Words that Support Life

As has been the case, I am behind on blogging. I haven't written my annual New Year's post, but still hope to find time to, especially before Baby Hurst arrives.

Today is the one-year anniversary of the loss of our first baby, Judah. He was eight weeks old in the womb when we lost him. Tomorrow, I have a routine ultrasound scheduled with the new practice I am going to here in Tuscaloosa. I am 35 weeks into this pregnancy with our second son and I look forward to getting another peek at him tomorrow. I don't believe in coincidences. I believe the Lord intentionally put these two events next to each other and He is very kind to do so.

Sometimes it’s hard to know how to talk about these pregnancies and to know how to be pro-life in a non pro-life culture. What are ways that we can support the life and dignity of the unborn? Not everyone is called to lead a protest, to sit outside an abortion clinic, to volunteer at a pregnancy resource center, or even to give financially to support pro-life causes and organizations. We all have limited resources and time and must use them as God leads us. The Bible very clearly, though, articulates the worth and dignity of every human being from before they are born until the day they die. Their days are numbered by God and He alone has the right to shorten or lengthen them.

There is one way, however, that every evangelical Christian can express his or her pro-life theology and that is through our speech. How do you speak about the unborn? How about pregnancies and miscarriages? After our miscarriage, I have been thinking a lot about this. I am in my second pregnancy now and in conversations with others, both inside and outside of the Christian faith, I am inevitably asked (especially now that we live in a new city), “Is this your first?” Well, Yes and No. Yes, this baby will be my first delivery, but, no, this is my second baby. My husband and I didn’t get to meet or hold our first baby. But he did have life and he does have a name. It’s hard to know how to best answer that question. I know the meaning behind the question is “Do you have any children that are here in the flesh?” But regardless of whether a baby makes it through pregnancy or not, the baby is still a baby and the would-be parents are still parents.

I have answered the question both ways, struggling in my heart with the most appropriate reply. I want to give honor to our first baby, to his short little life, but I also don’t want to go into the details or some long explanation. As the months have gone by, however, I am becoming more convinced that choosing to acknowledge the loss of our first baby when answering questions about how many children we have or whether this is our first pregnancy says volumes about what I believe about human life and dignity. If our first baby would have been born and then passed, I don’t think I would have hesitated to say that I have two children with one being no more and that this is my second pregnancy.

We live in a hush-hush culture when it comes to miscarriage, even within the walls of the church. People, Christians and non-Christians alike, do not know what to do with women and families who have suffered through a miscarriage(s). Before my own miscarriage, I remember being in this same boat. I felt compassion, yes, but did not think deeply of the significance of a miscarriage or the impact it has on the parents. We expect the parents to grieve momentarily and then quickly move on, to “try again.” We don’t consider the loss of hopes and dreams that are quickly envisioned when that pregnancy test shows positive. We don’t think about the trauma for the mother from the miscarriage itself or even for the father who loved the baby just as much and experienced the trauma alongside his wife. For unbelievers, this is more understandable as they may or may not recognize an unborn baby as a baby. For Christians, however, could it be that we are too focused on the here and now, the things that are seen? Granted, my husband and I never met our first child. We never got to see him or feel him or hear him. We barely had the chance to announce his presence. But he was real. He was our baby. 

One of the most basic ways we as believers can challenge the culture of death is by speaking in ways that support life in our private conversations with both believers and unbelievers. It may be awkward or conversation-stopping, but should that stop us? The gospel can be awkward and conversation-stopping as well, but it gives life to those who believe it and we are commanded to testify to its truth and goodness. The gospel is life and gives life and will give life to the conversations surrounding the unborn if we are willing to lay aside our fears and stand up for what is true and beautiful and lovely.

So the question we must ask ourselves is: Do we really believe that every life matters? Do we believe that a miscarried life matters? Do we believe that unborn babies with genetic abnormalities matter? If we do, how will that translate into our speech and actions? Like I said, I am still wrestling through some of these questions (or maybe with just the boldness in speaking up in conversations).  

How will your words support life?

Oh the Oddities

Yesterday I woke up (to my surprise) to a beautiful layer of snow on the ground. The most snow we’ve had all winter by far. It was truly beautiful, but it's crazy to think that just last Friday, it was 70 degrees with severe storms. And today was in the sixties. You know what that say about March coming in like a lion…

There seems to be a floss shortage in Louisville. I have been to two Targets and two Walmarts, on opposite sides of Louisville, and they have all been out. My sister and I do use a particular kind of floss due to our gum problems, but these stores have been out of almost all varieties of Reach floss. Crazy. I blame Target. They apparently had a sale on floss, which I think spawned this whole epidemic. I am going to try Kroger this evening. I might have to have my mom mail me some. :)

On a much more serious note, there are some things happening in our culture that are not only odd and illogical and even ironic, but horrifying and incomprehensible. One of the things that I really enjoy about my job is that I get stay up on the latest national and international news because I am in charge of printing Dr. Mohler’s The Briefing. If you have kept up with the latest articles, you probably noticed that most of the headlines have to deal with either homosexuality or abortion. These issues are very important and the Bible takes a clear stance on both (both are wrong and sinful). Unfortunately, the government has been trying to render judgment in these areas where it has no business. These are moral issues not political ones.

I almost cannot believe the extreme decline our culture has shifted into in the past few years. It hasn’t come without warning or notice though. The more secular the US becomes, the more issues like these will come into view. I find it extremely ironic that the institution of marriage among heterosexuals is falling apart, but the fight for marriage among homosexuals is raging. The one could care less about getting married; the other could care for nothing more. The one almost refuses to get married; the other almost refuses not to not get married. It is all so disheartening because it is an attack upon Christ and His Church. Marriage is a picture of the Christ-Church union and our culture’s refusal to honor marriage, in either respect, is the work of Satan to destroy this picture and attack Christ Himself. Several states have already legalized the marriage of homosexuals and more are sure to soon follow.

The other top headline, abortion, continues to spiral out of control. Not only are more and more women getting abortions; not only is the process to get an abortion easier and easier; not only is mandating vaginal ultrasounds considered rape (I mean, really???); but now some people, who have a voice in this society, are pushing for after-birth abortions. This is a modern day holocaust. It is nothing short of legalized child abuse and murder. The argument used to be that unborn babies were not “persons.” An illogical, Satanist logic that has been bought into by many. Now, the logic goes like this: babies can’t communicate or anticipate the future, therefore they have no say in society and cannot contribute to it, therefore they are not persons, therefore their mothers have the right to end their lives if it is in the mothers’ best interest to do so. How can this even be considered right? Then, on the other hand, there are articles like the one in the Washington Times about the baby that almost lived through the recent round of tornadoes, but didn't and it is considered "tragic." You can't have both views. If its not murder to kill a baby because of inconvenience after he/she is born, then it's not tragic that this baby died. On the flip side, if this baby dying in the tornado is tragic (and it is!), then babies being aborted is tragic as well (and it is!). How can our culture have such a double standard? There is only one answer:

And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done. They were filled with all manner of unrighteousness, evil, covetousness, malice. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, maliciousness. They are gossips, slanderers, haters of God, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless. Though they know God's righteous decree that those who practice such things deserve to die, they not only do them but give approval to those who practice them. Romans 1:28-32