Answering Christians Who Say: I’m Not Called to the Pro-Life Movement

National   |   Steven Ertelt   |   May 13, 2010   |   9:00AM   |   WASHINGTON, DC

Answering Christians Who Say: I’m Not Called to the Pro-Life Movement

by Bryan Kemper
May 13, 2010

LifeNews.com Note: Bryan Kemper is the president of Stand True Ministries, a pro-life group that reaches out to youth and young adults. He is the author of a new book, Social Justice Begins In The Womb.

After 20 years of involvement in the pro-life movement I have heard all the excuses under the sun for why people won’t get involved and take a stand. No matter what the excuse is, it all boils down to apathy and denial.

I actually have more respect for someone who is active in the pro-abortion movement then a pro-life person who won’t take a stand. I think I find the apathy of pro-lifers even more distressing because most pro-lifers also claim to be followers of Christ. For someone to understand the principles of the Gospel of Christ and yet turn a blind eye to one of the most basic calls we as Christians have boggles my mind.

My friends and people I am talking to about abortion often tell me that while they don’t believe in it, they are just not called to the pro-life movement. They tell me that they appreciate my passion for the babies, but that is just not what they are passionate about.

The fatal flaw in this excuse is that they seem to be viewing the pro-life movement as just another profession. Taking a stand against the killing of innocent children is not another major you can take in college; it is not a career choice your guidance counselor is going to encourage you towards.

Mark 12:30: “And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength. 31 The second is this, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these."

Is your neighbor just the person who lives next door to you, or the person who lives across the street?

In Luke 10, a lawyer asked Jesus, “Who is my neighbor?”

Jesus answered with the parable of the Good Samaritan. Jesus explained that a Levite and a Priest traveling down a road and both saw a man in need in a ditch and just passed him up, not offering any help. Then a Samaritan saw him and helped him. The Samaritan loved his neighbor as himself.

I wonder: did the Good Samaritan stop and ask God if he was “called to a ditch ministry”? Does this verse say love your neighbor if you are called to that particular need?

Every day in this country over 4,400 of our neighbors face an horrific and unjust death sentence. Every day over 4,400 of our neighbors are lying in a ditch, so to speak, and have no one to stop and help them; or do they? I say they do have someone to stop and help them; it is just that we do not stop because we are “called to something else”.

Another one of my favorite excuses is: “I don’t want to say anything because I don’t want to offend anyone who might have had an abortion”.

Now I can totally understand that we don’t want to go screaming at women who have had an abortion and call them names or anything like that. However that is hardly a good excuse to ignore the fact that 4,000 innocent human beings are being torn from their mothers’ wombs every day.

I wonder if some of the early slavery abolitionists heard that excuse from people who did not want to speak out against slavery? I can just imagine someone saying “I am against slavery but I don’t want to call it wrong and offend someone who owns slaves.”

Lets compare this to the modern social justice movement: campaigns against human trafficking, forced military service of minors and other popular causes. I don’t think anyone is worried about offending those who enslave women and force them into prostitution; they are more concerned about the victims of the crime.

I wonder how offended the precious little babies are that so many people are willing to be silent about their deaths, in order not to offend those responsible for killing them.

How about this great excuse: “I am totally pro-life, but we just need to worry about preaching the Gospel.”

I cannot tell you how many pastors throw this at me as an excuse for not getting involved with pro-life work or even talking about it from the pulpit. It actually surprises me that a pastor would even try to justify his apathy and lack of involvement in standing up for life.

Obviously we all know that as a Christians our main focus is to spread the Gospel and share the hope we have in Christ. We are commanded to “Go into all the world and preach the Gospel to all creation.” Mark 16:15

The idea that taking a stand for the almost 4,000 children that are being ripped limb from limb every day by surgical abortion is contrary to the Gospel is simply ludicrous. In fact, I would say that when we do not stand up for the voiceless or love our neighbor as ourselves, we are not truly preaching the Gospel.

I remember one pastor in particular who told me that I had no business telling anyone that abortion was wrong. He said I should only tell people about Jesus and nothing else. I laid out a situation for him to answer using his logic. What if you came upon a man beating a woman in an alley? Would you walk up to the man and tap him on the shoulder and tell him about Jesus, or would you first stop the man from beating the women and make sure she was taken care of?

He tried to wiggle out of answering the question at first but eventually said he would first stop the man from harming the woman and make sure she was ok. I asked him why he would not just tell them man about Jesus and not worry about his behavior? He said because the woman was in imminent danger and needed to be rescued.

The fact is we are also called in Scripture to “Deliver those who are being taken away to death. And those who are staggering to slaughter, Oh hold them back. If you say, ‘See, we did not know this,’ Does He not consider it who weighs the hearts?” Proverbs 24:11-12

There is no excuse for the apathy and lack of involvement of the church when it comes to abortion. Fear, apathy, denial and ignorance have their grip on the church and we need to wake up and break those binds.

If all of us who called ourselves followers of Christ would actually take a stand get involved with fighting against child-killing, I know we could end this holocaust.

Sign Up for Free Pro-Life News From LifeNews.com

Daily Pro-Life News Report Twice-Weekly Pro-Life
News Report
Receive a free daily email report from LifeNews.com with the latest pro-life news stories on abortion, euthanasia and stem cell research. Sign up here. Receive a free twice-weekly email report with the latest pro-life news headlines on abortion, euthanasia and stem cell research. Sign up here.