Does It Matter? Is It Wrong?
It was a relatively mild morning on January 24, 2012. I remember the day well. It was a morning I got angry. Though this was a new kind of anger; I hadn’t been angry like this before. You see, one author simply describes anger’s logic, “That matters, and it’s wrong.”[1] You get angry at whatever the issue may be when you make the value judgment that something matters and the moral judgment that something is wrong. I experienced a new anger that morning seven years ago because before I hadn’t made the value judgment.
That morning, I stood by my wife at our very first ultrasound. I saw our kumquat-sized daughter, Maranatha, for the very first time. I saw her little heart racing. And as the ultrasound tech pointed out her arms, her legs, her head, a new anger grew within me. I don’t recall a time when I ever thought abortion was ok. Scripture is clear on that evaluation. But thinking back on that new found anger—anger at the thought that someone would be just fine with killing my preborn daughter—I guess it was new because I previously had thought abortion didn’t matter, that life didn’t matter. That all changed as the syllogism of anger formed in my heart: preborn children matter, and to kill them is wrong.
Where is anger’s logic broken for you? Planned Parenthood performed their highest number of abortions in a single year last year. Does it matter? Is it wrong? They also received their highest level of annual government funding.[2] Does it matter? Is it wrong? People with disabilities are ostracized, overlooked, and ignored. Does it matter? Is it wrong? Seniors are forgotten in nursing homes, taken advantage of by scammers, and abused by predators. Does it matter? Is it wrong?
Church, if we are going to be pro-life—not just pro-life in respect to the preborn but in respect to all life—if we are going to be pro-life, we need to be angry. That doesn’t mean we are angry towards medical professionals or politicians or scared and confused mothers and fathers. We need to be angry about sin that is an assault on the Creator in whose image all human life is formed. Church, my exhortation for us is that we consider whether we think it matters and is wrong when life—preborn life, life with disabilities, elderly life—is devalued, dismissed, or destroyed. Does it matter? Is it wrong?
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[1] David Powlison, Good & Angry.
[2] Planned Parenthood data from https://disrn.com/news/planned-parenthood-annual-report-reveals-highest-ever-number-of-abortions-and-government-funding?utm_source=feedblitz&utm_medium=FeedBlitzEmail&utm_campaign=0&utm_content=5575