When abortion is labeled as murder; when doctors who perform them are considered to be perpetrators of mass genocide; when pictures of dismembered fetuses are used as anti-abortion propaganda; when nothing short of God’s wrath is brought to bear on anyone who as much as considers voting for a candidate who is clearly pro-abortion; and when all this comes from a place of authority in the church which God established, against which the gates of hell cannot prevail, does anyone consider what this might do to women in the congregation who have actually had abortions, and men who know that their irresponsibility caused them?
My guess is: No. This perspective is not given consideration largely because of Evangelical Myth #1: No good church-going Christian has ever had an abortion or gotten someone pregnant. Certainly if you’ve been exposed to a lot of preaching on the subject, this would have to be a foregone conclusion.
Yet common sense and any knowledge of human nature would tell you this myth can’t possibly be true, and statistics bear this out. One study puts it as high as one in three – that’s one in three women in your typical evangelical church has had at least one abortion. How can people listen to such flammable rhetoric with the knowledge of their own guilt on their conscience? I can’t even begin to imagine.
There is a much-needed perspective here found, of all places, right in the middle of the Ten Commandments – between number 3 and number 4: “I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, but showing love to a thousand generations of those who love me and keep my commandments” (Exodus 20:5-6). Notice the comparison of God’s love to his punishment. He will punish the evil he finds for four generations, he will reward the love he finds for a thousand. Mathematically speaking that’s 1,000 to 4, or 250 to 1. God’s love and mercy trumps his punishment 250 to 1.
Our messages need to be similarly proportioned. Grace over guilt, 250 to 1. People need to know they are welcome in our fellowship, not because they haven’t sinned, but because God’s overwhelming grace has made their sin irrelevant.
John Fischer The Catch 
What a refreshing change to hear something like this. I agree there is untold emotional damage done when the abortion message is preached without the love of God being included. Also it is good to think of the men involved, one time when I was on Prayer Ministry and the Pastor had been preaching against abortion a man, who was a visitor to our church, came out and we thought he was looking for the toilets, we were totally amazed when he bust into tears and shared with us how at university he had been involved with a girl and insisted she had an abortion. We as a ministry felt very honoured by God that He had brought this man into our church to hear that message not only the sin but the love of God for His children , and receive from God emotional healing for himself. He was also able to pray for the girl involved. Due to his actions she had not beeen able to forgive him and the relationship broke up. Clearly we can see one emotioanl trauma on another. thank you very, very much for this ‘catch’, as always a ‘word’ in season.
Aileen Callender – UK
This is so true. My mother, now in her 80s, told me through tears, about an abortion she had after her third child (and before me & my brother). All the years had passed and she still grieves. I had never thought of what this must do to her to hear a sermon, etc. re: abortion until today. I would think that God, in His love and mercy, knows how hearts like my mother’s grieves. I have been asked by people who are sobbing out their secrets, if God hates them. I always tell them…God knows your heart.
So true! I once heard this message from a pastor of a church I was visiting. It went something like this…
This particular pastor was talking to a girl about abortion. She told him that he really didn’t care about her, it was more the fact that he and most “Pro-life were really Anti-Abortion. She said that people cared more about whether she got an abortion than about her. Who was going to take care of her when her family threw her out and who was going to take care of her and her baby when she couldn’t afford to take care of her baby and who was going to take the time to help her with her baby. Pro-lifers only care about girls/women not having abortion instead of the lives that it is saving. Are you willing to get in there and show Christ’s love? Are you more concerned about being Pro-Life or are you just Anti-Abortion?
Good. Thank you, John.
Once again, John, thank you for your inspired insight. In this post you are making reference only to the impact of this attitude on those within the body of Chirst. And you are right on target. I am also deeply concerned about the millions of non-believers who have been totally and eternally turned-off to the message of the gospel as a result of this same kind of rhetoric, and the corresponding political activity which those outside the church view as a part of our doctrine and our faith. It is not part of our faith, and should never have been permitted to rise to such a prominent place in our teachng. Thank you for being willing to stand against this modern form of heresy.
Please see: http://www.christianityreborn.blogspot.com/
John,
Actually, I’ve found that the places that preach most strongly about abortion are also the most compassionate towards those in their congregation who have actually had one. It’s just like any other time when one preaches about sin and yet are merciful to the sinner.
Jesus, who was (and is) the most merciful to us who sin, has the example. First he rebukes those who would stone the woman caught in adultery, saying, let the one who is without sin cast the first stone.
Then, when the accusers all are gone, he says to the woman “Where are the ones who condemn you?….Neither do I condemn you. Go and sin no more.”
He didn’t consider her sin “irrelevant,” instead it is something serious. But he forgave her and had mercy on her in spite of her sin. And that mercy encourages her to be better, as it does for us all.
I am thankful that I attend a church where there is balance…”a hospital for sinners, not just a haven for saints.” I know there are people who love, give their time, compassion, energy (and it takes a lot) so that women who are guilt-ridden some who have been for years) can know the freedom of forgiveness–it’s a process of keeping on reminding them that God loves them, offers pardon, gives them “hope and a future.” Then, the goal is to get the message out there…that abortion has its conseq
I am one of those women. I grew up in church and turned my back in my late teens. Years passed 2 unplanned children and 2 abortions later I found myself standing in church again. Jesus reached out for me and I ran back to Him.
I want to say every year on Mother’s day I think about the two children I will never know… but I don’t; and somehow that make me feel even more ashamed.
I do know that God has forgiven me. That I am covered by his grace and love.
I still have not spoken this to my friends at church; I am worried that the judges will come out in my friends. One day I know that I will be at the right place at the right time to help another woman faced with ‘a problem that she sees no answer to’ and I know that day will be filled with tears but God will be speaking to her through the words I will speak.
Thank you for that perspective, John. It sometimes seems like it’s the other way around: that “religious” people scream 250 times louder about sin and damnation — for anything — than they do about grace, love and redemption. Even in the church where I fellowship, which is notable for the love and diversity and welcoming spirit that envelopes anyone who walks through its doors, there are times when the “political” element is introduced as though, as you put it, no Christian in that building had ever committed a sin of any kind. Maybe religious folk do that to drown out the fact that they, themselves, have failed in loving and extending grace: the very things that win souls to Christ and prevent abortions from happening. What if Jesus, when the Pharisees had brought Him the woman taken in adultery, had gone into a rant about the sins of adultery and fornication? The Pharisees would have applauded and the woman would have been the one who slunk away. If we are doing our jobs, there could be an abortion clinic on every block, legal, fully funded with tax dollars … and closed for lack of business.
This has always been my issue with picketing, shouting at women that are entering an abortion facility, and so much of the Church’s condemnation of abortion. It needs to be condemned, but having talked with women that have had abortions, and fathers of aborted babies, it breaks my heart and I cringe when people shout murderer etc. Grace is greater then our sin and we need to be about sharing that message loud and clear. I remember having a heated discussion with someone and they asked me, “What do you think Jesus would say, to a woman that had just had an abortion?”
I said, “Jesus would be there with her, and with love in his eyes, stretch out his arms and say, ‘I love you. I died for such as this.”
Amen ! And this is to be our message.
Here’s another question, Janet: what would Jesus say to a woman considering an abortion? My guess — not too far from yours — that He would remind her (if there are economic reasons) about sparrows and lilies of the field and how much more would the Father care for her and her baby … and, if there was an element of shame or family rejection, that the Father took care of Ishmael after he and his mother had been cast out of the household.
Seems to me the Biblical truth is the value of all human life. That is our basis for rejecting abortion as a right option but looking at every person who may have had an abortion as valuable too. Valuable enough to be sure their failure does not get magnified by us to their exclusion. Drew, good application in recalling Ishmael, a victim of Abraham’s sin really.
It’s that tension between hating the sin and loving the sinner. I think John is right, that we are not being as clear, and loud as we should be. The message about God’s love, grace and mercy is drowned out by the condemnation. I remember leading a Bible Study and several women kept denouncing abortion and making all sorts of comments about how sad for the babies with reference to God’s mercy. I finally said, “God’s mercy extends to that woman as well.” It wasn’t until the end of the study, when I asked the group to tell us what helped them the most in the study, that one of the women courageously, timidly, and tearfully admitted that she had had an abortion. She needed to hear of God’s mercy. No one knew. No one would have guessed.
Your point, John, is “spot on.” I’m pretty sure I wouldn’t have worded it quite as you did, but I do not dispute the observation at all (other than the “1 in 3” statistic; my gut tells me that simply cannot be even close – not to say it’s “rare” in the church). But in an environment where much of the prevailing culture considers it “tissue” rather than “a baby,” how does one be faithful to God’s message without pointing out “abortion is murder”? In the church, I’m pretty confident almost all KNOW that to be the case, intuitively. That is, of course, why women grieve over it. Our task (at which we’re largely failing) is how to say to the culture, “This is wrong and must not be considered appropriate,” while saying to that fallen believer in the pew, “Neither do I condemn you; go your way, and sin no more.” If we ever figure that out, maybe we can get somewhere.
I like John’s article but also had trouble with the 1-in-3 statistic in the church. A large part of the problem is that “victims” are swayed by the lies of our culture, desperate women going into the clinics, being counseled and convinced that “it’s no big deal, over and done in a few minutes.” That’s just not true!! We do have a long way to go in figuring out how to show love and compassion while at the same time being honest in proclaiming the truth that a baby is a life, not just a mass of tissue.
I am thankful that I attend a church where there is balance…”a hospital for sinners, not just a haven for saints.” I know there are people who love, give their time, compassion, energy (and it takes a lot) so that women who are guilt-ridden some who have been for years) can know the freedom of forgiveness–it’s a process of keeping on reminding them that God loves them, offers pardon, gives them “hope and a future.” Then, the goal is to get the message out there…that abortion has its consequences… and put effort into building a fence at the top of the hill rather than to run an aumbulance in the valley below after someone has gone over.
AMEN!! I am one.. and I know my sins are washed away, we can all be “goodie two shoes” around each other in church, but there are sins strewn upon the whole lot, because God said.. no, not one.. is sinless. He also said no sin worse than the other, all are sins in His eyes.. so if you cheat on your taxes, and you are sitting next to a mom who chose abortion years ago, who is the better??
Thank you Janice for boldly standing in God’s grace. I am so glad you made it through to find His grace. From your experience, do you think that the 1 in 3 statistic is accurate? Several here seem to think it is too high.
it is probably more true than church goers realize.. though my experience was years ago… i don’t think it’s too high
A number of years ago, a beautiful school teacher, wife of the town’s doctor, mother of four, was too interested in a copy of Christianity Today that I had, with a cover article on abortion. This was back when abortion was illegal, if you can remember. She was our church organist. I found out after I left that ministry that she had gone to one of my predecessors in a nearby town for counseling, because she had become pregnant with a fifth and her husband would tolerate no more children in his house. She had been through a horror.
But, today I am caught between grace and a sense that there is no longer any sense of sin, there is no longer any sense of guilt, and so there is no longer any appreciation of grace that drives people to respond to our Lord in the kind of love that leads us to true surrender to His Lordship.
Amen. Sweet sweet grace, to give and to receive.
It’s pretty obvious you’ve touched a hot button today, John, and these testimonies are sweet to read.
Why preach against anything from the pulpit? Why not just stand up there and say that anything you choose to do is acceptable to God? I believe that abortion is just like any other sin such as homosexuality, lying, stealing, gossiping, adultery and the list goes on and on. If you have these things in your past, which all of us have something that we are guilty of, you find forgiveness at the cross and then move forward with your life in Christ, striving to not revisit or re-commit those offenses. Jesus told the woman, “…neither do I condemn you. Go and sin no more.” God’s grace and love is sufficient to cover all our sins and all our guilt when we turn to Him in repentance and faith. Our past is our past and God remembers it no more, though we and others love to keep reminding us of just how bad we used to be before we came to Christ Jesus. God does not however give us a free pass to continue on in our sinful ways. To do so with the belief that “God will forgive me anyway” makes us guilty of the sin of presumption, which in my opinion can be very dangerous.
I was someone who lived with the miserable guilt of an abortion for almost 30 long years. God called me just last week to admit to my husband (after 20 years of secrecy) that I had had the abortion. I did and it went well. Your devotional is a gift that could not have come at a better time!
Thank you.
I live around the corner from Planned Parenthood and the people with the giant posters of fetus’ are there almost every day. they are also at the community college where i work. I think many things when i see them, but i’m not brave enough to stop and discuss it. I wonder how many people they are wounding and sending AWAY from the church by these tactics. To those who doubt the 1 in 3 stat–how many in the church have other sins?–and yet hide them from the church. this is not one of those things that if you count off nine women at random, 3 will have had an abortion–but i believe that the number is high.
I’m going to have to take your word for that, John, because I’ve never, ever heard such a myth.
Maybe I’m in an unusually compassionate church, but the message that we’re given is that abortion IS murder, but that God forgives it when we ask just as He forgives every other sin.
And my sister had a crisis pregnancy of her own, under really, really bad circumstances (as if there were any good circumstances in such a case, I know). So I’m not living in some ivory tower on this one, believe me.
Can you imagine if, during the holocaust, A minister of the word stood up and spoke about how we should stop preaching against the killing of the Israelites and instead have more compassion on the Nazis…….because Jesus was more about compassion than condemnation?
Corey, that the number of abortions performed since Roe v Wade is comparable to the Holocaust, i.e. the destruction of innocent life, I understand. But are you comparing women in crisis to Nazis? Unfair. Should the destruction of innocent human life be condemned, yes. Should a woman who has had an abortion be condemned, no.
That’s a great “what if”, Corey: what if someone had done that? Does not forgiveness and compassion, even in the face of horrendous brutality, invite God over the situation? Who knows what miracles would have followed? Besides, let’s remember that many Christian churches — certainly in Canada — showed how they cared for the Israelites by influencing their government to turn away the Saint-Louis, a ship carrying Jewish refugees. The ship eventually returned to Europe and most of its passengers died in the concentration camps.
Go back and reread what Corey wrote. The cessation of preaching against the killing of the Jews would be compassionate? Really??
I do not think that word means what you think it means.
Quite right, Gina: I went off half-cocked there. I didn’t mean to say replace preaching against the killing of Jews with preaching of compassion towards Nazis; but I do believe that part of the Christian walk is to take both positions at once in the name of the calling of Christ. I don’t think they’re contradictory.
Drew, I think you make a valid point. Taking both positions is not contradictory. It’s part of what should set a Christian apart. And it is so very hard to do at times. We walk a very fine line between compassion and compromise, judgement and forgiveness. Abortion is murder but a lack of love toward those who have had one is just as sinful. It is so good to come to places like this and have reasonable discussions with people who’s only desire, from where I see it, is to serve to Lord. We struggle daily with how to do that but God’s grace honors the person who honestly and humbly wants to do the right thing.
Thanks John,
Here again, I say AMEN to your piece. Remember the OLE song “They’ll know we are Christians by our love” So let ‘s show each other that we are Christians by our love, and not our condemnations.
We have recently started attending a church that has been labled “Seeker Friendly”.
We have Christian friends who have made comments that we won’t “grow” there. I really don’t believe that for a minute, and have already seen how Christ is changing me, (for the good). But in the midst of this change in our lives, I have had some doubts about the so called seeker friendy church, but thanks to this piece, you have reaffirmed that this is where God wants us. A place where we can show our love to others by the power of Jesus within us.
Wow…”flammable rhetoric”…really? It’s called the TRUTH. I can’t imagine belittling the SIN of abortion because we might hurt someone’s feelings.
First of all, to specifically address your “abortion list”. Abortion IS MURDER, see the 6th commandment. Doctors who perform them ARE MURDERERS and ARE perpetrators of mass genocide. How can pictures of dismembered fetuses be anti-abortion propaganda? They’re not an artist’s rendition, they are the graphic EVIL truth and are evidence of the MURDER & slaughter of millions of innocent babies.
“When nothing short of God’s wrath is brought to bear on anyone who as much as considers voting for a candidate who is clearly pro-abortion”, yes that’s called DISCERNMENT, it’s in the Bible too. As Christians we are to discern good from evil. Anyone who is pro-abortion is promoting & supporting MURDER plain and simple. Those who have been deceived into voting for such a candidate need to be informed so that they can repent and turn away from that wickedness.
You ask, “Does anyone consider what this might do to women in the congregation who have actually had abortions, and men who know that their irresponsibility caused them?” Yes, they need to know that because of their participation in, support of, and having an abortion they are directly responsible for the MURDER of an innocent child. They need to know that all are welcome in God’s house. That all have sinned and have fallen short of the glory of God. They need to know of God’s grace & love. Let’s not forget however, that in order to receive that grace and His forgiveness they have understand that THEY are responsible, the baby didn’t commit suicide. They need to accept that it IS SIN, and they need to REPENT of the sin(s) they committed by having/performing/supporting the abortion(s) and ask for God’s forgiveness.
We all have to be able to call SIN what it is and not worry about being politically correct and hurting other’s feelings. It would be better to temporarily upset someone than to lead them astray into eternal damnation because we refused to call abortion what it is…MURDER = SIN which is punishable by death.
Let’s not tiptoe around the real issue here, we can’t sit around and worry about possibly hurting someone’s feelings. The problem is, no one wants to admit that our country that was founded on God’s Word and commandments could be responsible for the MURDER & slaughter of over 40 million innocent children of God. No one wants to hear about or see the pictures of the horrible EVIL death sentences that have been surgically performed on over 40 million innocent children of God. Everyone wants to bury their heads in the sand and pretend that it hasn’t happened and isn’t happening. It’s called an “inconvenient truth” just like those that want to pretend that the Jewish Holocaust which killed 6-9 million or about 25% of the number of murders our country is responsible in abortions alone, never happened.
God said that we are “WITHOUT EXCUSE”. Everyone knows abortion is wrong. However, not everyone will stand up and truthfully call it what it is. If more Christians did this, if we preached more about the fact that there are eternal consequences for our actions, and the need to repent and turn from our wicked ways; then not only would everyone feel more welcome as “The Truth shall set ye free”, but more women would say NO to abortion and more doctors would refuse to perform abortions. That’s the bigger picture here, not someone’s degree of “feeling welcome”.