A couple weeks ago, Pastor Carl Lentz, from Hillsong New York, was on the day-time show “The View”. He was asked point blank if abortion was a sin. Lentz replied, “That’s the kind of conversation we would have finding out your story, where you’re from, what you believe … God’s the judge. People have to live to their own convictions. That’s such a broad question, to me, I’m going higher. I want to sit with somebody and say, ‘What do you believe?” Needless to say, he has been sharply criticized him for his answer.
Though this has been a hot-button issue for years, recently I found myself in several conversations concerning this issue. So, I thought I would share my thoughts.
Personally, I think the church has a history of poorly representing Christ on many hot-button issues. At the core of the Gospel is love, truth, and grace. There is no love or grace picketing an abortion clinic. There is no truth in ignoring the value Christ puts on life.
What’s so terrible is the moral failure of society to condemn the murder of unborn innocent children. I understand there are other horrific crimes against humanity such as rape, human trafficking, and others. Broken families and other pressures women face from multiple sides encourage women to not keep their baby. We live in a fallen world where people don’t make the best decisions, not only in this area, but many others as well. (I know because of some of the bad decisions I have made!!)
Sadly, poor decisions are often made worse by the way the Church has responded. I know there are exceptions, but what the world has seen from many who claim the title Christian, is a massive lack of grace and love. There are those who disgrace the name of Jesus by heaping shame upon single women who are pregnant and women who chose abortion. I am not approving of decisions to take the life of a child, I’m simply acknowledging the mistakes some have made claiming to represent the Bride of Christ. Sometimes women have a tough decision between being looked down at by the Church as a pregnant single woman, or having an abortion which also leads to judgment from some in the Church.
For women in the Church, they find themselves in a lose-lose situation and have a very tough decision to make.
This MUST stop!
The truth of scripture speaks to saving sex for marriage.
The truth of scripture speaks to valuing all life.
The grace of the cross brings forgiveness for ALL sins.
The love of Christ brings hope, healing, and help to all those who face the consequences of their sin.
The Church is to be a vessel of hope, healing, and help, especially to women who face this tough decision.
To those who say, “yes, we need to love them, but they still have to face the consequences of their sin.” Do you really want to face the consequences of your sin alone? Romans 3:26 says the wages of sin is death. No one wants to face that alone and Christ came so we wouldn’t have to. He came to walk with us through the consequences of our sin and love us deeply through it.
People have a tendency to justify their own actions and judge the actions of others. We extend grace to our mistakes while saying others must learn and that’s why there are consequences.
So yes, I believe abortion is sinful. I believe it is also sinful for Christians to not support a young mother after she decides to have the baby. Again, I also believe it is sinful to have an atmosphere of shame surrounding those who have had an abortion.
I’m not saying women should feel good about the decision. There’s a big difference between guilt and shame. Guilt says, I did a bad thing. Shame says, I am bad. Especially as believers, we have been made clean and any shame was washed away by the sacrifice of Christ. Shame has NO place in the life of a Christian and may we never shame others.
Christ never shamed anyone for their sin. He never approved of sin, yet He continually found a way of deeply loving others all the more. How about you? Do you look down upon others simply because they made a bad decision? Or do you have empathy and find a way to love them without approving of sin?