Hi, Denny and Claire,
Hope you guys are doing well.
Thank you for all you do to love people and protect life!
My wife and I recently ran into someone who is a strong abolitionist against abortion. I was taken aback because they are strongly against any kind of “incremental” pro-life legislation against abortion. They actually oppose such measures believing they are guilty of injustice -- they believe such laws acquit the guilty. I listened to a 2-hour dialogue of an abolitionist trying to convince other pro-life advocates to accept the same views.
I certainly disagree with some of the abolitionist perspective, as it seems very all or nothing. At the same time, I admire their desire to follow the Word of God regarding how full justice should administered. I was wondering what your stance is on Abolitionism.
Don’t feel like you need to give a big response. I know you guys are busy but I really value your thoughts.
Here’s my answer:
Hey ----- !
My apologies for not replying sooner. I had planned to do so but then the storm hit us; we lost electric power (still don't have it); and we have been busy the last 3 days doing neighborhood clean-up of big limbs, smaller branches, and so on.
Anyhow – here’s the deal. I too can admire much of what “abolitionists” say. After all, the goal of protecting all innocent human lives is shared by all pro-lifers. Where I part company is when someone criticizes those pro-lifers who are trying to save lives and serve women and families right now...while yet working to create intellectual foundations, laws, and moral momentum to save more in the future.
In a fallen world, a world in which you must deal with current laws, social norms, and other unavoidable practical restraints, to insist on “all or nothing” almost always means you will get the nothing. And way too many of the “abolitionists” seem to be okay with that as long as they can feel (and tell each other) that they and they alone are the purest, the most noble, the true pro-lifers. But not content with merely patting themselves on the back, they often become extremely harsh and unfair in their criticism of other pro-lifers -- and not only in matters of methodology and strategy. Indeed, they end up castigating the sincerity, motives, and personal character of those pro-lifers they disagree with. I know; I am one of the fellows who has been roundly slandered by these folks.
So, here’s the deal. The pro-life champions of the last 60 years have always made the ideal our goal and the standard by which we measure the impact of our prayers and efforts. And that ideal is “the protection by law and social practice of all innocent lives, born and preborn.” But, the dedicated pro-life heroes are not content with ideals or long-term goals. They are intent on saving preborn kids from the wickedness of abortion right now! And as many as possible! So, they do not surrender the ideal, but they do engage in whatever lifesaving measures can be enacted in the meantime. We get what we can actually get; we save whatever lives we can right now even as we challenge the culture to more seriously consider the truths of God.
And remember, it is these same pro-life activists who are now dismissed as compromisers and cowards (and worse) who have not only led the fight in Congress and the state legislatures, they are the same people who started the pro-life pregnancy centers, do the sidewalk counseling, organize the Walks for Life and the Life Chain, put up the pro-life signs in farm fields all across the country, preach the pro-life sermons, write the pro-life books, broadcast the pro-life radio programs, and engage in frequent and fervent prayers against the evils of the anti-life mentality. Good grief.
Let me hearken back to the lifeguard training of my far distant past. Our swim coach/certifier posed this dilemma to us. “Okay, guys; a boat capsizes with 10 people on it. None of them can swim. You’re alone on the beach and it’s all-too-obvious you cannot save them all. So, what do you do?” We all knew the answer. You save someone! And, then if you have a chance, you save another! But, for goodness sakes, the one thing you do NOT do is to just stand there on the shore, bemoaning the sad fact that you can’t save them all. And, related to the present subject, neither does it help to stand there doing nothing except criticize the lifeguard who is trying to save lives!
Think about it. Have pro-life laws, even though none of them have yet outlawed all abortions, saved lives? Of course, they have -- and in untold numbers. Thank the Lord. And have such pro-life laws also enlightened, convicted, and challenged the general culture by making people more sensitive to what abortion really is? Again, of course, they have. There’s no doubt about it. So why the passionate negativity aimed at the pro-life leaders who have ministered in this way?
Here’s another way to evaluate the absolutist strategy of the abolitionists. Imagine a Christian who understands that the Old Testament decreed capital punishment be meted out for a variety of abominable sins, including males engaging in homosexual acts and dressing up as women. Would that person then believe that a Christian who supports laws designed to, say, prohibit the public practice of sodomy, deny the use of homosexual materials in government schools, or disallow drag queen “story hours” in public libraries is wrong to do so because those laws don’t go as far as Scripture directs? Would that be a cave-in, a sell-out of principle? Would Christians who tried to get some degree (indeed, whatever degree was possible) of decency and child protection into the law be condemned as hypocrites and fakers because they are not loudly (and exclusively) demanding the guilty be executed?
Again, in a fallen world, in a darkened culture, in a society where one has to promote righteous causes within the frustrating boundaries of legislatures, judges, public opinion, and so on, you always try to get the most you can -- while always setting the foundation to go yet further towards the biblical ideals. Therefore, I repeat: “you demand all or nothing, you get the nothing every time.”
As you can perhaps tell, ---------, I have thought through these things over the years, but it hasn’t been until recently that those using the term “abolitionists" have been so unfairly critical of other pro-lifers. It is a very sad development and it couldn’t be more counterproductive to the pro-life cause.
