Hot Button Issue: Can You Be Pro-Choice and Be a Christian?

You can be a Christian and pro-abortion, but you are supporting something the faith explicitly condemns. There is no escaping the fact that your friend murdered her child and most women are too ashamed to live with that consequence, hence they live in denial.

This is an issue about which Christians disagree, and it's an issue with a lot of nuance and moral shades of gray. Could you agree to disagree about it?

I think there is a spectrum. We cannot be always "pro-life" or always "pro-choice". It depends on the context.

We should evade extremes on both sides.

PloverWing said:

This is an issue about which Christians disagree, and it's an issue with a lot of nuance and moral shades of gray. Could you agree to disagree about it?

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Is it permissible for a Christian to have an abortion for an otherwise healthy and viable child?

Perhaps not tackling the issue directly initially would prove fruitful, instead exploring underlying issues that make people believe abortion is acceptable. Exploring questions with her like when responsibilities trump "rights" and what it means to have a right to bodily autonomy, who it is that our bodies belong to and similar questions. The reality is that modern stances on abortion are simply an expression of rampant individualist excess where the concern is purely on personal entitlements with no regard for moral responsiblity and culpability.

What really are you asking, because being a Christian (if using the word correctly) means a person who follows Jesus in their life. Trying to live their life like Jesus does. I would think being a Christian (as defined Biblically) a person would be against abortion

Or are you asking is this person a born again child of God. If so yes she may pro-choice and be a born again child of God. She would just be one that is more worldly than Christ like.

The only requirement given by God to be a permanent born again child of God is to believe in Jesus for Eternal Life.

The case against abortion, would be she is aligning with the pagan practice of child sacrifice. Which Jesus is 100% against as that is a satanic practice. So if she wants to align with Jesus then she would be against abortion as practiced by these godless abortion groups.

All Becomes New said:

There is a woman I know who is Pro-Choice. She is a Christian. I know this is a hotly debated thing. My perspective is that she may not know why the Pro-Choice perspective is wrong fully. I am trying to talk to her about it. It's a very heavy topic for her as she has had an abortion herself.

She has changed her perspective on some things. I told her watching shows about mediums is bad, and she stopped watching them. I've also told her to stop doing sports gambling, and she stopped that as well. But I also understand that I am working against decades of propaganda. She has been secular most of her life, and I live in MN, which has some of the worst laws about abortion there are. I'm thankful she is willing to even have the conversation in the first place. But I have to "weigh" how much I share with her and when.

If anyone has any advice on what the gentlest way to make the case for Pro-Life is, I'd love to hear it.

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I believe the error comes in when using Pro- choice and Pro- abortion interchangeably. I am 100% against abortion but I believe the choice is still the woman who is carrying the child. I would hope she keeps her child however, if she does not want to nothing, other than Godly intervention, will change her mind.
I am a Christian.
Blessings

All Becomes New said:

There is a woman I know who is Pro-Choice. She is a Christian. I know this is a hotly debated thing. My perspective is that she may not know why the Pro-Choice perspective is wrong fully. I am trying to talk to her about it. It's a very heavy topic for her as she has had an abortion herself.

She has changed her perspective on some things. I told her watching shows about mediums is bad, and she stopped watching them. I've also told her to stop doing sports gambling, and she stopped that as well. But I also understand that I am working against decades of propaganda. She has been secular most of her life, and I live in MN, which has some of the worst laws about abortion there are. I'm thankful she is willing to even have the conversation in the first place. But I have to "weigh" how much I share with her and when.

If anyone has any advice on what the gentlest way to make the case for Pro-Life is, I'd love to hear it.

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Yes, because sin doesn't keep us from being Christian.

I think that your friend has had an abortion means you have to tread carefully. I don't think she is any worse than any other sinner and though we all have Gods laws written on our hearts I think there are varying degrees of awareness of this depending on several factors including family and social and experiences.

There is a sort of coming around to know Gods truth and then once we see that we cannot unsee it. Even in our transformations into being more Christlike we are peeling away our sinful nature to by pure like Christ.

I think todays world and especially within western worldviews its becoming hard to be a Christian as there is a competing ideological belief and set of morals that goes with it. Its not as if its good v evil with obvious evil acts by those who oppose Gods laws and Christs truth. In some ways appealing to a Christlike compassion and love.

I think social media has changed how we communicate as well and theres a lot of competing ideologies and truth claims. So wading through all the misinformation is hard. But I also think as Christ is the truth when we can wade through all the misinformation it leads to Christ.

All Becomes New said:

There is a woman I know who is Pro-Choice. She is a Christian. I know this is a hotly debated thing. My perspective is that she may not know why the Pro-Choice perspective is wrong fully. I am trying to talk to her about it. It's a very heavy topic for her as she has had an abortion herself.

She has changed her perspective on some things. I told her watching shows about mediums is bad, and she stopped watching them. I've also told her to stop doing sports gambling, and she stopped that as well. But I also understand that I am working against decades of propaganda. She has been secular most of her life, and I live in MN, which has some of the worst laws about abortion there are. I'm thankful she is willing to even have the conversation in the first place. But I have to "weigh" how much I share with her and when.

If anyone has any advice on what the gentlest way to make the case for Pro-Life is, I'd love to hear it.

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In these sorts of cases, the first social factor to consider is, "Where's the guy who impregnated her in the first place?" Somehow, where the abortion issue raises its ugly head, this factor almost never, ever is brought up. I'm scratching my already balding head trying to figure out why.

I find that lack of focus to be a quite repugnant outcome. I'm sure the Lord does too.

Ignatius the Kiwi said:

Is it permissible for a Christian to have an abortion for an otherwise healthy and viable child?

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No: By the time the pregnancy has reached the stage where the child is viable (capable of living outside the womb), and assuming there are no extraordinary health factors involved, it is not morally acceptable to abort the child. If the child is viable, and if it is for some reason medically necessary to end the pregnancy, labor can be induced early or a caesarian section can be performed. (For example, one of my family members developed pre-eclampsia during pregnancy. They induced labor a couple of weeks early. Mom and child are now doing fine.)

All Becomes New said:

There is a woman I know who is Pro-Choice. She is a Christian. I know this is a hotly debated thing. My perspective is that she may not know why the Pro-Choice perspective is wrong fully. I am trying to talk to her about it. It's a very heavy topic for her as she has had an abortion herself.

She has changed her perspective on some things. I told her watching shows about mediums is bad, and she stopped watching them. I've also told her to stop doing sports gambling, and she stopped that as well. But I also understand that I am working against decades of propaganda. She has been secular most of her life, and I live in MN, which has some of the worst laws about abortion there are. I'm thankful she is willing to even have the conversation in the first place. But I have to "weigh" how much I share with her and when.

If anyone has any advice on what the gentlest way to make the case for Pro-Life is, I'd love to hear it.

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I would like to respond as someone who has had an abortion. Though the abortion was before I was saved, I think on it daily. While I understand that Jesus died for my sins, some are more grievous than others, and it helps keep me humble when I see others sin. And I do use it as a tool to help others know that when Jesus forgives, He forgives completely, but we don’t escape the consequences of our actions. If we can show God’s perfect loving mercy in response to this horrible sin, then God is glorified. But it is a horrible sin, and it is even hard to discuss it for fear that others might think I’m glorifying sin.

I guess speaking about her feelings about her action and how she feels, whether remorseful or not, might be a way to start a discussion about it.

It can help to talk with her about the reasons people commit abortion. Not only the action but the reasons need to be evaluated.

One reason I have been told is the guy says he does not want the baby. And she feels betrayed and abandoned and does not want the child by herself . . . or something like this.

In such a case, I understand that Jesus would have her forgive and pray for the man and trust our Father to care for her and her child. And find Christian people to share with her. And offer the guy time to bond with the child.

And forgive any friends and family who have threatened to not support her. And pray for them, and offer them a chance to discover and enjoy the child.

So, reasons are not all about whose body and choice it is. That so-called "choice" stuff might be a decoy trick to keep attention away from what people need to deal with, about this.

There are other things.

Date rape.

Other rape.

Incest.

Forced by parents.

To these, I would say >

"Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good." (Romans 12:21)

Do not let evil people influence you to kill your own child with whom you can discover real love! Many do not know how to love you; love and forgive them, and discover how to grow with your child, as is possible with God >

"casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you." (1 Peter 5:7)

If the guy and relatives and friends won't help and accept you with your child, this means they do not know how to love. They are missing out on so much; plus they can not give you what they do not have. Plus > you have not been trusting the right people, and you need to keep your child and get with God and discover how to evaluate who you should trust.

There are people who fear how a child could affect them and their lives. So, they want to kill that future person who the unborn one could become in their lives. They are very insecure, then. And their insecure love makes them able to murder unborn people so they don't affect these people's lives.

Insecure love is a big part of the problem. But you can discover how to love them and your child, with Jesus.

Maria Billingsley said:

I believe the error comes in when using Pro- choice and Pro- abortion interchangeably. I am 100% against abortion but I believe the choice is still the woman who is carrying the child. I would hope she keeps her child however, if she does not want to nothing, other than Godly intervention, will change her mind.
I am a Christian.
Blessings

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Do you believe in the legal right to choose to abort (murder) a child for any reason?

2PhiloVoid said:

In these sorts of cases, the first social factor to consider is, "Where's the guy who impregnated her in the first place?" Somehow, where the abortion issue raises its ugly head, this factor almost never, ever is brought up. I'm scratching my already balding head trying to figure out why.

I find that lack of focus to be a quite repugnant outcome. I'm sure the Lord does too.

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The first factor can only be the woman's decision to have sex and risk pregnancy. Women control reproduction and if they have sex with an unreliable man then there are consequences to that. Men legally have no rights over a child in the womb in most western societies so why are the irresponsible actions of men the first concern? Especially when women know the risks.

Abortion is mainly a worldly issue, not a Christian issue. There are exceptions, but they are very rare.

PloverWing said:

No: By the time the pregnancy has reached the stage where the child is viable (capable of living outside the womb), and assuming there are no extraordinary health factors involved, it is not morally acceptable to abort the child. If the child is viable, and if it is for some reason medically necessary to end the pregnancy, labor can be induced early or a caesarian section can be performed. (For example, one of my family members developed pre-eclampsia during pregnancy. They induced labor a couple of weeks early. Mom and child are now doing fine.)

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Most abortions are done to viable children right? Where is the room for nuance when most abortions are done for the sake of convenience to preserve the woman's lifestyle?

ARBITER01 said:

Abortion is mainly a worldly issue, not a Christian issue. There are exceptions, but they are very rare.

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That is simply not true. Many Christians have abortions.

In 2011, the Guttmacher Institute reported that 70 percent of the women having abortions in the U.S. identified as Protestant or Catholic.[140] The same report said that of all U.S. abortions, 37 percent were undertaken by women who identified as Protestant, and 28 percent were Catholic.[140] The number of abortions performed on U.S. Catholic women is about the same per capita as the average in the general U.S. population; in the 2000s, Catholic women were 29 percent more likely to have an abortion than Protestant women.[93]

Christianity and abortion - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

PloverWing said:

This is an issue about which Christians disagree, and it's an issue with a lot of nuance and moral shades of gray. Could you agree to disagree about it?

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Agree to disagree about human sacrifice, or

Agree to disagree about the underlying other theologies related to being pro-life?