Stepping up to Defend Life

How would you answer these three questions?

1. When does human life begin?
2. What makes human life valuable?
3. What is our Christian duty to the preborn?

Some of you hesitated to answer.

That may explain why so many Christians are quietly pro-life. They believe abortion ends a human life, but they really don’t know how to defend the position to others, so they generally keep quiet about it.

If that’s you, you’re certainly not alone. I’m surprised by the number of Christians who have never had the opportunity to learn a solid Christian response to abortion and other pro-life issues like physician-assisted suicide. Many believers are convinced impacting the culture in those areas is best left to pastors and professional theologians.

But the pro-life cause needs and deserves all of us to step up to defend life within our circles of influence. We just need to be equipped to offer cogent arguments for our beliefs.

The good news for those who are quietly pro-life is that your goal doesn’t have to be to scream from the rooftops or to try and force people to convert to our perspective. We hope to change hearts and minds, of course, but learning to see with new eyes is usually a journey for people.

So what’s our part? I like the way Christian apologist Greg Koukl puts it. He says our job is to put a pebble in people’s shoe. Think of that imagery. When you’re out for a walk, and you get a pebble in your shoe, it’ll wear on you and wear on you until you deal with it. With grace and truth, we can put a pebble in people’s minds about the value of human life.

On our program today, we’re airing a talk by Scott Klusendorf, the president of Life Training Institute. He uses the acronym SLED to help people remember four crucial elements to the abortion debate: size, level of development, environment, and degree of dependency. He’ll explain each of those concepts fully and teach you to defend human life with confidence to a world that desperately needs to hear the truth of the pro-life position.

Join us for “Stepping up to Defend Life” on your local radio station, online, or on our free phone app. For a fully in-depth treatment of the pro-life argument, I encourage you to read Scott’s book, The Case for Life: Equipping Christians to Engage the Culture. Other helpful resources are available in our online store as well.

I also encourage you to make your voice heard with two calls to action: First, add your signature to the Declaration for Life.

Second, voice your support for The Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act (S. 311) by contacting your senators in Washington, D.C. The U.S. Senate is voting on this act today, February 25^th. This bill is designed to protect babies born alive in botched abortions by identifying them as legal persons, deserving of all protections under the law. (For more information, visit our website.) Call the Capitol Switchboard at 202-224-3121 and ask your representatives to support this legislation.

I also want to remind you of an event Focus on the Family will be hosting on Saturday May 4 in Times Square called Alive from New York. During this live event, a 4D ultrasound of a preborn baby will be conducted and broadcast on the Times Square marquee. I hope you’ll join us for this powerful visual example of the sanctity of human life and to urge New York politicians to defend human life.

Topics: Current Events/ Focus Events February 25, 2019 by Jim Daly with Paul Batura