A Reason for Hope

From Phil Robertson to Pope Francis to an average day in high school, confrontation is a very controversial issue. So what is an appropriate response for a Christian to the controversial trends of the modern world? For example, how do you respond to the unit in biology that directly states that God does not exist? What is your reaction to pressing moral issues such as abortion, homosexuality, drug abuse, and everything else? Where is the line?

In the words of C. S. Lewis, "Jesus Christ did not say, 'Go into all the world and tell the world that it is quite right.'" As Christians in the world today, it is our job according to the great commission to go therefore and make disciples of all nations. But in order to do that, we need to understand where the lines are. Some people say that the majority of Christians are intolerant and unloving. This reputation comes from those who choose to say that in every aspect, "I am right and you are wrong." And they do so more often than not in a rather harsh way. As Christians we are not supposed to be tolerant, in the postmodern sense*, because tolerance is the least loving thing we could possibly do.

Imagine this: You are a doctor. A patient comes to see you and it is evident that he is deathly sick. You have the cure for his sickness, but you don't want him to be upset, so you choose not to even tell him he is sick. What is the consequence of this choice? The patient dies. That choice makes no sense. In the same way, seeing that someone you know is in desperate need of a savior (because we all are) and choosing to ignore that for the sake of not hurting feelings and staying good friends, you're missing the point of loving your neighbor.

So now say you're in the same scenario, but this time you realize your patient needs to know he is sick, so you tell him he is sick. That's all. There is no hope in that. You can make a sign with Romans 3:23 on it, and people will know they are sinners. But odds are they probably already knew that, and telling them so probably only offends them. If someone openly claims they don't believe in God, you can say they're wrong and that they will end up in Hell, but the only thing that might convince them of is that they want nothing to do with you or your faith, because saying something like that is malicious and hateful.

In this doctor scenario, the only right thing to do is to tell the patient he is sick, and to offer him the only cure. The same is true of making disciples. You are not accomplishing anything by convincing someone he or she is wrong unless you include the message of hope that is the gospel of Jesus Christ. You have to convey that, "Yes, you are a sinner. I am a sinner. Neither of us is worse than the other, and we are both so bad that Jesus had to die for each of our sins. So that's what he did. Our sins are paid for, Jesus has defeated sin and the grave, and by grace we have been saved!" You can't just give a part of the message. The message of the fall is desperate and dark, but the gospel gives us a reason for hope.

This is a decent illustration for what we need to do, but it isn't the best. Ephesians 2 does not tell us that we are deathly sick in sin; rather, it tells us that we are dead in sin. That is not something you or I can cure, and it's not something any of us can choose to fix. It's only in Christ that we are alive, and that is a point that needs to be made. I couldn't save myself, and I can't save anyone else. If people are dead in sin, only God can save them. All we can do is follow God's commandment and share the gospel. God will has rescued us, and will rescue in his perfect timing in accordance with his perfect plan.

And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. --Ephesians 2:1-7


* Tolerance in the classical sense means that all ideas and values may be expressed; tolerance in the postmodern sense is that all these are equally valid and must be celebrated by all.

Sanctity of Human Life Sunday

Today, January 19, 2014, is the day this year that the Southern Baptist Convention recognizes as Sanctity of Human Life Sunday. This day is recognized on the third Sunday in January every year.

So what is the meaning of this day? Why do we need to take a day to recognize the sanctity of human life? The cause is, perhaps, the vast destruction of human life that is taking place today and every day everywhere in the world. What, are we having a purge? A genocide?  Well, in a way we are. Twenty-two percent of all pregnancies (excluding miscarriages) end in abortion. Those numbers don't seem so harmful, do they? 22 out of a hundred isn't so bad.

 Keep in mind that the most recent data shows that the approximate population of the U.S. is 313.9 million people. If we killed 22 percent of the population of America, around 69,058,000 people would die. That's a pretty large number of people. Of that number, the question becomes, "How many of those people can we afford to lose?" The answer? Zero. Say one of those people was the president of the United States. That would be a huge loss for our country. Odds are that some of them would be celebrities of sorts, musicians, artists, athletes, political leaders. That still leaves a lot of people left that only and handful of people knew. And yet, they were here. They were on this earth. And one cannot say that anyone is ever placed here without a purpose for his or her life.

Genesis 1:27 says that God created man in his own image. That means everyone. Everyone is created in the image of our Creator. We are all given a name, a body, a personality. A soul. And our creator knows us all better than we know ourselves. Have we really become convinced that that doesn't include people who aren't born yet? We hear a heartbeat. We give these people an age, even from one week. Loving parents begin to choose names and clothes. People plan their lives around these new, young people months before they are born. It's a part of life: new life.

The argument has been made that maybe this new life was unintended. Say you had a three year old child, and you were raising him or her on your own, and you just didn't plan on having this child. Does that justify murdering the child? By no means! Why should that change just because that child is only three weeks old? Just because you haven't seen the child, that doesn't make him or her any less a child.

Another argument made is that the mother can't provide for a child properly, or that it impedes the future of one or both of the parents. There are an estimated 3,000 adoption agencies in the United States, where couples who desperately want a child but for various reasons can't have one go to adopt a child. Where do you think these agencies get these children? Young parents with bright futures who have the courage put their children up for adoption, knowing that this is best for the child, the parents, and the couple who are prepared to raise the child, caring for and providing for him or her. The argument that abortion is the best solution is invalid for this very reason. Abortion kills one baby, but that is not the only life affected. There are physical, and always emotional consequences for the mother. Abortion is not the best solution for anyone involved.

Abortion is murder, and murder is a sin. If I am speaking to someone who has experienced this personally, you ought to know that fact. However, there's a whole lot more to it. Much the same way as a newborn baby, ill-equipped to care for ourselves, in Christ we are adopted as sons and daughters of God. Ephesians 1:3-10 tells us this much. Ephesians 1:7-10 tells us that it has been God's will to unite all things in Him in the fullness of time from the beginning. He does this through redemption and through forgiveness. Jesus died for every one of everyone's sins. That includes abortion. In Christ you are forgiven and adopted as a child of God.

If you haven't gone through this, understand the impossibility of understanding. It is not our place to ultimately judge anyone. Are we not all sinners? The importance of this day and all that it encompasses is that abortion is wrong. But the fact that abortion is so widespread doesn't change the fact that all sin is widespread, and it especially does not change the truth or the power of the gospel.

Today, we raise awareness of the consequences of abortion. Every day, we raise awareness of the consequences of sin. As we witness the war that Satan is waging against us, especially in this way, the mass destruction of human life, I pray that we would understand the power of the gospel, of Jesus. I pray that we would understand the infinite love of our Father, and most of all, I pray that we would see the sanctity of human life. Because every person has a purpose here and is created in the image of God. Therefore, every life is valuable beyond measure.

"In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, which he lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth." -Ephesians 1:7-10