Abortion: Can You Be Both?

[Pepperdoodle]

Add your vote to the Poll

Can you support abortion, the killing of growing babies in the womb...and also be a Christian?

 

[Michie]

I’m not judging others understanding of Christianity and I wish I could remove my vote now. But no, elective abortion is not compatible with Christianity in my tradition.

 

[BNR32FAN]

Christians can surely make mistakes and still be a Christian.

 

[Pepperdoodle]

I’m not judging others understanding of Christianity and I wish I could remove my vote now. But no, elective abortion is not compatible with Christianity in my tradition.

It's not judging to discern someone's understanding of Christianity since it's a one God, one way thing, so to speak. It's a black and white issue. There is Christianity and then there are religions. Religions may have more than one way or god/deity. It's not judging to discern the difference.
The Bible teaches Christians to judge/discern, just not hypocritically.
Hypocritical judgment is wrong. Jesus’ command not to judge others in Matthew 7:1 is preceded by comparisons to hypocrites (Matthew 6:2, 5, 16) and followed by a warning against hypocrisy (Matthew 7:3–5). When we point out the sin of others while we ourselves commit the same sin, we condemn ourselves (Romans 2:1)."

I agree, (elective) abortion isn't compatible with Christianity.
Sadly some preach and push that it is.

 

[Pepperdoodle]

Christians can surely make mistakes and still be a Christian.

Of course Christians can make mistakes.
But do they learn from those mistakes or repeat them in either act or support.

Can a Christian who made one mistake, do it again and would that be ok or just considered a mistake?

 

[BNR32FAN]

Of course Christians can make mistakes.
But do they learn from those mistakes or repeat them in either act or support.

Can a Christian who made one mistake, do it again and would that be ok or just considered a mistake?

I’m not going to say that a person who gets an abortion is not a Christian.

 

[SabbathBlessings]

I hate calling unborn babies a mistake. A mistake is I forgot to pay my bills, I bought the wrong kind of jelly.

I knew a girl in my younger years who made nine "mistakes" even as a young girl I knew this was so wrong.

 

[Pepperdoodle]

I’m not going to say that a person who gets an abortion is not a Christian.

So if the person who claims to be a Christian makes a mistake once by getting an abortion, but then gets more, then do you believe their claim to be a Christian if they've had more than one since they said they became Christian before the first "mistake"?
It's easy to have a hands off view because then you don't have to commit to discerning their fruit, but we're supposed to do so just not hypocritically.

 

[Pepperdoodle]

I hate calling unborn babies a mistake. A mistake is I forgot to pay my bills, I bought the wrong kind of jelly.
I knew of a girl in my younger years who made nine "mistakes" even as a young girl I knew this was so wrong.

I agree, they are not a mistake!!
When I replied to bnr32fan I hoped that they weren't thinking they can be.

 

[Delvianna]

There's a difference between doing it, regretting it, and preaching that it's totally okay for Christians to do. So when I read this question, I read it with the context of, "Are you still Christian if you preach/agree that abortion is okay to do?" Which my answer then is, no.

 

[Pepperdoodle]

There's a difference between doing it, regretting it, and preaching that it's totally okay for Christians to do. So when I read this question, I read it with the context of, "Are you still Christian if you preach/agree that abortion is okay to do?" Which my answer then is, no.

Yes, some do it, then regret it. They learn from that choice. Praise God!!
Sadly there are some religions that preach it's ok and that God's ok with it. Just horrible.
If those who "preach/agree that abortion is ok to do"...they were never a Christian to begin with to be fair.

 

[SabbathBlessings]

I agree, they are not a mistake!!
When I replied to bnr32fan I hoped that they weren't thinking they can be.

I was adopted at birth, my bio mom was 16years old. There are options for people to do the right thing for the child. Everyone is so concerned about themselves, sadly at the expense of a life that was no fault of their own.

 

[rambot]

I believe yes though I understand why everyone disagrees. No one ever likes my reasoning too but here it goes.

In my professional adult life i've worked as a social worker, counsellor, and now a teacher in a behaviour classroom. For a while it was adults and parents but eventually I focussed on youth. My time with youth in that system was some of the saddest things I've ever heard, seen or experienced.

My heart broke, literally every shift as a counsellor (at a live in facility for SIGNIFICANTLY troubled youth). I hear story after story from youth who by the age of 15 now fully grasp that their parents never wanted them born. They'd been telling them that almost daily since they were 6. There were parents who ACTIVELY hurt their children and said that....and there were parents who were utterly negligent and not present who, when they had moments, would calmly report, like basic facts, that they didn't like or want their kid.

I've worked with dozens and DOZENS of suicidal children and youth. None of them had good parents. MOST of them had parents who didn't like them...MANY of them had parents who didn't want them.

In my terribly humble opinion, killing a fetus is simply never going to be the same as killing a born baby. Sorry. Logically I can never get to wear many christians are. But because I believe that, and because of my background with so many broken children and me seeing the PRODUCT of years of being unwanted, I can believe that if you truly don't want to raise a child, aborting a fetus is a solution as I can think.

I receive mental health support for the work I've done and have had more than a few conversations with my previous pastors.

I also believe that the verse in Exodus opens the door to understanding of the nature of the life of a fetus. And while abortion is never mentioned in the Bible, I tend to view the verses that talk about the "sanctity of life', as more verses that talk about the closeness that God has to us, EVEN in that place. They are meant to provide and demonstrate the closeness, compassion and care God has for us. Not about the sanctity of a fetus.

I recognize my interpretations are....let's say less popular. But I don't think they are sacreligious or anything.

I want to be clear about one last point: I don't LIKE abortion and I'm not happy that they happen (though I AM happy that women have bodily autonomy). When I hear about people having abortions, I grieve. But I DON'T grieve the loss of a life (I used to but not really). I grieve that the hard hearted attitude and the brokeness of not being willing to show love to a child. I grieve that that exists in the world. I refuse to judge women who get abortions.....it just makes me sad.

Ultimately, I support abortion because I want to improve the life of living children. Weird right?

 

[rambot]

Of course Christians can make mistakes.
But do they learn from those mistakes or repeat them in either act or support.

Can a Christian who made one mistake, do it again and would that be ok or just considered a mistake?

Have you lied more than once in your life?

 

[Delvianna]

I believe yes though I understand why everyone disagrees. No one ever likes my reasoning too but here it goes.

In my professional adult life i've worked as a social worker, counsellor, and now a teacher in a behaviour classroom. For a while it was adults and parents but eventually I focussed on youth. My time with youth in that system was some of the saddest things I've ever heard, seen or experienced.

My heart broke, literally every shift as a counsellor (at a live in facility for SIGNIFICANTLY troubled youth). I hear story after story from youth who by the age of 15 now fully grasp that their parents never wanted them born. They'd been telling them that almost daily since they were 6. There were parents who ACTIVELY hurt their children and said that....and there were parents who were utterly negligent and not present who, when they had moments, would calmly report, like basic facts, that they didn't like or want their kid.

I've worked with dozens and DOZENS of suicidal children and youth. None of them had good parents. MOST of them had parents who didn't like them...MANY of them had parents who didn't want them.

In my terribly humble opinion, killing a fetus is simply never going to be the same as killing a born baby. Sorry. Logically I can never get to wear many christians are. But because I believe that, and because of my background with so many broken children and me seeing the PRODUCT of years of being unwanted, I can believe that if you truly don't want to raise a child, aborting a fetus is a solution as I can think.

I receive mental health support for the work I've done and have had more than a few conversations with my previous pastors.

I also believe that the verse in Exodus opens the door to understanding of the nature of the life of a fetus. And while abortion is never mentioned in the Bible, I tend to view the verses that talk about the "sanctity of life', as more verses that talk about the closeness that God has to us, EVEN in that place. They are meant to provide and demonstrate the closeness, compassion and care God has for us. Not about the sanctity of a fetus.

I recognize my interpretations are....let's say less popular. But I don't think they are sacreligious or anything.

I want to be clear about one last point: I don't LIKE abortion. When I hear about people having abortions, I grieve. But I DON'T grieve the loss of a life. I grieve that the hard hearted attitude and the brokeness of not being willing to show love to a child.

Ultimately, and this always seems like a weird thing to grasp: I support abortion because I want to improve the life of living children.

I will simply say, you don't fix evil with more evil.

 

[Pepperdoodle]

I was adopted at birth, my bio mom was 16years old. There are options for people to do the right thing for the child. Everyone is so concerned about themselves, sadly at the expense of a life that was no fault of their own.

I'm always of the view that Adoption is the best option over abortion!!
Some just don't want to go through the pregnancy and give birth, so they would rather kill "it".

Even in sad situations like rape, the growing baby is innocent. I have a friend who was raped as a teen and struggled to decide what to do.
She decided to keep her baby. Her daughter married, and now she is a Grandma and said even though things were tough at times while raising her daughter, she's glad she didn't abort her!

 

[Pepperdoodle]

Have you lied more than once in your life?

Lied? A lie? You're going to try to compare a person lying, which all of us have done atleast once or more in life, to an innocent growing baby being murdered via abortion?
The two don't compare!!

facepalm

 

[rambot]

Lied? A lie? You're going to try to compare a person lying, which all of us have done atleast once or more in life, to an innocent growing baby being murdered via abortion?
The two don't compare!!

facepalm

I'm sorry.
I quoted this:

Can a Christian who made one mistake, do it again and would that be ok or just considered a mistake?

And assumed you were talking about ANY kind of mistake.

 

[BNR32FAN]

So if the person who claims to be a Christian makes a mistake once by getting an abortion, but then gets more, then do you believe their claim to be a Christian if they've had more than one since they said they became Christian before the first "mistake"?
It's easy to have a hands off view because then you don't have to commit to discerning their fruit, but we're supposed to do so just not hypocritically.

Maybe the person doesn’t realize that it was a mistake. Maybe they don’t think that God is offended or angered by it. They’ll have to stand before Him and answer for it. It’s not my place to determine whether or not they’re a Christian, it’s my place to tell them that it is killing an innocent child.

 

[rambot]

I like to trust the people who say "adoption is the best option".
And I see I've been told "you can't combat evil with more evil".
41% of Americans identify as pro Life. That works out to 140,000,000 (41%)
At any given time there are about 400-500,000 in adoptive care. That means that less than 0.5% of Prolifers could adopt these kids and the system would be resolved.
It's truly hard for me to take "adoption is the best option" seriously as a SOLUTION to abortion given it is ALREADY A solution and those kids aren't getting adopted.
Yes some are and I am SUPER happy for them.

I will simply say, you don't fix evil with more evil.

Ok but did you want to address the quality of any of my argument directly?
Also, I would point out that the whole point of my job was fixing evil with love and hope and kindness. You can't do a job like that without those fruits.
I didn't stop all those kids from completing suicide even with my spiritual fruits.

You can argue you don't fix evil with more evil.....but there were some very interesting correlations between increases in abortion rates and societal ills.