Abortion is always a tricky, controversial issue. It is also quite polarizing. Staunchly pro-lifers I’ve spoken with often seem to demonize women who have chosen to get an abortion. Pro-choicers I’ve spoken with often seem to demonize those who would take away a woman’s right to privacy, and to make decisions about her own body. There doesn’t seem to be any middle ground. No grey…just black and white.
But I do feel like I see grey. Don’t get me wrong…I am firmly planted in the “pro-life” camp. I believe that all life is sacred. And yes, I do believe that a fetus is a life. I do believe that life begins at conception.
But see…this is where the grey comes in. That is my belief.
As much as I wish that everyone saw things the way I do…as much as I point my finger and say, “abortion is murder,” I have to realize that not everyone believes the same things I do.
My heart cries out for all the children lost. Oh, the injustice. But then I think about the women, (and the girls) too. My heart fills with compassion. Because as Christians, we put potential mothers in horrible positions…especially potential teen mothers. Really, they can’t win. We give them dirty looks for having sex out of marriage, and treat them like outcasts with their big bellies that they cannot escape. Yet when they do the unthinkable, we call them sinners even more. Where is our compassion?
Do we as Christians…as pro-lifers…really think that pointing a finger and calling someone a sinner…a murderer…will bring them closer to God? Do we think that it will bring justice for the lost life? It will not and it does not. Where is our compassion?
I’m not saying we should throw open the doors of abortion clinics and say, “Come on in!” Far from it. I don’t have any answers. But I do see grey. I can still fight for the rights of the unborn, and try to convince people to believe the way I do. But demonizing doctors and organizations and women (and girls) is not the answer.
Sometimes I think song lyrics sum up my feelings better than I can write them. So here you go:
Jesus, friend of sinners/We have strayed so far away/We cut down people in your name/But the sword was never ours to swing
…
Nobody knows what we’re for, only what we’re against/when we judge the wounded/What if we put down our signs, crossed over the lines/and loved like You did
…
You love every lost cause/You reach for the outcast/For the leper and the lame/They’re the reason that You came
Oh Jesus, friend of sinners/Open our eyes to the world/At the end of our pointing fingers/Let our hearts be led by mercy
Help us reach with open hearts/ and open doors/Oh Jesus, friend of sinners/ Break our hearts for what breaks yours
Exerpted from Jesus, Friend of Sinners by Casting Crowns