Day in the Life of a Pro-Life Activist - Two Teams

I was recently doing a project called Choice Chain, (usually an hour-long project where we stand on the sidewalk holding pictures of Abortion Victim Photography, and have conversations with the public about abortion) and I asked a gentleman passing by, “What do you think about abortion?”

His answer was simple, but it struck me.

“I support the children.”

It seemed to me to point out a question that no one was asking. His answer showed me that, to him, the word “abortion” was about a conflict between two teams, “the Adults” and “the Children.” He had chosen to support the Children.

Looking around, I thought about all of the people who responded to my question with, “I’m pro-choice!” or “I support the woman!” From this man’s perspective, these slogans might be rephrased as “I’m anti-the-Child’s-choice!” and “I don’t support the Child!”

The reality is this: A “Pro-Choice Culture” is a culture that looks at two teams working against each other, and supports the stronger team at the expense of the weaker team.

In that fight, the weak team has NO chance of survival.

If we have decided that we support “the woman,” it means we have chosen a side, and it is not the side that protects the vulnerable.*

On this side of history, we can look back and say with pride that we would have supported William Wilberforce in the fight against slavery, Martin Luther King Jr. in the fight for civil rights, or Lewis Hine in the fight for child-labour laws, but what all of them have in common is that they looked at a fight between the Stronger Team and the Weaker Team, and chose to side with the Weaker Team. This side of history is also this side of the future, and if we won’t do the same as they did, we can reasonable assume that on the future side of this fight, we will be the ones to look back with shame that we chose the wrong side.

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*I would like to clarify that I’m using the wording “I support the woman” in direct response to the way it’s used in response to my question, “What do you think about abortion?”

I will be the first person to say that if a woman is facing difficult circumstances surrounding pregnancy, we should ALL be supporting her. Anyone and everyone who can. She deserves no less.

That question is a fundamentally different one though. Had I asked, “What do you think about women facing difficult circumstances?” then “I support the woman” would certainly be an appropriate response. However, since I asked, “What do you think about abortion?” the answer “I support the woman” is to directly pit the mother against the child, and say that you are taking her side.

We should NEVER take the woman’s side against the child’s, nor should we take the child’s side against the woman’s. Both deserve support, respect, and as much care as we can provide them, since both are human beings who deserve to be treated with dignity.

Day In the Life of a Pro-Life Activist - The Worst Day of Her Life

I stood behind a sign that showed a child unnamed, uncared-for, unloved, and torn apart.

I watched the faces of passerbys as they either ignored or were appalled by the image I showed. I imagined what it would be like to drive by, seeing the sight for perhaps the first time. I thought about the amount of children who suffered the same fate as the one in my picture.

For the people on the road, abortion may be an abstract thought, necessary, empowering, or sad. For this child, it was a tragedy.

I had a song stuck in my head called "The Worst Day of My Life," and I thought about the worst day of this child's short life, the day her mother chose to leave her and never look back.

For many children, today may be the best, or worst day of their lives.

Abortion may be to you a philosophical idea, but to hundreds of children in Canada, it's an emergency.

Birth is Not the Beginning

I feel that it's only fair to warn you that the following is a really weird analogy. If you feel uncomfortable with topics like pregnancy and birth, feel free to flee the scene right about now.

Recently, I was thinking about one of Jesus' conversations.

Jesus answered and said to him, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.” (John 3:3)

Nicodemus is justifiably confused, so he asks, and gets a... sort of explanation, of what Jesus means.

My thoughts took a different turn than Nicodemus's this time around. I've heard many a sermon and spent many a day thinking on what it means to be "born again," but that isn't what I thought of this time. Instead, I reasoned that God doesn't do things that are incomplete. God doesn't need to be educated on basic biology, He knows that birth is not the beginning of life.

If God doesn't do things that are incomplete, is there more to this analogy than comes out in their middle-of-the-night conversation?

If birth is the beginning of a new Christian's life, then what is conception? When is conception? Does the 9-month timeline, or the 3 trimesters, have any reflection in "spiritual pregnancy?"

I don't have answers to all of these questions, although I imagine God does. In the Old Testament, the analogy of "a woman in birth pangs," is used quite frequently. Usually the idea is that someone is going through something terrible and hard, but eventually it will end, and the result will make the difficult process worth it.

Be in pain, and labor to bring forth, O daughter of Zion, like a woman in birth pangs. For now you shall go forth from the city, you shall dwell in the field, and to Babylon you shall go. There you shall be delivered; There the Lord will redeem you from the hand of your enemies. (Micah 4:10)

A woman, when she is in labor, has sorrow because her hour has come; but as soon as she has given birth to the child, she no longer remembers the anguish, for joy that a human being has been born into the world. Therefore you now have sorrow; but I will see you again and your heart will rejoice, and your joy no one will take from you. (John 16:21-22)

The birth analogy is not new to the Jesus' mid-night conversation, although He approaches it from a different angle. If we examine both angles together, we see that the deliverance that is always either explicit or implicit in labour analogies, has a final fulfillment in Christ. Nicodemus, being a Pharisee well versed in the scriptures, would likely have recognized the connotation of "rebirth" right away.

Therefore I will wail and howl, I will go stripped and naked; I will make a wailing like the jackals and a mourning like the ostriches, for her wounds are incurable. For it has come to Judah; It has come to the gate of My people—To Jerusalem. (Micah 1:8-9)

Throughout the bible, God shows His grief over sin, and not just because He is offended, but because He is grieved for the sinner. I mention this because if there is a "spiritual pregnancy" resulting is "rebirth," then God is the one carrying the child, and God is the one who experiences the "birth pangs."

And Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house, because he also is a son of Abraham; for the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost.” (Luke 19:9-10)

Jesus comes and shows that the pain of grief was not in vain, but like a difficult labour, it will eventually end, and new life will be the result. Jesus says that He came to "seek" and to "save that which was lost."

The seeking is the painful part, the saving is the joyful part. So it would seem to follow that the seeking is the pregnancy, and the saving is the birth.

This has a few connotations which I think are cool. Firstly, after a child is born, she is largely cared for by her mother, but she may be passed off to others around, to help. As the body of Christ, we can take the baby and help care for her. But before the child is born, she cannot be passed off to anyone else, the mother is the only one who can care for her. In a way, it's a relief for us, because it shows that God is the one responsible for that person's salvation, we don't have to try to bring it about.

 ...being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you (conception?) will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ; (Philippians 1:6 - my note added)

That being said, we are also "the body of Christ," and unlike in an actual pregnancy, this person is visible to all of us, among us all the time. So if we are not the ones responsible for their salvation, what is our responsibility to this "pre-born Christian?"

Let's start with this question, What does a pre-born child need for a healthy pregnancy? The proper nutrition, and the proper environment.

In Matthew 5, Jesus says,

“You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt loses its flavor, how shall it be seasoned? It is then good for nothing but to be thrown out and trampled underfoot by men. “You are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do they light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house. Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven. (Matthew 5:13-16)

We are called to be "salt and light." Salt is a nutrient, and light is a part of an environment. Salt is a preservative, it makes you thirsty, and it helps to retain water. Spiritually, this is an easy parallel to draw, since the One Who brings salvation gives "Living water." (I'm not going to get into what Light is all about, Matthew 5 did a pretty good job of summarizing.)

So it seems to me, that just as natural birth is a complicated, but beautiful process, so is spiritual birth. 

Conception, in both cases, is God's work. Natural pregnancy is a time in which the child is prepared for birth, and nutrition and environment are essential to the health of the child; Spiritual pregnancy is a time in which God is seeking and preparing His child for rebirth, and we, as nutrition and environment, are essential to the spiritual health of the new child of God. 

Both kinds of "pregnancies" can be very painful for the one carrying the child, but the end result is worth the hardship.

“Can a woman forget her nursing child, and not have compassion on the son of her womb? Surely they may forget, yet I will not forget you. (Isaiah 49:15)

Reading Genesis Again

Hello! I'm back! I'm super super excited!! You'll never guess why. (No, this post has nothing to do with Valentines Day ;) ) I don't want to wait for an answer so I will just tell you, I am reading Genesis again!! :D

Usually I am not so excited to read Genesis, or at least the first few chapters, because since I have gone to Sunday School for many years and have always been in a Christian environment, I know the story. I know what happens, it doesn't seem that exciting to read it.
So usually when I read it I try to imagine all of the intricacy of the things being created in the first chapter, and how vast the universe is, and how God just came up with it all off the top of His head and spoke it into existence, but for some reason, even when I do this, it has little meaning to me.

The reason I started to read it again was because of two things, both of which were said in the same night. One evening my sister mentioned that in the bible there are lots of comparisons with us and God and plants. ("I am the vine and you are the branches," "He will be like a tree firmly planted by streams of water.." etc.) And in the same night a friend of ours said something along the lines of, "The old testament is full of prophecies and stories about Jesus."

Those two things just clicked for me and I decided to start over at the beginning and search for God's character and His story in the stories in the old testament.

Even looking at Genesis 1 in this new light was AMAZING. What used to be a simple chapter full of things I already know, was now an amazing...I don't know what to call it. It's like God wrote His story into all of the things He made, but you can't see it unless you look.


Since I am so excited about it, I will write about a few of the things I found in Genesis 1 and 3, and the rest you will have to find for yourself. :)

Okay, so the first thing I will write about, since I already mentioned plants, is plants. In verses 11-12 it says, Then God said, "Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb that yields seed, and the fruit tree that yields fruit according to its kind, whose seed is in itself, on the earth"; and it was so. And the earth brought forth grass, the herb that yields seed according to its kind, and the tree that yields fruit, whose seed is in itself according to its kind. And God saw that it was good.
 
This is the coolest thing. Picture that the fruit tree represents God. The fruit tree (God) yields fruit, (us) according to its kind. (Made in His image) Whose seed is in itself, (you can look at this more than one way, physically, God made us to reproduce, and spiritually, when you have the Holy Spirit living inside of you, and He is the one who can bear fruit (John 15:5) through us) and lastly, On the earth. (That one is pretty easy to figure out)

Okay, and then another really cool one I found was in verses 16-18, Then God made two great lights: the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night. He made the stars also. God set them in the firmament of the heavens to give light on the earth, and to rule over the day and over the night, and to divide the light from the darkness. And God saw that it was good.

In this part I saw the two great lights as God and Satan. The greater light (sun) is God, and the lesser light (moon) is Satan. They are both greater in power than us, hence why they are the two 'great lights,' but God is by far greater than Satan. Then, they are the rulers of the day and of the night. Day is light, and the greater light rules the day, Night is dark, and the lesser light rules the night.

I thought that was really cool, but then it got even cooler when I told my dad about it and he simply said, "You know what is even cooler? Think about what the nature of the moon is. It has no light of its own, it can only reflect the sun's light." Think on that.

And I was going to stop there...so you can stop there if you are bored and don't want to read any more, but I have one more cool thing to say, this occurred to me in Chapter 3.

In verse 16 it says, To the woman he said: "I will greatly multiply your sorrow and your conception; In pain you shall bring forth children; Your desire shall be for your husband, and he shall rule over you."

I have never ever seen this analogy, or one close to it, so it was amazing that I saw this, but here it is. Because of sin, women have to go through pain for their children to be born. Because of sin, Jesus had to go through pain for us to be born again.

Isn't that awesome?! :)

Sorry this post was really long, but I hope you all liked it as much as I did. :)

And if you have never seen the creation story in this light before, I strongly recommend you go and read through it! There is so much more that I said nothing about.

I just think it is so cool how when you look at the creation story like this, it is so evident that God knew exactly what He was doing the whole time. He knew His whole plan right from the start, and showed it even from the start!

NOTE: If you liked this post, please click here to read a short expansion on the Sun and Moon parallel.