Using Forgiveness as Rationale to Abort Case Study

Introduction of Issue

The excuse I hear most often rationalizing abortion is that God is a forgiving God and understands the situation. I hear it from friends, drivers, boyfriends, and family who are with the abortion-minded women. I hear it from the abortion supporters at the centers. I even hear it from people claiming to love and trust Jesus.

True Case Study

This is the actual transcript from a recent encounter I had with a man outside the abortion center:

Me: do you have someone in there? We would love to help.

Him: how would you help her? Financially?

Me: What are her needs? What are her struggles? What brought her here?

Him: I think financial crisis.

Me: Ok. Paying rent?

Him: She’s in college to be a nurse. Doesn’t have the money to take care of a baby right now.

Me: yeh, so, is this her first baby?

Him: No.

Me: How many other children?

Him: 3

Me: 3 others? Ok, and where are they while she is in college?

Him: With their parents.

Me: With their parents…not her?

Him: No.

Me: Ok, but she’s the mother. With the fathers then? Are you the father of this baby?

Him: No.

Me: you are not the father…just a friend?

Him: I am the Uber driver.

[aside: he sure knows a lot about her for just being the Uber driver.]

Me: The uber driver? Do you believe in God?

Him: I do.

Me: you do? And what would God have you do regarding the 6^th commandment thou shall not murder?

Him: Well it says in the Bible that God forgives everything, including murder.

Me: Well actually that is only true if we repent and turn from it. Hebrews 10:26 says: if you willfully continue in sin after receiving the knowledge of truth, there remains no repentance for sin, but a fiery expectation of judgement.

In other words, if you know the truth, but you don’t repent, you don’t turn from it, you keep doing it, it says there is NO repentance!

Him: But God, He will forgive.

Me: Those are not my words…those are in the Bible.

Him: He forgives.

Me: [trying now to give him our pamphlet] Listen, let me give this to you because right now, as the uber driver, you are the accessory to murder. You are helping her to murder her child.

Him: No, an accessory to murder is if you attempt to kill somebody and you attempt to kill. I am not making her decision.

Me: If you drive someone who is intent on murder and carries it out, and you are caught, you are charged as an accessory.

Him: That’s different.

Me: [I attempt again to hand him the literature. I suspect he is the father, he is defending and rationalizing, and hanging out with the proabortion group. I sense I am speaking to a brick wall and need to return to calling out to the women] Let me give you this, if you hang on to it, there have been uber drivers who have saved women’s lives. They have given this to women in a vulnerable pregnancy and said, listen, these people will help you. Our name and number is on the back.

Him: I believe it, but no thank you.

At this point, a male teammate came to take over trying to talk to him. It ended in him walking away, and refusing the literature.

This true case scenario occurs countless times at the abortion center. There are many lessons in this interaction, but the one I want to really examine is the defense that he and the woman can continue in sin because God forgives.

How to Counter This Common Rationalization

1.Stay calm and respectful

This is easier said than done. I can always improve on this. I tend to get passionate and my volume rises. We need to be bold, confident, calm, and kind. Our message will be offensive to those who are in defiance of God, but we as the messenger should not be.

2.Ask questions

I try not to assume anything when I first meet people. I ask a lot of questions to determine the truth of the situation and to show you care about the person and what they are facing. It became clear to me that the man was lying about being an uber driver. Uber drivers do not usually know so many personal details. Uber drivers do not stay for hours waiting for the mom to come out of the appointment. I strongly suspect he was the father of the baby. By asking questions, I was able to discern that as well as the truth of the situation. I never accused him of lying but conveyed the information I hoped to convey about the fallacy of God’s forgiveness to a hard, unrepentant soul as well as his role in being an accessory to murder.

3.Be prepared with scripture

Know scripture that points out that if Jesus is Lord, we will obey Him or we have to question who is REALLY lord of our life.

Scripture is far more powerful than our opinion. Quote scripture, and then as in the scenario, summarize or explain what it says. Remind the person that the scripture pointing out the uncomfortable truth is GOD’s Word…not yours.

Some of my favorite scriptures for tackling this issue:

Luke 6:46: “Why do you call me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ and do not do what I say?”

John 14:23: “Anyone who loves me will obey my teaching.”

1 John 5:3: “In fact, this is love for God: to keep his commands.”

James 2:19: “You believe that there is one God. You do well. Even the demons believe—and tremble!” (Make the point that demons believe in God but do not obey Him. Someone who claims to love Jesus but does not obey Him is doing what the demons do.)

Know scripture that points out that faith without works is dead and that we should never use God’s grace as an excuse to sin.

James 2:14-26:  What does it profit, my brethren, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can faith save him? ¹⁵ If a brother or sister is naked and destitute of daily food, ¹⁶ and one of you says to them, “Depart in peace, be warmed and filled,” but you do not give them the things which are needed for the body, what does it profit? ¹⁷ Thus also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.

¹⁸ But someone will say, “You have faith, and I have works.” Show me your faith without ^[a]your works, and I will show you my faith by ^[b]my works. ¹⁹ You believe that there is one God. You do well. Even the demons believe—and tremble! ²⁰ But do you want to know, O foolish man, that faith without works is ^[c]dead? ²¹ Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered Isaac his son on the altar? ²² Do you see that faith was working together with his works, and by works faith was made ^[d]perfect? ²³ And the Scripture was fulfilled which says, “Abraham believed God, and it was ^[e]accounted to him for righteousness.” And he was called the friend of God. ²⁴ You see then that a man is justified by works, and not by faith only.

²⁵ Likewise, was not Rahab the harlot also justified by works when she received the messengers and sent them out another way?

²⁶ For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also.

Romans

“What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? Certainly not! How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it? Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body, that you should obey it in its lusts. And do not present your members as instruments of unrighteousness to sin, but present yourselves to God as being alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God. For sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under law but under grace. And having been set free from sin, you became slaves of righteousness.”

Know scripture that says forgiveness is NOT unconditional, but requires a repentant heart:

Acts 3:19: “Repent therefore and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, so that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord,”

Mark 1:14-15: “Now after John was put in prison, Jesus came to Galilee, preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God, and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, and believe in the gospel.”

Luke 13:3: “I tell you, no; but unless you repent you will all likewise perish.”

Acts 3:19: "Repent therefore, and turn back, that your sins may be blotted out".

Luke 24:47: "...and that repentance for the forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem". 

Know Scripture that says continuing in sin forfeits forgiveness

Hebrews 10:26-27: “For if we sin willfully after we have received the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a certain fearful expectation of judgment, and fiery indignation which will devour the adversaries.”

4.Discern When to Persist and When to Stop

In the case study scenario, I was talking to the uber driver…or more likely, the dad of the baby. He flat out refused to take our literature, and despite me giving scripture to counter his position, he continued to dig into forgiveness as the rationale to continue in sin (or at best complacency in trying to save the baby.)

If it were the mom I was talking with, I would have persisted a lot longer. Every minute she talks with me is a minute she is not in the abortion center. When it is the dad or friend, there is the urgency to encourage them to go in and save the baby.

There is also a point at which you can sometimes discern your time might be better spent elsewhere. I felt I had gotten as far as I could with the man. My teammate, a man, thought he could perhaps get greater results speaking man to man. That is often true, but in this case, he also was unable to get the man to take the literature or concede culpability or attempt to save the baby.

Conclusion

We always have to keep in mind that God is sovereign, and He is the one that convicts hearts…not us. We should be prepared, ready to tackle this common rationalization, and trust God will be responsible to bring about the results.