Love and Picket Signs

Each year, thousands of Christians gather in Washington DC and walk, picket signs and protests held high, to the steps of Capitol Hill in what is now called the "March For Life," an anti-abortion protest. Hundreds of pro-life groups lend their support for this protest, taking this as an opportunity to say that the life of the unborn is just as sacred as the life of those born and that those who support "choice" are clearly in the wrong.

This is a common image painted of most Evangelical Christians: picket signs held high and condemnation flowing from their tongues. Though not OFTEN touched on in previous years, it has become more evident in recent films and documentaries the world's view of the church: condemnation. Often, the extreme ends of Christianity get to speak (Westboro Baptist Church, who picket the funerals of soldiers, is the first example coming to my mind), but it's not often that the happy medium (if there is one) gets to speak its mind. Therefore, the church is lumped together with the condemning attitudes of a few as a result of not only protests such as the one mentioned above, but also a severe lack of social action to change the problem.

I'm touching on the pro-life issue in light of recent discussions with friends on the matter. I have to question how many Christians who claim to be pro-life really are for a couple reasons:

1) How many Christians who are willing to buy pro-life stickers to put on their cars or who will travel down to DC each year to protest Roe vs. Wade are actually willing to be a part of the solution? This is a dream of mine to accomplish at some point: I want to go down to DC with two chairs, a table, a list of crisis pregnancy centers in the Northeast region, and a pen, and begin asking people to sign up to volunteer at these places, just to see how many people I get willing to do that. I can't imagine I'd get many. You see, when one protests, one must be ready to actually do something to help the problem, and there are plenty of solutions to abortion. Things like helping a young mother take care of her unexpected child. volunteering for a crisis pregnancy center, donating things like diapers and formula so that young mother (whom you would have condemned for aborting the child she couldn't take care of) can care for her child properly, or even (SHOCKING) helping out at Planned Parenthood, who at least makes information about contraceptives available and teaches people able sexual health (something churches are downright afraid of anymore.

My point here is being part of the solution, not just complaining about the problem. If we just spend our time yelling at people going into clinics that they're going to Hell, we've completely missed Christ's message. Christ would take that woman aside and offer to help take care of the child she doesn't want. In fact, that's exactly what he does. He loves the mother just as much as the unborn, and I think Christians miss that often. We're supposed to be Christ's hands and feet, why aren't we reaching out and loving those who are in the situation of an unexpected pregnancy? They need the love of Christ just as much as the unborn child in their womb.

2) This is more of an opinion thing, and definitely a debate for another day, but I find it quite hypocritical for someone to be pro-life and pro-war. The two don't mix. If you value the life of the unborn so much (which, I want to emphasize, I do) then why don't you value the life of your fellow man? What makes the unborn child's life so important in comparison to the life of a grown man? Doesn't Christ love him too?

Those are my thoughts for today. I'll develop the second one further sometime, if I find the time.