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The Link, February 6, 2009: A Horrifying Story You Must Read

The Link, February 6, 2009: A Horrifying Story You Must Read

Last updated on: February 6, 2009 at 5:29 pm by Owen Strachan

The Link, February 6, 2009: A Horrifying Story You Must Read 2009-02-06T17:29:47-07:00 Owen Strachan

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1. Vitamin Z passes on a personal account of one Florida woman’s experience with abortion. I would ask that every person reading this blog read this story, and pass it on to someone else. Every person. This is one of the most chilling pieces of writing I have ever encountered. It raised the hair on the back of my neck. It spells out a “botched” abortion in which a 23-week baby was born alive and was then, it seems, stuffed in a bag to die. This story is utterly awful, and it is essential that you and I read it, and digest it, and internalize it, and act.

Let me say one more thing here: there is nothing worse than abortion. There are horrible sins in this world: lying, stealing, cheating, greed, systemic and individual acts of racism, and much, much more. But there is nothing worse than abortion. It is the pinnacle of wickedness. It is the murder of the helpless, those who cannot even lift their head or move their arms to defend themselves. It is the scourge of American society; it is by a great distance the worst institutional sin of our country; it is a reality that demands judgment. When one thinks about America and its cozy relationship with abortion, one realizes that we are not better than Sodom or Gomorrah. We might be worse. We think that we are advanced and civil and great and just and we are, societally speaking, murderous and wicked.

If Israel was judged with just harshness for her sins, how much more do we deserve judgment?

And shame on people like myself who know of this evil, and others (racism great and small, greed, class injustice, etc), and do nothing, or next to nothing, about it and them. It’s not that we can singlehandedly overturn massive social sins like this one; we may very well not be able to. But we should fight much, much harder than we do, pray much, much longer than we do, and weep much, much more than we do for the least of us: the defenseless unborn.

Abortion is the worst sin we know. It is our scourge. It is not an option for Christians to fight it, as if we can pick from a fast-food menu of sins to fight. The very substance and nature of our faith in Christ, the guardian of the defenseless, demands that we fight abortion, in whatever way we can. I do not believe that this is an option for us as believers; it is by its very nature a mandate, an unavoidable responsibility.

2. Phew. An exceptional sermon by my pastor, Mike Bullmore, on Scripture memorization. Pastor Bullmore offers a number of personal anecdotes that fill out his reasons for Scripture memorization. When I wasn’t keeping my daughter from preaching her own sermon from the back of the church building, I heard this one, and can say that it will help you.

3. From a noteworthy 9Marks article by Grace Community Church pastor Nathan Busenitz on Master’s Seminary:

“Not every church can or should start a seminary. There is a sense in which Grace Church’s experience with The Master’s Seminary is unique and unrepeatable. But there is also a sense in which many pastors and professors could do more to bridge the gap between church and seminary. Pastors need to remember that they have a biblical responsibility to entrust the truths that they have learned to faithful men who will be able to teach others also (2 Tim. 2:2). This may be as simple as a weekly men’s discipleship group or an informal lay-training center. But pastors who are indifferent about raising up the next generation of godly men neglect a primary biblical responsibility.”

4. From a thoughtful Russ Moore post on how eager we often are to tackle theoretical problems that allow us to avoid getting our hands dirty:

“It sure helps to love invisible people. That’s why one rattles on and on about “The Family” while neglecting his kids. That’s why another “fights” for “social justice” by “raising consciousness” about “The Poor” while judging his friends on how trendy their clothes are. And that’s why one pontificates on “The Church” while rolling his eyes at the people in his actual congregation.

“The Family” never shows up unexpected for Thanksgiving or criticizes your spouse or spills chocolate milk all over your carpet; only real families can do that. “The Poor” don’t show up drunk for the job interview you’ve scheduled or spend the money you’ve given them on lottery tickets or tell you they hate you; only real poor people can do that. “The Church” never votes down my position in a congregational business meeting or puts on an embarrassingly bad Easter musical or asks me to help clean toilets for Vacation Bible School next week; only real churches can do that.”

Thanks for reading. If you do one thing, please pass on that story of abortion to someone. As a courtesy to me, please pass it on–Twitter it, post it on Facebook, blog it, email it to a friend. Anything.

Thanks, everyone, and have a blessed weekend.

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