In the context of the abortion issue, what would it mean to live by faith. Would it mean to take the word of a preacher that life within the womb is a person in its own right? Would it mean to take the word of a scientist who supports or rejects the idea of a fetus being a person? At this point my mind drifts back to when I was a boy, to a book that was required reading when I was in high school: “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness … it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair.”[1] We live in a time when we have most everything at our fingertips. All the work has been done for us, all we need to do is play the game!
Nevertheless, faith isn’t that way. I cannot have faith for you, and you cannot have faith for me. There is work to be done here, but I fear that, because we live in such a wonderful age that the tedious jobs are done for us by machines, we won’t have the desire to actually labor in the Scriptures to understand what the Lord has created on our behalf. Our pastors lead us in the way we should go (some often telling us the way we should go), and we are often too willing to let them not only lead us but also believe for us, and, with all due respect for the pastoral gift the Lord has given his church, this is dangerous. Too much power vested in a single individual is never good, not for the one who has been empowered, nor for the people who have empowered him (or her).
As I claimed in a previous study, I have been on both sides of this issue, and I know the difficulty for either side to admit error. For me abortion is a tragedy, no matter what the facts are, but it isn’t murder. Is the tragedy sinful? Perhaps, it can be sinful, but for the sake of the health or life of the mother, I believe it is justified, not sinful. For the sake of the woman who was raped, it, too, is a tragedy that is justified, and there are other instances whereby abortion is a viable means to prevent a tragedy from becoming even more harmful. I don’t believe abortion should be used as an alternative for responsibility or for a means of birth control, but even these opinions against abortion are subjective. They are my opinions and others have theirs. It is for freedom’s sake that Christ has set us free (Galatians 5:1), and I believe we need to let others be free to do what is legal and doesn’t unduly hurt another person, even when what is done makes us (i.e. those who do not have a part in the decision) uncomfortable, displeased, perhaps even angry over what was done. The woman’s body is hers, not mine and not yours. It is hers, and she has been set free by Christ.
The church I used to attend (I moved) often sang a particular hymn called Nothing Is Impossible. The original is sung by a popular Australian band by the name of Planetshakers, and its lyrics are the work of one of the group’s members, Joth Hunt. The theme of the hymn is not important to the point of this study,[2] but a few of its lines are truisms that would fit most any context in our walk with Christ:
“Through You, blind eyes are opened, strongholds are broken. I am living by faith… I’m not gonna live by what I see. I’m not gonna live by what I feel” (Joth Hunt – Nothing Is Impossible).
Whichever side of the abortion issue you are on, you have to admit that the beliefs on the other side are a ‘stronghold’ that must be broken down. According to Joth Hunt, and according to the Bible, this can only be done through Christ. It can’t be done by the government, or by belonging to the Democratic or Republican party. And, contrary to decades of effort, it cannot and will not be done by the Supreme Court. The Scriptures forbid us to go to the state to solve spiritual issues (Isaiah 30:1-2). We cannot and must not empower the government to do what the Gospel says should be done, because the Lord receives no glory from such a thing—the politicians do. The power that crucified Christ (the power of the state) will never advance the Gospel of Christ. It’s for freedom’s sake that Christ has set us free. I’m living by faith that the Gospel, not the Supreme Court will solve this issue. I’m not living by what I see, nor by what I feel. Seeing is not believing! It is when you don’t see, but trust Christ to honor his word through the Gospel being preached, that you can say in the integrity of your heart that you are living by faith.
________________________________________________
[1] opening lines of Tale of Two Cities (1859), Charles Dickens.
[2] See my previous studies on the abortion issue: Is Abortion Murder; When Does Human Life Begin; A Pro-Life Argument Addressed; Abortion, an Argument from Logic; What Is the Breath of God. This present study will be my final offering in this series. Perhaps I’ll add something later, but I don’t anticipate doing so.
Smoodock's Blog 