Another Christian influencer

  I am so sick of these compromising leaders and their contributions to the demise of Christianity in our nation.
  Here is the latest from the Denison Forum with my comments in red.
The Republican Party recently released its 2024 platform, outlining its goals and priorities should the November elections go its way. While the document comprises a list of twenty promises and ten chapters that go in depth on a variety of subjects, the changes to the party’s official stance on abortion have received the most attention.
 
In 2016—the last time the GOP released an official platform since they chose not to do so in 2020—the issue of abortion featured prominently, with more than 700 words devoted to the topic and mentioning abortion specifically thirty-five times. By contrast, the 2024 version uses the term once and gives the subject less than 100 words of attention, stating simply:
 
“We proudly stand for families and Life. We believe that the 14th Amendment to the Constitution of the United States guarantees that no person can be denied Life or Liberty without Due Process, and that the States are, therefore, free to pass Laws protecting those Rights. After 51 years, because of us, that power has been given to the States and to a vote of the People. We will oppose Late Term Abortion, while supporting mothers and policies that advance Prenatal Care, access to Birth Control, and IVF (fertility treatments).”
 
In understanding the changes, it’s worth noting that in 2016 Roe v. Wade was still the law of the land, whereas now the issue of abortion has been rightly Rightly? returned to the states. Is this what we want? People in each state get to vote on whether they allow innocent human beings to be killed in their state, without being convicted of any crime?  No constitutional protections for our preborn neighbors? No application of the 5th or the 14th amendments that state that no person should be deprived of life without “due process”? One of the expressed reasons for the Civil War was to oppose individual states from being able to vote on whether a particular human group could be enslaved. And isn’t having the authority to do what one wants with another innocent human being even to have him or her killed, slavery to the most extreme degree?  Moreover, in the vast majority of elections since that shift occurred, the pro-life position has lost. We’ll discuss one of the primary reasons why that’s the case—and how it impacted the changes to the GOP platform—in a bit, but those losses have created a good bit of angst among Republicans running for office this fall.
 
As a result, many Republicans—former president Donald Trump chief among them—have sought to reframe the GOP’s stance on this issue to appeal to a wider range of voters. However, doing so risks losing the pro-life part of a base they’ve come to rely upon in the process.
 
For example, Clint Pressley—a megachurch pastor in North Carolina and the recently elected president of the Southern Baptist Convention—spoke for many when he tweeted, “I am disheartened by what’s happened in the GOP. The GOP platform may be subject to change, but God’s word is not. Southern Baptists ‘contend for the sanctity of all human life from conception to natural death’ and will insist that elected officials do the same.”
 
But is that the right approach?
 
The answer is perhaps more complicated than it would first appear.
 
When is it right to compromise?
 
In a recent article for the Gospel Coalition, Joe Carter does an excellent job of outlining the argument for why pro-life supporters should remain uncompromising on the issue of abortion. As he notes, “Central to the pro-life ethos is the belief in the inherent value and dignity of human life. The acknowledgment that life is sacred from conception until natural death undergirds the entire movement.” This is nice but it fails to address the Christian’s response to this truth or give consideration to the preborn as our neighbors whom we are to love as ourselves. It also fails to address the bloodguilt that is on any people (especially Christians) who do not attempt to stop the innocent bloodshed or seek justice for the victims.
 
He goes on to describe how the pro-life and pro-choice positions “are binary,” arguing that “Just as you cannot be a ‘little bit pregnant,’ you cannot be a little bit pro-choice. Once you support abortion in any form, you lose the right to the label of pro-life.”
 
Is he correct?
 
When it comes to personal convictions, I believe he is. Joe Carter’s statements are not limited to his or anyone else’s “personal convictions. A biological fact is not determined by one’s “personal convictions".
 
If if? life truly does begin at conception—and the biblical position is that it does— The Bible is NOT a science book. The bible does speak to the value of human life and of innocent bloodshed; bloodguilt & justice. We lose credibility when we refer to the Bible as to when human life begins. There is no “if” when determining what constitutes a human being.  then abortion at any stage of pregnancy is killing a human created in the image of God and cherished by our heavenly Father. And while abortion becomes increasingly barbaric in the second and third trimesters, it is equally tragic no matter when it occurs.
 
At the same time, being uncompromising in our convictions does not necessarily mean that we should be uncompromising when it comes to the practicalities of fighting for life in a culture that is predominately pro-choice. One of the reasons that our culture is “pro-choice” is the failure of Christians (especially Christian leaders) to treat abortion as murder & to identify with the preborn as their neighbor.  This pro-choice culture exists inside the church.  The use of their “pro-choice” terminology is a compromise in itself. Choice of what? We should not use their absurd, undefined, terms.
 
When faced with the binary decision of either supporting a woman’s right to abortion or rejecting it, 63 percent of Americans support it. Including most “Christians” However, when you parse the question by trimesters, the majority of Americans do not think abortion should be legal after thirteen weeks. Why? What is so magical about the 13-week mark? Is the value of a human being determined by his or her stage of development? Again a failure of Christians to decry the murder of their preborn neighbors. Many Christian leaders including Billy Graham; Pat Robinson; Christianity today and even the leaders of the SBC supported abortion at the time of ROE and even celebrated the original decision.
 
In short, when given only two options, Americans have repeatedly been pro-choice, and there is little evidence of that changing anytime soon. Also, no evidence of the Church in the US repenting. Francis Schaefer said in 1982 that if the church in America does not repent, we will become like the church in Europe and become completely irrelevant to our culture. We haven’t & we have. Recognizing that fact and adjusting accordingly is not cowardice or giving up on the unborn’s right to life. It’s political prudence.  The use of the word “unborn” verses “preborn” is significant and is often an indication that the user does not identify with the victim of this ongoing holocaust. Unborn could refer to people who never existed or will exist. Preborn refers to human beings that will be born.
 
And the reality of that situation reminds us of an even more important fact that’s become all too easy to overlook in recent decades.
 
The best way to be pro-life
 
At the end of the day, politicians aren’t going to advocate for a pro-life position until we can convince more people to be pro-life. I would concur, only I would use the word “abolitionist and even say to “identify with the preborn as your neighbor whom you are called to love as yourself.  That doesn’t happen in the rooms of party conventions or by yelling and bemoaning the state of abortion on social media. It happens by talking with the people God brings along our path and helping them to understand why life is valuable from conception to natural death.  Our soldiers who liberated Dachau thought that if involved more than that as they understood “bloodguilt” and made the town’s people march through the camp to witness what they had allowed. It happens by helping the moms and dads considering abortion to see that there’s another way. And it happens by being pro-life in every facet of our lives to the point that we earn the right to be heard on this subject. What does this mean?  This is the same old message that we have heard from Christian leaders for the last 5 decades. How about Christians, including Christian leaders, showing up to abortion clinics to plead for the lives of their preborn neighbors? How about including the consideration of the victims of this holocaust in your Mother’s Day sermons. Or when teaching on Father’s Day speaking about the fatherless & how the 15,000 babies that were killed in the US last week were all fatherless. The 2nd greatest commandment is to love one’s neighbor as one’s self. The government has made that illegal & thus they have made Christianity illegal. 
 
And to the extent that we can see political change with abortion, the Dobbs decision that overturned Roe v. Wade and sent the issue back to the states was a win primarily because it shrinks the number of people we have to convince in order to see that change take place. What? Until Christians begin to treat abortion for the murder that it is people will not be convinced. Most all abortions are done in the early stages of development with chemicals (90%). This continues to take place in all 50 states. There is no “chapter & verse” in the Bible about this.
 
Would it be great if the federal government decided to ban abortion? Absolutely. Is that likely to happen? Probably not. And certainly not if the church does not repent.
 
The choice left to us is to decide whether we want to spend our time, energy, and resources bemoaning that fact or shift our attention to more practical ways that we can make a real difference and save lives. I’m all for this. And while that’s not necessarily an either/or choice, far too many have placed their hopes in politicians when politicians have repeatedly shown that they don’t deserve it in this area. Totally agree. The hope that I have is that Christians will repent & include the victims of this holocaust as neighbors whom they are called to love as themselves.  
 
So instead of wasting our time wishing our political leaders were different, ask God to help you make a difference.
 
Partner with a local crisis pregnancy center. Same old status quo.  Prayerfully consider adoption or support those who are called to adopt. There are a host of ways you can make a practical difference in this area, and doing so is the easiest path to seeing true change when it comes to the defense of unborn life.
 I have talked with countless Pastors & church leaders over the years, including those who have visited Auschwitz but have never gone to an abortion clinic (sometimes within a mile of their church) to plead for the lives of their preborn neighbors.
  Please consider these 2 facts when you choose how you will spend your time & resources.

1. We live in the worst holocaust that the world has ever known.
2. Most people that you interact with on any given day have never heard an accurate presentation of the Gospel & are subsequently on their way to hell.

 
 
How can you make a difference today?
  Lastly, as I did not know where to address this, is the lack of any mention of IVF. IVF is the method of conceiving tiny human beings in petri dishes and then implanting 1 or more into the uterus of a woman who is wanting a child. The remaining ones are either frozen for later use or discarded (killed). Why would any Christian support such a thing. If God doesn’t bless a couple with children naturally then adopt one or more. If you add in all the babies that are discarded through this process the numbers of innocent human beings that are killed every week raises to much more than the 15,000 that I mentioned earlier.
  May God grant us repentance.
   Please invite others to read this Blog. 
  I will try to write more often.  
   Irwin