The “A” Word

I read a story told by deceased singer/songwriter Rich Mullins. He said that as a child his favorite time of the year at church was Christmas. He said that it was the one time of the year that you could say ass in church and not get in trouble. Rich said: “I used to sing that line out of that carol over and over again.”

There is another “a” word that rarely if ever gets said in church; it’s the word abortion. As a prolife activist I spent many years trying to get pastors to address abortion. For the most part it was a lost battle.

It seems that the murder of defenseless innocent children would be something the church should care about. By our relative inaction we show we don’t. For sure, we don’t want to do anything controversial.

The sad result is that our silence results in death and destruction. Women faced with an inconvenient pregnancy hear the only voice speaking, that of the world, and believe that abortion will solve their problem.

An old statistic showed that about 24 percent of women who identify as born-again Christians have had an abortion. That’s not before they were born-again but while they were. I would guess that today the statistic is the same or maybe higher. We delude ourselves when we look around our churches and say that it can’t be true, at least not in our church. The truth is that our silence results in dead babies and damaged women, not to mention what happens to the fathers of these babies.

Most pastors don’t address abortion because they are afraid of offending or hurting the women who have already had abortions. The truth is that the women are already hurting. If the pastors speak up, not only will they save lives but they may help the post abortive woman start down the path to healing.

Would you like to do something to prevent abortion? If you are in the Denver area I would invite you to join us at the abortion mill. If you have never been to one, I can assure you that it is less frightening than you may think. Many lives have been saved because someone cared enough to tell the truth outside an abortion clinic.

Here is a link to get you started in prolife action.

It’s time to break the silence and break the power of the “a” word.

Philip