"The Gospel in an Abortion Culture"

Here is a good article by Dr. Russel Moore on the issue of abortion. A great reminder of the need to boldly stand up against abortion and to minister the gospel as we do it.  We must not forget the justice or mercy of God as we proclaim the gospel in a culture of abortion.

The whole things is worth reading, but here is an excerpt.

Speak clearly of the horror of judgement to come. Confirm what every accusing conscience already knows: clinic privacy laws cannot keep all this from being exposed at the tribunal of Christ. When the Light shines, there’s not enough darkness in which to hide and cringe.

But don’t stop there.

Proclaim just as openly that judgment has fallen on the quivering body of a crucified Jesus—accused by Satan, indicted by the Law, enveloped by the curse.

An abortion culture knows that hell exists, and they know judgment waits (Rom 2:14-16). Agree with them, but point them to the truth that God is not simply willing to forgive them. Show them how in Christ God is both just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus (Rom 3:26).

The woman who has had the abortion needs to know that, if she is hidden in Christ, God does not see her as “that woman who had the abortion.” He hasn’t been subverted from sending her to hell because she found a gospel “loophole.”

180 the Movie

This video is about 30 minutes long, but well worth watching. 

Note: This video contains some material that is unsettling from WWII. 



If you can't get it to play here, click on this link.

"Abortion is as American as Apple Pie"

Here is an article by Al Mohler on abortion.  He shows the contrasting worldviews on this issue and demonstrates why there really can be no middle ground on the issue of abortion.

15 Pro-life Truths to Speak

At the end of his booklet on abortion, John Piper gives 15 truths pro-lifers must speak.  I think they are good to consider.

1. Existing fetal homicide laws make a man guilty of manslaughter if he kills the baby in a mother’s womb (except in the case of abortion).
2. Fetal surgery is performed on babies in the womb to save them while another child the same age is being legally destroyed.
3. Babies can sometimes survive on their own at 23 or 24 weeks, but abortion is legal beyond this limit.
4. Living on its own is not the criterion of human personhood, as we know from the use of respirators and dialysis.
5. Size is irrelevant to human personhood, as we know from the difference between a one-week-old and a six-year-old.
6. Developed reasoning powers are not the criterion of personhood, as we know from the capacities of threemonth- old babies.
7. Infants in the womb are human beings scientifically by virtue of their genetic makeup.
8. Ultrasound has given a stunning window on the womb that shows the unborn at eight weeks sucking his thumb, recoiling from pricking, responding to sound. All the organs are present, the brain is functioning, the heart is pumping, the liver is making blood cells, the kidneys are cleaning fluids, and there is a fingerprint. Virtually all abortions happen later than this date.
9. Justice dictates that when two legitimate rights conflict, the limitation of rights that does the least harm is the most just. Bearing a child for adoption does less harm than killing him.
10. Justice dictates that when either of two people must be inconvenienced or hurt to alleviate their united predicament, the one who bore the greater responsibility for the predicament should bear more of the inconvenience or hurt to alleviate it.
11. Justice dictates that a person may not coerce harm on another person by threatening voluntary harm on themselves.
12. The outcast and the disadvantaged and exploited are to be cared for in a special way, especially those with no voice of their own.
13. What is happening in the womb is the unique personnurturing work of God, who alone has the right to give and take life.
14. There are countless clinics that offer life and hope to both mother and child (and father and parents), with care of every kind, lovingly provided by people who will meet every need they can.
15. Jesus Christ can forgive all sins, and will give all who trusts him the help they need to do everything that life requires.

Expose the Works of Darkness

Here is a link to an online booklet by John Piper on the issue of abortion.  Here is a section where he is talking about Ephesians 5:11 "Take no part in in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them".

God calls his people to be the conscience of the culture. Our individual conscience probes into our behavior and either approves or disapproves what we do. So the children of light are to probe into the life of their culture and approve or disapprove what it does.

I hope you hear the force of this. It is radically different from the passivity and moral withdrawal of many Christians. Many believers have a passive avoidance ethic and that is all. In other words they think: if I avoid the works of darkness, and don’t do them myself, then I am doing my Christian duty. I’m clean. I’m in the light. But that is not what verse 11 says. It says you are only doing half your duty. “Take no part in the fruitless works of darkness”— that’s an avoidance ethic. That’s half your duty. But it goes on, and in fact puts stress on the next phrase because it is easily overlooked and because it can be very costly: “Rather even expose them!” Don’t just avoid the works of darkness, expose them. This is not avoidance. This is action.(9)

 This is a call to us as Christians to not be passive. Stand up for the weak, for those unable to speak for themselves. Out of a love for God, let us love our unborn fellow human being so that we might love God and neighbor to the glory of God.

39 Years Since Roe v. Wade

It has been 39 years since the US Supreme Court handed down its decision in Roe v. Wade legalizing abortion. I have decided to post several things related to this topic this week in order to encourage us to be in fervent prayer and to have boldness and love to deal with this issue in a God-honoring way. 

"Jesus was Religious"

One more post on this video about hating religion but loving Jesus. Here is another good, thoughtful, measured response from Jared Wilson.  Here are a few excerpts

It's important not to push back on Jefferson Bethke and his video simply to be contrarian or to avoid liking something because everybody else does. The heart displayed in the video is solid, and he says a lot of right things. But he says a few wrongs one too, and while they aren't wrong enough to overreact, they are wrong enough to note with some cautions.
......
Jesus was a good Jew. He attended synagogue faithfully, observed the feasts and festivals and religious holidays, kept the Law (better than anybody), and made it his mission to obey God perfectly. You better hope Jesus was super-religious, in fact, because it's his perfect religion we rely on for our righteousness.

So, again: Jefferson Bethke is on to something good and right. But we are on to something good and right to make the right distinctions, lest we put ourselves in the Pharisaical place of saying "I thank you God I'm not like those religious people."

"Does Jesus Hate Religion? Kinda, Sorta, Not Really"

Perhaps you have seen the viral video on Youtube called "Why I Hate Religion But Love Jesus" by Jefferson Bethke.  Kevin DeYoung does an excellent job showing what is great about this video and what is confusing and unhelpful in his post "Does Jesus Hate Religion? Kinda, Sorta, Not Really" (he also has the video posted there if you haven't seen it). Here is part of DeYoung's conclusion, but you really need to read the whole thing.

The strengths in this poem are the strengths I see in many young Christians—a passionate faith, a focus on Jesus, a love for grace, and a hatred for anything phony or self-righteous. The weaknesses here can be the weaknesses of my generation (and younger)—not enough talk of repentance and sanctification, a tendency to underestimate the importance of obedience in the Christian life, a one-dimensional view of grace, little awareness that our heavenly Father might ever discipline his children or be grieved by their continued transgression, and a penchant for sloganeering instead of careful nuance.

Bible Reading Plans

Recently I posted on the importance of having a reading plan for the year.  Here are some more ideas for reading plans if you still haven't selected one for this year.

Spurgeon on the "Warning" Passages

A while back I did a series on the preservation and perseverance of the Saints.  This was a look at how God preserves those who belong to Him and how those who truly belong to God will persevere in the faith until the end.  While reading an article by Tom Schreiner on this issue at Credo Magazine, I came across this quote from Charles Spurgeon on the issue of the warning passages (passages that warn us that we must persevere in the faith).  He is saying the reason for these passages which say we must persevere in the faith is that they are one of the means by which God causes those who truly belong to Him to persevere.

But,’ says one, ‘You say they cannot fall away.’ What is the use of putting this ‘if’ in, like a bugbear to frighten children, or like a ghost that can have no existence? My learned friend, ‘Who art thou that repliest against God?’ If God has put it in, he has put it in for wise reasons and for excellent purposes. Let me show you why. First, O Christian, it is put in to keep thee from falling away. God preserves his children from falling away; but he keeps them by the use of means; and one of these is, the terrors of the law, showing them what would happen if they were to fall away. There is a deep precipice: what is the best way to keep any one from going down there? Why, to tell him that if he did he would inevitably be dashed to pieces. In some old castle there is a deep cellar, where there is a vast amount of fixed air and gas, which would kill anybody who went down. What does the guide say? ‘If you go down you will never come up alive.’ Who thinks of going down? The very fact of the guide telling us what the consequences would be, keeps us from it. Our friend puts away from us a cup of arsenic; he does not want us to drink it, but he says, ‘If you drink it, it will kill you.’ Does he suppose for a moment that we should drink it. No; he tells us the consequences, and he is sure we will not do it. So God says, ‘My child, if you fall over this precipice you will be dashed to pieces.’ What does the child do? He says, ‘Father, keep me; hold thou me up, and I shall be safe.’ It leads the believer to greater dependence on God, to a holy fear and caution, because he knows that if he were to fall away he could not be renewed, and he stands far away from that great gulf, because he know[s] that if he were to fall into it there would be no salvation for him.