The Con of Abortion Debate

This week the US Supreme Court struck down a Texas law regarding abortion clinic safety regulations. You can read more about the facts of the case here from Joe Carter at the Gospel Coalition.

What Walker Percey (American Novelist 1916-1990) wrote to in a letter to the New York Times in 1981 still seems to be quite relevant. Here is an excerpt (whole thing is here):

The current con, perpetrated by some jurists, some editorial writers, and some doctors is that since there is no agreement about the beginning of human life, it is therefore a private religious or philosophical decision and therefore the state and the courts can do nothing about it. This is a con. I will not presume to speculate who is conning whom and for what purpose. But I do submit that religion, philosophy, and private opinion have nothing to do with this issue. I further submit that it is a commonplace of modern biology, known to every high school student and no doubt to you the reader as well, that the life of every individual organism, human or not, begins when the chromosomes of the sperm fuse with the chromosomes of the ovum to form a new DNA complex that thenceforth directs the ontogenesis of the organism. 

Such vexed subjects as the soul, God, and the nature of man are not at issue. What we are talking about and what nobody I know would deny is the clear continuum that exists in the life of every individual from the moment of fertilization of a single cell. 

There is a wonderful irony here. It is this: The onset of individual life is not a dogma of the church but a fact of science. How much more convenient if we lived in the 13th century, when no one knew anything about microbiology and arguments about the onset of life were legitimate. Compared to a modern textbook of embryology, Thomas Aquinas sounds like an American Civil Liberties Union member. Nowadays it is not some misguided ecclesiastics who are trying to suppress an embarrassing scientific fact. It is the secular juridical-journalistic establishment. 

Please indulge the novelist if he thinks in novelistic terms. Picture the scene. A Galileo trial in reverse. The Supreme Court is cross-examining a high school biology teacher and admonishing him that of course it is only his personal opinion that the fertilized human ovum is an individual human life. He is enjoined not to teach his private beliefs at a public school. Like Galileo he caves in, submits, but in turning away is heard to murmur, “But it’s still alive!” 

To pro-abortionists: According to the opinion polls, it looks as if you may get your way. But you’re not going to have it both ways. You’re going to be told what you’re doing.

"Should I Attend a Homosexual Wedding?"

This past Sunday I mentioned an article by Kevin DeYoung in which he gives his response to the question of whether Christians should attend a homosexual wedding if the ceremony is entirely secular.

In short, as personally painful as it may be, and as much as the world will call us names and castigate our motives, those who believe marriage is between a man and a woman should not attend a ceremony that purports to be the marrying of a man and a man or a woman and a woman, even if that ceremony is completely secular in nature.

In the article he gives three reasons to support this view (which I agree with).

1. The purpose of a wedding ceremony is to celebrate and solemnize.
2. Wedding ceremonies are almost always public in nature.
3. The stark either/or options are not of our making.(referring to the "either you care about me and come or you don't care about me" proposition we might face). 

Under this last point he writes

If traditional Christians have to learn to love gay and lesbian friends and family members despite decisions they disagree with, then gays and lesbians should learn to love their Christian friends and families despite decisions they disagree with. We should take time to hear why our attendance means so much to them. And then, hopefully, they will take time to hear why our faith in Christ and obedience to the Bible mean so much to us.

I encourage you to read the whole article. It is worth reading, thinking about, and talking about with fellow Christians. I know this is something we will face (even afterwards someone told me they already faced this question at work). Let's have thought about it ahead of time so that we are ready to respond with convictional kindness. We want to glorify God and love our neighbors. It takes wisdom to do that. 

Thinking about the Tragedy in Orlando

It wasn't until after our worship service  on Sunday that I heard there had been a massacre in an Orlando night club. Two things come to mind in regards to this:

First, anytime I hear of a tragedy like this I am reminded of Jesus' words when he was asked about similar events in his day:

There were some present at that very time who told [Jesus] about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices [a massacre]. And he answered them, “Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans, because they suffered in this way? No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.

Tragedies like this serve to call us to consider the fragility and brevity of life. It also calls us to consider that all of us have a sin problem and that we must repent before the judge of the universe. Our neighbors need the hope of God's salvation through Jesus. There is no room for self-righteousness. Times like this are a call to self-evaluation and offering the only true and lasting hope to those around us.

Second, we ought to weep with those who weep. We realize that all those lives that were slain and all those family members grieving are image bearers- made in God's image. That, in and of itself, gives us reason to cry over the evil that was committed.

If you are still processing the events of this weekend, I encourage you to listen to Albert Mohler's briefing podcast from Monday, June 13, 2016. It is about 20 minutes long and helpfully reminds us of how Christians ought to think and grieve and offer the hope of the gospel.

What is Christian Prayer?

According to John Piper, "Prayer is the essential activity of waiting for God - acknowledging our helplessness and His power, calling upon Him for help, seeking His counsel...Prayer is the antidote for the disease of self-confidence, which opposes God's goal of getting glory by working for those who wait for Him" (Desiring God, pg. 170-171).

Prayer glorifies God by our recognition that we need Him to act and work for us. And, prayer is a filling up of our joy in God. These twin truths are seen by comparing John 14:13 and 16:24

Whatever you ask in my name, this I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. (John 14:13) 

Until now you have asked nothing in my name. Ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full. (John 16:24). 

The reason prayer brings joy is that it is fellowship with our beloved God, and because through His response to our prayers we are equipped for serving Him, which brings us delight.