Mark Driscoll (Photo credit: PastorMark.tv)
On October 18, Fox News published an op-ed on abortion by Mark Driscoll, founding pastor of the famed Mars Hill Church in Seattle. Driscoll wrote boldly, recognizing both the science and the Scripture that inform us about human life. As Driscoll put it:
Both science and Scripture are absolutely clear that life begins at conception. Taking a human life is murder, by definition, which makes abortion a murderous act.
Consider this: On December 5, John Andrew Welden will be sentenced after pleading guilty in the murder of his unborn baby. Welden’s girlfriend, Remee Jo Lee, was six weeks pregnant when he gave her an abortion pill and told her it was antibiotics.
Welden was prosecuted for violating the Unborn Victims of Violence Act Believe it or not, federal legislation forbids the murder of an unborn baby—except in the 55 million instances when it doesn’t. And a father can be convicted of murdering his unborn child without the mother’s consent, but if a woman decides to end her pregnancy against the wishes of the father, that’s her right to choose.
Choose murder? Can’t follow all of the logic? Perhaps that’s because it’s illogical.
Illogical indeed. The state of American law on abortion is contradictory and highly illogical. It makes little sense to forbid the government to execute pregnant women, prosecute men for killing a pregnant woman’s unborn child, put drunk drivers in jail for killing such a child, and yet allow only mothers (and doctors with mothers’ permission) to kill the very same child.
Killing an unborn child is wrong, inequitable, immoral, and usually illegal. Except for mothers. What does it say of our society that only mothers – the very people designed to care for unborn children – are allowed to end their lives through cruel and painful methods.
Pastor Driscoll discusses the 55 million missing people in the U.S. – all killed by abortion. His words illustrate that the impact of these missing lives is greater than many of us have imagined. 55 million people are equal to “17.5% of the country’s current population.” He writes that 55 million is:
[A]number greater than the population of any state in the Union, and greater than the population of 219 of the world’s country’s including South Africa, South Korea, Spain, Australia, Argentina, and Canada. Fifty-five million is about the same as the population of the 25 smallest states and Washington D.C. combined.
Of course, abortion would be wrong and tragic if even one innocent life was ended by it. But it is unthinkable that, as a nation, we allow such widespread killing to continue, largely unchecked. As Driscoll puts it, abortion as murder is “America’s Great Denial.”
Mark Driscoll exemplifies what pastors all around this nation must do: speaking out against abortion, boldly. And he’s a good one to set the example. People listen to what he has to say.
He was…named one of the “25 Most Influential Pastors of the Past 25 Years” by Preaching magazine, and his sermons are consistently #1 on iTunes each week for Religion & Spirituality with millions of downloads each year.
If more pastors were willing to speak out against this rampant evil, fewer Christians would be willing to get abortions. Fewer Christians would vote for candidates who support abortion. And more Christians would become active in the necessary battle to end abortion. America needs more pastors and Christians to follow the example of Mark Driscoll and take a public stand against abortion, revealing it for the horrible tragedy – and evil – that it is.
In the end, it’s very simple. As Driscoll writes:
Abortion is not a matter of politics. It’s a matter of life and death, for 55 million and counting. Enough.
You shall not murder.
