Pro-life: A Misnomer?
A man in our church recently gave me a copy of a tract he had written, Pro-life: A Misnomer? It's a short and simple read and I encourage you to take a moment to consider the message of this tract.
Here's the opening:
Pro-life: A Misnomer?
A misnomer is an improper use or a misuse of a name. “Pro-choice”, for example, is a misuse of a name; for while they give one person the choice as to whether or not they will murder another, they forever take away the possibility of choice for the one murdered. For this reason the term “pro-choice” is a misleading and gross misuse of a name! It is truly a misnomer.
But what about the name “pro-life”? Flowing beneath the surface of the pro-life movement is a current teeming with various thoughts, beliefs, philosophies, principles and truths that make the movement what it is; many of which are derived from Scripture.
Being pro-life myself, and from my acquaintance with those who would consider themselves pro-life, I do not believe that I would raise any objections at all if I were to assert that the following are four of those Biblical truths that underlie the movement.
1. Life is sacred.
2. God gives life and only God should determine when it ends.
3. God loves the human race in some sense as the bearers of His image.
4. Children are a blessing from the Lord. (Ps. 127:3)
Now while many who consider themselves Christians and pro-life would steadfastly agree with these truths in the context of abortion, notice what happens when we bring the very same truths to bear on the subject of birth control: A strange contradiction in the minds and lives of many in the pro-life movement becomes glaringly apparent.
posted by Crystal Paine at 6:43 PM
5 Comments:
That is so great!!!!! I've had the same thoughts myself!
Yeah, it really blows my mind how the ones who rally against abortion and even volunteer at Pregnancy Resource Centers, will promote using, "The Pill,"
People will welcome swimming pools, second garages, home entertainment centers, and sports cars into their lives, but they won't welcome a child. Something is wrong with this picture....
I am staunchly pro-life. As a young teen/tween, I participated in Pro-Life marches. Fast forward a few years...In my pre-marital counseling, when asked about our family planning, I said "I'll go on the pill" - because that's what everyone around me did. No one said anything to me to the contrary - not using birth control was something those crazy catholics did with the 13 kids. It wasn't until a few months into our marriage that I started reading about the pill, and what it really was - and then from there, the overall idea of trusting God with the creation of life. We're now fully trusting God - 1 baby, 1 miscarriage - but God creates life, takes life, so it's all good. My only caution would be to not get too judgemental with the pro-life segment that uses/supports birth control. I wonder if a lot of them were like me - they had just never heard this other point of view, and associated with protestant/non-denominational christianity - and not just a "catholic" thing(I come from a conservative Christian background, wasn't homeschooled or anything, but it's not like I was in the world completely before marriage) - daily reader
Anonymous -- Excellent thoughts, thanks for taking the time to share. I think it is important that we not be judgmental but be understanding, compassionate, and loving while speaking what we believe. Thank you for sharing your viewpoint. God bless you!
Great tract! I agree with what anonymous said about much of the pro-life community not knowing about the abortifacient aspects of the pill and IUD. This is why we need to be talking about it! Pastors and elders need to be shepherding their congregations in light of the permeation of this very worldly practice. Instead of pastors in pre-marital counseling asking "so, have you lined up which birth control you're going to use?", they ought to be leading the couple through a theology of marriage and procreation. Some couples haven't ever bothered to think that there's a different way (other than Margaret Sanger's way) of thinking about children, the number and spacing of them!
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