Election Week Musings (4)

 

This is not an easy series to write. It is not easy because my heart has been breaking for the professing church in the U.S.A. It is not easy because it goes against a significant segment of this professing church, which includes many friends and acquaintances. It is not easy because the shear complexity and chaos is overwhelming to me. On the other hand, this is what is not complex, the Church of Jesus Christ is to belong to Him and Him alone – and that is what is at the heart of this series.

 

I am not sure that there is any hypocrisy in one segment of the professing church as blatant as the prolife hypocrisy – a hypocrisy which I used to practice…for what is usually termed prolife in this segment of the church is actually pro-birth and not prolife.  That is, this way of thinking and living insists that the baby be carried to term and born, but after that they wash their hands of the life that has been brought into the world.

 

There has always been a radical element of the prolife movement, radical in action, radical in language, and radically unthinking in its position. However, what was once radical is now the unthinking knee – jerk reaction norm. I might add that it is a group that insists on its own brand of politically – correct speech and woe is you if you cross them, for they will work to have your radio program canceled; they will threaten other pastors, teachers, and leaders to disassociate themselves from you; they will work to have the video of a presentation you did at a university removed from the school’s website – and they will do these things by the exercise of intimidation. So much for charitable Christian discourse. Dare any pastor suggest to them that maybe, just maybe, there is more to being prolife than they understand? That would take a lot of courage and trust that Christ will provide for you should you be fired by christians [the lower-case “c” is not a typo.]

 

Of course, there has always been hypocrisy in churches who style themselves prolife, but it has not been so radicalized. What do I mean that “there has always been hypocrisy?” Over the past few decades I have been involved in Pregnancy Support Centers (formerly Crisis Pregnancy Centers) in various areas, and just as in the case with missions, what churches say and what they do are two different things. The level of funding these centers receive is often deplorable. The conditions some volunteers and staff work in are often not conditions we would expect ourselves to work in – dilapidated offices, antiquated furnishings and equipment, little or no room to store items to help families in crisis, poor compensation for paid staff. A few dedicated staff and volunteers often carry a huge load – why no significant support from the churches and Christians who style themselves prolife?  Yes, there has always been hypocrisy – we think we get a free pass if we are pro-birth voters.

 

I once managed a 288 – unit apartment community in which at least 80% of the adults were single mothers. The property manager of this community called just about every church in this mid-sized city, looking for help with after school programs, weekend programs, vacation Bible school, Bible teaching, etc. We had a community center that we would make available to any group who wanted to use it for outreach to these mothers and their children. Our desire was, by God’s grace, to change the fabric of this community. Do you know how many churches positively responded? ZERO. Yes, I realize that there are exceptions to this experience, but the fact that they are exceptions makes the point. Voting pro-birth is not the same as voting and living prolife.

 

In my property management career, I was often asked to review credit reports of marginal applicants for apartment rentals. Increasingly the applicants who had bad credit had it not because they had made frivolous consumer purchases for which they could not make payments, but rather because of catastrophic medical bills. Often their inability to pay medical bills not only led to bankruptcy, but also to the loss of their homes via foreclosure – thus further damaging their credit. Furthermore, since a credit rating is often used by employers in selecting job applicants, many of these people encounter difficulty in obtaining employment. In a company I worked for, I saw a number of qualified people turned down for employment due to their credit rating – in spite of my appeals to common sense and compassion.

 

How can a nation as materially rich as ours not have universal health care? Why do our neighbors have to make a choice between purchasing insulin and eating? Between going to the doctor and paying the rent or mortgage? How can we be so deaf and blind as not to see and hear that this is a prolife issue? This is hypocrisy and it is a stain on the professing church.

 

If we want to be single – issue voters, and if we insist that the single – issue is the sanctity of life, then let us not confuse pro-birth with prolife; let us not use the term “prolife” to advance other agendas – such has not caring for the poor, the sick, the alien, those without adequate food, housing, or education – for a true prolife way of living encompasses the total person, the total community.

 

How am I going to measure up to Matthew 25:31 – 46? What about you? What about our churches? I don’t think Christ is going to accept our sinful excuses.