Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

Home
Evangelical
When I Write About Abortion or Sexual Purity, What About…?

When I Write About Abortion or Sexual Purity, What About…?

Last updated on: December 26, 2024 at 9:33 am by Randy Alcorn

0 Comments

When I Write About Abortion or Sexual Purity, What About…? 2024-11-21T09:40:10-08:00 Randy Alcorn

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

I shared this on my Facebook page:

The Bible clearly teaches that God’s very best for our lives involves our purity and obedience to Him. This includes forsaking all sexual sins—heterosexual and homosexual—outside of the marriage covenant between a man and a woman. If this message is “hate speech,” then the Bible is hate speech, and no one can preach the whole Bible without being guilty of hate speech. “For everything that was written in the past was written to teach us, so that through the endurance taught in the Scriptures and the encouragement they provide we might have hope” (Romans 15:4, NIV).

A reader wrote this comment:

Focusing on sex and abortion are fair game because they are discussed in the Bible.

Randy, you know that most of your followers, who tend to be older and white, will be very happy with a post like this. Many will click ‘like’ or ‘love,’ and go on with their day, probably spending most or all of it relating only with their ‘tribe.’

Why don’t we *also* discuss why so many conservative Christians focus almost exclusively on issues like sex and abortion? While ignoring things like feeding the poor, loving our enemies, etc.? Is it because condemning sex and abortion doesn’t really ask much of older, white Christians (or “cultural evangelicals”), while doing the other things might be more of a challenge?

There are more and more stories on social media of teachers at Christian schools being attacked by supposedly Christian parents for doing things like teaching the Beatitudes and other teachings of Jesus. In some cases, the parents believe their partisan politics are being attacked when the teacher is reading straight from the Gospels. This suggests the parents are, at the least, placing politics above Jesus. Something worth discussing.

You are a wonderful author. Back around 2002, God used your book Dominion to change my life. I know it’s tempting to just sit back and enjoy smooth sailing, but why not use your platform to challenge your followers to read the Bible more, and to think?

One of our EPM staff said this in reply:

If you’ve followed Randy’s page and blog for long, you know his heart is always to encourage believers to read the Bible more and apply its truths to their lives. (For example, see this post). The vast majority of Randy’s posts have nothing to do with sex or abortion. But because those are two topics that Randy has written about in his books, and because God cares about unborn children and cares about sexual purity and addresses it in His Word, they are topics that Randy does address on his page from time to time, too. We are called to share the full counsel of God (Acts 2:27).

Our ministry gives away 100% of the royalties from Randy’s books; some go to pro-life causes, but the vast majority goes to care for already born children and people, including to relief ministries providing practical needs. We will always encourage people to give and help a wide variety of ministries meeting people’s needs (see this list). For example, Randy has addressed the needs of persecuted believers in various places and encouraged people to find ways to help them. (This blog encouraged people to get involved in caring for the needy in their communities.)

Do the vast majority of Christians really not care about the needy, and do nothing to care for them? Certainly, that’s the line we’re told from the secular world. But when we look closer and move past the stereotypes, we find there are countless believers involved with all sorts of ministries across the country and around the world. Yes, some support these ministries financially and don’t do as much hands-on work, for various reasons. But they are still a vital part of caring for the needy. Now, are there Christians who talk about these topics online but do nothing to help actual people, through serving or giving? Yes, of course. That’s always been true. But to characterize all believers as not caring for the needy is simply untrue.

Let’s “consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds” (Hebrews 10:24). Yes, sometimes that will involve addressing tough topics like sexual purity and abortion. But may we always point each other back to God’s Word and to our wonderful Savior. We are seeking to do that in our content, and will continue to do so with God’s help. The Lord bless you.

Out of curiosity, I asked our staff how much money our ministry has given in 2024 so far to different categories of ministries, through what we call special funds (this doesn’t include designated giving from donors, which would equal much more):

Missions Fund—Evangelizing and discipling the world’s unreached. ($72,158)

Relief Fund—Helping in Christ’s name the world’s unfed, unclothed, unsheltered, and genuinely poor. ($44,000)

Persecuted Church Fund— Aiding Christians around the world who are suffering for their faith. ($4,746)

Pro-life Fund—Intervening, with truth and compassion, for unborn babies and their mothers. ($12,000)

Disabilities Fund— Assisting those who are disabled through worthy disability ministries. ($2,500)

Family Fund—Promoting the family’s cause and helping specific needy families through established reputable organizations. ($13,535)

Legal Defense Fund—Assisting those in legal difficulty because they are upholding biblical principles. ($450)

Salt and Light Fund—Promoting truth, moral sanity, justice, and compassion in a post-Christian society. ($11,838)

Racial Unity Fund— Fostering interracial understanding, partnership, and unity in the Body of Christ. ($1,225)

Clearly, prolife causes are just one of the areas that EPM supports. Of course, I would never apologize for even a dime of what we give to pro-life ministries or causes. However, my point is that we are not a one-issue ministry and have never been. Similarly, over the years, some people have thought I talk too much about social justice issues and not enough about missions, not realizing how much EPM gives substantially to missions and crisis and development aid. I’m not trying to be defensive; I simply wish to clarify that we give to a wide and diverse range of causes that we believe are close to God’s heart.

This reader’s comment also reminded me of whataboutism. It’s a common logical fallacy that doesn’t refute what’s being said but gives the illusion it does through ad hominem attacks and claims of hypocrisy or lack of love. Here’s how one website describes it:

Whataboutism, also called whataboutery, is a logical fallacy and rhetorical technique in which people respond to a difficult concern or question with a counter-accusation in order to divert attention to a different topic.

As the name suggests, it’s characterized by the phrase “what about…?”, which would be followed by an issue that may be only remotely related to the original one.

It’s typically used when one is charged with a harmful accusation regarding their past actions; one counters the charge by bringing up something negative about the opposing side and thus attempts to downplay the magnitude of their own actions.

It is classified as a variant of the tu quoque fallacy, but it’s also closely related to the red herring fallacy.

About Me

abortion

Previous Post

December 23, 2024

Dallas Holm, How Studying Heaven Provides Comfort in Grief

Next Post

December 30, 2024 For Richer, for Poorer: How to Steward Money in Marriage

Recent Comments

0 | Leave a Comment

"The biblical references and examples make the message easy to follow, while the focus on ..."

harry085drop

Being with God Is the Heart ..."

"As we do good works (no matter how small), and struggle to live holy lives ..."

Tom Hering

How Can We Be Ready to ..."

"Katy Faust's "articles" are junk science at best."

Roger J.

Every Child Is Known and Loved ..."

"People can feed their thoughts or a few notes into AI and be delighted with ..."

rrhersh

AI, Ghostwriting, and the Ethics of ..."

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category About Me Animals Books Books and Resources Christ Christian Life Christians Past and Present Church Creation Culture and Worldview Doctrine and Theology Eternal Perspective Ministries Fun Grace and Truth Grief Happiness Heaven Marriage and Family Missions Money and Giving Persecuted Church Politics Prayer Prolife Salvation Sexual Purity Sovereignty and Free Will Suffering and Evil Uncategorized Writing

Select a Month October 2026 September 2026 August 2026 July 2026 June 2026 May 2026 April 2026 March 2026 February 2026 January 2026 December 2025 November 2025 October 2025 September 2025 August 2025 July 2025 June 2025 May 2025 April 2025 March 2025 February 2025 January 2025 December 2024 November 2024 October 2024 September 2024 August 2024 July 2024 June 2024 May 2024 April 2024 March 2024 February 2024 January 2024 December 2023 November 2023 October 2023 September 2023 August 2023 July 2023 June 2023 May 2023 April 2023 March 2023 February 2023 January 2023 December 2022 November 2022 October 2022 September 2022 August 2022 July 2022 June 2022 May 2022 April 2022 March 2022 February 2022 January 2022 December 2021 November 2021 October 2021 September 2021 August 2021 July 2021 June 2021 May 2021 April 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz