That ye may be blameless and harmless, the sons of God, without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, among whom ye shine as lights in the world; Holding forth the word of life...
Philippians 2:15-16a

Wednesday, July 13, 2011

Abortion Demonstration

Yesterday a pro-life group did a demonstration in my town.  There was some brief coverage of it in the local newspaper (WARNING: there is a picture attached to this link; it's small, but it's still quite graphic), and a fairly significant public outcry against what was done: online comments, letters to the editor, etc.  The demonstration was set up on two very busy streets.  I happened to drive past one of them.  There were about 10 or so people on each side of the street holding very large placards.  The first couple of signs had large pictures of a baby in the womb at 9 weeks.  The placards after that had pictures of aborted babies at various stages of pregnancy (9 weeks and on).  I'm not sure if any of my readers have ever seen this kind of demonstration, but the pictures used are very graphic and horrific.  


As a Christian, I really have mixed feelings about this kind of thing.  First of all, let me say I am 100% against abortion.  That isn't a popular position to take, but I believe that a fetus is a real human being, and that abortion is murder (Jeremiah 1:5).  However, using such disturbing images in a protest bothers me.  Philippians 4:8 tells us to think on things that are pure, honest, just, lovely, true, and of good report.  Using horrific and graphic pictures of enormous size seems to be crossing a line of what is decent.  They are certainly good for shock value, and I believe that's what these demonstrators were seeking to do.   They offended a lot of people.  Perhaps they feel the offence is necessary to get their point across.  I can sympathize with them on that, but I'm not so sure this kind of thing would be pleasing to God.  I have to wonder if there are better ways to make a point than making a whole lot of people REALLY angry and using graphic images?  Then I think, maybe it's a good thing they are angry.  I'm angry at the millions of babies that have been murdered by abortion, so maybe it's about time the pro-choicers were made a little angry.  I guess my question is... is using these type of pictures and protesting abortion this way something a Christian should support or be involved in?  


I'd love some feedback from my readers on this.
Have you ever seen these pictures? What do you think of them?
Have you ever been involved in a pro-life demonstration?
Do you think protesting and demonstrating are activities Christians should support and/or be involved in?
What Scripture can you use to back up your answers? (Opinions are good, but I'd like to hear a biblical perspective.  Protesting and demonstrations is not something I've really studied in the Bible, so I'd be interested to hear someone else's conclusions if they've studied it).

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