Why Any True Feminist Should Be Pro-Life

I find it ironic that feminists support abortion. Feminism is all about "empowering" women, right? When you empower someone, you should be telling them, "You can do it," right? Abortion is an industry that gets its profits by telling women, "You can't." You can't be a single mom; you wouldn't even make a good mom. You can't have a baby and finish school or have a career. Balance both? You?! No, you can't. You can't face your parents, you can't face the music, you can't live without that boyfriend who will dump you otherwise. You don't have what it takes. We expect a man to step up and take responsibility, but not you. You're just a woman. We can't expect that kind of maturity out of you. We can't expect you to value someone else's life at your own inconvenience. You're too simple for such things. You deserve a quick fix, to brush human life under the rug, to kill your own sons and daughters, because, you simply don't have it in you to succeed, to persevere, to overcome, to face life.

As a pro-life woman, I can tell you that I believe you can. I believe that there is nothing this life can throw at you that you can't handle. I believe there is no mistake you make that you can't face head on. Sweetheart, you've got this. You're gonna do amazing. I believe you can get that diploma and accept it with your son watching in the audience. I believe you can get that job and take your daughter out to dinner to celebrate. I believe you deserve better than that loser boyfriend. I believe you can be an amazing mom. Perfect? Nope, but no one is, so don't sweat it. I believe you can face your family and take the criticism with your head held high. You can own it, learn from it and keep your chin up. I believe you value human life, because women are not inherently self-centered. We are smart, we are tough, we have character and substance, and I believe you have it in you to persevere, to overcome and to face life head on with all its messiness and complications. Just as we don't want to be treated as inferior, we will vow not to treat others that way.

In my opinion, it's the pro-life message that is empowering to women. Quite the opposite of the message, "Give us your money and we can make this all go away, because, frankly, honey, you just can't do it."

Peace, Not Empowerment for Our Daughters.

It seems like everyone I know is having baby girls. There have been some boys, too, but not many. I don't mean that that goes for the whole population, but as for my circle, girl rule. Girl's rule...that seems to be the attitude about it, too. As if we've won a war. Now girls can rule! Now's our chance to run things and show men what fools they are!

Is that really the attitude to take?

We have been blessed with new people and before they're even born we're pitching them against the opposite sex in a battle to prove whose better?

I don't intend for my daughters lives to be focused on proving something to men.

We've spent the last couple generations trying to empower girls (as if we were super heroes who need powers or something). We've tried to build them up. Show them their value. Tell them they're intelligent, talented, athletic, beautiful. But, think about that for a minute...we summed them up by their looks, smarts and talents. Is that what gives them value? Is an athletic girl more valuable than a not-so-athletic girl...or guy. Is a person valued by their brainpower or education? Is human life worth preserving because it's in an attractive body? In all of our attempts at liberating women, what we've really done is to value ourselves (and each other) based on performance and put on the pressure to "prove" that we are just as good as men .What's to prove?

Your value is in the very simple fact that you are the craftsmanship of the living God. I know that sounds cliche and a little vague, so let me explain. You see, when Christ hung on the cross and the devil whispered in His ear that He should call down legions of angels to end His pain (a very overwhelming temptation, I'm sure), He thought about OUR daughters and said to the devil, "No, I think I'll stay here." You see, she is so precious that the God who made the sun, moon and stars longed to have her by His side and was willing to suffer and die for her. I just have to say, as a mom, there is nothing that gets me quite like that. I was always grateful for his sacrifice for me, but when I think of Him up there for my baby girls...just, wow!

That's their value and it has nothing to do with intelligence, athleticism, artistic talent or beauty. It's about their heart and soul and God's love for them.  Our daughters have to have the kind of confidence in themselves that doesn't hinge on those things, because those things don't define them. They're just gifts, tools...like a car. It's useful. You have responsibility to use it wisely and for good, but take away the car and you're still you. Your value doesn't depend on your possession of the car, any more than your value depends on your intelligence or talents. Use them, by all means! But don't get your value from them. What if our daughters had been born in a third world country, with no education and opportunity to pursue athletics or the arts?  What if she wasn't (what the world calls) beautiful, she would still be just as valuable as she is now. If she is born with a disability, mental or physical, she would be just as valuable as anyone else. Without realizing it, in our attempt to give them confidence, we've actually taught them to value themselves (and in doing so, other people) for the wrong reasons. For a diploma, a paycheck, a medal, prestige... When Jesus hung on the cross, our smarts and talents didn't determine His love for us, we shouldn't let them determine our self love either. Our value should lay in our person hood and nothing else.

The reason this is important is because if we teach them the right kind of confidence, they can be something more that crowds of women with posters yelling, "I am woman, hear me roar!" I see pins on pinterest all the time with sayings like, "I am smart", "I am strong","I can do anything", "I am a godess". Sounds like insecurity or pride, not confidence. When we have the kind of confidence that comes in our knowledge of God's love for us, it isn't empowerment, it's more like peace. Just real peace that we are valuable. No yelling and screaming and demanding to be treated like divas, just real deep unshakable peace. No one can take that away and let me tell you, they can take a lot away. One doctors visit can take it all away. One car accident, one political agenda, one run in with the wrong person...it can be taken away and all your girl is left with is that Jesus loves her just the same...isn't He great.

When we give our daughters this peace, the "God loves me kind of peace", we give them a whole different perspective on themselves and others. God didn't die for us because we were so amazing, He died in spite of our overwhelming sin, weakness and foolishness. The last thing that should do is empower us, but it should humble us and once we're humble, NOW, we become useful. The girl going through her awkward stage who is "empowered" looks at the cute, talented cheerleader and says, "I'm just as good as her!" and sticks her little nose in the air with superiority, arrogance and a little resentment. The same girl, if she is at peace because of God's love for her, (first of all isn't awkward) and looks at the cute, talented cheerleader and says, "God loves her just as much as me," and sees the value in her without losing value in herself.

 Let's take it even further. When God was hanging on the cross He also died for men. Rather than seeing men as the enemy and women as victims, we should have our daughters seeing them as equals; flawed, fragile and valuable in the eyes of God. No better, no worse, no stereotyping, no competition. It's true, men have done terrible things to women through history, but at the same time women do terrible things to their own children, just turn on the news, if you can stomach it. We're all capable of the same evil and all guilty of sin. Jesus hung on the cross for his dear friend Peter. Overzealous, deeply passionate Peter who denied Him three times, but who was later killed for his love of Christ. Aren't we complicated! Isn't He patient.

There's another beautiful gift we give our girls when we give them this kind of peace, rather than empowerment...the ability to take on anything without fear of failure, because their value is not determined by success. Think about the pressure our society puts on women to overcome obstacles and achieve greatness, be the first, be the best, make history... so what if they don't? Let's be honest, there can only be one best, does that mean everyone else is a failure? There are only so many ways to make history and is that really why we're put here? What if she tries her best and succeeds? Awesome! Good for her! What if she doesn't? She's still just amazing isn't she! Imagine facing your challenges with complete peace of your value at the beginning. Wouldn't it make the journey more fun if so much wasn't hinged on success? We can give that to our girls!

Instead of introducing our girls into the world with insecurity, pressure and resentment, let's introduce them to the security and peace that comes from our loving God. Let's introduce them to the peace that will continue after this world and all its petty expectations and conflicts are over.  

"See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are!"     - 1 John 3:1

What To Do With All That Sin...

   If you're a Christian then you have had a life (and soul) changing experience. You've come to the point where you recognize your sins for what they are, you've fallen at the feet of Jesus and asked forgiveness...and you were forgiven! Completely, totally, forever forgiven. Your sins are at the depths of the sea, as far as the east is from the west, forgotten by the Judge of your soul and payed for by the perfect sacrifice, Jesus. There's a beautiful newness that comes from that feeling, a freeness and wholeness that only God can give.  But, the forgiveness, although total in the eternal sense, doesn't erase the fact that we have sinned and do still sin.  It happened, it really did. You can't stand in front of an earthly judge or even a best friend and claim that, because you were forgiven, it never happened. The "old man" has passed away, but he did exist. So the question arises...what does the "new man" do with all that sin?    

   The truth is that we are still far from perfect, and the "old man" is the most powerful tool we have in reaching a lost and hurting world...because we ourselves were lost and hurting. We relate. We know how it feels. We know the struggles, the hold it had on us. We have in our possession, the personal testimony of a broken, lost soul rescued, healed and made whole by the Spirit of the Living God. We can tell what Jesus had done for us, where He brought us from, where He has taken us to and (if we can be so humble) the work He is still doing in us. That's the gospel!

   One thing I've heard people say about their sin, is that they don't owe anyone an explanation...

Absolutely, we do! 

We owe it to them for the sake of their souls! We claim to love people, but we put on a front of perfection and keep them from the testimony of how our soul was saved from Hell? This is what get's us labeled hypocrites and arrogant by non-Christians. We have told the lost that we don't relate to their present situation (they know we're full of it, by the way).  We look down on them in disgust, because the "new man" would NEVER behave like that!  All the while the old man is knocking on the sides of his box, calling us a hypocrite and begging to come out and tell his story. Tell it!

Another thing I've heard people say is that their past (or present) is too private. But, our sin does not belong to us. It is not our possession to do with as we please. It is the Lord's. He bore it, He died for it and it should be used for His glory. What good do we do a gospel that says we were blind but now we see, we were lost but now we're found, if we won't admit that we were lost and blind in the first place? If we were saved from a dramatic accident by a stranger who risked their life for us, what kind of story would it be if we left out the part about the accident! Not much of one. We have been completely and dramatically saved from sins that, just so happen to slip our minds. If we've been washed of them, then why are we so afraid of them?  Tell the world what you were saved from! Tell them how you used to be blind, you remember what if feels like to stumble around in the dark, you understand that temptation, the fears, the mindset and tell them about the day He washed your eyes and what it felt like to see clearly.

   What about the struggles we are going through now? He is constantly molding, shaping and refining us.  He will be until the day we die. There never comes a time in our lives (unless we have stunted our spiritual growth) that we should not be able to tell someone what God has been showing us about ourselves. We start seeing people like sinners we can't relate to, rather than flawed people just like us. Although we are changed through our salvation in Christ Jesus, we have not yet been made perfect and our constant stumbling should make us perfect candidates to speak to a fallen world. Think of how approachable and useful we become when we speak to others with that kind of humility. 

   Keeping our past and present sins fresh in our minds and out in the open will give us a few other benefits, too. Joy for one. Yup, Joy! Joy unspeakable and full of glory! Joy because we remember we HAVE been saved and WHAT we have been saved from (past sin and future Hell). Our personal walk with the Lord becomes nothing but a religion when we forget those two things. Pharisees anyone? It will also keep our egos in check. If we have to be honest with ourselves about our sins (past and present), we'll have a hard time becoming self-righteous. It also keeps us from being afraid someone finds out about us. How confining! If you are the one to tell it, it's out in the open and can't be thrown in your face or others to ruin your reputation. It can be the whole story of your transformation (with a happy ending) when you're the one who tells it, instead of a dirty, little secret (that we could even stoop so low as to lie about to keep and then lose all our credibility). 

   The story of Joseph tells us that what was meant for evil, God can use for good. This is what we need to do with our sin! With it, the devil intended to destroy us, FOREVER, instead we can use it to lead more souls to Christ! Instead of hiding it, USE IT! It's YOUR story! (I don't mean you own it, I mean it's unique to you.) Your testimony. Unlike any other. To be used to relate to exactly the people God puts in your life. Perfectly tailored to speak to them. So let's be honest...brutally...especially with ourselves.  Then we will have something new to offer, not a sermon...a testimony.  

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"You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives." 

- Exodus 50:20

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  Side note #1: Our testimony isn't limited to our sins. Any struggles, losses or pains that the Lord has walked with us through are ours to use for His glory. 

  Side note #2: We don't have to share EVERYTHING with EVERYONE.  With a little discretion we can determine how detailed we go into our past and who we share it with. It won't be hard to tell if a person is looking for insight or just juicy gossip. Don't share with the latter. 

  Side note #3: Maybe you haven't been in the "depths of sin" and never had that transformation. Keep in mind, though, God didn't die for your "almost" sins. They were real and damning! If you haven't felt this freeness, maybe you need to be a little more honest about the seriousness of your secret "heart" and "head" sins.  On the other hand, be just as open about the things you haven't done (with humility) and give (especially young people) a great example in a world of bad ones! It's a great testimony, just as long as you give God the glory and it doesn't become about how "perfect" you are. You came to know the Lord young and He saved you from all of THAT! Praise Him!