The Sanctity of Life: Abortion and the Human Conscience

"The aim of our charge is love that issues from a pure heart and a good 
conscience and a sincere faith."-  1 Timothy 1:5

 

Today, thousands of churches in the US are celebrating what has come to be known as "Sanctity of Life Sunday". President Ronald Reagan designated January 22, 1984 as the first National Sanctity of Human Life Day. That day was chosen to coincide with the 11th anniversary of Roe vs. Wade, a landmark decision by the United States Supreme Court that legalized abortions in the nation. Beginning in 1984, coinciding with the 11th anniversary of the ruling, the third Sunday of January was designated as Sanctity of Human Life Day, the closest Sunday to the original January 22 date.

This morning, I was blessed to hear our pastor Ryan Fullerton preach a great sermon on the human conscience, particularly as it applies to abortion. This post is almost entirely based on the sermon he preached this morning. I know there will be some reading this who have had an abortion, and others who have been involved in an abortion decision. Others still might be considering abortion and some could never see themselves getting an abortion. This post is meant to proclaim again the necessity of continuing to speak for the unborn and the power of the gospel in renewing consciences and giving new life. 

A clear conscience is the softest pillow. The Bible teaches that every person was created with a conscience as a barometer of morality and right living. However, this gift was not untouched by sin. As a result there is such a thing as a bad conscience and we cannot rely on our own Jiminy Crickets perfectly to tell us how we ought to live. We cannot just follow our hearts. The conscience of many has been seared when it comes to abortion in the US and even more so in Canada. In the last 35 years, there have been over 3,000,000 (reported) abortions in Canada. That's roughly the population of Saskatchewan, Manitoba, PEI, and Nova Scotia combined. The truth is that the Canadian conscience in general is not appropriately stirred when it comes to the issue of abortion. 

The Confused Conscience (Romans 2:14-15)
We have all experienced a conflicted and confused conscience. We all lack the clarity we need to make all the proper moral decisions we are forced to make daily. When it comes to abortion, the confused and conflicted conscience has resulted in the deaths of millions around the world. Nicole's testimony was recently published in New York Magazine as part of a series of testimonies in an article entitled "My Abortion". Listen to her conflicted and confused conscience:

"It was this past spring. The due date’s coming up—I’m dreading it. I wanted to keep it. My boyfriend always had football practice, so he couldn’t go to the doctor appointments with me. If he’d gone, he would’ve felt differently. But he said, “No way.” I wanted to show him that I loved him enough to do it for him. When I was thirteen weeks, we made an appointment at the closest clinic in Kentucky, four hours away, but the night before, we decided not to go. At two in the morning, he called and said, “Get dressed.” I said, “I don’t want to go.” We both cried the whole way there. I don’t think abortion is killing, but I’d always been against it. When I told him the credit-card scanner at the clinic wasn’t working, he asked if I was making it up. We went to get $1,000 from a gas-station ATM. I was hysterical, and he said, “Okay, you don’t have to go back.” I was so happy. Then he said, “We drove all this way. Stop crying, act like a woman.” I was angry, but I was so sleepy and tired of fighting. When I had the ultrasound, I asked for the picture and a nurse said, “Seriously?” A month later, he said he regretted it too. When I cry about it, I cry alone. He thinks it would make me sad to talk about, but I don’t want our baby to think we forgot. I’ve never heard of anybody else having an abortion here." [italics mine] 

The Defiled Conscience (1 Corinthians 8:7)
We have all heard the stories of mass murderers and criminals. However, many of us have also been disturbed by their incredibly clear consciences. They are actually convinced that they did nothing wrong. There is no regret, no remorse, no guilt. It takes a great deal of sin to get our conscience that hard and calloused, but the path towards this dead conscience is a conscience that is repeatedly defiled. It is fascinating how much shame and guilt we can feel even if we don't think we should. We can be intellectually convinced that our actions are morally permissible, but we might still experience the defilement of a conscience. Take for example this testimony entitled, "I Am Pro-Choice! Why Do I Regret My Abortion?": 

It was a very early, first-trimester abortion, but nevertheless, I was pregnant and I chose not to continue the pregnancy even though deep down I desperately wanted a child. I made this choice based on my relationship with the baby’s father, who dropped me off at the clinic and I never saw again, despite having a three-to-four-year, on-and-off relationship. He promised me marriage and more children when we were ready for it, i.e. 5 or 10 years from now.His last words to me were, “Don’t worry, I’ll be back.” But that never materialized. I am only 25 (24 at the time of the abortion), but I am now convinced I missed my only chance to have a biological child. Is that crazy? I haven’t dated, least of all had sex with anyone, since that day. It feels like a part of me died that day and will never return. I am no longer upset about the end of our relationship (good riddance!) but I am truly disturbed by the entire experience. I have nightmares about my experience at the clinic, though I know they followed every medical and legal step to the T. I wish I could forgive myself and move on, but I just can’t. I wake up every morning and it is the best minute of my life before the knowledge of what happened returns to me and the cycle of sadness and regret begins all over again. I am a liberal woman and as pro-choice as you can be! Which is even more upsetting! Can you please offer me advice on moving forward with my life and freeing myself from this unending cycle of regret?

The Clean Conscience (Hebrews 10:22)
So what now? The only hope for the misery of a guilty conscience is the death and resurrection of Jesus. You can't deal with your unsettled conscience by trying to be a better person. Turn to the Lord, he died to cleans the conscience and the guilt that leads to death. He died so that defiled consciences could be purified. Taste his sweet conscience-cleansing grace! 

What are the implications of understanding and believing in the sanctity of human life? It's not simply about abortion. It's not simply about thinking carefully about the method of birth control we choose to use (although that is a very important implication too!). Greed, sexual immorality, convenience, financial stability have all led to abortions. It is true that having less children might make your life more convenient. It is true that the raising of children does not come without many hard days and nights. Much in the same way, choosing to speak for the unborn will not be easy, convenient, or appealing most of the time. Genetic disorders are no legitimate excuse for abortion. Neither is teenage pregnancy, rape, or financial situation. How then should you and I live in light of these truths? Here are some suggestions:

1) Do not think yourself too high or too low to speak against abortion
2) Do not think yourself too high or too low to speak positively about all children
3) Financially support and volunteer at a "Women's Pregnancy Center"
4) Increase your political activity
5) Cultivate a culture in which every child is welcomed

New Year's Resolutions Anyone?

That exciting time of the year has come and gone again! The end of a year full of smiles, laughs, tears, and sadness is gone and a new one is just beginning. For a few years now, New Years means one thing more than almost any other thing - New Year's Resolutions.

I know New Year's Resolutions are not everyone's thing, but they're definitely my thing. I love thinking about the year that just went by and making new resolutions for the coming year based on what learned and what I want to do differently or the same. One of the resolutions I made for this coming year is to be more disciplined and intentional about these blog posts. I'm not going for anything crazy, I just want to write at least one post every week. Seeing as it is still early in the year I wanted to write about my New Year's Resolutions, how they help me, and how they might help you too (not mine, but your own if you decide to make some).

What are my New Year's Resolutions? Oh wouldn't you like to know! To be honest, a lot of them are rather personal and so I'm not going to share them here publicly, but it's not something I'm trying to keep secret, so feel free to ask! However, I will share that this year I have made 30 resolutions. I probably took the most time to think about them, and to write them down than I ever did before. They are all typed out and printed on nice thick paper for me to see every day. They are divided by category, all based on how I can better honor the Lord with my life. They involve God's glory in my heart, in my body, in my marriage, in my church, in my schooling, in my ministry, in my family, in my mind, and in my relationships. 

So what value and benefit do I see in taking so long to think of and to type these resolutions, all of which are destined to not be perfectly kept even this month? 

They Help Me THINK:
I think we could all do with a little bit more introspection. We very rarely make time to evaluate our day at work, our morning, our day, much less our entire year. And yet as December draws to an end, most people find themselves unusually introspective. For some reason the end of the year gives us a chance to be honest with ourselves about ourselves. "Maybe I do need to lose a lot of weight this year (though you if you had asked me a month ago I would have said no)". "Maybe I should make some more time to be with my kids". "I think it's about time I start reading the Bible more consistently". For myself, these past few week of introspection, of evaluating my time, my money, my thoughts, my struggles, my joys, my desires, and my family has been of great help. Regardless of the resolutions there has been a lot of thanksgiving in my life recently and a lot of pleading for change in my own heart for many things in the year to come.

They Help Me AIM:
For some people, making New Year's Resolutions is making a recipe for failure. "It's totally crazy for me to think that for the WHOLE YEAR I'll be able to get up at 6:00AM every day so I can stop being late for work and getting to read my Bible". It might be, it might not. "What's the point of saying I'll get all my homework done before 10:00PM since I know that it won't be the case every time?" I think a lot of us rightly ask, "What is the point of making a resolution you can't fully keep?" For some people not perfectly keeping their resolutions is synonymous with failure. For me, in the very least it gives me a clear view and a clear trajectory for where I want to go and what I want to do. Some of my resolutions are brand new, I just came up with them this year! I have never resolved to pray for my pastors and church leaders every single day - this will take some serious intentionality. These kind of resolutions will probably be the hardest to keep Others, I've had for a few years and I have slowly gotten more focused and disciplined and have truly learned the benefit of continuing to aim in that specific direction.

They Help Me With PURPOSE:
I have found that the fun and sometimes silly resolutions are the ones that fail the most. "I want to be able to count from 1-10 in 10 languages by the end of the year". Sure that sounds kinda fun, and it would be cool to say. The problem with resolutions like these is that they are weak - they lack any kind of proper motivation and purpose other than "just for kicks". Maybe you do see purpose in being able to count to 10 in multiple languages, if so that's great! But for most of us, that resolution is destined to fail. Why? Because resolutions stand and are lived based on purpose, motivation, and conviction. You need something STRONG to carry me through the year waking up at 6:00AM! You're going to need some serious motivation to get me going to the gym three times a week! For this reason thinking about WHY you want to do what you want to do is just as important. I decided this year to base all of my 2014 resolutions on Scripture (yes, even the one about learning Arabic this year). I have a verse that I am hoping carries me through my tendencies to not keep my resolutions.

Am I going to keep all of my resolutions perfectly every day this year? Absolutely not - and I know that. But even the process of coming up with them and thinking so deeply about my life has been tremendously helpful (regardless of how consistent I am in keeping them). I would therefore highly recommend looking at your life, evaluating your year, challenging yourself and committing to a few changes this year!

What about you, do you have any New Year's Resolutions? What's been your experience?