On my mind and heart…

Sometimes I have too many serious issues and thoughts bumping around in my head, and while I want to write a blog post to clear my head and get the thoughts on “paper”, part of me dreads the process.  I’m not exactly sure why- perhaps it is because it is much easier to take time to write on DIY projects, funny things my kids are doing, or random life events.  Don’t get me wrong, I love writing about all of those things and plan to do so soon.  But I feel the need to get this out first so I can move on to the other (fun!) things.

I find myself getting increasingly frustrated when my brothers or sisters in Christ accept and/or promote the watered-down ways of the world.  First, a disclaimer- I am not trying to indicate that I never do this.  It is hard to be a Christian and avoid it, honestly.  It truly takes continuous effort and dying to self, and that is exhausting.  Thankfully, Jesus is there to help guide us through the process and shoulder the burden with us.  That said, it’s becoming a larger and larger issue and I’m both agitated and saddened by it.

Take abortion (surprise, back to this issue again).  I believe wholeheartedly that abortion is not only the taking of innocent life, but that it is a destroyer of women’s lives as well. And men’s.  I also believe that Planned Parenthood is one of the most sinister organizations that there is.  You look at the beliefs of the founder, Margaret Sanger- then go research some of her successors.  The ideology of Planned Parenthood is, at its core, horrifying.   Yes, I know the argument that “Planned Parenthood provides services to women that they can’t access easily elsewhere” in addition to the oft-used “but look at all the good they have done!”  Very few things get me going like the latter argument.  But you know, I’m not so surprised to hear it from nonbelievers and this post is not aimed at those who do not profess Christ.

Christians, on the other hand, should know better.  Since when does any “good” done by Planned Parenthood justify the murder of 332,278 babies in 2009 alone. It does 333 abortion referrals for every 1 adoption referral.  Also, according to Planned Parenthood Federation of America 2006-2007 Annual Report, abortion accounts for at least a third of Planned Parenthood’s total income from clinic services.  It took home $85 million in profit and had an operating budget of over $1 billion for the 2007-2008 fiscal year, according to one of its more recent annual reports.  If people would truly take time to read the information out there, even (especially!) in PP’s own reports, I think they would begin to see what this organization truly is.  Talk to women who have not been given full information before aborting their baby and who are daily dealing with the physical and/or emotional repercussions- talk to fathers who weren’t given a “choice” in whether their child lived or died.  Stop being lukewarm on an issue that demands a strong voice!

People like to argue that the good Planned Parenthood does outweighs the bad.  What, then, is the moral difference in justifying Hitler’s role in murdering the over 6 million people he did, because, well, he did great things for the German economy and advocated strongly for worker’s rights?  The Nazis provided the world with incredible strides in engineering and the field of medicine, accomplishments that undoubtedly saved lives.  Does that justify the evil they did?  Sounds harsh, even ridiculous to compare the two doesn’t it?  But why?  It’s the same principle.

The good an organization or individual does cannot outweigh the evil of taking human life.

Over 49,551,703 babies have been aborted since abortion was legalized in 1973.  Over 49, 551, 703.  Take some time to read about the various methods of abortion- read the accounts of how babies have responded with pain in the womb as they tried to avoid the suction device.  Then tell me again that Planned Parenthood is a honorable organization.

So…that is why I am shocked when my brothers and sisters in Christ support Planned Parenthood, even in part.  Please understand me- my heart breaks for women that feel so desperate that they kill their child.  Yes, I often feel anger too, but my real anger is for those that take advantage of these women and do it under the guise of advocacy and “choice”.  It is an organization that is no friend to children, certainly, but it is no friend to women either.

As Christians, we are called to be “the light of the world” (Matthew 5:14); to reflect the true Light of the world, Christ.  Romans 12:2 tells us “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.”  How can we be the light of the world, when, as followers of Christ, we defend organizations (or individuals) that are so clearly opposed to the will of God?  I’m not saying I haven’t done this, and I may even do it now unknowingly, but it is my responsibility to be as informed as possible- and to me, Planned Parenthood is a clear-cut issue.   I’m not saying this against any one person, it’s simply an observation that has been building and building to the point where I felt the need to process it further.

If you’re still with me, I hope you understand the passion that drove this post.  Even more, I hope you’ll share it.

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Modern Day Molech

Have you ever read the passage in Exodus where it talks about Pharaoh ordering that all firstborn Hebrew male children be thrown into the Nile river?  Exodus 1:22, to be exact.  It states, “Then Pharaoh commanded all his people, “Every son that is born to the Hebrews you shall cast into the Nile, but you shall let every daughter live.”  This chilling order was due to the Pharaoh’s notice that the Hebrew people were growing rapidly in number, and this threatened him (and of course they were growing greatly, as God had promised Abraham that “I will surely bless you and make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as the sand on the seashore. Your descendants will take possession of the cities of their enemies, and through your offspring all nations on earth will be blessed, because you have obeyed me.” (Genesis 22:17-18).

As a child and young adult, I always remembered that the Pharaoh had sentenced all those babies to death, but it never struck me that they were to be thrown into the river.  I thought then of how terrible that must have been for all those parents.  The grieving, the anguish, the sheer desperation and despair.  Now, as a mother, the horror of it overwhelms me.  It also hit me that, despite the fact that it was Pharaoh’s order, it was oftentimes the Hebrew parents who were putting their children in the river, not always the Egyptian guards or the Egyptian people.

There are other parts of the Bible that can almost read like something from the horror genre.  Mentions of Molech, for example.  Molech was a “god” that was worshiped by the Ammonites primarily, but also by other groups such as the Canaanites, which is why the Israelites are warned to stay away from this practice when they enter the Promise Land.  Worship of Molech involved sacrificing children to fire.  This practice is also mentioned in accounts written by Latin and Greek writers, which describe the image of a human figure with a bull’s head and outstretched arms.  The children were placed in the arms of the idol and were then allowed to roll off the arms into a fiery pit below the statue, thereby serving as burnt offerings to this false god.  Children, babies, were burnt alive.  Again, by their own parents.  This time without being ordered from an outside entity. As an act of worship or to appease the anger of this “god”.

Or there was the practice of infanticide in ancient Greece, where parents could simply leave an infant on the side of the road of they so chose.  Of course, this practice ran rampant through many ancient cultures.

It is horrifying.  It is disgusting.  It is rage-inducing, tear-producing, and heartbreak-invoking.   And it continues today.

We have a modern day Molech.  We as a society not only allow, but encourage, child sacrifice.  Please, stay with me here– I may surprise you with what I am going to say.  Of course, I am talking about abortion.  While many claim that the baby isn’t really a baby yet, that a woman has the right to choose, I know beyond a shadow of a doubt that it is a baby.  I know this because first and foremost, God says that it is life in His word.  Psalm 139:13-16 says “For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well. My frame was not hidden from you, when I was being made in secret, intricately woven in the depths of the earth. Your eyes saw my unformed substance;in your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there was none of them.”

Jeremiah 1:5 states that God knew Jeremiah before he was formed in the womb.

That substance that society argues is just a mass of cells is a life.  It is not an “it”, it is a baby.  And women are being lied to by the monster that is the abortion industry.

Forgive me if my anger comes out here.  When I said rage-inducing, I meant it.  But let me be clear.  I am not raging at the mothers that make this choice.  I am angry at the lies they are told.  And I am angry at the ones telling the lies.  Angry at a society, including our Supreme Court, that says “women have the right…” out of one side of their mouth but then turn around and say that women can’t handle being told the entire truth about the life they carry inside of them out of the other side.  I’m raging at a society that tells women that it will be okay, that it only hurts a little but then it is done.  That there are no lasting effects.  Women that have had an abortion (as a whole), can tell you that there are certainly effects, and the hurt is never done.  That having an abortion can affect future fertility, and that it leaves a scar on the very soul.

I recently read a book called The Atonement Child by Francine Rivers.  Amazing book.  And out of all the moments in the story that are captivating, there are a few sentences that remain with me.  Upon learning of the pain her mother still experiences from an abortion she had years and years ago, the main character (who became pregnant through being raped) has the realization that her mother, and so many other women out there battered by the abortion experience, are in a sort of holding pattern.  How, this character wonders, can these women mourn and grieve, how can they experience the flood of emotion they are experiencing, when the world is telling them that there is nothing to grieve?  That there has been no loss.  That their very feelings are not valid.

Does this sound good for women?  Is this something we should be celebrating?  This idea of a woman’s right to choose?  Not only is the life of a child being ended, but women are being traumatized.  They are being used.  Their feelings, their sense of well-being, are being aborted right along with their baby.  And our society applauds this.

Abortion advocates are against ultrasounds being offered for women who are leaning towards abortion.  They often claim it will unnecessarily traumatize the mother.  That is a bunch of manure.  If we are going to offer the right to choose, then shouldn’t women be given all the facts?  Are they children that need someone to shield their eyes from truth?  Why are abortion advocates so afraid for women to see that the “mass of cells” they are carrying are a living, breathing life?  So that the woman doesn’t change her mind and actually have the child?  How dare a woman have the right to change her mind.  Choice is only allowed when it involves removing the “problem”.

My anger also burns at pro-life advocates that are so judgmental towards these women that they scare them away from the truth of the lives they carry inside them.  I have been there myself, feeling anger in particular towards women that get abortion after abortion, sacrificing their children to the idols of convenience and cost-effectiveness.  But then Jesus whispers to me that while these women are making their choices, and a horrible, heart-breaking choice it is, I am not their judge.  I am called to love them.  They need to be ministered to.  They need someone to come alongside them after they make their life-changing decision and show them that nothing, no decision, is outside of the reach of Christ’s love.  And therefore, no decision is out of the reach of mine.  As Christ works on my heart, my heart breaks for these women.

Yes, we have a modern day Molech.  And we need to do something about it.  Pray.  Get involved.  Speak up.  Minister to these women who were told that it would only hurt for a minute.  Work on behalf of our children.  Find a way to change our society so that the value of children is no longer diminished and destroyed.   Fight the lie that it isn’t really a life.

Pray for me as I seek how I am to be involved.

Please.