The American Christian
The American Christian
Embracing Jesus' Unconditional Love in Modern Moral Dilemmas: A Christian Perspective on Abortion and Grace
Discover the transformative power of Jesus' radical love and grace as it intersects with the complexities of modern-day moral dilemmas. Our latest episode is a profound journey into the heart of Christian compassion, inspired by the "Jesus Gets Us" campaign's thought-provoking portrayal of foot washing. We delve into the Gospel of John's intimate stories of a Savior who embraced the outcast, forgave the sinner, and served the very ones who would betray him. Through these timeless narratives, we confront the challenges faced by contemporary believers, asking ourselves how we might embody this unconditional love when encountering someone exiting an abortion clinic.
As we navigate the sensitive terrain of abortion, we do so with the firm conviction of evangelical Christian teachings that hold life as sacred from conception. Yet, it's not merely about beliefs but actions, as we highlight the compassionate outreach of pro-life organizations that extend a hand of support to women grappling with unplanned pregnancies. Our guest shares insights into the unwavering commitment to uphold the sanctity of both the unborn and the mother, providing care and guidance in line with Christian principles. Together, we grapple with the realities that faith in Jesus calls us to and the insistence on a love that protects, supports, and cherishes every human life.
So I want to take just a couple of minutes and talk about a commercial that was aired during the Super Bowl. It was aired in the first quarter which, as I understand it is, represents some of the most expensive advertising rates I think it was $7 million for 30 seconds and I'm not sure the group that puts this on, but the the title of these. These messages are called Jesus Gets Us, and they underlined the word, the letters US at the end of Jesus, jesus Gets Us. And in this particular commercial there were a bunch of people washing the feet of others, and in one case they were washing the feet of a woman who was in front of a planned parenthood type organization I think it was clearly a pro-abortion organization and there were others other scenes as well, but I want to focus on that for a minute. Now. I have heard some people condemn this commercial, men that are much more knowledgeable than me, men that have done a better job dedicating their life to Christ than me, men that I respect and admire and look up to, and but I do want to take a different perspective on this particular commercial. Here's my take. My take is John, chapter 8 and John, chapter 13.
Speaker 1:Now, in John chapter 8, this woman is brought to Jesus and I believe it was the Pharisees that said you know, jesus, this woman has been caught in adultery and, according to the law of Moses, she's got to die. She needs to be stoned and, quite frankly, if I remember the Torah correctly, so did the guy caught in adultery. But they bring Jesus this woman. They were testing him and his response was this he said he who is without sin among you, let him be the first to throw a stone at her. When they heard that, they all began to leave, one by one, and finally Jesus was left alone with a woman. Jesus said to her woman when are they? Did no one condemn you? And she said no one, lord. And Jesus said I do not condemn you either. Go from now on. Sin no more.
Speaker 1:Now, just as an aside, I understand that this particular passage is not found in some of the Older manuscripts that we have, but in the newer ones. This, this was Included, it's been canonized into the word of God and what? What I was kind of alluding to was John, chapter 8, verses 1 through 11. Hopefully you'll read them for yourself. So how does this particular passage of scripture affect the way I looked at this commercial. Well, my answer is this While the religious leaders, and probably others, wanted this woman to be stoned because she was caught in the act of adultery, jesus Turns to the people and essentially says go ahead and throw a stone, but before you do make sure you don't have any sin yourself.
Speaker 1:And they all split because they all know that they have sinned, and Jesus is left alone with this woman. He knows she's committed adult adultery. Now you know, there are some that will say well, this was a planned deal. You know, the Pharisees set this whole scene up of Of adultery so that they could trick Jesus and see what he would say. Would he, would he say, carry out the law of Moses or would he have grace and allow her to go free, telling her go and sin no more? The answer, as it turns out, is the latter example the Pharisees, the religious leaders. They lose their effort to try and trick Jesus and Because of his love and his grace and his mercy, he allows this woman to go free. She committed adultery.
Speaker 1:The second, and I'll come back to this in a minute, but the second point I want to make comes from John, same Gospel of John, chapter 13. This is where this is. This is very soon to when Jesus is going to go to the cross and he washes all of the disciples feet. Now, remember, this commercial is washing people's feet. One of the disciples that Jesus stooped down to wash his feet Was Judas Iscariot. Judas Iscariot was the disciple that would turn out to betray Jesus. Did Jesus exclude him in the washing of his feet? No, he did not. It was Jesus aware that this disciple was going to Betray him? He certainly was.
Speaker 1:If you read that passage in John, chapter 13., you will see that Jesus knew that there was that one of his disciples, one of, was going to betray him, and and he actually winds up pointing out that it's Judas, but nevertheless he washes Judas's feet. To me, that's an incredible thing that the Lord of all creation, the one who was about To go to the cross and die and shed his blood for the sins of the world, would look at his enemy in the face and stoop down and wash his feet. So now, how do these two things affect the way I looked at this commercial? Well, number one, the two passages that I've alluded to Gospel of John, chapter 8 and then chapter 13, our have this Umbrella over them of the incredible love that Jesus has for all people. As a matter of fact, when he goes to the cross he will die for the sins of the world, the Bible tells us now. My belief in that is that his blood Was all that was necessary. His death on the cross was all that was necessary To cover the sins of the world, and so I think John Calvin said his death and Resurrection on the cross was sufficient for all the sins of the world. But it's only efficient for those that place their faith in Christ. So I just want to make that point.
Speaker 1:But again, as I look at these two things, I say to myself what's the alternative? What's the alternative to this woman coming out of an abortion clinic? Well, I think in popular American Christianity really truly born-again evangelical Christians we have a tendency to be Pharisees ourselves, don't we? A woman comes out of an abortion clinic. We're about 99.9% sure why she went in, and as she walks out, we are doing what the people did to Jesus as he was hanging on the cross. We're wagging our finger at them and we're saying, tisk, tisk, tisk. Oh, how evil you are. And we're walking away.
Speaker 1:We have no compassion for that individual's eternal soul. If we do, we're certainly not showing it. And if we think back to Jesus telling us to love our enemies and love our neighbors ourselves, you know Jesus never says love your neighbor as yourself unless your neighbor is evil. He doesn't say that we're all evil. Even those that are saved by grace and enjoy the relationship that they have with the Father, son and Holy Spirit. We still have a propensity to sin. We are still in this sinful flesh and we are still going to struggle with sin until he comes or we. He calls us home.
Speaker 1:This woman is no different than every unsaved person in the world and she's no different from every saved person in the world other than if she's unsaved, she's going to hell, which is a big deal. I'm not making light of that. But why would we turn away from her? Why would we not wash her feet? Jesus washed the feet of the one that was going to betray him. Jesus saw a woman caught in adultery and said no one here condemns you and neither do I Go and sin no more.
Speaker 1:So I look at this commercial and I think to myself this commercial is not saying to me, as a born-again evangelical Christian change my attitude about abortion, because it never will. Abortion is heinous, it is evil, it is totally against the Word of God, it's totally against what Jesus stood for. There is no love in murdering a helpless child. There is no mercy in murdering a helpless child. There is no grace in murdering a helpless child.
Speaker 1:A woman goes to have an abortion for many reasons, fear being one of the main ones, and organizations like Compass Care and Pro-Life organizations want to educate and come alongside that woman to show her that she does have the strength and the power and everything that it takes to give birth to her baby, and that there are organizations that will come alongside her from the moment of conception until birth and after. And I know from a standpoint of pro-life organizations that if a woman comes in and she's pregnant and she's already had an abortion, that organization will wash that woman's feet. That organization, those nurses in that organization, will share the gospel with her that she might accept Jesus and go and sin no more. So I don't have a problem with this commercial. It's not gonna change me. It's not gonna change. It's not gonna sway me to think of abortion in any way, less than what it truly is.
Speaker 1:I read an article not that long ago that said there's some like almost 28, I think, percent of evangelical Christians think abortion is okay in some circumstances. I'm not part of that 28 percent, ever. I'm the guy that says no matter how this baby was conceived, it was conceived in the image of God and therefore there is a sanctity to its life, boy or girl, and it should be honored and held high. And the mother and those around her should do everything to promote the birth of this child and the care for this child until he or she is old enough to be on their own. I will never change my attitude about that and that commercial won't change my attitude about abortion. So that's my take on it. I could be wrong, I could be totally wrong and, as I said in the beginning, there are many more learned men that disagree with the way I looked at this commercial. But there's my two cents.