I had a conversation with one of the protestors at Adams State University.
A university-led protest by the Equity Board set up a booth across the street from our display at Adams State University in April. I crossed the street to engage the protestors and talked to a young woman as she was making a very vulgar sign to protest our display. Surprisingly, I had a good conversation with her.
Shortly after I went back to our display, I saw a sign someone else made that said something like “Jesus was about love, not hate.”
I enjoyed talking to one of the ministry leader's children in Alamosa, Colorado.
A few minutes later, I struck up a conversation with a young woman I’ll call “Anna” at our poll-table. I believe she may have created the sign because she told me that she is a Christian and thought abortion was generally murder in a lot of cases. She then proceeded to tell me that the Justice For All display was “hateful” and “made people feel bad.” She told me Jesus was about love and our display didn’t help the discussion on abortion.
Instead of getting defensive about her comments, I knew it was important to ask her some questions. What about our display is hateful? How do you think we should go about talking to students? I also asked her if someone gets upset with her, does she think that automatically means she did something wrong?
I clarified to Anna that our goal is not to make people “feel bad.” Given that abortion is killing a vulnerable human being in the womb, though, it’s reasonable and healthy for people to “feel bad” if they have taken part in purposefully ending their unborn child’s life. Those feelings mean their conscience is functioning correctly. Part of the healing process is recognizing the wrong committed. Pretending that abortion isn’t that bad or that it’s not really killing a human being is not loving to anyone. It’s lying to them. We need to face what abortion really is and do so under the cross where Jesus bled and died so that our sins could be forgiven.
I talked to “Anna” and some of her friends who were with her.
I found out by asking other questions that some of her animus had to do with seeing some people interact harshly with condemnation towards others about these types of issues. Anna told me at one point that her Jesus just talked about love. I agreed with Anna that Jesus did talk about love, and we went on to talk about what love means and looks like. I clarified that we cannot understand love apart from God who is love. Jesus says in John 14:15, “If you love me, you will keep my commandments.” Jesus summarized the commandments by telling us to love God and love our neighbor. Loving our neighbors includes not killing them.
Many people claim to know what Jesus was about, but they don’t get their understanding of who Jesus is and what he taught from reading His words in their entirety and in context. It's absolutely true that Jesus was loving, but I pointed out to Anna that when you read the gospels, Jesus also made a lot of people angry because he confronted them about their sins and some of the injustices happening around them. As Christians we are supposed to speak up for the vulnerable and those who cannot speak for themselves. We are called to confront injustice precisely because we love people. When we do this, some people will get angry.
There is a lot of work to do in convincing pro-choice advocates that abortion is violating the immense dignity of another human being. There is also much work to do in helping some Christians think clearly about this issue. It’s not safe to assume that because someone claims to know Jesus they think clearly about abortion. A significant number do not.
1 John 2:4-6 says, “Whoever says ‘I know him’ but does not keep his commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in him, but whoever keeps his word, in him truly the love of God is perfected. By this we may know that we are in him: whoever says he abides in him ought to walk in the same way in which he walked.” Many things go along with keeping God’s commandments. A basic one is not killing another human being. Abortion is a grave injustice taking place around us every day. Far too many people in our culture ignore the unborn’s humanity and the basic right for unborn children to live free from violence and harm. We are supposed to be the hands and feet of Jesus to people on this earth. One of the ways we should do this is to hold back those who are staggering to the slaughter. (Proverbs 24:10-12)
Injustice made Jesus angry. It should make us angry too. “Be angry and do not sin.” (Psalm 4:4) This is part of loving God and loving others. Let that anger move us to act faithfully and justly because we love God and love the people he created —including the ones in the womb. Let us not forget them.