Slavery and Abortion

I recently read a post by Rich Maffeo titled Gun Control and the Elephant in the Room.  Rich brings up good points and has made me consider the possibility we are paying the price for the deaths of unborn babies.  Perhaps we are.  Maybe not.  I recommend you read Rich’s post.  I would like to share some thoughts his article brought to my mind. 

Throughout the US Civil War, President Abraham Lincoln reflected on God’s role in the events of the nation.  People in the North and South believed they had God on their side.  People on both sides used the bible to argue for or against the institution of slavery.  Lincoln understood how people on both sides felt but believed it more important that he be on God’s side. 

In his second inaugural address, Lincoln remarked, “Both read the same Bible and pray to the same God, and each invokes His aid against the other. It may seem strange that any men should dare to ask a just God's assistance in wringing their bread from the sweat of other men's faces, but let us judge not, that we be not judged. The prayers of both could not be answered. That of neither has been answered fully. The Almighty has His own purposes.”

He went on to say, “Fondly do we hope, fervently do we pray, that this mighty scourge of war may speedily pass away. Yet, if God wills that it continue until all the wealth piled by the bondsman's two hundred and fifty years of unrequited toil shall be sunk, and until every drop of blood drawn with the lash shall be paid by another drawn with the sword, as was said three thousand years ago, so still it must be said ‘the judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether.’"

Maybe abortion is the scourge that slavery once was in this country.  I am not saying we need to picket abortion clinics.  Frankly, I believe it has more of a contrary affect.  Believers should be praying for the people associated with these clinics.  We should be praying for the women who are even considering going to one.  Meanwhile, we need to provide alternatives and a safe haven for those in need.  We must be willing to extend ourselves in order to further the kingdom. 

Rich finishes his argument by saying we, as a nation, need to repent.  I agree with that fact.  Nevertheless, I can’t help but wonder if chastisement isn’t coming anyway.  Will every death caused by an abortion be paid by another drawn by an act of terrorism?  Whether it will or not, “the judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether.”

Let me finish the way Lincoln finished his second inaugural: “With malice toward none, with charity for all, with firmness in the right as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in, to bind up the nation's wounds, to care for him who shall have borne the battle and for his widow and his orphan, to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace among ourselves and with all nations.”