Narrow Minded Bigots (Re-defining Pro-Life)

Check out this definition of pro-life from Merriam-Websters Dictionary:

"antiabortion"

What!? If Christ followers are labeled "narrow minded bigots," then I'm naming this a "narrow minded definition." To be fair, other dictionaries give slightly better definitions, that include pharseology, such as, "opposed to legalized abortion, right-to-life; advocating full legal protection of human embryos or fetuses, especially by opposing legalized abortion." If you are going to be "pro" something, then you will always be "anti" something as well. But "antiabortion" tends to sum up all of what people feel pro-life is about. Being pro-life is about promoting a culture of life. How will we solve the great suffering of the world if we don't value life the way that God does? It's impossible to end starvation in the third world by simply giving money away. How will a dictator distribute that wealth if he believes that his life is more valuable then villagers of his nation? That's not pro-life. How will genocide end when we continue to see education that promotes superior races? That's not pro-life. How will we stop human trafficking with our donations when we can't overcome our own desire to look at pornography on the internet and end up supporting the very thing we say we hate? How dare we hate human traffickers while we buy dirty magazines and click on pornographic ad banners on-line, that are fueling the fire of human trafficking. That's not pro-life. How dare we hate abortion, and dispise children. That's not pro-life. We need money and talks to help promote the cause of life, I'm not against that. But what we ultimately need is a worldview change that comes from people encountering Jesus Christ.

Being pro-life doesn't mean that you have to have 28 children or have lived a perfect life. Being "pro" - "life" in it's truest sense, means repenting (changing our minds and as a result our actions) until we see things like God does and live that way. If it wasn't for the blood of Jesus covering my sins, I could never speak up on behalf of the cause for life. "I am the chief of sinners," as I can confess along with the Apostle Paul. I don't pray for life and promote a culture of life from a position of arrogance, although sometimes I feel pulled that direction. I plead for life from a position of humility, knowing that I don't deserve in my own righteousness to stand up for anything. But Jesus makes things new, He made me new. I'm free to value and promote life.

The human heart is so wicked apart from knowing Jesus. Jesus wants to forgive our sins and heal us of lust, selfishness, sexual addiction, and abortion (and any others for that matter). But will you see your sin for what it is? It's simple to do but not easy to live. But if you cry out for forgiveness to God through Jesus Christ with a full heart, it's a sure deal (see the Bible 1 John 1:7-9). God will supply all the love to heal you and form your thinking to match His.

One of the reasons that I love the new movie "Bella," is because of how it promotes life. Maybe pro-life needs to become just that, "pro"mote-"life." Will you join me in being pro-life? Valuing the least, the lost and the lame? Valuing pregnancy and pregnant women? Valuing babies in and out of the womb? Valuing the elderly? Valuing people of diffent colors and different cultures? Valuing life because God does and because He gave each individual to this world for a reason? Maybe then as we celebrate, enjoy, and champion "life," people will see that we're so much more for something than just against something else. Jesus said in John 10:10, "The thief comes but to steal, kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and life more abundantly." My declaration is that me and my house will value abundant life like Jesus does. I need Jesus more than ever as I walk this path of re-defining what is pro-life.