The Truth About Being Pro-Life in a Pro-Choice World

But that is not just my opinion. If you believe what the Holy Bible has to say about life and creation, there really was a time when God was completely Pro-Life. The Book of Genesis documents the process of creation leading to the development of human beings. God places the first man and woman in the Garden of Eden with a few rules to protect them. Genesis 2:15: "The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it. And the Lord God commanded the man, "You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it you will surely die."

But then along came Satan. And significantly, Satan resorts to a legalistic interpretation of God's own words to manipulate Adam and Eve. Satan asks: "Did God really say, 'You must not eat from any tree in the garden?"

To which Eve replies, "God did say, 'you must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die."

"You will not surely die," Satan replies in all guile and honesty. "For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil."

In other words, when Adam and Eve partake of the fruit of the tree of knowledge, they convert the world from a place that where life with God is guaranteed and the rules are clear to a world in which God stipulates that choices must be made. At that moment the human race migrated from a Pro-Life world to a Pro-Choice world. It has been that way ever since.

But we humans still long for a much simpler world. One where the rules are still clear, and moral choices are easier. But that world does not exist.

What this Genesis story illustrates is that God as Creator has a unique and challenging perspective about life on earth. Yes, the bible tells us life is precious. But what God really values is how much we cherish and use our lives to further the Kingdom of God. And because so much about the nature and value of human experience is defined by the language we use to express our values and intentions, that first encounter with Satan in Genesis clearly illustrates that words do matter in this process.

It is to Satan's credit (or as some would argue, to his benefit...) that he was able to trick Adam and Eve into producing a world that is functionally Pro-Choice. God has to deal with all sorts of human shenanigans after the episode in the garden. The fact of the matter is that whether you believe the Bible literally or not, human beings are constantly faced with hard choices in their lives. The Bible documents how people in early recorded human history responded to the choices they faced. These Bible characters are the archetypes from which we are supposed to learn lessons about human nature and God's perspective on our behavior. That dynamic has not changed. People still have to make choices and face the ramifications of their actions in the eyes of God.

That is why it is important to understand that the Bible clearly does not present a world in which God is firmly Pro-Life, protecting every sort of living thing from harm and death. Instead, the God of the Torah and Old Testament in Judeo-Christian tradition originally shows up as a vengeful, merciless God. The Old Testament God is so far from Pro-Life that the very notion of such a deity has turned many believers cold to the idea of God. You've likely heard people ask the theological question: "Why do bad things happen to good people?" Well, the answer is that God sustains a world full of choices that test our moral fiber. God waits to see if we can remain faithful to his offer of grace even when things aren't so great. Can we keep our faith alive even in the face of adversity?

That was the ultimate test for a man named Job in the Bible. Here was a man who had everything and lost it in a brokered arrangement between God and Satan, who essentially work together to test whether Job will choose to be a man of God or lose faith because he endures suffering, disease, and ridicule from his friends. Yet Job still maintains his faith in God throughout his trials. Job kept his faith even in a Pro-Choice world.

In order to understand the nature of God, we must also address how God has regarded life throughout history. A few quick samples paint the picture. First the Bible shows God wiping out every living thing on earth during a great flood, saving only Noah, six other people and some animals in the process. Then the Bible shows God ordering a long line of military commanders including King David to commit serial genocides against perceived enemies. God repeatedly commands armies to kill even women and children. If we follow the directives of that God in modern times, leaders and nations would be accused of war crimes. And depending on your ideological perspectives on recent events, perhaps that should be the case. But that is an argument for another day. Armies like to claim that "God was on their side" in claiming victory. But we must also accept that it is the victors who usually write history, and that the bible has many examples in which he let the supposed bad guys "win the war," often to teach people a lesson.

To address the question of whether God is truly "Pro-Life," we must also deal with the the material evidence of the world God created. Beyond the knowledge of the Bible we find that life on earth is actually pretty cheap, disposable and fragile. We do not need an ark and a flood to learn the lesson of Noah. We know from science that more than 99% of all the living things that once roamed the earth are now extinct. God used history and evolution to teach us that life is not precious. Life is cruel, anxious and competitive. But the kingdom of God comes alive when people choose to transcend this reality and treat each other with love, respect and tolerance. In other words, being "Pro-Life" actually means trying to help others. The clear message of God is that what we choose to do with our lives is what makes life precious. This aligns with the Golden Rule and the Great Commandment; Love God and love others as you would love yourself. (Matthew 22:37).

The supposedly Pro-Life God of the Old Testament continually allowed all sorts of atrocities to occur in the world. The Book of Lamentations and Book of Psalms contain many human pleas for a more just world. But God turns his face away even from his closest, chosen people, blaming their greed, arrogance and lack of faith for the consequences of an unjust world. Sometimes God acts to punish evil in the world. Other times God capriciously puts people in positions of raw, difficult choices, as when he commanded Abraham to sacrifice his own son Isaac. The act is not carried out, but the thought itself is abhorrent to many. God tests the will of people, using life itself as a measuring stick of their faith. This is not a God who is Pro-Life. This is a god who is soundly Pro-Choice, but with a purpose: to know the hearts and motives of human beings and whether they deserve salvation.

The Holy Bible ultimately shows God trying out a bold experiment of life versus death, sending his Son Jesus into the world with a message of salvation and eternal life for human kind. The religious and political leaders of his day fail to grasp the message of Jesus, taking him literally when he says he is a King, or that he can raze a temple and rebuild it in three days. Even his own disciples frequently miss the real message behind his teachings, wishing upon him their own dreams of power and glory.

Jesus essentially offers everyone who believes in him a return to a Pro-Life world, one where communion with him offers temporal and ultimately eternal salvation. Jesus takes a Pro-Choice world and narrows it down to a Pro-Life dynamic in which following his message leads to a more abundant, fulfilling life, pleasing to God. That is certainly a Pro-Life approach to living. But Jesus consistently warns that few people can meet the measure of that calling. He warns that the way is narrow, especially for the rich and proud, who typically cannot humble themselves to serve others.

Because of Jesus' inspiring example of compassionate living, millions upon millions of people aspire to live according to the example of his ways. The draw of his "Pro-Life" message in a "Pro-Choice" world is powerful indeed. But here is where going gets tricky.

The anti-abortion movement takes the catch-phrase "Pro-Life" and applies it with political motives. For example, the so-called Pro-Life movement has argued that human life begins at conception, and that a fertilized human egg constitutes a human being with a life and a soul. Legally, this designation might qualify the as-yet non-sentient being to full person-hood. Some argue this concept is premature in its view of what constitutes human life. So the political statement "God is Pro-Life" evolves into a scientific argument over what are essentially religious principles.

That is why the legal issue of abortion raises so many emotions. The mere subject often blinds people to the fact that by the time conception occurs, a choice (or lack thereof) has already been made. Typically, the argument over a woman's right to an abortion is actually about the second choice a woman has to make. The first choice was whether or not to have sex (if indeed the sex was consensual). The second choice is wether to engage in a termination of a pregnancy.

The truth is, if we fail in our initial moral mission to help people make good reproductive choices, then it is false faith to use legal means to change laws governing abortion in an attempt to legislate morality and make up for our original failings. Real "Pro-Life" ideology engages the process prior to the moment of potential for conception, not at the termination of an abortion

The bumper sticker on the back of the SUV that says "God is Pro-Life" attempts to leapfrog these practical considerations and trump the abortion issue through use of a supposedly immutable form of moral argument. It simple sounds good to say that God is on your side. Because, you know, it really is hard to argue with God.

But is a bumper sticker that politicizes our relationship with Jesus and God really a source of moral certitude? We cheapen religion by turning it into a form of political bargaining chip.Jesus did not care for politicization of faith or he would have sided with the zealots to overthrow the Roman government oppressing the Jews. The same goes for public demonstrations of prayer. That is simply using a public demonstration of faith to manipulate the lives of other. The bible advises against that too. (Matthew 6:6).

No, the "God is Pro-Life" bumper sticker would not sit well with Jesus. He would tell that person driving the car: "There is more to it than that. You actually missed the opportunity to help that woman make a better initial choice for herself." .

Here's what the Bible teaches us about how to manage our moral behavior in a Pro-Choice world. Followers of Jesus were called to go out and preach the good news that salvation is available through faith and grace from God. But one thing was made clear: it is our choice whether or not to accept this grace from God. God wants us to have life, but he offers it in a Pro-Choice environment.

Beyond the Christian tradition, the core teachings of the Muslim faith (The Six Articles of Faith) also coalesce around a belief in a life after death on earth. Islam also teaches that choices made on earth and living a life that is pleasing to Allah is the way to find grace and goodness on earth, and beyond.

The point here is that the clipped perspective of the supposedly Pro-Life movement ignores the real history of religious tradition in which God installed a world that is clearly Pro-Choice. Our real obligation then is to live our lives in ways that reach out to all people, not threatening them into faith (also Islam says there must be no 'compulsion to faith') but instead we must be a "light unto the world" (Matthew 5:16) drawing people into a life of grace in God's will.

We must also follow the directive of Matthew 25:40: "I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me." That is the true Pro-Life method of morality, founded firmly on the fact that the world we live in is Pro-Choice. You could argue that the "least of these brothers" could include a child in the womb. But banning legalized abortion is neither functionally or practically specific enough to accomplish these aims. We must be engaged in the lives of women in caring ways, be there for them in times of crisis or better yet, prevention, as the means to achieve the goal of doing something good for "the least of these." We must not separate ourselves from other people by means of race, social class, organization or religious affiliation, but instead must engage ourselves in continual work on the known factors leading up to a woman's choice to have an abortion.

This may require some heady analysis and reduction of the often patriarchal attitudes stemming from literal interpretation of the bible that lead to denigration and ostracizing of women, who sometimes suffer in marriages or relationships where the man makes the decisions but the woman bears the consequences. We also must be careful not to misconstrue the teachings of scripture as religious leaders were doing while Jesus was alive. Jesus grew frustrated and angry with religious leaders who turned the Word of God into strict laws and behaviors. He called such leaders "empty tombs" for dressing themselves in the supposed righteousness of God while essentially barring people from discovering the true message of life and grace through imposition of literalistic and legalistic laws on believers. That shuts the door to the Kingdom of God.

Instead Jesus preached a highly organic, liberal message of hope celebrating all aspects of creation and using highly symbolic images from the natural world to teach in parables, calling us to look at the greatness of God's creation as the way to comprehend the spiritual nature of God and composition of our own souls.

Knowing that God actually operates in a Pro-Choice world means that we should never be trapped into thinking the bible must be taken literally, or that evolution and other scientific information necessarily contradicts scripture. These false teachings become stumbling blocks to belief that drive people away from faith on specious grounds. It is absurd to control a person's faith on grounds that the world is young, or that creation happened in 7 literal days, or that living things were created spontaneously and have no genetic relationship to each other. All this falseness makes religion a trite, anachronistic fairy tale to anyone with a brain to think and the heart for a rational faith that can actually be applied to their own lives.

The practical truth of science helps us function in the world. This is a dynamic Jesus himself affirms in chastising some Pharisees and teachers of the law as told Matthew 15. Jesus describes the fact that it is not what we eat or drink or how we wash our hands that determines whether we are "clean or unclean" in the eyes of God. He calls the Pharisees "hypocrites" for establishing laws that distance or isolate people from the practical necessities of life, warning: "These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. They worship me in vain; their teachings are but rules taught by men."

Jesus tried to convince people that the world itself, as God's creation, was essentially good. Instead it is what we do and think and say that make the world an unclean place. "For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, slander. These are what make a man 'unclean,' but eating with unwashed hands does not make him 'unclean." (Matthew 15).

What does this teach us about the so-called Pro-Life or anti-abortion movement today? That the motives may be sound in wanting to protect the lives of the "unborn" (a political term) but their methods are misdirected. To claim that "God is Pro-Life" is a manipulative use of terminology, similar to Satan with Adam and Eve or like the Pharisees, whose brand of righteousness was designed to place them above others. Jesus despised this approach, labeling them "blind guides... the blind leading the blind (Matthew 15: 14) in their propensity to emphasize law over faith.

You see the cumulative lesson here. If people leading the Pro-Life movement were doing a more effective job of understanding and applying Christian faith to the challenges of modern life, they might be alienating fewer rational believers and reaching more women in practical ways that would attract them to faith and keep them departing the church on grounds that the teachings just don't make sense in light of modern knowledge and choices.

It is also important to remember that not all women considering abortion are immoral people. Sometimes unwanted pregnancies are just that: raw circumstance, or worse, a result of forced or unwanted sex. Men bear equal if not greater responsibility for the abortion issue, so you can ban abortion and still the problem of unwanted pregnancies would persist. Which is why recognizing that we live in a Pro-Choice, not a Pro-Life world is our first step toward realistic progress in addressing the abortion issue.

There is an admirable set of bumper stickers traveling our region of the country that invites women to call a help line if they are pregnant and don't know what to do. Probably it has a religious origin, but the group sponsoring the stickers apparently favors adoption, a choice charmingly (if irreverently) portrayed in the movie "Juno," where a teen makes the choice to find a family for the baby she helped create through a bout of experimental sex.

Sadly, one of the targeted enemies of the so-called Pro-Life movement is the organization Planned Parenthood. Yet this supposedly 'amoral' organization is far ahead of the hardline Pro-Lifers in trying to help women prevent unwanted pregnancies. Planned Parenthood offers women, safe, legal access to methods of birth control. What better way to avoid the need for an abortion? Yet it is shortsighted religious beliefs, often founded on rigidly interpreted biblical statements such as "be fruitful and multiply"-- that some people use to protest use of birth control. The Catholic Church could stand to grow up a little on this one time, because a more irresponsible use of biblical literalism can scarcely be found. It could just as easily be argued that the term "be fruitful and multiply" applies to the multiplication of people of faith as it can be applied to simply breeding to create more people in the world.

Planned Parenthood also counsels women on access to safe, legal abortions. That is a far superior moral choice to forcing women into secrecy and dangerous medical situations by banning abortions outright through legislation. That is the most amoral option on the table in America, and the tool of the sickest group of politicians who use the Pro-Life banner to get elected. Talk about your group of modern Pharisees.

The Bible clearly tells us Jesus and God are far more forgiving to people who make bad choices and repent than to people who attempt to force people into bad choices by eliminating opportunities to make good choices. The reality of a Pro-Choice world is that God made it that way, and it is our obligation to broaden the opportunities for people to know how to make good choices that to use religion to manipulate people into the choices we would make for them.