IMPT...conservative Christian: Pro-life is much more than anti-abortion

[bobbieinok]

(I first saw this at a very conservative christian college; it was posted on a professor's door.)

http://www.charismamag.com/buckingham/jb.php?id=52

Last Word: I’m Pro-Life By Choice
August 1990

We have four generations living in our home.

Jackie’s mother, Daisy Law, is 82 years old. She has Parkinson’s disease. Some days she is fine, helping Jackie in the kitchen. Other days she can’t get out of bed.

We also have Amy Kathryn Buckingham, age 10 months. My son, Tim, his wife, two boys and little Amy, are living with us while they remodel their home.

Daisy and Amy have something in common. Neither is able to take care of herself. Both are totally dependent on the love and care of someone else for their earthly existence. If either were put out in the backyard by herself at night, she would probably not survive more than a few hours. However, because of our love of family and a biblical reverence for life, both are fed, clothed, sheltered and have all their needs lovingly fulfilled.

In the purest sense, that is what it means to be pro-life.

In today’s society, however, pro-life means but one thing: anti-abortion. ...

....

Pro-life means concern for all life—not just the unborn. Unfortunately, many Christians don’t understand that. One Christian politician, badly stung by militant conservatives, rightly pointed out: “For most Christians pro-life begins with conception and ends with birth. Biblical pro-life means we care from the womb to the tomb.”

....

Commenting on the race a pro-lifer told me: “I’d vote for the devil if he was opposed to abortion.” The devil is anti-life. Satan not only wants to kill the unborn, he wants to kill our children with drugs, our youth with suicide, our elderly with depression. He wants to wipe out the human race with nuclear weapons and the animal and plant kingdom with bad ecology.

God is pro-life. Human life is holy. All of us—the born and the unborn, the genius and the mentally retarded, black and white, rich and poor—are created in His image.

God’s image means we reverence and respect all human life. We are commanded to protect it, even with our own if necessary. We are to love one another, care for one another and come together as one family under His love.

That’s why we have Jackie’s mother and little Amy living in our home—at great inconvenience and expense to ourselves. When they are gone we shall replace them with someone else, for it’s not right to have a spare bedroom when some have no bed at all.
I am pro-choice. My choice is to be pro-life.

[knitter4democracy]

1. Good essay.

I agree with it wholeheartedly. Pro-life means so much more than so many want to believe.

[bobbieinok]

2. I found the article (and its posting on the prof's door) VERY

interesting. It really goes against what most of the religious right advocate. (Charisma is, I believe, a major journal for pentecostals/charismatics who are often, from my experience, so very anti-abortion that they simply do NOT see any other position the candidate/party may have.)

[knitter4democracy]

3. They aren't the only ones.

I went to a Nazarene college, and I knew many students there who purely voted based on abortion stance. It was ridiculous when I was there, during both of Clinton's elections--Bush I and Dole are both personally pro-choice, as evidenced by their votes and previous statements. The students I knew who were rabidly against Clinton just refused to believe it.

[area51]

4. "pro-life" should also mean fighting for universal healthcare.

It could help save so many lives, yet fundagelicals are blind to it.

[Doctor_J]

5. and against capital punishment and aggressive wars.

pro-life is a euphamistic title given to radical anti-choicers by their media shills.