Created for Life

  This is a photo of me on the streets of Toronto, changing hearts and minds on the issue of abortion with God's grace and through the amazing training I received.  One of the most common places to start a conversation in this context is asking a simple question: "Do you believe in human rights?" To most, the answer is yes, and so it was here I found myself on a chilly March Monday on a street corner outside the University of Toronto.  Two college age guys had been walking past and were pulled into a conversation when I stuck out a pamphlet towards them and said "Hey, what do you think about abortion?"  Both guys answered warily, saying "Well, I guess it's the woman's choice" and "I'm a guy, so I shouldn't have an opinion." I answered with "Do you believe in human rights?" Both nodded and said yes.  "Good, I do too!" (here I'm building our common ground - I'll be sure to explain that in a later post...

  Look around you, or outside for a minute, anywhere there are people. See your family, your friends, your neighbours.  Now imagine one of those people suddenly was murdered in front of you, or they just disappeared and weren't part of your life anymore. Could you just move on with your life? Keep walking, pretend it didn't happen? Say to their family and yourself "oh well, it was just a clump of cells anyway"? If your answer is no, then can't you begin to see how abortion is wrong?  Think about this with me. For every three children you see, whether that be on the playground, at school, at a grocery store, etc, there is one child missing. One perfectly formed image of God that is not on this earth because he or she was violently killed inside the womb.  If you were born after 1988 here in Canada, congratulations. You survived the place where you were most likely to die, to be killed - your mother's womb. Whether or not your mother would have never considered ...

  Look at that photo for a moment. Do you see the feet of a newborn baby, or do you see a clump of cells? Are you tempted to say "aww", or would you rather pretend those feet aren't there, aren't perfectly formed and created as part of this brand new life? Every person is fearfully and wonderfully made (Psalm 139:14) and are beautifully valued in God's sight. How then can we turn our eyes from the murder of perfect creation?  Are they created to be killed, or to be loved?  Are they created for death, or created for life?