Three ways to talk about life
It’s easy to talk about your pro-life beliefs with your Christian friends. You’re all coming from the same source: the Bible. But what happens when you chat with friends or teachers who aren’t Christian, who don’t see the Bible as anything at all? How can you stand up for life in a pro-choice world? 1. Clarify the issue. A lot of times, people don’t ever really get to the heart of the abortion debate: Are the unborn human? Are the unborn full-fledged, living members of the human race who just happen to be really tiny and still developing? Or are they just blobs of cells? If the unborn aren’t human, then we don’t need a reason to commit an abortion. But if the unborn are human, no explanation for abortion is good enough. 2.
Build a case for life. Try starting with science. Remember the Law of Biogenesis that you learned in sophomore biology class? It says that (1) Life only comes from life, and (2) Kinds produce like kinds. In other words, a human being outside of the womb must come from a living human being inside the womb. It doesn’t just magically turn into a living human being at the point of birth. Human beings reproduce human beings. Second, scientists who study embryos have made it clear: “The beginning of a single human life is from a biological point of view a simple and straightforward matter—the beginning is conception.”
Science has spoken: The unborn are fully human! The only thing that separates the unborn from us are things like their size, how developed they are, whether they are inside or outside the womb and how dependent they are. But these differences don’t make it right to take human lives, especially those who are not yet born. 3. Answer objections. Offer to answer any questions or concerns that your friends and teachers might have. Don’t write them off. Take them seriously. As Christians, we give the same respect to them that we expect them to give us. And answer honestly. If you don’t know an answer, say so, and promise that you’ll investigate it. Your goal isn’t to convince them to change their minds right there. (It would be great if they did, but let’s get real: That’s not likely.) Instead, challenge them just enough to get them to rethink their current position, especially this question: What are the unborn? Q: Are you against women’s rights to choose what they do with their bodies? A: We shouldn’t take away a woman’s right to choose what she does with her body. We shouldn’t get between a woman and her doctor. We totally agree … if the unborn aren’t human. If the unborn aren’t human, then we don’t need a reason to commit an abortion. But if the unborn are human, no explanation for abortion is good enough.
Q: But what about the poor who can’t afford to have another child? A: Would it be okay for a large family to decide to get rid of its two-year old child to help make the family budget less tight? Of course not! Why? Because the child is a human being. And that’s the point.
What are the unborn? If the unborn aren’t human, then we don’t need a reason to commit an abortion. But if the unborn are human, no explanation for abortion is good enough.
Q: Should someone be forced to raise a child with physical or mental disabilities? A: Would it be right to take the life of a two-year-old boy with Down Syndrome? Of course not! Why? Because he’s a human being. That’s the issue, remember? What are the unborn? If the unborn aren’t human, then we don’t need a reason to commit an abortion. But if the unborn are human, no explanation for abortion is good enough.
Q: But isn’t a fetus just a bunch of cells? A: Yes. But so are you, and so am I. Just like the fetus, we are a bunch of cells that are all working together. The only difference between us and the fetus is how big we are, how developed we are, where we live and how dependent we are. These aren’t reasons to end the life of any human being, even those not born yet. (Grace Lutheran Church is located at 711 N. Fowler St. Bishop. Sunday services are at 10:45 a.m. For more information, call (760) 872-9791.)