Abortion and sacrificing principles for the sake of expediency

You’re probably aware that abortion is back in the current events spotlight. That is, unless you’ve just emerged from a dandy of a camping trip backpacking off grid through the north woods with nothing but your tackle box, a pocket New Testament, some beef jerky, and an aggressive ambition to prove the existence of Sasquatch. But that’s neither here nor there. Regardless, if you’ve been listening to your talk radio in a box, or your podcasts with a fox, you're probably pretty fired up right now. And if you're not fired up I’m guessing you're either the Christ himself dwelling in perfect peace, or you’ve completely given over to apathy. My guess is the latter.

People act like abortion is a big deal. That’s because it is a big deal. At the very least, and I mean very least, abortion cuts short the formation of a human life in it’s beginning stages of development. Properly speaking, abortion ends human life no matter how you spin it. And this is of course why even the pro choice folks admit that abortion is a solemn undertaking not to be trifled with. It’s a weighty matter. But we’re not after the very least or the bare minimum; we are after the truth. 

And the truth is abortion is the killing of innocent children who have not had the chance to exit their mothers womb; an opportunity you and I thankfully had. And the killing of the innocent is great wickedness in the sight of God (Ex 23:7). And as Christians we are called to avoid wickedness as an abomination (Pr 8:7). And as we are called to fear God and obey his commands, the writer in proverbs reminds us that fear of the Lord is also hatred of evil (Pr 8:13). So to put it bluntly, bible clinging Christians are called to hate the practice of abortion. Abortion is stuck in our craw because it’s stuck in God’s.

But what really has my attention during this round of the abortion fight is how deeply unpopular the biblical pro life position is in the mainstream of popular culture and popular politics. And just like any other issue that is deeply divisive, holding to principles can be costly. This is especially the case when we’re dealing with principles as wooden as the sanctity of human life. The biblical position is pretty firm, like that trailer hitch you keep banging your shins on. It’s not going anywhere. And when applied to abortion, the popular culture is torching our principles, and remember they’re wood, so they’re on fire, and fire is hot and hard to hold. You get it.

It was Jesus who made the very ominous statement that whoever denies God before men will be denied by God as they stand before his throne in heaven (Mt 10:33). If I’m honest this makes me sweat a little bit. Because I know the weakness and sin in my own heart that tempts me to take the path of least resistance. I don’t want to hold to biblical principles when they're on fire. Unlike my union boilermaker grandpa who had ‘asbestos hands’ as my Uncle put it, I’d rather just drop the smoking thing and leave it on the table like the sizzling fajitas I get when the wife and I go out for Mexican. 

And this raises my main issue—political and social expediency. Joe Biden perfectly illustrates this for us. For decades, Biden has consistently voted and supported pro life legislation. According to him this was based on principle that life begins at conception. Because, as you know, Joe is a self identified “devout Catholic.” And the official teaching of the Catholic church is the official teaching of the Bible on the matter. Abortion is morally wrong. But over the years Biden has capitulated on the issue of abortion for the sake of political expediency. And recently he has been quoted in saying that he no longer believes life begins at conception, and that abortion is a fundamental human right because it is healthcare, and access to healthcare is a right every human should possess. He is singing the familiar chorus of the popular secular progressives because if he doesn’t he wont get invited back to keep playing in their band.

I draw your attention to this because it is the loudest example of a temptation every Christian faces frequently. Whether it’s in the House of Representatives or on the playground at recess, every person must face the inevitable moment when holding to biblical convictions and principles are at odds with winning popularity and social approval. Practicing the way of Jesus leaves no room for playing fast and loose with the truth for the sake of gaining popularity or votes. This is true for the teenager who is faced with the decision to stick by a friend even when that friend is ‘uncool’ and is being laughed at by the popular friends, and to be seen with them is to commit social suicide in the halls of the high school. And it is also true for the politician who is faced with being caught on the ‘wrong side of history.’ 

There is no room for political or social expediency as we follow Jesus because he calls us to consistency. Practicing the way of Jesus means practicing ‘whole person righteousness.’ Jesus calls us to “be perfect” as God is perfect (Mt 5:48). That word perfect means 'whole '. We are called to be whole followers of Jesus. The idea is that God is the same person on the inside as he is on the outside. God does not hold to personal religious convictions in his heart and then act publicly in a way that contradicts those convictions. That would be to act hypocritically. And God is not a hypocrite. Therefore, followers of Jesus are called to put hypocritical ways behind them and seek to live out their beliefs consistent in all of life. This is ultimately because Jesus is really King not just over our hearts, but our heads and our hands as well. 

Another way of saying this would be to say worship God with all your heart. Or as the Psalmist says, “Unite my heart to fear your name” (Ps 86:11). Following God with a united and whole heart leaves no room for political or social expediency because it demands consistency, and it leaves no room for religious compartmentalization. The idea that it is wrong to bring our religious beliefs to the school board or the governor's desk because it is “imposing” them becomes ridiculous. God calls us to impose our beliefs everywhere we go. Because if we are truly seeking to bring God glory in all that we do, then our entire life becomes an imposition of God’s glory. You might then say, well Nick, that sounds an awful lot like the Taliban. Sure it does. In the basic sense that they are striving to live all their life consistently out of an all encompassing worldview. That’s why their evil is so difficult to snuff out. They are consistently evil. The key difference is in the way we Christians go about imposing our beliefs. And fortunately for us Jesus is the way and the truth. And his way of imposing was to lay his life down in self sacrificial love. He never shrank back from proclaiming truth and he quite literally took his principles to the grave. 

So my take on the abortion drama is that it is highlighting yet again another fork in the road for the Biblical Christian. Will we follow the popular culture of death because we don’t want to die to ourselves? Or will we follow the culture of life, the life of Jesus, even if it costs us popularity, status, or even someday our own life?