With what shall I come to the Lord and bow myself before the God on high? Shall I come to Him with burnt offerings, with yearling calves? Does the Lord take delight in thousands of rams, in ten thousand rivers of oil? Shall I present my first-born for my rebellious acts, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul? He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God? (Micah 6:6-8)
In light of the "silent holocaust" we know as abortion, what are we to do? As those who are committed to the sanctity of all human life, how are we to respond to those who are active participants in the devaluing of human life?
What about those who are taking that life in the abortion clinics around this nation? What should our response be to them? These are questions which not only need to be answered, they need to be answered in light of the biblical truth of the Scriptures. We need to think biblically about abortion action.
The reason we need to have a biblical ethic on how to respond is because of the incredible temptation to take matters into our own hands. Because we see clearly that an abortion is the taking of an innocent human life, we experience a certain amount of outrage, as well we should.
It is so easy to allow that rage to turn into actions that are not Christian. They may be done under the guise of Christian Action organizations, but we must be careful to scrutinize those actions by the measure of God’s Word.
If our actions do not measure up to the ethical requirements of the Word of God, we must bring them in line with how Jesus would have us respond. Otherwise, we will fall into the trap of doing the wrong thing out of the wrong motivation. There are certainly attitudes for us to avoid.
Should we take matters into our own hands and fight fire with fire? It is happening. Look at the news. Some say they are shocked that it happened. Others say they are surprised that it did not happen sooner. Either way, it seems to most thinking people that it was inevitable. The abortion war has finally begun to live up to its name, sadly but predictably escalating from hostile words to violent actions.
In March of this year, Michael Griffin, 31, a chemical operator on a polymer-casting line at Monsanto, fired three shots from a .38 caliber pistol into the back of Dr. David Gunn, a physician who made his living by performing abortions at seven clinics in Florida, Georgia, and Alabama. Dr. Gunn died two hours later.
On August 19, Dr. George Tiller was wounded outside an abortion clinic in Wichita, Kansas, by Rachelle Renae Shannon, an Oregon mother who was active in anti-abortion protests. Dr. Tiller, undaunted, and unwilling to allow himself to be intimidated by anti-abortionists, returned to his abortion practice the following day.
Of course, abortion-rights supporters characterized these incidents not as isolated acts by individuals who crossed the line of rational behavior, but as actions typical of all pro-life groups, which was accused of having an agenda for terrorism.
Both acts of violence were clearly reprehensible and without question should not be condoned by anyone calling himself pro-life. On the other hand, neither should they be characterized in such a manner as to indict all pro-life groups and churches.
In neither case is there any evidence that these two people acted on behalf of any group or church. Sadly, had they been involved in a sound church, perhaps such behavior could have been avoided. The evangelical church, however, should not put its head in the sand, but rather should lift its voice both to condemn such behavior and instruct others in how to oppose abortion in a godly way. This is the real challenge for us.
While it should be no surprise to us that there are people who allow sin to master them in this way, whether abortionists of pro-life advocates, we must be careful not to fight fire with fire. Jesus did not, and I suspect he would not have us do so. We must be careful to avoid the kinds of attitudes that might push us into the thinking that the ends justify the means.
We are told in Romans 12:21, "Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good." (NIV) We must not only stand against abortion, we must stand in the right way.
This brings us to the question of what we can do as Christians in light of this "silent holocaust". We must not do nothing. We are told in Micah 6:8 that the Lord requires us "to do justice, to love kindness, and to walk humbly with . . . God." To take seriously that command means that we cannot sit idly by while millions who cannot speak for themselves are silenced forever.
To do justice means that we must stand for the most helpless and defenseless among us — millions of unborn babies. There is something wrong with a society which closes its eyes to this injustice. And there is certainly something gravely wrong with a church that does the same.
Our moral obligation to society should be shown in our commitment to protect the innocent and weak. Psalm 82:2-4 says, "How long will you judge unjustly, and show partiality to the wicked? Vindicate the weak and fatherless, do justice to the afflicted and destitute. Rescue the weak and needy; deliver them out of the hand of the wicked."
How we choose to cry out for justice may differ. Some have chosen to take a very active role in picketing clinics and engaging in civil disobedience. Others consider such actions as unwise and counter-productive. Of course, no form of violence against those who are pro-abortion is right. As we have said, Christians should not fight fire with fire. Jesus did not.
Over the years I have been engaged in a number of activities in order to take a stand against abortion. We helped organize a chapter of the Virginia Society for Human Life, the organization affiliated with the National Right to Life Committee in Virginia. We marched in the national demonstrations in Washington, D. C., and lobbied members of the House and Senate.
We have held educational meetings and spoken against abortion in churches. All of these things have some merit. To date, however, I have never picketed a clinic or engaged in civil disobedience. I certainly respect those who do and these options should be considered by those seeking to take a stand.
A word of caution however. While I think there is a place for non-violent confrontation, this kind of confrontational activity can quickly escalate into something that does more damage that good. People sometime allow their emotions to take over their sense of ethical behavior and when that happens, they do things they would not normally do and do not want to do.
We cannot afford to be labeled as idiots and crazy people in this struggle. While I agree that sometimes radical measures are necessary to focus the attention of people on the issues, that radical action must be carefully thought through so that it produces the desired effect. If our action degenerates into shouting and shoving matches, then we have lost the battle as well as the war. So be wise as serpents but harmless as doves.
I have been personally impressed with what I feel is a more effective tactic. It is the approach of kindly but clearly sharing the truth via the mass media. The DeMoss Foundation is producing and airing many excellent television commercials concerning the sanctity of human life. They do not attack anyone, but rather present the truth concerning this life within the womb. They are powerful. They’re educational.
It seems to me that they not only fulfill the command to do justice but also the command to love kindness. It seems to me that this kind of thing has the potential to make a big difference in our society. An idea has the power to defeat an idea.
Just as the notion of slavery is considered unthinkable in civilized society, so the notion of killing life in the womb will one day be considered so. If not, we are not going to survive as a civilized society.
To love kindness also means that we should be providing alternatives and care for those who choose to bring these unborn babies into the world.
We cannot be those who simply curse the darkness. If all we do is piously denounce abortion, then we have not done enough. Those who have crisis pregnancies have great needs, and we must be there to help. We must provide help and counseling, housing, doctor’s bills, and adoption to show the love of Jesus to those who are hurting and looking for an alternative to abortion.
One of the things all of us can do in a practical way is being done here at NHCC. We can help support Abba Crisis Pregnancy Center by purchasing certificates which we can redeem dollar for dollar at a number of area supermarkets. They, in turn, will donate five cents on every dollar we spend with them to Abba. They provide an alternative to those who opt for life for unplanned children.
The fact is that every child is already a "wanted child." If the natural mother doesn’t want the child, there are multitudes longing to adopt children. They want the child, and we must make sure that there are ways to bring them together.
We are living in a society which has closed its eyes to major inhumanity. There has been a devaluing of human life for the sake of convenience and comfort. There is much talk of rights, but what of the rights of the unborn? Who will stand for them?
What will be the judgement of history on our generation? In their challenging book, Whatever Happened To The Human Race?, Francis Schaeffer and former Surgeon General C. Everett Koop posed this question,
"Will future generations look back and remember that — even if the 20th century did end with a great surge of inhumanity — at least there was one group who stood consistently, whatever the price, for the value of the individual . . .?"
Will you be part of that group? Will you stand consistently? Will you stand whatever the price? I certainly hope so.
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