about my situation. Maybe I wouldn’t have killed my first child.
The day of my first abortion was when the evil of abortion entered my life. If I had chosen life that day, maybe I would have never have signed up to volunteer for Planned Parenthood…
What if I had grown up in a church where abortion was talked about frequently from the pulpit? Maybe I would never have even chosen to have sex before marriage. But if I did, maybe I would have known that abortion was not an option when I had my first unplanned pregnancy. What if the sin of abortion had never entered my life…
The first day that I drove into Planned Parenthood to volunteer is a scene that I will never forget. A guy dressed up like the grim reaper. A man standing with a HUGE sign that said “There is blood on your hands if you kill your baby.” A group of people yelling at me as I got out of my car…saying that I was a baby killer. A man holding a 5-foot tall graphic sign of a baby’s head after an abortion. And a tiny voice that I couldn’t even hear over the yelling, offering help to women walking in. What if those aggressive protestors had not been there? I remember pulling up, listening to their cruel words and seeing their crazy behavior and thinking, “Wow. If this is the Christian pro-life movement, then I don’t want ANY part of that.” What if there had only been loving voices, like that tiny voice I heard, out there on that sidewalk, offering help and hope? Maybe I would have realized that Planned Parenthood had not been honest with me…that we weren’t “saving” these women…that the pro-lifers weren’t the enemy. Maybe if things had been different that very first day…
At one of our recent healing retreats for former abortion worker, I heard a story from a woman there that made me disgusted and heartbroken.
This woman had gotten involved with the abortion industry when she was 16. She didn’t like abortion, but her mom had severe mental illness and couldn’t work. Her dad was out of the picture. She had to work to support herself, her younger siblings and her mother. They were living in squalor. The only thing keeping them out of a homeless shelter and off the street was this girl’s small paycheck from the abortion clinic.
She had been a long time member of a Christian church in her area. Her pastor and other members of her church knew the poverty they lived in. The pastor had personally visited their home. When the church leaders found out that she was working at the abortion clinic, they sat her down and told her that she was no longer welcome there. There was no, “Hey listen, I know things are tough for you. How can we help you get a better job? How can we help you support your family? How can we help with your mother and your siblings? How can we minister to you? How can we get you out of that job and into something better?” Nope. Just a quick kick out the door. No ministry. No witness. Just dismissal.
Wow. I wonder how different her life would have been if her church would have done the right thing? We will never know. But as it is now, this woman has terrible flashbacks, nightmares and PTSD because of her work in the abortion industry. I am just so thankful that she is connected with our ministry so she can finally get the help that she needed…help that should have come when she was a 16-year-old child.
Churches, it’s time to stand up. It’s time to speak up. It’s time to minister to the hurting, to the wounded and YES, to the sinner. Do you have to vote them in as a deacon or the choir director? No. But you should be willing to minister to those who need it…without judgment and without condemnation.
What if our churches actually spoke on the truth of abortion? Maybe we wouldn’t be where we are today…
- 1.2 million abortions per year - 3,300 abortions per day - 1 in 3 women having abortions in this country - 50% of African American pregnancies ending in abortion - Almost 70% of women seeking abortions coming from our churches
What if?
I remember speaking for a Catholic conference one time. I had spoken some really hard truth to the priests in the audience. A few of them didn’t like that too much and one came up to me after the event to express his aggravation. Here was our conversation.
Priest: “I just think you are blowing things out of proportion. I mean, how much do we REALLLLLY need to talk about abortion in our churches?” *sarcastic tone* Me: “Well Father, I don’t know the answer to that. But I remember women lying on the abortion clinic table with a blood pressure cuff on one arm and a rosary in their other hand. I remember women reading their Bibles as they sat waiting for us to call them for their abortion appointment. I remember women asking us to pray with them before we started the abortion procedure. So, why don’t you tell me how much this needs to be talked about in our churches?” Priest: “Oh, I didn’t know.” Me: “Well, now you do. No more excuses.” Priest: *silence*
If the church doesn’t stand up against this evil, then who will? Enough with worrying about “who we will offend.” Somehow our Christian churches have become more worried about offending their congregation than they are about offending God. Shame on us.
Pastors, you are the shepherds of your flock…lead them. They are waiting for you to lead them. They are desperate for you to lead them. If you have an abortion clinic in your town, you better be out there praying at it. If there are pregnancy centers in your area, your church better be supporting them. You are accountable, as a clergy member, more than anyone else. LEAD YOUR FLOCK. If you lead, they will follow.
And everyone else, stop with the apathy. Stop with the excuses. Get out there at your local abortion clinic and pray. There is nothing to be scared of. And fear doesn’t come from God anyway. Don’t let satan keep you from doing God’s work. BE the hands and feet of Christ. BE pro-life…don’t just say it.
What if things had been different? What if my pastor had spoken up? What if people had been outside that clinic where I had my first abortion? What if that church hadn’t given me the boot? What if…
Don’t live your life with those questions. What if you had gone out to that clinic? What if you worked to start a pro-life group in your church? What if you volunteered at that pregnancy center? Maybe you could have saved a life…or many lives. Don’t live a life of “what ifs.” Strive to live a life of action.
(You mean like what you might lecture the apostle Paul to have done with this man committing sin in the Church @ Corinth?):
4 So when you are assembled and I am with you in spirit, and the power of our Lord Jesus is present, 5 hand this man over to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, so that his spirit may be saved on the day of the Lord. (1 Cor. 5:4-5)
Brothers and sisters: Church discipline of ex-communicating people WAS a reality in the early Church -- and STILL is in many of its quarters. Its purpose is to "save" the person.
You would think by listening to some on this thread -- and elsewhere -- that kicking someone out of a church has the exact opposite effect.
(You be sure to invite me to your lecture of the apostle Paul when we get to heaven, ya hear?)
humm. can’t really tell if this woman is a lousy christian or the “church” is a lousy assembly of christians from her presentation. not enough data on how the church found out about it (did she confess, etc.) and exactly the steps they took in order with her. either could be faulted with more evidence. would be curious to hear the “church’s” side.
for example. she talks about ministry. a pastor whom i trust once said that true “ministry” is summed up by the degree to which you, as a mere human child of God, can “stand in” or reflect for the same non-believer, or fallen away or troubled believer the actions or advice or message the Lord Jesus, Himself would give. Obviously that would be contingent on how much in the Spirit you are in at that moment. at this moment, given additional evidence, i could see Jesus telling his apostles to do what the assembly did, or to forgive and accept this woman back into the assembly.
anyway, unlike this christian author, I don’t recall the Lord Jesus leaning on “what if’s” and/or looking back on a sinner’s past as he helps them anywhere in the Gospels.
that and the fact that God knew and would allow every step she and those around her would take in this matter—before the foundation of the world—is also problematic for this author. the way this happened was exactly the way God planned it.
i think she’d best take her own advice in the beginning and look forward. forget about her past.
Given that you apparently believe the baby has no soul until out of his mother's womb and that abortion is not murder, and since you appealed to the holy catholic apostolic church for support in your teaching, and support was denied, will you tell me which denomination, sect, or faith group is supporting your position on abortion ?
I’m sure you know those are the exceptions and not the rule.
Genesis is fairly straight forward regarding God breathing life into Adam AFTER the body had been formed.
Did Tertullian and Augustine have real-time ultrasound vision into the womb? and did they have the advantage of knowing that the child has separate and distinct DNA from every other person who has ever lived? or that as far as “formed” vs “unformed” that the new child has a functioning heart at 6 weeks...
I’m not the biggest bible scholar around but I know that infanticide was VERY common in ancient times ,, especially in the Roman empire ... and abortion being invasive and far more dangerous was less common and likely less of a conundrum for the scholars... I do not know of any early Christian writings against the most common birth control measure used in Rome ,, namely a primitive version of the IUD where a womans uterus would be packed with small smooth river rocks ... I think perhaps that Tertullian and Augustine’s writings are based on less complete knowledge than we have today.
I can’t help but think of “Bones” McCoy calling us savages as he walked through that SF hospital and performed a “miracle” by giving that woman a single pill that cured her...
Opposing evil while out of fellowship with God is also sinful.
So what?
#1 A baby's heartbeat & a baby's brainwaves comes AFTER the body is formed as well...But both heartbeats & brainwaves of the pre-born occur BEFORE any surgical abortion takes place. So if you're going to use the "body formation" distinction as a line of demarcation, then you need to be consistent.
Every abortion stops a beating heart. Every abortion kills off brainwaves.
#2 If you're going to use highly unique creation examples (like the first Adam, who knew no womb)...then you're going to have to be consistent and use the "second" Adam as well...Jesus
When He was a fetus, are you trying to tell us He had no soul? (Until He was born?)
The soul isn’t manifest by ultrasound. Ultrasound imaging focuses on the physical, not the soul.
Christianity is trichotomous. Even Platonic atheistic understanding of anthropology grasped the dichotomous nature of fallen man. Too many modern academics ignore everything other than the physical, thinking both soul and spirit are merely confused unskilled misunderstanding of physical phenomenon as empiricists stumbled into several centuries ago.
Even physical definitions of life for mature adults are measurables found in the third trimester, and some neurological functions are operational in the second trimester, but the soul, which is separable from the body, is also associated with the life breathed into the body as an image of God.
A stillbirth is also an example of a physical baby, not having received the soul, not a killing or murder.
The concepts have meanings and they are interconnected for a meaningful understanding of life as given to us by God Himself.
Asserting the soul pre-exists the body is much more problematic as that is the position of those who support reincarnation and several other heretical theologies.
There are strong arguments for the soul being created sometime between conception and birth.
IMHO, allowing the soul to be created by God and implanted to the body at birth is the least problematic and most educational regarding His Plan in the discernment between body, soul, and spirit.
Aren’t you the clever one...
I know right from wrong ... I have carried many young ones to the pathology lab ... I know Gods handiwork when I see it... Please stop wasting your time trying to convince me white is black and up is down.
The issue isn’t about destroying the body when people accuse abortionists of murder.
Murder is the separation of the soul from the body independent of God’s Will.
If the soul is not yet in the body, it might be a carnal death and one that is very unrighteously performed. I don’t condone it.
There still remain too many believers who oppose abortion by labeling it murder, when they fail to address some basic theological doctrines, which they should know.
You’re very sure of yourself. So when exactly to you does abortion become something more than rupturing a worthless “meat vessel” (your term was carnal death) and cross into murder ... you keep using the non-theological legal term “murder” ,, mixing your theological argument with the legal ,, as abortion is legal through birth here abortion is never “murder” because it is legal (although infanticide certainly is murder) ,, abortion is a “legal homicide”... and if you truly see abortion as insignificant prior to “the soul” entering the body why do you add that “you don’t condone it” ... logically to you it should be no different then than having your hair cut or fingernails trimmed... at exactly what biological stage does the soul enter?
You make no sense when your argument is stripped of your fancy wording.
Murder is the separation of the soul from the body independent of God’s Will.
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NEGATIVE: Murder is a legal construct that has nothing to do with the soul. It is an intentional illegal homicide. We have many words for killing ,, just as Eskimos have 30 words for snow ... each has it’s own meaning.. You are intentionally “muddying the waters” with inexactitude in your words.
How can you proclaim to know Gods will? How can you call anything murder or proclaim a killing to not be murder? Are you God?
I thought I had just made that exact point to you... you are becoming silly now..
I encourage you to study His Word and some basics of how God has made man.
I know you think this is silly, but it is germane to the issue of abortion.
The 10 Commandments condemn murder.
His Word authorizes killing of those who were unrighteous in specific situations.
Killing is not the same as murder.
Study the anthropology of man as provided by God.
The soul is a pertinent issue.
The soul is a pertinent issue.
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The soul is a pertinent issue for which neither you , I or any other man can give a definitive answer ... you do not read my replies otherwise you would have posted differently.. we agree on much but I cannot dialogue with someone that only speaks and doesn’t listen or think.
We don’t have to give a definitive answer.
God Provides.
So, how does it feel to not have a chance or a choice? The church didn’t want you to poison others, so it figuratively “aborted” you.
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