The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy.

I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.

John 10:10 ESV

Tuesday, September 27, 2011

180 - the Documentary - Abortion and the Gospel

In the documentary, 180, released earlier this week, Ray Comfort draws a stunning parallel between the holocaust of Nazi Germany, that took the lives of eleven million people, and abortion in America.
"I'd like you to feel like you would in Germany, when Jews were being killed all around you." Comfort says, " You'd be horrified. And we've got a holocaust in America where real babies are being murdered because of a woman's choice, and it's legal. It's like Nazi Germany. He [Hitler]did it legally. He didn't do anything legally wrong."
In his street interviews, Ray Comfort asks some very difficult questions as he draws a parallel between the Nazi holocaust and government sanctioned abortion in America. He asks a young man, "Do you think it's okay to kill kids in the womb?"  
The reply, "I don't think it's okay, I just don't think that, "um…"
Comfort continues, "But isn't that like what Nazi Germany was about? It's like saying, 'What Hitler did was wrong. I think it's his choice. I don't think its' okay, but he did it, and it was his choice to do so, and he had the sanction of the German people, because they allowed him in. And so it's okay, but even though, you know, I don't agree with it.' Can you see it's a similar thing?"
The young man replies, "Uh, I guess when you put it like that, it is very similar, yeah.  It's very similar to say that –I guess me saying that it's okay for someone to choose [abortion] is the same thing as saying it's okay for Hitler to choose."  Bingo, the light went on.
But that was not always the case. The moral quandary of some who personally oppose abortion but do not oppose another's choice to do it was apparent when one young lady insisted that "…it [abortion] should be allowed, because it is a choice, but I feel like I personally would not do it. It's just—" Comfort responds, "So you wouldn’t' kill Jews, but it's okay for someone else to kill them?"  "Yes," she replied!
What Hitler did in Nazi Germany was legal just as today, in America, it is legal to kill an unborn child in the womb of its mother.  As Comfort pressed the logic of those who defend the right of a woman to kill her unborn child, he repeatedly asks them to complete this sentence, "Killing a baby in the womb is okay when…" or "It's okay to kill a baby in the womb when…"
Ray Comfort asks this penetrating question to another person, "So what would you say to someone like you in Germany that says, 'Well you should never kill Jews, but I think people should have the right to do it."
In his interviews, Ray Comfort moved from dialogue about abortion to dialogue about the spiritual state of those he interviewed  - sharing the Gospel with them. It was a natural and powerful transition.
On January 21, 2011, I had the privilege to bring a message at the Rally for Life held in front of the Federal Court House in Fort Lauderdale. This was part of my concluding remarks,
"Ultimately, the gospel of Jesus Christ is the solution to America’s abortion crisis. Innocent blood has polluted the land and profaned the name of the Lord. But there is a greater blood shed at Mount Calvary that can transform the heart of a mother so she will choose life for her child; that can cleanse the guilty, forgive, heal and restore those involved in abortion. What America needs to hear is God’s truth about abortion wrapped in the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ. God always responds to repentance."
The documentary 180, does exactly that. For the millions of prolife Christians and especially the thousands of prolife pastors who have been reluctant to speak out on this, the greatest moral issue of our day - if not in American history, this documentary provides both a model of how to communicate Biblical and moral truth regarding the sanctity of human life, but, perhaps even more important, provides a poignant example of how abortion and the gospel go hand in hand. This is what, with rare exception, the Church is failing to do. Pastors shy away from the subject of abortion for a variety of reasons, none of which are justifiable since abortion is a gospel issue.
Grace is never found apart from truth. Abortion ends the life of an innocent human being by medical procedures that can be described as nothing less than barbaric. The Gospel brings life to those who otherwise will be lost for eternity. I believe that when the Church begins to speak the truth about abortion in the context of the gospel, we will see revival, first in the Church, then in our nation. I hope you will watch 180 (www.180movie.com), and share it with others. Further, I hope you will find the grace to communicate both the truth about abortion and the gospel to those in you sphere of influence. God could use you to birth a spiritual awakening in America.