June 28
Ethnic diversity in church leadership matters. When you see someone who looks like you, it encourages you.
The first Christians understood this principle, and they were proactive in healing a divide before it became a schism. (Gray, Derwin. “How To Heal Our Racial Divide” pg 86)
Day 128 of Russia’s War on Ukraine. Missiles rained down on a crowded shopping center in Kremenchuk, killing at least eighteen innocent civilians. This strike happened while the G-7 Summit was in its final days. Once more, the leaders of the free world did little more than say some empty words and promise to pump more money and weapons into Ukraine. After four months of this same strategy, one would think the world had seen enough death and destruction that these leaders would be willing to put more on the table to push Russia out of Ukraine permanently, but that has yet to happen.
Well, it has been five days since the momentous decision by the Supreme Court to overturn Roe V. Wade and push abortion rights back to the state level. Instantly, everyone was back up in arms about their personal rights and their ability to control their future. The Supreme Court did not make it illegal to have abortions, they just gave the power to decide to each individual state, and state representatives have the power to make the decision to allow abortion or not. If you read into the decision, from articles like this one from the Washington Post, most states have bans that do make sense. However, any state that does not allow an abortion in the case of rape or incest should be ashamed of themselves. When a woman’s body and rights are violated from such a violent crime, they should be allowed the right to prevent a life being created in such a heinous act.
Abortion is a complicated issue. I am not a woman, so I really feel like I can not weigh in on the subject properly. I do not personally believe in abortion, unless it is to prevent a pregnancy due to rape, incest, or to abort a terminally ill fetus before it creates a health risk to the mother. However, I have always been pro-choice, because it is a personal decision for a women to seek an abortion, not a choice that should be limited or controlled by the government. For women who are getting abortions because they are promiscuos and are having unprotected sex as often as the wind blows, I do not support that at all. But I also do not support the sexual immorality of our current culture to begin with. And abortion, whether legal or illegal, does not fix that problem. So if the Supreme Court wants to make abortion a state right, then fine. What I would like to see is our country fight to get modesty back, to return to a time when sexual intercourse was a sacred act saved for those in love with one another, not just an act of satisfying a hormonal craving. Like most of the issues that face this country and this planet, this issue can be changed in a generation, if the parents of this generation were to raise their children to respect their bodies, respect one another, and respect the power, beauty, and desire of the act of sex. If parents raising young teenagers of this generation taught these values, the culture could change quickly.
The important thing to remember is to not let this issue continue to divide us as a nation. We are studying Dr. Derwin Gray’s work on healing our racial divide, a work that is slowly pointing out all the examples of racial inclusion in the Bible and the origins of Christianity. Next month, as we move into part 2 of “How To Heal Our Racial Divide”, it seems like Dr. Gray will be teaching us practical ways to implement healing across our racial differences, which can be transferred to every other issue pushing us further and further apart.
Again, I stand behind the truth that if you want to solve the abortion debate, return to the basics of teaching the truth of the Gospel: loving and respecting life, love, one another, the acts of creation, and the God of Creation. Teach this generation this Truth and they will return to a time where we valued our bodies, our relationships, our world, and our Father. This new song by Matt Maher is a great anthem to remind us of some of these basic truths. Mr. Maher’s sings out, “The Kingdom, the power, the glory; it’s yours. All Yours”, if you accept those truths, those responsibilities, what are YOU going to do with them.
Common Sense Reborn 