Of the many abuses of language surrounding abortion, the spinning of Christianity to support abortion is likely the most lamentable.
In the PPCFL February 2023 newsletter I noted a Michigan Democrat in Congress who described herself as a “pro-choice Christian who chose life.” She thoroughly twists Jeremiah 1:5 (“I knew you before I formed you and placed you in your mother’s womb”), a bona fide pro-life verse, into a support for abortion.
Now the United Church of Christ has passed a resolution proclaiming abortion to be healthcare, and by a commanding margin, as reported in LifeSiteNews.
In the resolution is an attempt to biblically and theologically justify abortion. Yet the passages cited in the resolution speak against it.
Take Proverbs 31:9, as seen in lines 52-56 of the resolution. This passage is about actively defending “the rights of the afflicted and needy,” but somehow the preborn child escapes notice by the resolution’s authors and supporters as being afflicted. In fact, the resolution will itself afflict the preborn child, exactly the opposite of what the biblical passage communicates.
Then there is Proverbs 29:7 in lines 58-62 of the resolution: “The righteous is concerned for the rights of the poor, The wicked do not understand such concern.” Isn’t this a direct and complete condemnation of the resolution’s supporters who appear not to understand the rights of the poorest of the poor, the children in the womb?
The “Good Samaritan” is included in the resolution, lines 64-67. It notes that “we must not ‘pass by on the other side’” and yet doesn’t abortion do just that, by passing by the child who is being murdered? Yet abortion is exactly what the resolution is promoting.
Even more egregious is the spinning of the Incarnation into a “sacred” right to abortion at lines 152-155 of the resolution: “…Mary’s informed, joyful choice to bear a child is the first act of Christian discipleship, and that forced birth is an act of sexual violence antithetical to the incarnation and the choice to have and care for children is a sacred decision which should not be forced upon anyone.”
Significant by its absence is Jesus’ call for the children to be allowed, not hindered, to come to him (Mt 19:14; Mk 10:14; Lk 18:16). Abortion sure looks like a hindrance to me!
For those of us who endeavor to build a culture of life, this brain-numbing propaganda presents a challenge since those who hold to this resolution believe they are following Christ and are likely not to respond well to true Christian arguments supporting life for the children in the womb.
Yet we will have to rise up to the challenge for we are called to defend the rights of the afflicted and needy (Prov 31:9).
