Answering the Rape Case Objection

Pro-lifers contending for life outside of abortion clinics are very often confronted with the, "Oh yeah, well what about cases of rape?" question. The answer to this question, and the one that it implies, is uncomplicated and direct. We don't believe in aborting babies that are the result of rape for the simple reason that we can distinguish between an offender and a victim.

The man who has committed the rape is an offender and ought to be punished as such. The woman who was raped is a victim and should be regarded and tenderly cared for as such. But the baby that resulted from the rape, like the woman, is a victim as well, and ought to receive the same status and care as the mother. To abort the baby is to treat it like an offender. To abort the baby is to agree with the rapist that using violence against the weak is an acceptable means to obtain what you desire.

Here is the story of a young woman who chose to have the baby that resulted from a date-rape. I pray that the church will rise up in support of the women who make this difficult, but ultimately beautiful choice.

GH

C-C-Courage!

As C. S. Lewis wrote in Mere Christianity, “Courage is not simply one of the virtues, but the form of every virtue at the testing point, which means at the point of highest reality. A chastity or honesty or mercy which yields to danger will be chaste or honest or merciful only on conditions. Pilate was merciful till it became risky.” 

In other words, doing good, and pursuing Christ-like character, is not something to do simply when it is easy. What really counts is when you continue being merciful or generous or justice-seeking or truth-affirming even when it is risky, dangerous, and possibly to your own disadvantage. To be merciful or loving or generous only when it is easy is not to be merciful or loving or generous at all.

Please take a few minutes to read Pastor Toby Sumpter's "call to courage" in the fight to abolish abortion. You can read it here. State sponsored civil disobedience anyone? 

Idonsinkso!

For a few months in 1976 I lived in a Christian Community in the mountains of Kangwando Province, Korea called Jesus Abbey. While there, I taught some of my Korean brothers how to play a card game my family called, “I Doubt It.” But the Koreans had great difficulty pronouncing the word “doubt” so we changed the oft repeated phrase to, “I don’t think so” which they gleefully pronounced as “Idonsinkso!”

Planned Parenthood loves to remind us how they are “all about women’s healthcare” and to minimize the abortion component of their gruesome business model. And every time I hear their spiel I think to myself, “Idonsinkso!” PP recently released its annual report, and unsurprisingly, their own numbers reveal the deceptive nature of its "women's health care" narrative.

The Big Picture:
The big picture shows that the abortion chain is losing clients and reducing what few health services it offers to women, while at the same time increasing its revenues and committing more abortions.

Some Specifics from the Annual Report:

• Abortions are increasing at Planned Parenthood even when they’re declining nationally. The abortion giant committed 328,348 abortions in 2015 vs. 323,999 in 2014. That's nearly 900 abortions every day.

They Offered Their Children to Molech

Pastor John Smith of Evergreen Baptist Church in Cashmere has the distinction of being the only pastor in recent memory to contact the Wenatchee Right-to-Life folk before they reached out to him. Here is a sanctity of life sermon that Pastor John recently preached at his church.

You Are Greatly Loved

In Daniel 9, we have perhaps the best example in all of Scripture of a humble, faithful and painfully specific confession of sin. In this prayer, the prophet Daniel makes much of Israel’s guilt and much of his own, trusting, as St. Paul would later remind God’s children that “where sin increases, [God’s] grace abounds all the more” (Rom. 5:20). And even before Daniel had finished uttering his heartfelt pleas for mercy, the angel Gabriel was dispatched from heaven to tell Daniel that he was “greatly loved” by God, and to help Daniel better understand God’s redemptive purpose and plan.

In the spirit of Daniel’s brutally honest confession of sin, Matt Walsh writes this regarding the sin of abortion in his newly published book, The Unholy Trinity:

"If you find yourself teetering close to the edge of almost believing there might be some faint glimmer of truth or reason left in liberalism, just remember abortion. If ever you're feeling generous enough to assume that liberalism, while morally bankrupt, really means well in the end, simply recall abortion.

Gianna Jessen Testifies Before the House Judiciary Committee

Nice Try, PP

Adam James: Life Matters

IMHO, one of the best sermons that you will ever hear on the sanctity of life. Thanks, Pastor Adam!

GH

3% Figure – 100% Deceitful

Planned Parenthood loves to declare that abortions comprise only 3% of their total "women's healthcare services." This figure is a perfect example of how statistics can be manipulated to deceive. But just for the sake of argument, let's grant PP's claim that the 325,000 abortions that they perform every year only account for 3% of their activities. Should we be encouraged by this figure? Should our concern for the unborn be assuaged? The satirical "Babylon Bee" exposes the twisted logic of PP's 3% claim here. Check it out.

Speaking Truth to Power

When John the Baptist rebuked King Herod for his violations of God's laws regarding sex, marriage and remarriage, he was not guilty of "mixing religion and politics." Rather, John was properly fulfilling the duty of the Church to be the conscience of the state.

Today, Christian ministers ought not to usurp the powers that God has committed to the civil authorities. But pastors, priests and church leaders ought everywhere to "speak truth to power" reminding the civil authorities of what God has revealed and insisting that they pass and enforce laws consistent with God's decrees.

Here is an excellent example of what this looks like in our day.

GH