Love and Justice
Roe v. Wade is no more and with that, another polarizing issue grips our country.
There have been circumstances like those I’ll discuss today for a long time, but it seems like it took off when Donald Trump became the 45th President of the United States.
You could only love him or hate him. There was no in-between.
The death of George Floyd brought out the worst in our country, pitting citizens against each other, in a desperate attempt to convince the world that you were the least racist individual alive.
But it seemed that the more you declared your non-racist intentions, that just meant you were more racist. You either supported the Black Lives Matter movement (a violent, misguided platform that really doesn’t care about black people) or you supported racially motivated cop killings.
Then it was Covid-19. You either stuck yourself with every suggested vaccine and booster shot till you were bristling with syringes and mummified your face with masks, or you were a grandma killer.
Now, abortion is front and center again. It has always been a hot topic, but has reached a fever pitch with the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Supreme Court decision, the case that ended the Roe v. Wade regime.
Again, many would like us to believe that there are only two positions to hold: either you support the killing of children at any point until sometime after they’re actually born (this keeps getting pushed farther and farther back), or you hate women. There’s a lot of nuance to the latter but that’s really what it boils down to. If you are pro-life, you hate women.
Is this really all there is?
Simply, no.
It’s probably easy to see from the way I’m presenting these issues, where I fall on this one. But in case you can’t tell, I am pro-life.
But, that doesn’t just mean I think that abortion is a murderous evil act that should never be resorted to. I do, but there’s more to it — More on that in a minute.
I’ve been quite disappointed by the reaction from both sides to the issues that have arisen of late in our country. There is no desire to find a place where we can unite and work together. It seems that the goal is to simply pursue an ideology that irks the other side as much as possible. If you can yell louder than everybody else, then mission accomplished.
Roe v. Wade is gone, and I’m grateful for that. So many lives will be saved. But that doesn’t mean I use that fact as a club to whack-a-mole the other side or to laugh at the place they now find themselves in. Don’t get me wrong, I will be swift to call out those who misrepresent the pro-life viewpoint and even swifter to attack the arguments of those who endanger innocent unborn lives. Truly, some of the recent statements and declarations, from Disney to Olivia Rodrigo, have been disgusting, to say the least.
That being said, we must find the space between. I can fight for women and their health and still hate abortion (especially since abortion is murder, not healthcare). I can understand and listen to those who now find themselves in a precarious and probably scary situation, while still rejoicing it has come to this point. I can love those who are in pain, while still pursuing justice for those under attack.
While the Bible clearly helps us understand the evil of abortion and the sanctity of human life at every stage, it also tells us to love our enemies, do good to those who hate us, and pray for those who spitefully use and persecute us.
My urge is to lash out with carefully crafted tweets and underhanded Instagram stories aimed at all those who would dare support a viewpoint that is anything less than exactly what I believe to be the truth. But that’s not going to achieve anything. I know because of what I do when I see other people’s carefully crafted tweets and underhanded Instagram stories that oppose my viewpoint. I just think to myself about how sadly misguided they are, and click on. I tend to be heavy on the justice, but light on the love.
I want to do something different. I want to hold fast to the truth, while also sharing such a genuine love for others that it confuses them to no end.
What about you? Are you pursuing one part of what’s right, while leaving the rest in the dust?
While we fight for justice, we don’t stop fighting for love. Lose sight of either, and we lose sight of Christ and the Gospel.
