Life in the Womb is Precious, Too!

Supermodel Kathy Ireland caught my attention recently, but not for the reason you might suppose. As I watched her being interviewed, I was transfixed, less by her beauty and more by her honesty.

As a pro-choice Christian, Ms. Ireland became troubled the more she read medical text books and scientific literature regarding when human life begins. A review of the literature revealed that the new life which begins at conception is indeed human. In a panic, she called Planned Parenthood, asking for evidence to refute what she was reading. “It’s just a clump of cells,” was the only answer she received. She knew that didn’t square with the science and, reluctantly, she began to abandon her pro-choice position.

Richard John Neuhaus has observed, “It is sometimes said that the abortion debate is about values rather than facts. An honest debate about abortion, however, is about values based on facts. If we don’t get the facts right, we won’t get the values right.”

All of us have values. The question is, on what are they based?

Science reveals that the fusion of sperm and egg at the moment of conception produces a new human cell, the zygote, which is constituted to carry out all the activities of life. The zygote acts immediately and decisively to initiate a program of development that will proceed seamlessly through the formation of a body, birth, childhood, adolescence, maturity, and aging, ending with death. This coordinated behavior is the hallmark of a human organism. It is not a mere collection of human cells. Skin cells, no matter how much they multiply, cannot produce a human being. They produce only skin cells.

But the zygote is different. The zygote is not merely a new human cell, but a new individual, already male or female, already genetically distinct. He or she is not a potential human, but a human with potential. Just as a toddler does not look like an adolescent or an adolescent like an elderly person, the unborn may not look like you or me, but he or she looks exactly like a human is supposed to look at that stage of his or her development.

This is not a matter of faith. It is a matter of science.

True faith and true science, however, are not contradictory. Christians believe that truth is one because God himself is one, and true science supports true faith, it does not subvert it. Faith also speaks to the issue of when human life begins, but it speaks to much more. Faith speaks to the guilt and shame we experience because of our sin—a life lost, a potential not realized, a path not taken. The grief we feel is real. Guilt and shame follow us.

Enter Jesus Christ, who came not for the guiltless, but for the guilty.

Christ calls not the righteous, but sinners like you and me to come and to receive from him forgiveness for all of our sins. He has already died your death, for your sin, in your place. At the cross he removed all your transgressions from you. You are already forgiven! The crucifixion and resurrection of Christ are facts upon which the values of Christian love and reconciliation are based.

God values all of life, including yours. He values life within the womb and without, and he has reconciled all life to himself through the death of his Son. This good news prompts our reconciliation with one another.

Rev. John Armstrong is pastor of Grace Lutheran Church, Columbus, and may be reached at jarmstrong@gracecolumbus.org.

You Have Heard It Said...

One of the goals of Transformed is to help participants see how easily our culture can affect our thinking. That is why our program is based on Romans 12:2, “Do not conform to the pattern of this world…..” or as The Message translation puts it, “Do not fit into your culture without even thinking….” The reason we are to be cautious is that cultural ideas so often miss the mark and are not grounded in truth. Jesus repeatedly demonstrated the need to compare worldly assumptions and beliefs to truth. His teaching in Matthew 5 is a wonderful example. With each, “You have heard it said … but I tell you” statement, Jesus confronts and corrects a widely held, cultural belief that his hearers had heard many times, and had allowed (intentionally or unintentionally) to become a part of their lives.

One category of current cultural wisdom has become abundantly clear to me thru conversations in churches, schools and with my own daughter. This is the fallacy that we cannot tell people the truth about sexual activity and the consequences it brings in a factual manner without introducing moral or religious beliefs and being judgmental towards them. The Christianized version of this cultural belief is that even though Scripture clearly teaches abstinence until marriage, we find it hard to embrace the factual information available to support this. In other words, we struggle to embrace the fact that God’s Word always plays out in real life. God’s plans, especially when it comes to sex, truly are in our best interest and in the best interest of every person in our society.

While the number of sexual images and ideas we are exposed to in our culture continues to increase dramatically, (and with them, the amount of misinformation), the receptiveness to discuss factual information in an open, honest and mature way continues to decrease. Sex has become a matter of privacy in very unhealthy ways. Christians can live how they please, but they have no right to tell others how to live. What one does and with whom one does it is up to the individual. The underlying assumption is that every sexual choice can lead to the same outcome; that sex doesn’t have to have consequences. What this has actually lead to is students being more than mildly confused and surprised by their reality—that social, emotional, physical, mental or spiritual consequences do come with their own experiences.

Lauren Winner makes an incredibly important statement in her book, Real Sex, when she writes, “When we tell falsehoods about sex, and listen to falsehoods about sex, we end up living falsehoods about sex.” We understand at the Pregnancy Care Center that we do not have the right to tell people how to live and we are not interested in doing so. However, we also understand, and take very seriously, our responsibility to equip and empower students and clients to make healthy choices. The fact substantiated with data and statistics is that all sexual choices are not equal. There is a healthiest, best choice. Choosing to save all sexual activity for marriage is the healthiest, safest, lifestyle choice.



Lisa Newton

Celebrate a Loved One in a New Way

Valentine's Day is great for flowers, candy and those sweet gifts that say, "I love you." It is also a day for creativity, when we think outside the box (of candy) and do something different.

This year, consider a special gift to the Pregnancy Care Center in honor of your special love. We will send a note of thanks to the person you honor. It's a bit different, and your gift will impact the lives of those who need the love of Jesus Christ.

Why not try something new and different this Valentine's Day?!

How a Crib Saved a Life

Recently, a client walked in the door stating she needed a crib and car seat. She was obviously pregnant. As I began looking over her file I noticed we had not seen her since her pregnancy test back in the spring. I also noticed she was abortion minded at that visit so we had performed an ultrasound on her as well.

As I sat down to chat with her I commented how exciting it was to see her carrying the baby after contemplating abortion. She shared that when she walked in the center, she intended to get an abortion that very day. The person who referred her to us told her we did abortions.

Then a smiled lit up her face and she said, “I told the lady I saw that first day that I wanted to abort because I couldn’t financially afford to raise a child. I told her I needed to work and if I was pregnant I would not be able to work. She assured me you, here at the center, would help me get the things I needed for the baby, including a crib and car seat. Because of that, I decided to keep my baby.”

Just last week she came in with her little son and his father. There was joy in their eyes as we talked. It may seem like a little thing to donate money to the Pregnancy Care Center to purchase a crib or car seat…but you never know the difference a physical item like that can make in the life of an unborn child.

Marge Miller