Dear friends and readers,
Based upon the title of this article I already know that some of you are about to "blow a gasket" and metaphorically throw me in a pit and stone me to death. WAIT!!! Before you do that please read the entire article and I will explain the statement "Does a woman have the right to choose? Yes, Biblically she does"!
First this article begins with the subject of abortion but moves past that to other issues that believers struggle with all the time. For the record, I am flatly against abortion---with a caveat!
I am totally repelled by the fact that in the United States alone over 1000 abortions have already happened this very day by the hour I am writing this is in my time zone, 541,000 so far this year (end of July 2018) and worldwide since 1980, 1.5 BILLION children have been killed.
My caveat? As a pastor if confronted with a situation involving a child conceived through violent rape, I would ALWAYS suggest bringing that child full term and adopting out if necessary. Also I would never dream of saying to a woman "I understand what you are going through" because no man could ever really understand that kind of violation, pain and humiliation. So I am also not prepared to point my finger at any woman faced with those choices even if they choose abortion. That kind of pain and trauma is never a good time for judgmentalism or hyper legalistic Christianity.
Biblically speaking the Lord is crystal clear in Deuteronomy 30:19 "I call heaven and earth as witnesses today against you, THAT I HAVE SET BEFORE YOU LIFE AND DEATH, BLESSING AND CURSING; THEREFORE CHOOSE LIFE, THAT BOTH YOU AND YOUR DESCENDANTS MAY LIVE"! God has given all of mankind a choice, life or death. That does not mean He has given permission to choose death for yourself or anyone else including an unborn child. In fact He also makes it clear that He wants OUR DESCENDANTS to live. And good or bad choices are met with either blessing or cursing. God does not force us to love Him, or obey Him and He clearly wants us to make choices that lead to life, but these are our choices to make---bearing in mind that we will also answer for the consequences of our choices.
NOW LISTEN CAREFULLY because you who are reading this may at one time have had an abortion, or your life may have been touched by the affects of one. Today you are a believer and look back wondering if you made the right choice? While we cannot reverse history, the Word of God is also clear in that once having sincerely repented for our past sins, (PSALM 103:12), we are forgiven. "As far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us"! None of us were perfect before we met the Lord including myself, nor for that matter are we perfect now. We all made grievous errors and mistakes but they no longer exist through the shed blood of the Lamb of God, Jesus the Christ. We all have regrets but we can and should learn by those mistakes, try not to repeat them and occasionally use our own testimonies to help other folks through similar troubling times.
Would God EVER approve of terminating life in the womb? NO, not in my opinion. But He has given men and women the choice to decide their own destinies even when it proves to be self destructive.
Too many times in some circles of the church, the Lords examples of love, grace and mercy seem to be sadly lacking. Instead of trying to help a person (in this case a woman) faced with an unplanned child, the favorite expression for some people is "Tsk, Tsk". This goes even further; In fact often during public trial our system of juris prudence allows innocent female victims to be publicly humiliated to try a get that filthy rapist off the hook criminally.
But getting back to church, judgmental thinking is often taken to other extremes as well. Leaving the subject of abortion, the question is simple. Can mankind make other members of mankind holy? And of course the answers is no. There are some members and some denominations who clearly think they can either command respect or "MAKE HOLY" through extra Biblical rule books. Skirts a certain length, suits and ties, head coverings, dietary restrictions, man made statutes restricting alcohol, movies, places people frequent and the plethora goes on and on.
The truth is that HOLINESS proceeds from the hearts of people who are committed to the Lord and want to please Him, not the elders of a church. Sound strange coming from a pastor? It shouldn't because I have read Colossians chapter 2:18-23. ALL ABOUT FALSE HUMILITY and legalism.
So lets take a look at some examples; Alcohol (nothing I am about to say should be construed as encouraging the use of any substance that could possibly cause an addiction). We are only speaking about legalism in the church---which by the way, is far and away at the top of the "drive them out of the church" list! Whether you use alcohol or you do not, has zero effect on your walk with the Lord as long as it does not lead to an addiction which can be self destructive. Or in the event that your own (public) use makes someone else stumble in their walk with the Lord. Some people can enjoy one beer and walk away but for some people, touching one drop and they down an entire case. Some people have addictive personalities and some do not. The Apostle Paul said it very well (1 Corinthians 6:12) "all things are lawful for me, but all things are not helpful. All things are lawful for me but I will not be brought under the power of any". So the question is simple? Am I doing anything that is bringing me under ANY KIND of addictive behavior?
I have frequently been asked (no kidding here) "how can that (past church of mine) talk so much about the sin of even one drop of alcohol when Jesus Himself turned water into wine (John 2:1-11 for a bunch of drunks by the way) and Paul instructed Timothy (1 Timothy 5:23) "no longer drink only water, but use a little wine for your stomach's sake and your frequent infirmities".
You know what? I cannot defend that! The Bible says what the Bible says. What I myself have done over the years is stay completely away from legalism but talk about the far greater issue; IS THERE A CHANCE THAT ANYTHING YOU DO AS A CHRISTIAN---COULD MAKE A WEAKER BELIEVER STUMBLE??? Romans 14:21 "It is good neither to eat meat nor drink wine nor DO ANYTHING by which your brother stumbles or is offended or made weak". Clearly Paul is speaking about what we do publicly. Does that include only what we eat or drink? No, how about our choice of movies we go see or reading materials left on our work desk top? Of course we must also ask ourselves the benefit of feeding our own souls with questionable garbage.
How about what we wear (or the lack thereof) in public places, the way we express ourselves (IE: road rage), the kinds of bumper stickers we display? profanity (whoops-glad you were not in my shop when I hit my finger with a hammer---REALLY GLAD we have repentance and forgiveness). Or how about this? When was the last time in church you heard a sermon on the excess of food and particularly sugar? We (some not all) Christians rage about booze, scanty clothing, vulgar speech and "un-Christian like" behavior, but where is the outrage about people killing themselves with food related diabetes issues? Currently childhood obesity in the USA is at near epidemic proportions including within the church. 160 million Americans are very overweight. Among men a whopping 32.2% and women 35.5%. Mostly as a result of imbalanced diet/overeating plus sugar intake and probably lack off exercise. Type 2 diabetes, high cholesterol, high blood pressure, joint problems and CVD (cardiovascular disease) are literally immobilizing large portions of our western populations.
NOTE: Not all of these health problems are caused by excessive and unhealthy diets. Some folks are simply genetically effected.
But when was the last time we discussed these things in church? No pastor wants to tackle over eating even though it is killing far more people than alcohol abuse by a factor of 10.
And how about the untamed tongue (James chapter 3). In the Hebrew the language it is called Lashan Hara---derogatory speech. Talking trash about someone else. Some of our churches are plagued by this. Or the "dirty little secret". PORNOGRAPHY. Did you know that there are very many internet organizations now set up to help pastors fighting porn within their churches? It is a very big problem for believers as well as non believers. In fact FOCUS ON THE FAMILY has a ministry of helps specifically for PASTORS who themselves have a porn addiction.
The issue for churches today is to be balanced in their teachings. It is not enough to focus on the "seen sins" but also the unseen. Not enough to concentrate on the more obvious physical sins but also to tackle sins of the mind. The ONLY way to do that is for pastors to do two things; 1). Teach the whole counsel of God. Cover to cover and do so in context. 2). Be willing to tackle issues that are killing our saints but are not popular to talk about. That can be done publicly or privately without embarrassment and with great success.
CONTROVERSIAL is really the key issue of this article because if we in the church are not willing to take on those tough issues, are we really doing our jobs?
God bless,
Pastor Rance.
