Abortion is the 21st Century Prohibition Issue

There is no doubt that the Bible is clear that “drinking to excess” is a sin. And there’s no doubt that in the early 1900s that drinking to excess was so common that it was creating widespread social ills, destroying families, hurting businesses, and was a real social problem.

The question is, when sin is tearing at the fabric of society, is outlawing the sin the best way to solve the social problem.

It would be a massive understatement to say that the 18th Amendment had unintended consequences. Rather than erasing widespread drunkenness, Prohibition sparked a rise in crime and corruption. Saloons were supplanted by speakeasies, complete with secret passwords and off-the-menu hooch. Deadly organized crime ran rampant in cities and small towns as moonshine developed into a lucrative underground industry. The Great Depression only made things worse. The federal government spent a fortune trying in vain to enforce Prohibition, while simultaneously losing the potential revenue from taxing alcohol.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/women-campaigned-for-prohibition%e2%80%94then-many-changed-their-minds/ar-BB1aCyVK?ocid=ob-fb-enus-280

Almost 100 years later we haven’t learned anything from history or human nature, and we are in the exact same position with the abortion issue — and that with the advantage of already knowing the impossibility of enforcement and the needless lives lost BEFORE abortion was legalized by the courts.

We know that if we could overturn Roe v. Wade, the matter simply reverts to the states and that most states would still allow abortions. Even more unlikely if we could get all 50 states to outlaw abortions that we will have simply created another black market opportunity for organized crime to step into and fill the need, generate enormous profits, and as in the 30s, gain control of government.

Even knowing all that, the religious right has determined to put all their eggs in this basket. They have made a Faustian deal with the devil, agreed to elect a moral monster, wink at his racism, brutal oppression of the marginalized, his trampling of democracy and constitutional law, and his use of federal powers to enact revenge on his political foes, to say nothing of his gross immorality, financial fraud and political crimes.

This seems like a high price to pay to gamble on an outcome that history already tells us is certain to be worse than the condition we opposed. The real difference is this time is could lead to the collapse of our democracy and usher in a 2nd civil war. This gamble could end the “American Experiment” and prove that freedom is ultimately still a pipe dream.

The 2020 Election Will Permanently Break Relationships

Albert Mohler is president of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. As you would expect he argues for why he thinks endorsing all manner of immortality, corruption and injustice (traits he openly admits Trump brings to the table) is the most Christian thing to do because it’s necessary to preserving “conservative values.” By that he means primarily maintaining opposition to abortion and gay rights.

All that is to be expected. He says regarding we Christians who disagree with him,

We each have a vote. Both of us will answer to God for that vote. We earnestly seek to persuade the other. We will likely vote differently in the end. We remain brothers and sisters in Christ.

https://albertmohler.com/2020/10/26/christians-conscience-and-the-looming-2020-election

But then he says,

I quickly lose respect for those who now endorse Joe Biden

There’s the bottom line. We are still brothers and sisters, but we are brothers and sisters who have no respect for one another and no desire to be in each other’s company.

I identify personally with the marginalized. The asylum seekers and refugees being tear gassed and turned away are my son’s and daughters, my brothers and sisters. Our black citizens being killed in our streets, that’s my daughter, my brother. I don’t just oppose these racist and oppressive policies ideologically. I’m hurt and angry. I’m personally offended. Trump couldn’t be enforcing these brutal policies without you empowering him and approving these policies with your vote. We don’t just disagree. You are murdering my family, and I don’t think I can ever forgive you for that.

What is Legalism? And Why Is It Anti-Christ?

If you asked someone, “Are most people you know self-centered?” (Or you could name any other of a dozen sins). They will undoubtedly answer “Yes!” If you ask them “Are you self-centered?”, they will answer “Absolutely not! I am a very caring and unselfish person.” Human nature, as Jesus so aptly put it, is to see the splinters in our neighbor’s eye, but not see the 2×4 sticking out of our own eye.

Legalism is the same way. Everyone you talk to knows it’s bad, and that it’s a widespread destructive disease within Christianity, but you will never talk to a person who says, “I’m a legalist.” It’s always the church or the Christian across the street that is legalistic.

So what is legalism?

Simply put, legalism is set of religious beliefs and practices that is based on a system of law (usually euphemised as “moral law”). It’s an important distinction that these laws are almost exclusively “negative laws” — that is to say naming things you cannot do. Common examples are: you can’t eat pork, you can’t drink alcohol, you can’t use tobacco, you can’t gamble, you can’t have same sex relationships, you can’t have an abortion, etc.

So what’s wrong with having laws?

1. They are man-made laws claiming to be God’s laws. It is idolatry.

2. They are used to control people. Religious people make laws that they have no problem keeping, which makes them feel like the righteous ones and gives them the authority to issues edicts of punishment over those who break the laws.

3. They work contrary to God’s revealed plan of SAVING PEOPLE. That’s why it’s called a “plan of salvation.” Laws do not save anyone. All you have to do is look at our drug laws, the prohibition era, or drunk driving laws. Laws don’t prevent whatever behavior you outlaw, laws simply give you a basis for punishing people who do those behaviors. Legalism then, turns the church into a rod of punishment rather than an instrument of salvation.

So how is legalism anti-Christ?

1. It invalidates the word of Christ. Jesus said, “My yoke is easy and my burden is light.” He only had two commands we needed to keep: “love God with all your heart and love your neighbor as yourself.” Legalism says, “No that’s not true.” Legalism calls Jesus a liar. On the one hand it’s much easier for a person to omit certain “sins” that they aren’t inclined to, than it is to love their black or Muslim neighbor like their own family member, or instead of buying that new boat or vacation home, using that money to feed the poor or provide shelter for the homeless or medical care for the sick.

2. It invalidates the work of Christ. The New Testament books of Romans, Galatians and Hebrews, especially, declare in uncertain terms that the law and grace are incompatible. That is to say that grace came to take the place of law. Romans clearly states that the purpose of the law was merely to condemn us (see point #3 above) and that the death of Christ satisfied the punishments of the law, making the law unnecessary and opening a way to God through the righteousness of Christ. We are saved by grace and that not of ourselves. It is not grace AND… The Galatian letter says those who are adding legal requirements have trampled the blood of Christ and made his death of no effect. They are putting themselves under condemnation again. We will either stand condemned by the law or we will stand saved by grace. There is no third option.

So what does that mean for me?

It means you need to reject the spirit of anti-Christ wherever you find it, even if you find it in a church. If your church or the so-called “Christians” you associate with, are focused primarily on a list of bad things they think people shouldn’t be doing (abortion, gay marriage, drinking, dancing, smoking, etc.) and yet you find they are guilty of far worse sins — tolerating/supporting racism, the oppression of the poor, immigrants, and refugees, aren’t actively involved in serving the poor, fighting for social justice, and so on; that should be a HUGE RED FLAG for you that you need to leave that association and find a body of believers that are actively involved in being an instrument of salvation and restoration.

Satan masquerades as an angel of light. There are many who call themselves Christian who are messengers of Satan intent on destroying the work of Christ. We need to have the discernment to recognize the difference and not be found to be enemies of Christ. Christ only has two laws: Love God and Love Your Neighbor. Christ’s laws don’t condemn anyone. Christ’s laws don’t bring punishment to anyone. They bring healing, restoration and reconciliation to a broken and hurting world. That is what we who call ourselves by His name are to be about. By their fruits you will recognize them.

The Unwanted Child

I am admittedly on the fence on the abortion issue.  I lean pro-life.  That is to say, in theory, when the idea is considered apart from the practical realities of life, the pro-life position is the perfect ideal.  However, the real world realities leave me burdened with a feeling of responsibility that if I’m going to tell people they need to give birth to all their unwanted children, then I need to consider what  I’m going to do to ensure these children are given the love, nurture and quality of life that every human being deserves.  A “right to life” argument that doesn’t consider the right to life after birth seems to be in the realm of cruel and unusual — inhumane.

The following excerpt is from Christina McKenna’s, “The Misremembered Man”. While it’s fiction, true stories exactly like this are repeated daily by the tens (if not hundreds) of thousands all over the world in orphanages, foster homes, and other “alternative” living arrangements for the unwanted kids of the world.  It begs the question, what is our social responsibility?

Excerpt follows:

“Re­mind me why you’re here, Eighty-six?”

“Be­cause…’ He swal­lowed back the tears. “Be­cause I’m bad and me mammy d-didn’t want me…and she put me h-here be­cause…’

He stopped, ter­ri­fied. Her un­blink­ing eyes and doughy face made him think of hooded fig­ures in the for­est, death and buried bones, a head­stone-crowded dark­ness.

“Stop that at once!” She slapped him across the face, grabbed him by the shoul­der and trailed him to a bench set along the wall. He im­me­di­ately scram­bled up onto it.

“Stand up!” They were at eye level. “Do you know why your sis­ter is not here, Eighty-Six?”

He shut his eyes tight. He did not want to say the word. But an­other blow to his cheek brought the an­swer she re­quired.

“Di…died, Sis­ter.”

“She died. That’s right: she died.” She spat the awful word into his face. “Your mother put the pair of you in a shop­ping bag and dumped you on our doorstep. Your sis­ter was al­ready dead. We saved you.” The boy was look­ing down at his feet, the tears falling freely now. “Only for us you would have died too, you un­grate­ful, greedy, thiev­ing lit­tle devil.”

She pulled him off the bench and flung him across the floor. He col­lided with the bucket, send­ing the water every­where. He ended up sprawled on his knees in the dirty pud­dle, un­able to right him­self.

“Now look what you’ve done.” She un­hooked the strap at her side.

He screamed and dou­bled up under the lash­ing leather, be­liev­ing that the tighter he held him­self, the less pain he’d feel, an in­stinc­tive yet use­less tac­tic he’d used many times be­fore.

Then she stopped. He heard her rapid breath­ing and slowly un­curled him­self into the full, throb­bing af­ter­math. He re­trieved the damp cloth and at­tempted to soak up the “sin” he’d just been found guilty of.

“I’m not fin­ished with you yet, Eighty-Six.” She hauled him to his feet again. “I’m wait­ing, Eighty-Six. Your mother put you here be­cause what?”

“Be­cause she want…id, w-w-wan­tid you…y-y-y-you to make me…make me good, Sis­ter?” His whole body shook as his words slid every­where. He stopped and swal­lowed deeply.

“And if you’re not good and you don’t do your work, what will hap­pen?” Her face was a mask of dis­dain. Sweat misted her brow. She grinned, lips peel­ing back from dingy teeth.

“God will puniss…pun­ish me, and me ma…me mammy won’t come for me.”

“Cor­rect, lit­tle man.” She straight­ened up. “Now get to it or there’ll be no bed tonight and no break­fast in the morn­ing.”

She marched to the door, then halted. He set im­me­di­ately to work, fear­ful she might come back to beat him again.

“Eighty-Six, change the water when it gets dirty. Do you hear? If you can’t see to the bot­tom of the bucket it needs to be changed. You un­der­stand?”

“Yes, Sis­ter.”

And with that she left him in the joy­less hall with the bucket, the brush and his small heart pound­ing, a trail of dread and dan­ger bat­ter­ing in her wake.

Two hours later, he was fin­ished and lay in the dark­ness in the crowded dor­mi­tory, three rows, ninety-six beds in all. Ninety-six hun­gry boys, hun­gry for love and hun­gry for nour­ish­ment, and their sleep dis­rupted for lack of both. Ninety-six re­jects with no gifts or grace, on whom a cloud­less sun would never shine.

They were all under ten years, yet none of them knew their age, or what birth­days meant, or what pre­sents were for, or that Santa Claus came at Christ­mas. In their long years in the or­phan­age, they’d never been hugged, never been smiled at, never eaten meat or used a knife and fork; they did not know the plea­sure of bathing in warm water, or the feel of cot­ton sheets against the skin.

Their only crime was that their moth­ers had died, or been too poor to keep them, or too fright­ened to re­sist the forces of power and au­thor­ity that deemed them unfit for the ma­ter­nal role. Each child was pay­ing for the “love” that had brought him into being: a love that in the “holy” eyes of the chil­dren’s “car­ers” was tainted, be­cause it had come from lesser be­ings—poor peo­ple.