Pro-Life or Anti-Abortion?

I know…I know…I’m not usually the political type when it comes to social media.  But as you may know, I am raising support for the local crisis pregnancy center (see my last blog) and I felt some qualification was in order.

I am a Christian.  And an evangelical one, at that, which certainly conjures up all sorts of ideas in folks’ minds: white, Republican, middle-class, the list goes on.  At one point in my life, all of those descriptors would have fit relatively well.  But something began to change in 2008.  As you know, 2008 was full of political intrigue and debate.  The Bush II era was coming to a close and our country was, I think, exhausted by 9/11 and the somewhat confounding wars that followed.  Who exactly were we fighting?  Where exactly were they?  And why exactly were we in Iraq?  Blood had been spilled–American blood, Afghan blood, Iraqi blood, Pakistani blood, and that blood continues to be shed.

What I realized in the rhetoric of that election in 2008 was what the King James Bible would call double-tongued.  I felt like the candidate I was “supposed” to vote for as an evangelical claimed to be pro-life, yet they seemed almost giddy about killing adults in another country.  Something  simply did not sit right with me.  Around that time, I made the mistake of listening to two other people: St. Augustine of Hippo and Ron Paul.  From one, I learned that there is such a thing as a just war…they’re just few and far between.  From the other, I learned that someone can oppose not only abortion, but also wars that seem difficult to justify (according to the Bible or the Constitution, for that matter).  Strange birds, these two men.

In the years that have passed since then, I have learned that pro-life may not actually mean pro-life.  In many circles, it may just mean anti-abortion.  But as a follower of Jesus, I’m not called to simply oppose things.  Instead, we have been called to be for something, namely the spread of life to all through the power of the Gospel.  This truth has forced me to rethink issues like war, capital punishment, and even our approach to poverty.  If we are to be truly pro-life, we need to be considering all things that rob people of life–people to whom we have been called to share the love of God.

So all that said, I really would appreciate your sponsorship as I run next week in the Tour de Life 5k.  I’m not just running to oppose abortion–I’m running to promote life across the board.  I hope you’ll join me.

If you’d like to sponsor Jason, follow this link.

5 responses

  1. chas macgowan Avatar
    chas macgowan

    Interesting observations and rich food for thought. Northlake Crisis Pregnancy Center does great work and is dedicated to an extreamly important cause – actually saving lives, while helping folks who are in great need. I’ll be part of your support team brother- RUN JASON RUN!!!

    1. punkeedo Avatar
      punkeedo

      Thanks, my friend. Gotta love the folks over at Northlake. They’re doing great work!

  2. Jonathan Avatar
    Jonathan

    This is something I pondered about quite a bit in college (including the leadup to the 2008 election). Where do you fit capital punishment into this?

    1. Jonathan,
      Your question is a necessary outcome of this blog post. Am considering a followup, as several people had asked for me to comment. Thanks for posting. Should provoke a real response by early next week.

  3. […] of many: we simply aren’t pro-life.  We’re anti-abortion. [This conversation began in an earlier blog post] I say this, because our conversations seem to ceaselessly begin and end with abortion.  We want […]

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