Lance Lewis has a thoughtful post regarding abortion and the recent Presidential election. I encourage you to read it and seriously ponder the issues he raises. In response to his post, I submitted the following response (which I’ve slightly edited for posting here):
After this latest Presidential campaign, I've come to the conclusion that Evangelicals have, to a great extent, been duped by the Republican Party. The Republican Party knows they have the Evangelical vote locked up. All they have to do is talk the pro-life talk, and Evangelicals will vote for them, regardless of whether or not they actually do anything that brings about real change. It is exactly the same situation as that which exists between the Democrat Party and the greater part of the Black community. What has Black loyalty to the Democrat Party done for the Black community? Very little, if anything. That's exactly where the Evangelical community is right now with the Republican Party.
After this latest Presidential campaign, I've come to the conclusion that Evangelicals have, to a great extent, been duped by the Republican Party. The Republican Party knows they have the Evangelical vote locked up. All they have to do is talk the pro-life talk, and Evangelicals will vote for them, regardless of whether or not they actually do anything that brings about real change. It is exactly the same situation as that which exists between the Democrat Party and the greater part of the Black community. What has Black loyalty to the Democrat Party done for the Black community? Very little, if anything. That's exactly where the Evangelical community is right now with the Republican Party.
I've also become convinced that Evangelicals have been wrong to focus so intensely on abortion. Abortions are not the problem; abortions are but a symptom of the real problem: the spiritual condition of the United States. We Evangelicals work ourselves into a frenzy about Roe v Wade, when the fact of the matter is, if the gospel we proclaimed was really going out with power (see 1 Corinthians 2:4), Roe v Wade would become a moot point. Few would want an abortion. There would be little demand for abortion. Those who support and promote abortion don't need the animosity and hatred of Evangelicals; they need the gospel. Those who are blinded by Satan don't need to be demonized by us; they need the gospel.
The way to end abortion is not through the exercise of political might. The way to end abortion is through the Spirit-empowered propagation of the gospel. The proof: Remember the powerful effect that the gospel had on 18th century society in England and the American Colonies in the days of Whitefield and the Wesleys? Cannot God do the same thing today?
In my opinion, the Evangelical politicking of the past 30 years (since the emergence of the "Moral Majority") has simply been a futile exercise in fighting spiritual battles with carnal weapons (see 2 Corinthians 10:3-5).
In my opinion, the Evangelical politicking of the past 30 years (since the emergence of the "Moral Majority") has simply been a futile exercise in fighting spiritual battles with carnal weapons (see 2 Corinthians 10:3-5).
Posts
1 comment:
"The proof: Remember the powerful effect that the gospel had on 18th century society in England and the American Colonies in the days of Whitefield and the Wesleys? Cannot God do the same thing today?"
The gospel did have a powerful affect on 18th century British society, but this included political change. For example, both John Wesley and William Wilberforce supported using politics to outlaw the immoral British slave trade.
The progress in the fight against abortion is certainly slow (although not non-existant), but the campaign against slavery was also very long. In Britain, the first attempt to outlaw the slave trade in Parliament was in 1783. It took until 1807 for the slave trade to be outlawed, and then until 1833 for slavery to be outlawed in the British empire.
Abortion should not be our only concern, as slavery was not William Wilberforce's only concern, but abortion, the legalised murder of children, is in my view, the biggest moral outrage of our day in terms of violations of the second greatest commandment (Matthew 22:36-40).
Post a Comment