Oops! I had an abortion...

by Patte Smith on Tuesday, April 17, 2012 at 8:04pm ·

Is Abortion a "Mistake"?

Even dear brothers and sisters who minister with me on the street sometimes refer to the sin of fornication and abortion as "mistakes". Say what? Come again? Mistakes? Like using baking soda instead of baking powder? Like mis-spelling a word? Like calling someone by the wrong name? Now, THOSE ARE MISTAKES.

How does the word "mistake" work for fornication and abortion, exactly? Hmm, let's see ... Oh, I took off all of my clothes by mistake? I had intercourse by mistake? I looked onlne for an abortion clinic by mistake? I called the clinic and made an appointment for an abortion by mistake? I made sure to get to the abortion clinic on time by mistake? Ooops! I cut my baby up into little pieces by mistake?

Minimizing sin minimizes the NEED for a Savior and ultimately, minimizes the SAVIOR! I believe that this is the work of the devil himself. I can just hear Satan now:
"Has God really SAID? Has God really said that fornication is a sin? Oh, my dear, don't be so hard on yourself and by all means, don't be so hard on OTHERS! Most certainly intercourse is simply a mistake! Has God really said that He is the one who makes alive and is responsible for conception? Oh, come on, get real! Beloved, you have been the victim of an "accident." You didn't mean for a child to be created. Has God really said that murder of a pre-born infant is a sin? Come now, dear one, you mustn't feel guilty for your abortion! You had a "choice" to make, not a "sin." Don't beat yourself up as if your murdering your baby was a "sin" or something. You simply had to make a "decision." In the very worst case, if you feel a little twinge of shame or a pang of guilt, you may have merely made a "mistake" when you killed your son. You mustn't feel too badly. After all, everyone makes mistakes."

This kind of thinking keeps Christians from ministering the gospel properly. What ever happened to the fear of the Lord? One cannot really minister at an abortion clinic with the namby-pamby, missing-the-mark kind of gospel that is so pervasive. That kind of counterfeit gospel FUELS sin (and abortion) by giving the sinner the impression that they can "sin all the more that grace may abound." We see and hear this attitude ad nauseum as we minister to abortion-bound women and men (and abortionists!) The world tells boys and girls, women and men that sexual intercourse outside of marriage is only natural. The world tells women not to "feel guilty" after she has ripped her live baby apart. It's one thing for the world, the flesh and the devil to minimize sin, but the church is right there to re-inforce and perpetuates that lie!

A friend of mine told me that a crisis pregnancy center where she volunteers said that they have thrown away all of their graphic abortion material. Why? Because they don't want to make women feel "guilty" or"bad" if she makes a 'mistake' and has had an abortion. Pastors say that they don't preach about the sin of abortion because they don't want to make women or men who've experienced abortion feel "uncomfortable"or "bad". Say, WHAT?!

A woman here recently had her NINETEENTH abortion for crying out loud ... #19!

Do the women and men, boys and girls and abortion clinic workers really need us to sympathize with them or do they need us to engage them with the truth? Do the lost and dying need to be confronted with their sin or simply patted on the back and given the unsanctified drivel which masquerades as the gospel? Does the Bible say that "All have made mistakes" or "All have sinned"? Does the Word of God say "... all those who sex outside marriage are simply doing what comes naturally" or "... no fornicator ... has any inheritance in the Kingdom of Christ and God" (Ephesians 5:5)? Do the Scriptures teach that "abortion is not really any worse than any other mistake" or does it reveal that " ... the Lord hates ... hands that shed innocent blood ..." (Proverbs 6:6)? Does God comfort the lost by saying "Relax, everyone is basically good" or does He say"Repent or perish!" (Acts 2:38 , 17:30)?

Those who are perishing (literally) at the local abortuaries need to encounter courageous Christians who understand and promote the true gospel of Law and grace.

Does this sound like YOU?

Come with Me and I will make you fishers of men.
Matthew 4:19

Follow Jesus out to the field of souls, won't you?





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Additional thoughts on cheap grace

From Bonhoeffer's classic on the Cost of Discipleship:

"Let the Christian rest content with his worldliness and with this renunciation of any higher standard than the world. He is living for the sake of the world rather than for the sake of grace. Let him be comforted and rest assured in his possession of this grace - for grace alone does everything. Instead of following Christ, let the Christian enjoy the consolations of his grace!

That is what we mean by cheap grace, the grace which amounts to the justification of sin without the justification of the repentant sinner who departs from sin and from whom sins departs.

Cheap grace is not the kind of forgiveness of sin which frees us from the toils of sin. Cheap grace is the grace we bestow on ourselves. Cheap grace is the preaching of forgiveness without requiring repentance, baptism without church discipline, Communion without confession, absolution without personal confession.

Cheap grace is grace without discipleship, grace without the cross, grace without Jesus Christ, living and incarnate.

Costly grace is the treasure hidden in the field; for the sake of it a man will gladly go and sell all that he has. It is the pearl of great price to buy which the merchant will sell all his goods. It is the kingly rule of Christ, for whose sake a man will pluck out the eye which causes him to stumble, it is the call of Jesus Christ at which the disciple leaves his nets and follows him.

Costly grace is the gospel which must be sought again and again, the gift which must the asked for,
the door at which a man must knock.

Such grace is costly because it calls us to follow, and it is grace because it calls us to follow Jesus Christ.
It is costly because it costs a man his life, and it is grace because it gives a man the only true life.
It is costly because it condemns sin, and grace because it justifies the sinner.
Above all, it is costly because it cost God the life of his Son:
“ye were bought at a price, and what has cost God much cannot be cheap for us. Above all, it is grace because God did not reckon his Son too dear a price to pay for our life, but delivered him up for us.
Costly grace is the Incarnation of God."