Moving towards a Solution
I suggest that we resort to the gospel in our attack against the sin of abortion. It’s the strongest weapon that we have.
The church has been very good at hiding its light under a bushel and complaining about the darkness of the world outside. The church has all too often seen the problem of abortion as nothing more than a discrete action upon which to cast moral judgment. The church has often failed to see real people in pain and in bondage to the fear of death. The church has brought only condemnation rather than healing and deliverance. How unlike our Lord and Saviour!
The solution to the problem of abortion is not a bare moral judgment against it. The solution to the problem of abortion is the life of Jesus Christ in the church. We have a message of grace, healing and forgiveness. We have a reason to have hope. This is what the world needs—a new
ethos, rather than merely new
ethics.
If our answer to the problem of abortion is merely to legislate against it, have we really provided women in fear with a solution? I think not. I believe that the manner in which we have resorted to trying to legislate morality often betrays the fact that we believe that our culture is beyond all hope. This, I believe, is the result of the crumbling of key Christian virtues within the church. We have agreed with the world: the situation cannot ultimately be turned around, it can only be contained.
I do not believe that the disease of sin and the culture of death are beyond cure, however. I firmly believe that our God is capable of turning it all around. The gospel is the power of God unto salvation. For this reason, I hold that we should attack the very root of the problem and not merely take a palliative approach—the solution offered by the world. We need to bring the life of Jesus Christ into our communities where people are in slavery to death. We need to bring the light of the gospel where people are in the darkness of unbelief.
The church’s witness is seen when the world sees the gospel in action. The gospel is not a set of bare propositions; the gospel is the life-transforming power of our Lord Jesus embodied in the new community He is building. If all that people see from the church is condemnation of sin, they haven’t been given an answer; the problem has just been underlined.
The things that lead a woman to commit abortion and the decision to commit the abortion itself are both aspects of the culture of death that we live in. Can we present such people with a better way—a way of hope rather than one of despair?
Paradigms for Action
Hays gives some paradigms that can inform our approach in dealing with the issue of abortion. I have found these very helpful and will now proceed to give an outline of them.
The Good Samaritan
The Parable of the Good Samaritan is given by our Lord as an answer to the question asked by the lawyer: ‘Who is my neighbour?’ Jesus’ parable answers by reshaping the whole issue. The hated Samaritan becomes the neighbour, and the neighbour ‘is defined as one who
shows, rather than
receives, mercy’.
The Parable of the Good Samaritan challenges us when we ask self-justifying questions like the lawyer. Self-justifying people are more concerned with not doing the wrong thing than with doing the right thing. They want to know how close they can get to the fire without getting burnt.
As Christians we also go beyond conventional understandings of duty. We
become neighbours to those in need. Hays writes:—
Jesus, by answering the lawyer’s question with this parable, rejects casuistic attempts to circumscribe our moral concern by defining the other as belonging to a category outside the scope of our obligation. To define the unborn child as a nonperson is to narrow the scope of moral concern, whereas Jesus calls upon us to widen it by showing mercy and actively intervening on behalf of the helpless. The Samaritan is a paradigm of love that goes beyond ordinary obligation and thus creates a neighbour relation where none existed before.
I believe that this is very illuminating.
The Jerusalem Community
Hays argues that the apostles’ witness to the resurrection was made effective through the way in which the church shared and cared for the needy. He uses this example to argue that the church has a responsibility for the care of the needy. No woman within the church should need to contemplate abortion on the grounds of economics or anything like that. The church assumes responsibility and works out ways in which the woman and child can be provided for. The church can also require and help fathers within the church to take responsibility for the support of their wives and children.
As the world sees the way that the church lives they will become aware of the reality of the resurrection, because the life of the resurrection is right before their eyes. Hope is breaking through the walls of despair. Righteousness is now flourishing in areas that used to be places of sin. The power of resurrection life is destroying the power of death. The way that the church lives is absolutely essential to our witness to the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
The Imitation of Christ
As those who imitate Christ, we give up our rights and begin to bear one another’s burdens. We give up privileges for the sake of others and lay down our lives for the brethren. Just as Christ laid aside His divine prerogatives, so must we sacrifice our rights and privileges for the sake of others. The imitation of Christ is something the community is called to do, not just the individual. The church can ‘bear the burden’ of the child with the woman. A pregnancy within the church is an issue in which the whole church is involved as none of us is our own. We all sacrifice our rights for the sake of each other. No Christian woman should ever feel the need to seek an abortion. There is a better way.
Regaining an Ethos
The solution to the problem of abortion is far more than a mere bald statement of ethics; what is needed is a new ethos. A new ethos can only truly exist within a community. However, the church today has generally lost sight of what it means to be a new community. In a church racked with divisions, being ‘one in Christ’ is often seen as something ethereal, only truly pertaining to the ‘invisible church’. And that is precisely the problem. The church has become ‘invisible’. The world sees no ‘better way’.
As the church has lost sight of what it means to be a community of God’s people, it has substituted a system of ethics for an ethos. However, the ethos of the new community is
central to the gospel. The gospel is not the gospel if the new community does not really exist in our world. The gospel is not merely a system of bare propositions; it is the life of Jesus Christ set loose in a world of death. This life is embodied in the church: in its fellowship, in its ethos, and in its teaching.
Many of us were brought up in such a way that we never would even have considered the possibility of stealing. It was utterly unthinkable. This was not necessarily the result of great teaching on the subject. The subject might never have been mentioned in our homes. Stealing was unthinkable in the light of the ethos that existed in our homes, an ethos that may never have been articulated as a system of ethics.
The solution to the problem of abortion is found as we present the world with a new ethos, a new way of envisioning life and death, a new way of relating and belonging, a new way of doing and being, a new way of knowing and believing.
We have fallen prey to the way of thinking that views the pulpit as the solution of all of our problems. It is not. You can preach morality all day and fail to reach your hearers. I am sure that we all know of parents who continually lecture their kids on what is right and wrong and their kids continually and wilfully do what is wrong. In many such homes the system of ethics that is taught is flawless, but the hypocritical atmosphere in which it is taught is sheer poison. It is the same in many churches. Furthermore, in many churches we do not even have enough time to see an ethos created. We do not eat together, share together, or do virtually anything together. Even the manner in which we participate in services is individualistic. We should not be surprised when people in our congregations begin to live lives that depart significantly from the system of ethics that we teach.
I have already argued that a significant part of our identity is found in our belonging to others. How many people really feel that they belong to the church? How many people when asked their identity, would speak of their relationship to Christ and His church first?
Imagine living in a family that didn’t eat together, talk together, share with each other, write to each other, pray for each other or do things together. It wouldn’t be much of a family, would it? There are far too many churches like this.
How is an ethos regained after it has been lost? I believe that within the church we need to start living life as a community again. We need to learn to solve problems as a community and to care for each other as a community. We need to invite others into the community and provide a haven of life and hope in a world of despair and death. However, this is easier said than done.
I believe that there are some practical steps that can be made towards the recovery of an ethos within the church. One of the most important of these is recovering the centrality of the Eucharist and escaping the mere memorialist trap, which makes it into an individualistic cognitive or emotive exercise rather than a shared meal of
communion.
Other things. We need to meet together during the week. We should try to get to know people that we don’t know. We should try to open ourselves up to each other, even our vulnerabilities. We should keep our eyes open for anyone in the church who may feel alone or discouraged. We should take time to learn how to give people true encouragement. We need to lay aside time to pray for each other and visit each other. We should expose ourselves to other people’s suffering. We should learn the art of the godly rebuke and show true concern for the spiritual wellbeing of our brothers and sisters, even when it hurts to do so. We should eat together regularly and feast together. We should be prepared to support each other financially. We should take time to meet with others for prayer. All of these are practical steps we can take. And when we’ve finished this list, I’m sure that we can think of a few more!
We belong to each other, so we give ourselves to each other. We belong to each other, so we care for each other. Only be regaining a truly Christian ethos can the root problems of our society be properly addressed.
Conclusion
This treatment of abortion has been necessarily limited. However, as I conclude, I would like to tie together a number of the observations that have been made to this point.
I have sought to argue, alongside Hays and Hauerwas, that we ought to resituate the debate on abortion within the church. The answer to the problem of abortion is only intelligible within the context of the church. Consequently, we should beware of seeking to solve the problem by arguing on the basis of worldly presuppositions. In particular, we must avoid using the language of ‘rights’ as that in which to frame the anti-abortion argument.
As a church we should begin to see ourselves as the solution to the problem of abortion. The church must present a positive message to the world, a message of a better way. Rather than merely condemning the world, we must follow the example of our Saviour and seek to deliver people from the bondage of sin. We are the light of the world. We must begin to illuminate the dark corners of pain, despair and suffering in people’s lives and bring new life and hope.
The world will only begin to listen to us as it sees the gospel in action in our churches. This goes far, far beyond mere preaching. The church will begin to preach with prophetic power when its ethics begin to flow from its ethos once again.
As the people of God we must learn to live as a community that is hospitable to life. We must learn to find our identity in belonging to each other, rather than in self-possession.
I believe that the church needs to devote its attention to providing alternatives to abortion for fearful, victimized women and struggling families. We need to learn to be a people who are hospitable to life. Life should flourish in our churches. People should see the gospel embodied in our relationships and turn to our Lord Jesus. Rather than focus upon changing the laws that now exist (although this is certainly a worthy cause), let us focus upon welcoming the children that wider society rejects and live out our identity as the new community, the community of life in Jesus Christ.
