Category: Prejudice

Are you pro-life or just pro-birth?

“Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.” Galatians 6:2 ESV

The problem with the pro-life movement especially in North America is that it is essentially a pro-birth movement intend on ensuring all babies are born but with little concern as to what happens to these babies and their families once born. The problem with making abortion illegal is that there are a multitude of cases where the situation is not quite so clear-cut. Do you write these exceptions into law and if so where do you draw the line?

What about the woman who very much wants her baby but finds out her pregnancy is ectopic and has to abort or she, AND her baby, will die (and no there is currently NO way of re-implanting a foetus from the fallopian tube to the womb). Do you tell her, in the midst of her distress, that she is committing an evil act?

Where do you draw the line?

What about the 13-year-old, who finds herself pregnant after having been raped by her stepfather. Do you tell her she has to stay pregnant and give birth to a baby that every minute of every day reminds her of the evil act that created this baby?

Where do you draw the line?

And what if this person is 25 and the rapist is a complete stranger?

Where do you draw the line?

What about the 16-year-old who finds herself pregnant because she made a mistake and her boyfriend abandons her as soon as he finds out she is pregnant (and no HE DOESN’T have to live with his mistake)? Do you tell her she has to give up her life, the chance of an education, the chance of a decent job that will keep her and any future family out of poverty?

Where do you draw the line?

What about the loving family of 7, who’s parents both work 2 jobs each to put food on the table for their family and find out that they are pregnant with child number 8 knowing that the birth of this child will mean even more hardship and poverty for the rest of the family.

Where do you draw the line?

What about the pregnant mentally ill woman who can only keep her baby if she stops taking her medication, which would mean her spirally out of control into depression, mania, paranoia … and become a danger to herself, her baby, and people around her?

Where do you draw the line?

What about the women who do decide to go through with pregnancy and birth and give their babies up for adoption only to live with the trauma of their decision for the rest of their life? Will you be there for them during and after pregnancy to help and support them?

What about the babies who are born unwanted to live a life of poverty and abuse? Will you be there for them to provide the love, food, education, medical and psychological care that they need?

If you feel called to protect the life of the unborn, instead of fighting to make or maintain abortion as illegal, why not fight to support mother, father, existing children and the unborn financially, emotionally and medically?

Instead of preventing financial support to women’s health charities around the world for fear that they may provide abortion, why not support them precisely because they are offering women the choice of not getting pregnant in the first place when they are not able to feed the children they already have.

Instead of shaming teenagers when they get pregnant, which is more likely to encourage them to hide their pregnancy and seek an abortion, why not provide them with psychological, medical and financial help during pregnancy and afterwards whether they chose to keep their babies or give them up for adoption.

We need to recognise that ALL pregnant women need help. We need to support women with free medical and mental care, especially if they are struggling with an unwanted or unsafe pregnancy. We need to support them with financial help, especially if they are in a vulnerable situation already. We need to support women and girls with affordable childcare, especially if they are young, to keep them in full time education.

THIS is the battle that, as Christians, we need to fight. This I am convinced would save more unborn babies that any law restricting access to legal abortion would.

We need to fight for the right to live not just for the right to be born.

Also see ‘Love your neighbour as yourself‘

This is not our home

A strange thing has been happening in recent years as I find myself constantly angry every time I read or listen to the news. I am angry about the level of lies, and misleading facts that our leaders are spreading every day. But above all I am angry about what we, the Christians of today, have become. We have sadly become the pharisees of the modern world (see https://www.barna.com/research/christians-more-like-jesus-or-pharisees/.

We are more concerned with establishing and imposing rules in a world that does not belong to us than in protecting the weak and the vulnerable and drawing the lost to the redemptive grace of our loving God.

We are more concerned with protecting our rights to freedom and comfort than we are in taking care of people who cannot defend themselves. More worryingly we insist on imposing rules that we have created for ourselves on those who do not believe in our God.

How are we ever going to be able to bring the lost back to God ?

How are we ever going to be able to bring the lost back to God with our hypocritical behaviour? We claim superiority in morals whilst at the same time spewing lies, judging others, condemning non-believers and imposing rules that even we cannot live up to.

Do you really think that we are showing the true character of God when we put our right to celebrate Christmas for example ahead of the rights of other faiths to celebrate their own holidays? And what about defending the right of the unborn whist at the same time condemning the living to a life incarcerated and separated from their own children simply for asking for a chance to a better life?

This is our hypocrisy; we are now seen around the world as the most judgmental section of society. We, the Christians of today, representants of God on this Earth, are turning people away from God because of our behaviour. We have turned our back to the teachings of Jesus and in doing so we are letting him down.

Every time we treat a child of God as inferior to us, every time we draw a line to keep a stranger out, every time we close our eyes to the silent pain of another human being, every time we let fear overpower love we are showing the world the devil in us when we should be showing Christ in us.

We have a duty to serve

Wake up, brothers and sisters, this is not our home, it should not feel comfortable, we have no right to freedom and comfort in this world, they will come to us in the afterlife. What we do have is a responsibility to serve our fellow human beings regardless of race, gender, religious beliefs, nationality or sexuality to bring as many of them as possible along with us to the kingdom of God. THIS is our duty and obligation and we MUST urgently make this our priority again.

Also see http://www.cross-of-life.org/when-god-cries/.

A church united in its mission

1 Corinthians 1:10 “I appeal to you, brothers and sisters, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree with one another in what you say and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be perfectly united in mind and thought.”

Our problem as Christians is that too often we promote what we are against instead of what we stand for. We fight about doctrine and what separates us rather than focussing on our mission and what unites us. This not only impacts our own walk with Christ but hinders our ability to attract people to Christ and his Church.

Mahatma Gandhi famously said “I’d be a Christian if it were not for the Christians.” And there is a good reason why he did. Intrigued by the teachings of the bible and the sermon of the mount in particular, Gandhi decided one Sunday morning to visit a Christian church in Calcutta but was stopped at the door by the ushers who told him that, as this was a church for high caste Indians and whites only, he would not be allowed in. This rejection caused Gandhi’s total rejection of Christianity. Now imagine what could have happened in Hindu India and elsewhere in the world if a man like Mahatma Gandhi had become a Christian?

We MUST remember what our mission is as is so clearly defined in the Bible:

  • Our mission as Christians is to be inclusive not exclusive: 1 Corinthians 12:12:-14 “For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—Jews or Greeks, slaves or free—and all were made to drink of one Spirit. For the body does not consist of one member but of many.”
  • Our mission is to love our neighbours like ourselves not to despise someone for who they are, what they do or what they believe. Mark 12:31 “Love your neighbour as yourself.’ There is no commandment greater than these.” (see more)
  • Our mission is to spread the gospel around the world, Matthew 28:19 “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit”
  • Our mission is to protect the poor, the weak, the disenfranchised, all those who are different and need help. Proverbs 31:8-9 “Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves, for the rights of all who are destitute. Speak up and judge fairly; defend the rights of the poor and needy.” (see more)

We only have one enemy and that’s the devil. If you want to fight, then fight him. Let’s unite in our battle against our common enemy, who revels in and stokes our infighting and jealousy. Let’s stop playing his game and stand for who we ALL are in Christ, sons and daughters of the one true King and joint heirs with Jesus Christ.

Look after orphans and widows in their distress

“Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.”

Nine years ago, when my family and I first moved to France we went through a very traumatic time. I can honestly say that it felt like just about everything was going wrong. We hit one disaster after another which affected our family life, our living conditions, our finances and health very deeply. I must admit that I struggled with my faith in those days and in believing that God was good and loved me. But on one of my daily lament to God, I heard this very clear voice in my head telling me: “I have given you everything you wanted, you asked for a husband, I gave you a husband, you wanted a family, I gave you children, you wanted to move to France, you now live in France, now it is my turn”.

I have spent most of my life since that day trying to work out what “my turn” meant, but I still struggle almost everyday to remember that my salvation was not just about me, it was about God and Jesus and the Holy Spirit, the Church, the lost, the disenfranchised, the needy, the sick, the weak and the defenceless.

The events of the last few weeks in the United States of America, the senseless murder of Georges Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor and many others before them has forced me once again to face my failings in putting God and others before my own concerns and comfort.

I have had to examine my own heart and my own prejudices. I had to speak to my children to make sure that the next generation does better than we have. I have read countless comments on social media condemning the protesters for trying to make white people feel guilty for their privilege. I have heard many Christians declaring that we shouldn’t talk about race in Church and criticising their pastors if they did raise their voices against racism and prejudice during their sermons.

And it got me thinking: so much of what we hear in Church is about us as individuals. It’s about making us feel and live better lives. It’s about overcoming our own pain, discomfort, guilt and shortcomings. I am not belittling the importance of that message, however, if we never go beyond simply focussing on ourselves, we cannot grow as Christians.

A grownup Christian looks after widows and orphans, as James 1:27 tells us:

“Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.”

As Christians we must be at the forefront of the battle against prejudice and injustice. We must be seen and heard crying for our brothers and sisters who are persecuted for their gender, the colour of their skin, their nationality, their religion or denomination, their disability, their socio-economic background, or sexual orientation. We have been commissioned by God to do so and we must make this a Church priority. This is how we will be spreading the message of God’s love to the world (see also this blog post).

“Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves, for the rights of all who are destitute. Speak up and judge fairly; defend the rights of the poor and needy.” Proverbs 31:8-9 

You cannot love and discriminate at the same time. We must show love to all. Why is it so much more prevalent in church to forgive a murderer than to accept a gay man for who he is?

In Galatians 3:28, it is written: “There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.” We are all created equal, image bearers of God and it is about time this becomes a reality in all Christian churches.

We cannot continue to stay within the comfort of our little group of Christian friends, talking about comfortable issues that make us feel better about ourselves. We must examine our own guilt in fostering and maintaining prejudice and injustice in the world, repent and recognise the equal rights of ALL the children of God without distinction as to race, sex, language, or religion.