Abortion: Oh! I get it.
I like to think a lot. I think about all kinds of stuff. Recently, I was thinking about abortion. Per the usual, I try to think past the what and figure out the why. And per the usual, I factor in the idea that most people are pretty smart. Just calling people stupid is easy and requires little thinking.
I know abortion is a moral issue. In the Old Testament, God warned Israel not to be like other nations who allowed child sacrifice. For some spiritual benefit (which of course is always deemed to have a pragmatic result) people sacrificed their children to the gods. Likewise, people in our day sacrifice the child in their womb for some kind of benefit.
But not always. Not only is simply calling people stupid the easy way out, often, the moral angle is an easy way out as well. What about the victims of rape? Should they be made to bear the child of their rapist? I don’t know. That question would take a lot of contemplation. Perhaps that should be a choice. Perhaps the morning after pill would be an acceptable alternative there. As I get older, I am more and more comfortable with saying, “I don’t know.” But a caution here as well: that’s an easy way out also. As a pastor, it’s my duty to know as much as God is willing to teach me. “I don’t know” doesn’t help people.
So, from a political standpoint, abortion seems to be ridiculous. But let’s pause here a moment. Pastor’s need to understand this thing we call “philosophy.” Actually, parishioners need to understand it even more. Philosophy is metaphysics (what is), epistemology (how we know what is), ethics (how we apply what is), and politics (how we communicate what is). Pastors who say, “I stay out of politics” are not stupid, they are just confused because some people do politics for a living. They are engaging in politics every time they tell their wives they are going golfing on Monday. People who say, “Two discussions I stay away from in a gathering are religion and politics” are really stating that they are not participating in half of life.
From a political standpoint, I am confused that liberal democrats support abortion while conservative democrats don’t. Um, do the math, isn’t that self-elimination? Are they stupid? No, they are not. “Then what’s going on?” I thought. Then the lightbulb went on.
Tyranny is never about numbers. Tyranny has always been about the enlightened few ruling over the unenlightened masses. And by the way, this is where religion and politics are inseparable. Look across the vast ocean of religions: they all fall into two categories; tyrannical caste, or competent freedom. Once the masses are convinced of the “right to choose,” we are one step away from who chooses. Ever heard of China? Tyranny always starts with a government offering to the masses. Ronald Reagan once said that the ten most terrifying words in the world are, “We are the government and we are here to help.”
Abortion is about tyranny. It is an offer by the government to take the easy way out at the end of the easy process that got you there. The lie is that it will always be your choice. No, no, the easy way always leads to bondage. The easy way is always the breadcrumbs to the snare.
paul
Excerpt: The Potter’s House 8/4/2013
“Furthermore, let us not depart this point without acknowledging the redeemed heart of the apostle Paul that is on display here. A redeemed heart loves the Jews, period. A redeemed heart, like Paul’s, wishes for the salvation of Israel. This stands in stark contrast to Reformed writings that go forth like vomit spewing from gluttonous stomachs. ”
Excerpt: The Potter’s House 8/4/2013
“Romans 9-11, especially chapter 11, is perhaps the most difficult in the Bible to preach on because there is nothing to study—it is what it is. However, it supplies a basic interpretive framework from which the rest of the Bible is interpreted. Salvation begins with the Jews and their King, and ends with the Jews and their King. The Reformed rejection of Israel’s election by the sultans of election displays the kind of confusion that transpires when you rebel against God’s revealed choices. The Reformers criticize the Jews for rejecting the Messiah while downplaying the remnant of Israel. Meanwhile, they arrogantly inform Christ that they accept Him, but not His chosen people. In chapter 11, Paul makes the eternal standing of those who posit such ambiguous at best.”
Excerpt: The Potter’s House; 8/4/2013
“Paul warns the Gentiles at Rome to not posit the idea that the unnatural branches have replaced the natural branches. Of course, the Western church has broken that commandment with malice and all tenacity. Moreover, this approach will turn understanding of the Bible completely upside down. A proper understanding of the Jewish covenants is the paramount threat to Western clergy because if you have a proper understanding of God’s relationship to the Jews, you don’t need them to interpret the Bible for you.”
Interpretation
Christians like information. Between church, K-Love radio, and cable, we receive information nonstop. We also live in the Information Age. Never before has mankind received so much information.
But all information has a source, and the source of any given information is disseminating the information with a goal in mind, and that goal will depend on how the disseminators interpret realty. They have an agenda. Sure, some Hollywood producers merely want to entertain, but most want to educate according to their own good intentions. In Religion, agenda-driven education is always the goal. That’s us.
So, all information that we hear as Christians has an agenda. There is no exception here in this venue. And there is an all pervasive belief among Christians in regard to discernment: knowing how the teacher interprets reality is not important, I can take from the shelf what is true and leave on the shelf what isn’t true. The goal of the teacher based on how he/she interprets reality is not important. Every teaching has good and bad in it, but we can benefit from what is good. Hmmmm, really?
This shows a fundamental lack of understanding in how words work in communication. If you do not know how a teacher interprets reality, regardless of agreement on elements, through word replacement, and emphasis on certain words over others, you can be led to a functioning belief of the teacher’s choosing. I have watched this happen in Reformed circles firsthand. I know of churches that gleefully follow men that they would have run out of town ten years prior. I have watched this concept in action.
All of the words that form the ideas of any teacher you are listening to are framed according to his/her interpretation of reality. In the English language, the alternative use of words to put forth an idea are literally innumerable. No pun intended. Anybody’s best guess is that the English language has about 470,000 primary words. Generic words can be used to put forth an idea that would normally be dismissed out of hand in a certain venue by avoiding the specific word etc.
A classic example in Christian venues is the use of the word “gospel” to put forth certain ideas about justification that would be dismissed out of hand if the word, “justification” was used. Initially, that is. Once the idea is assimilated into the group’s minds, “justification” can then be freely used which seals the deal. If a teacher doesn’t believe in a particular biblical truth, he/she can simply never teach on it while assimilating nuanced antithetical ideas into the general curriculum. Hence: “One man’s account seems convincing until another comes forward.” Well, the other guy never comes forward, and you are therefore convinced.
The idea that we can glean helpful truth from any message is naïveté on steroids. Every word is an accomplice to that teacher’s interpretation of reality and the goal’s thereof. That is what “teaching” is. It is purpose-driven. 900 people liked what the words of Jim Jones seemed to say, but didn’t understand that his interpretation of realty would leave them dead and rotting in the hot sun of Guyana.
This also speaks to the scandalous reality of systematic theology not being taught in the churches. Congregants are left to accept whatever caveats are dished out from the pulpit.
Which can lead to anywhere.
paul
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