Right now in the U.S. Presidential election of 2008 the American public are discussing the topic of Abortion. It seems that nearly everyone is frustrated with this topic for a number of reasons. Whether you feel that the issue is being exploited for political gain or you feel that it is the only issue a Christian can see clearly on in this tumultuous race, many folks are fighting a battleground of the mind to figure out have to come to some comfortable balance within themselves.
I read a comment on a blog recently that brought some very well thought out ideas on the issue of abortion during this current debate. As an admitted Christian the issue of abortion was definitely on the mind of the commenter. At the same time, the individual expressed heartfelt concern with the issues of ministry to the poor and justice against issue like corporate greed. For that writer, it wasn't that they were toiling over supporting abortion (which is complicated enough when you start to think about abortion in it's variations: partial birth, morning after, medical life-saving birth abortion, case of incest and rape, abortion as birth control, etc.) as much as the fact that they were skeptical that it would really be changed under either candidate and whether or not they could see a greater opportunity to make advanced in ministry to the poor and justice with regard to corporate and personal greed. Said another way, nobody could misunderstand their desire to advocate for their spiritual values, rather it was a debate as to which values were going to be the priority in this election.
Honestly, I personally support this writers personal dilemma and I don't want to undervalue it. At the same time I understand how someone could think that maybe this issue is simply being exploited for political gain. To be fair, on either side the candidates are adamantly in support of the opposite end of the issue when it comes to their voting records, speeches and published goals. So it isn't too difficult to build a reasonable case that would demonstrate that both McCain and Obama are pandering to either side for their respective votes. So how do you navigate these waters? If you thought I was going to arrogantly tell you how, then either way you would be making an over investment in my ego. At best I feel like I can put myself out there and explain the road I am walking down.
In this world of information overload no issue seems simple anymore. No matter how many polls you are reading, or scientific journals you are pouring over, or Bible verses you have amassed, it seems that no information is enough information so much that we can feel certain about anything anymore. This feeling is exaggerated by watching old T.V. preachers over-simplify issues. The result of this is a reasonable sentiment against simply adhering to the announced agenda of the “Christian Right,” even if the “Christian Right” is actually as elusive as the “Them” or “The Man.” As a Christians I find myself often being accused of but not always falling into the position of the elusive “Christian Right.” But this is a stereotype like any other, even if there is a measure of truth to it.
As a result of a crippling exhaustion to consider all of the complication of any real world issue, in the end people say stuff like “clarity is overrated.” In the Christian world a gentleman by the name of Brian McLaren stated this notion the most clearly in one of his books. What he said specifically is that clarity is difficult hence overrated, and at the same time we are completely underrating the mystery that is Christianity. McLaren is not a fan of propositional theology, meaning he doesn't support the idea that we can look at the Bible and infer some values. In his writing, this is cause of the clarity obsession. I agree with McLaren and believe that there is a beautiful mystery in the Christian faith. This mystery is how Jesus could make such an amazing decision to trade his earthly life for ours as an ultimate gift of personal sacrifice. I think many Christians feel the same way and want to focus on this as by far the major Christian issue. Having said that, here is where the issue of underrating clarity kind of breaks down. In the book following McLaren previous books where he endorsed underrating clarity he said, “In one of my previous books, is said that clarity is sometimes overrated and that intrigue is correspondingly undervalued. But here I want to say – clearly ...” and McLaren went on to craft a statement using modern systematic theological techniques. I think McLaren nailed the point. Let's unpack it a bit. In some cases we struggle to gain a clear view of how to feel about an issue that is absent from the Bible. I think there are plenty of issues that do exist that fall into that category and the fact that some Christian folks get crazy pulling scriptures out of context to craft goofy support for some hard-edged religious dogma has resulted in many jaded Christians. But surely, like McLaren is showing here, clarity or truth or rightness isn't wrong and we shouldn't be afraid of stating it or believing it in cases where it is more clearly outlined in the Bible. David in the Old Testament talked about loving God's law and went on to say in the Psalms that there is blessing intended by God for us in knowing it and following it. Jesus talked about the law being made for us, not so that we can mistreat or ignore it, but so that we can learn from it and be blessed by it. Said another way, the word of God is “for us” and is made to bring blessing into our lives in a very New Testament context and we should avoid bending it by either disregarding it because “clarity is overrated” or abusing it through proof-texting by cherry-picking a number of scriptures out of context to create some convoluted or overstated view.
So I am thinking about this stuff. And I want to know what or if the Bible says anything about the issues the blog commenter above wrote about. Not as a matter of heartless adherence like some “Christian Right” atomaton. As a friend of Jesus, I want to know what the Bible says is His heart on the matter. There is also this issue of the Kingdom of God. This metaphor is where the concept of the “Lordship of Christ” comes from. Being around the faith for a long time, sometimes the phrase “Lord Jesus” just becomes a jumble of words. But the Bible explains the meaning of this concept of Lordship as a reference to the role of Jesus as “King” in that “Kingdom.” So, again Jesus my friend is speaking to my heart (and the hearts of Christians who are making it a point to listen, likely including you if you fall into that group) about these matters. As well, I am going to naturally subordinate my goals and purposes to Jesus my King, as I find them both in His Word and in His heart.
So now I have taken you through my completely internal process on this stuff. It's isn't really much more complicated than that. Basically it has be going back to the Bible and talking with the Lord about it. What about my external process? Well, this is a really sensitive issue, in that people can get quite cranked up about this. In some cases people get angry with each other when they disagree. Personally, I think it is the responsibility of the Lord to look into a persons heart and not my responsibility. On a practical level that means there is no reason to get mad at someone for what they think. What they think is up to them and not up to me. Having said that the Bible says we should “reason together.” This is cool. It means we should feed into each others process. Obviously the risk is that people want more influence than “feeding in” should allow them. From proof-texting T.V. pastors to parents to friends to hollywood, I've found that the influence of my mind is a battle ground. Whether you have wrapped your brain around an issue, pursuing Biblical clarity and finding it or if you are still searching, it is important that we pursue the kind of clarity that McLaren seems to value. But I am definitely not stopping short of searching for it or rejecting the biblical notion of “reasoning together” with people, trading in clarity for the idea that we shouldn't even be looking. David asked God to change his heart and God is in the business of doing this on a host of issues. If someone claims that this is not important, then I would challenge them to find a Biblical justification for choosing to imagine the world is completely gray (not that it is all black or white.)
So next I decided see if I could find some good example about these important Christian issues, and man there are a lot of scriptures, so I will only share a few inspirational ones.
On the topic of the poor, Jesus drew a cool parallel between himself and the poor and downtrodden. He said, “What you do to the least of these, you do to me.” This is like a protective older sibling on one hand and a friend appealing to another friend to take up His values on the other. It is clear that Jesus cares about the poor. Most of these scriptures in the New Testament are directed at the believers and not specifically the government, but then again the Bible was written for believers and not specifically for government officials. Obviously, if you are a government official and a believer then it would influence your desire to mobilize those values from your empowered position. Having said that, there are plenty of scriptures that outline that Jesus cares about the poor and helping out the poor is a Kingdom priority. On a personal note, and I think many Christians would agree, at the minimum -at the minimum- Jesus is holding Christians accountable for what we “do to the least of these.” This is first and foremost personal before it would ever be governmental. Our hearts would naturally motivate us to help people out in every responsible way we can.
The Bible has to say a bit about greed. Jesus actually doesn't talk too much about money but he did in a few parables and when he spoke to few people. Jesus said that the older woman who gave an offering at the synagogue gave more than everyone else. This isn't directly about greed. You have to get a little bit “propositional” to come to any conclusions about this, but it seems a lesson might be that she was an example about how not to be greedy, maybe. That is a stretch obviously. Jesus talked to the “rich young ruler” who will remain nameless to protect him from our judgment of him (I guess, I don't know.) In this situation Jesus helped the man see that it is harder for a rich person to get into heaven. Now, Jesus didn't say that all rich men to go to hell, which would be a stretch. I think (and this is propositional) that Jesus could be talking about replacing Kingdom priorities with wealth-oriented priorities. In the New Testament there is a story about someone who tried to lie about money issues and it inevitably killed the couple. It is also a common Biblical quote that “the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil.” This often gets misquoted as “money is the root of evil.” I think that the issue is a love for money being the root cause of all kinds of evil on the planet. Clearly the Bible has something to say about greed even if it is mostly determined by making a few propositional inferences from the Bible. McLaren might be uncomfortable about that and say that since it is mostly propositionally based that clarity on this point is overrated. I might be oversimplifying but I think the Bible cares that we advocate against greed.
Abortion is really an apples to oranges debate. The apples say it is about respecting and protecting the rights of the unborn. The oranges say that it is about respecting and protecting the rights of the mother to make decisions about her pregnant body. This is an oversimplification but I am not really writing this blog entry to come to some better understanding about a definition of the abortion debate. I am interested in what the Bible might have to say about it. Now, naturally as an “orange” here, I am thinking about the issue of conception. So here is a verse or two on the topic:
Psalms 139:13-18
13 For you created my inmost being;
you knit me together in my mother's womb.
14 I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
your works are wonderful,
I know that full well.
15 My frame was not hidden from you
when I was made in the secret place.
When I was woven together in the depths of the earth,
16 your eyes saw my unformed body.
All the days ordained for me
were written in your book
before one of them came to be.
17 How precious to [a] me are your thoughts, O God!
How vast is the sum of them!
18 Were I to count them,
they would outnumber the grains of sand.
When I awake,
I am still with you.
As a Christian it is clear that God is at work on that baby in the womb. This isn't really even a propositional assertion. Contextually, David knew that he was valued by God and with an eye to that valuation God crafted him intentionally. It is scriptures like this that remind us that God is completely in our corner, believing in us and rooting for us and wanting us to experience “wonderful(ness)” as David said. It seems clear that God cares about us from the moment of conception.
So back to the blog commenters dilemma.
Since this entry is about Roe vs. Wade in a time of uncertainty, I am going to talk a little about the candidates and their relationship to this case.
If Obama is championing relief to the poor and justice against greed, and McCain is championing pro-life causes, then one has a very serious and personal decision to make. In the third Presidential debate when discussing the issue of abortion Obama said that the next President will likely appoint at least one or more judges to the Supreme Court and as a result it will either affirm or overturn Roe vs Wade. Obama affirmed his illinois and Federal senatorial record having spoken out against overturning Roe vs. Wade and that when he was given a chance to vote for or against any pro-life legislation with regard to abortion he opted out of voting, even though he spoke out against the legislation. McCain and Obama both agreed that whomever they recommend as judges, these judges would be experienced and professional people. McCain confirmed his position as a advocate of rights for the unborn. It is clear that while they are interested in appointing skilled people and we can be happy about that, I don't think anyone feels that we don't understand both the histories of these candidates and the direction of their future Supreme Court appointments.
The bigger question for me as a person Biblically called to “reason together” with others would be, which of these values might be poised for the most change? Well, to answer that, I am reflecting on some big things that have happened this year on the Supreme Court.
In 2008 the Supreme Court added to their agenda a desire to review the impact of Roe vs. Wade on the last 30 years of it's history. A part of that review has been the opportunity for women with very personal stories being asked to bravely share their experiences as individuals who have undergone abortions. Specifically their testimonies are being used to supplement a study reviewing the devastating psychological health issues related to abortion. A part of such information going before the Supreme Court is the need to review new technology that can tell us much more about babies in the womb. Back in the early 1970s they didn't have the technology or understanding about how babies can writhe in pain in the womb. There has been a reasonable amount of speculation about how such evidence would overturn this antiquated case and demand a new set of constraints on abortion based on reasonable information about what is going on in terms of child development in all trimesters. So this process has already started.
Again, Obama said the next President will likely appoint people who will either affirm or overturn Roe vs. Wade.
Finally, both the Democrat National Convention as well as the RNC have acknowledged a need to solve issues around abortion. Over the last 30 years Americans have aborted 50 million babies. Both camps agree, whether you are thinking of the mother or the child, that 50 million babies is too large a number. At the same time, America continues to have 3000 abortions per day. Again, everyone agrees that this number is too large. Contextually it is deemed too large when considering the fact that only 2-3% of those 3000 abortions per day are related to pregnancies caused by rape or incest. Everyone also feels that 100 pregnancies per day caused by rape or incest is too large a number. Something is definitely wrong and abortion in the context of Roe vs Wade is a part of creating problems for our country, not just by killing babies, but by negatively affecting the mental health of a huge portion of our country. Most of the country agrees that we aren't living in a gray issue here. If there is a gray then the gray has more to do with how to undo Roe vs. Wade yet still allow cases for abortions in life threatening or other reasonable situations.
I don't personally think that there is a better time to consider fixing a big problem with abortion in America. Agreeing with both McCain and Obama, who both said it in different ways, the real problem is a cultural one. But having said that, if we have an opportunity to correct a legal problem that has facilitated 50 million abortions in our country by undoing a broken and antiquated law, then we force America to start talking about taking a more reasonable and educated approach with a responsible view of abortion. We need this change. For me, I do believe that like Jesus said, “the poor will always be with us” and Jesus will be personally validating His word making me responsible for how I treat and help out the poor. As well, I believe Jesus wants me to be very careful about my attitude toward money and avoid attitudes of greed as well as to fight for justice with regard to greed. At the same time I don't believe that government entitlement programs are about to go away or that private sector philanthropy or justice initiatives will go away any time soon. But who knows when we will have a clearer opportunity to address the problems obviously and inherently found in Roe vs Wade. By the opinion of Obama himself, this will be a product of this current election.
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