17 percent of all abortions are from born-again Christians in the United States of America. There, that's the startling statistic for this piece. After that, Christians all across the board have to figure out what to do about this statistic. This was brought up in the sermon today, which dealt specifically with the Spiritual aspect of abortion. My music pastor gave the sermon today, a warm and clumsy man that would be the last of my pastors I would think of presenting such a delicate issue such as this one. On account that this was truly the first direct abortion sermon held at my church to my recollection, it was amazing to hear such a stunning presentation brought forth by him, not to take away from his abilities. The often goofy laughable man had us all thinking deeply about the topic, penetrating to the core of some, as noticed by their constant sniffling and emotional looks they gave.
The sermon pleased me ever so. I expected the worst; a bantering of why it is the right thing to do, that is to vote Republican. The sermon was far from that, and to tell you the truth, I have a bad stereotype developing by those who say that Baptists will bash you over the head for committing such sins as voting Democrat. No, I under estimate my church a lot, but that is worth noting in another post. The fact of the matter is that my pastor gave a presentation of the topic in a very non-political matter, even going as far as to say that we have taken this truly Spiritual topic and made it a religious one, and then into a political one, as man has always seemed to do. The political battle is formulated so as to make everyone think that there is a black and white, a right or wrong, a "if your on this side, this means that you support this and do not support that." No, my pastor went straight to the Word and told us what God thinks. And yes, God is a pro-lifer, to the chagrin of some (out of the many, the best is Psalm 139:13-16).
This made for a better train of thought, rather than one that I possess from time to time that involves debunking the hidden messages from the speakers mouth. I understood full well that 17 percent of all who have abortions need attention. All who have had an abortion do, but the ones that we as brothers and sisters in Christ are responsible for in the process of caring for and growing with in this Spiritual journey with need an extra hug all the time. And do not get me wrong here either, everyone else needs an extra hug as well (if we are giving one in the first place), however Paul makes it especially clear that as the Body of Christ we are obligated to form an unusual bond with each other, one that the world would see as rather odd.
I could barley look at the emotion on one man's face during the service; if not for social norms and what not, I would certainly have gotten out of my pew and ran over to him to give him that needed hug. I don't even know who he was. But I remained in my uncomfortable seat and kept from doing the thing that I knew God was nudging me to do.
We as the Body need one another so much, and we all need to realize that true comfort is found in Christ, but an actual physical demonstration of the reflection of Christ's Love should be bouncing back and forth between us all the time. It is by this love that can remedy that 17 percent; in fact it is the cure for that number. Love bouncing back and forth will actually make that number drop drastically, because others will realize how much each of us values them and the decisions that they make in life.
That was the demeanor of the first Christians, a love bouncing back and forth that could not be stopped, not even during the full extent of the persecutions of the Roman Empire against them. It was not until following Christ became a political tool, a political designation that the horrible reputation began to build up against Christianity (Constantine). It's too bad that the political ties of today have twisted the direction of the sanctity of life, because followers of Christ could have helped combat this outside of the political arena with our beautiful reflection of True Love. That is what we have to practice instead of practicing our speeches for a political convention.
The sermon pleased me ever so. I expected the worst; a bantering of why it is the right thing to do, that is to vote Republican. The sermon was far from that, and to tell you the truth, I have a bad stereotype developing by those who say that Baptists will bash you over the head for committing such sins as voting Democrat. No, I under estimate my church a lot, but that is worth noting in another post. The fact of the matter is that my pastor gave a presentation of the topic in a very non-political matter, even going as far as to say that we have taken this truly Spiritual topic and made it a religious one, and then into a political one, as man has always seemed to do. The political battle is formulated so as to make everyone think that there is a black and white, a right or wrong, a "if your on this side, this means that you support this and do not support that." No, my pastor went straight to the Word and told us what God thinks. And yes, God is a pro-lifer, to the chagrin of some (out of the many, the best is Psalm 139:13-16).
This made for a better train of thought, rather than one that I possess from time to time that involves debunking the hidden messages from the speakers mouth. I understood full well that 17 percent of all who have abortions need attention. All who have had an abortion do, but the ones that we as brothers and sisters in Christ are responsible for in the process of caring for and growing with in this Spiritual journey with need an extra hug all the time. And do not get me wrong here either, everyone else needs an extra hug as well (if we are giving one in the first place), however Paul makes it especially clear that as the Body of Christ we are obligated to form an unusual bond with each other, one that the world would see as rather odd.
I could barley look at the emotion on one man's face during the service; if not for social norms and what not, I would certainly have gotten out of my pew and ran over to him to give him that needed hug. I don't even know who he was. But I remained in my uncomfortable seat and kept from doing the thing that I knew God was nudging me to do.
We as the Body need one another so much, and we all need to realize that true comfort is found in Christ, but an actual physical demonstration of the reflection of Christ's Love should be bouncing back and forth between us all the time. It is by this love that can remedy that 17 percent; in fact it is the cure for that number. Love bouncing back and forth will actually make that number drop drastically, because others will realize how much each of us values them and the decisions that they make in life.
That was the demeanor of the first Christians, a love bouncing back and forth that could not be stopped, not even during the full extent of the persecutions of the Roman Empire against them. It was not until following Christ became a political tool, a political designation that the horrible reputation began to build up against Christianity (Constantine). It's too bad that the political ties of today have twisted the direction of the sanctity of life, because followers of Christ could have helped combat this outside of the political arena with our beautiful reflection of True Love. That is what we have to practice instead of practicing our speeches for a political convention.
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