'The Walking Dead' pro-life?

If you are not a fan of the 'zombie apocalypse' genre, you probably haven't watched AMC's new show, 'The Walking Dead'.  I'm honestly not a huge fan of zombies, but my husband is and since the show is light on zombie feasts and heavier on the survivors, I have been sucked in.  This week's episode was particularly good to me.  *Spoiler Alert* The running plot line involves a married couple who were separated in the beginning of the show and the husband was presumed dead. The wife, lonely and scared, found solace in the arms of her husband's best friend until her husband suddenly shows up, alive and well.  In the second season, she discovers that she is pregnant.  She refuses to tell her husband about it and the viewer is led to assume that her reluctance is because she believes it is her husband's best friend's baby.  In last night's episode, she sends the resident go-fer to town for some medical essentials,which I thought would be prenatal vitamins.  She then talks to one of the older gentleman in their camp about the fate of this child in a post-apocalyptic world, her real reason for her reluctance.  I expected a scene with a clothes hanger after that conversation.  The go-fer comes back with both the morning after pill and prenatal vitamins and tells her not to make her 'choice' alone.  She downs three morning after pills and promptly runs out of the camp to throw them up. Her husband finds the empty packages and goes to find her and 'the conversation' ensues. She still doesn't believe it is an ideal situation to bring a baby into, but he suggests that she doesn't know what the future will bring and that it's not fair not even giving the baby a chance. 

It was a surprising message to find in a tv show. It was a pivotal point on whether I would keep watching the show or not.  I think anyone would agree that a world infested with flesh-eating zombies in a horrible world to grow up in and the cries of a baby would put them in danger, but as the character pointed out, a new human should still be given a chance. Babies are born into less than ideal circumstances every day, but no matter what  the situation, he or she still has the chance to triumph over it and thrive. 

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The Birds and the Bees

So how much do you know about the ‘birds and the bees’? If you had to have the ‘talk’ with your kids, what would you tell them ? If you already did, how much did you tell them? I would guess, it would depend on your own values and what you believe. But, really, how much do you know about the technical side of sex?

When I learned about sex in school, I didn’t learn much more than what happens at puberty in 6^th grade and what STDs were in 11^th grade. I learned a little in biology class about reproduction, but that was the extent of it. I learn some things from my parents and friends, but I really didn’t know a lot. Now, I’m not talking about ‘how’. I think most everyone can figure that out without being told, but that’s pretty much where we think we need to stop isn’t it? We seem to be under the impression that kids are going to do it anyway, so we tell them the ‘how’ when they’re a little younger trying to explain where babies come from and then when they are ‘old enough’, we either throw the ‘don’t do it till you’re married or find the ‘right’ person or are ‘in love’” speech or worse, get them birth control and tell them that if they’re not hurting anyone, anything is okay. Sex education is much like this (and I apologize if you have been forthright with your kids…): Let’s say your child has never ridden a bike before, so you take him to the top of the steepest hill, throw a helmet on his head, give him a quick ‘how to’ and push him down the hill. The thrill will be there at first, but soon that child will be going to too fast to keep under control and without enough knowledge and wisdom to know how to escape the situation without injury, will wipe out and come out on the other side hurt and broken. So we give our kids the quick, this is how you do it, it’s okay because it feels good and here’s some protection and push them off into the world. I read something recently that resonated with me. We aren’t teaching our kids anymore that sex makes babies. We’re teaching them that unprotected sex makes babies. Isn’t that true?

And sex makes babies. In fact, that is the primary function of sex. We wouldn’t be try so hard NOT to have a baby when having sex if this wasn’t true. I have had this argument with others that by saying that I am implying that people can’t have sex unless they want to conceive and that is not what I am saying at all! All I am saying is that sex makes babies, period. I say that because, whether the sex is good or not, a baby can be conceived. Babies are conceived during rape and incest. There does not have to be a good sexual experience for a baby to be conceived, so pleasure does not play a primary role in baby-making. In addition, any contraceptive method involves preventing conception - exactly what the word means. Condoms prevent sperm from entering the woman’s body and the pill does a variety of things from increasing mucus (preventing sperm form entering), preventing ovulation and thinning the lining of the uterus. If reproduction was not the primary function of sex, these would rarely be necessary. Women would probably only ovulate a few times a year. Instead, we have the chance each month to create a new human being. Secondary to procreation is the pleasure side of sex. Sex is definitely a pleasurable experience, but we have made that the primary function of sex and are surprised when our bodies actually conceive a baby when that was not our goal. That is what our kids are taught. Use a contraceptive and just enjoy sex with whomever, whenever you please and if you get pregnant, it wasn‘t supposed to happen, so we‘ll take care of the ‘problem‘.

I learned a lot while I was trying to get pregnant the first time - things I never knew before. Maybe these are things you didn’t know either and would be good if added to you ‘talk’ with your kids (older kids).

*You probably know that every woman releases one egg (sometimes more) each month. This egg only lives for 24 to 48 hours. When it is released from the ovary is different for every woman. Generally it is 14 days before the first day of the next period, but not always.
*That egg’s purpose is to be fertilized and start a new life, nothing more, nothing less. The sperms’ purpose is to fertilize an egg.
*Aside from the few days surrounding ovulation, there is a layer of thick mucus at the entrance of the cervix that allows little into the uterus. When ovulation occurs, this mucus thins to allow the sperm through. This is an indication of ovulation for those wanting to know.
*During this time, the female body releases hormones that increase sex drive for the woman. She won’t get pregnant without having sex and since that is the primary function of a woman’s reproductive system, her body will do what it takes to make that possible.
*When on the pill, most of them prevent ovulation from occurring by essentially tricking the body into thinking it is pregnant. The drive to reproduce in the human body is so strong that if the pill is taken later than the usual time, ovulation will occur. This is the reason for most pills having a secondary effect that thins the lining of the uterus so the resulting embryo will have no place to implant in the uterus
*The pill also increases cervical mucus to prevent passage of sperm into the woman’s body, but this doesn’t mean NO sperm will get through, just very few, but again the drive to reproduce is so strong, they will find a way
*So to the sperm - millions of sperm are released into the female’s body during intercourse. They travel quickly, taking 15 to 30 minutes to go the distance between the vagina and the fallopian tubes. Once there, they rest for 5 to 7 days and then die off.
*If ovulation occurs while the sperm are present in the fallopian tubes, the egg sends out a chemical signal that excites the sperm and they rush the egg
*Fertilization occurs when one sperm, in the right spot on the egg, breaks through the egg’s outer shell and then the genetic material join forming a brand new, distinct human being.

This is heady stuff isn’t it? It’s a tough thing for a woman my age to manage when TRYING to conceive much less for a teen who isn’t. Are we teaching these things to our kids? Especially the part about the increased sexual drive for a woman during ovulation? Are they responsible enough to have sex if they aren’t able to understand how it all works or to deal with the consequences? Our society tells kids, “If it feels good, do it“; to follow their feelings. Teens and college students are drinking, looking for someone to ‘hook up’ with and add to that the increased sex drive and it’s a recipe for an unplanned pregnancy. Birth control can curb those hormones for some, but not all. If a woman doesn’t take her pill at the same time every day, an egg will break through and even if sex occurred a few days before, pregnancy can happen because of those sperm waiting in the fallopian tubes.

What if kids knew this? I am not advocating sex before marriage. I will be teaching my kids abstinence, without question. It is the only 100% STD-free, pregnancy-free lifestyle choice. Sex is not a necessity and it can wait until marriage. But let’s look at a scenario. First, when I was 13, girls in my class were on the pill and having sex. Personally, I hadn’t even hit puberty yet, so it was all pretty foreign to me. But what if you had a 13 year old daughter and she wanted to have sex. You don’t want to deprive her the experience, so you get her on the pill. She’s 13. You have to remind her to do her homework and clean her room, to come home by dinner and now you expect her to take this pill faithfully, every day at the same time. She knows nothing about sex except the ’how to’ and ’safe sex’ stuff, so she takes the plunge. Being on the pill, she thinks she’s safe so they forgo a condom. 4 days later, she forgets to take her pill. Not knowing any of the information above, she doesn’t worry about it thinking it’s only a problem if you forget the day you have sex and goes about her merry way. 2 weeks later, she misses her period and now you have a pregnant 13 year old on your hands. Do you have her go through with the pregnancy and make very adult decisions and alter her future or take her to an abortion clinic to end the pregnancy thus increasing her chance of breast cancer by 800%, her chance of miscarriage and premature birth and saddle her with a guilty conscience? Hmmmm…. Yeah, I’m teaching my kids abstinence.

The Bigger Picture

As the recent news and life story of Apple CEO Steve Jobs has been broadcast on the event of his death, it has been made well-known that he was the result of an unplanned pregnancy and a beautiful adoption story. We can see the impact that the loss of an individual could have on our society. On the pro-life side, we focus on the individual lives that are lost on a daily basis through abortion, but have we contemplated the bigger picture?

Back in June of 1926, my great-grandmother and great-grandfather got married. I don’t know the exact date of their wedding, but I do know that my grandfather, their first-born son, was born on February 10, 1927. It has been a rumor in our family that, perhaps, my great-grandmother was ‘with child’ when she married. She denied the idea and took the truth to her grave. Given that I don’t know the exact date of her wedding, I did a little research. Based on a June 1^st wedding and a honeymoon baby, my grandfather would have been due February 22 - he would have been 2 weeks early. Not unheard of, but put the wedding any later in the month of June and he gets more and more premature; something that, in 1927, was probably not an event a baby usually survived. There are no records that he was a premature baby either. My point to this is that, more likely than not, my great-grandmother conceived out-of-wedlock. In this day and age, she would have had the ’right’ to abort and may have. If the conditions were as they are now back in 1926 and she had aborted, it wouldn’t have been my grandfather that would have been the only casualty. My grandfather married my grandmother on 1949 and had 3 children together. Four grandchildren followed and then seven great-grandchildren (and counting…). So, let’s do a little math: 1 (my gf), + 3 (my dad and 2 aunts), + 4 (grandchildren, including me) + 7 great-grandchildren. This is a total of 15 people who would never have existed. Sounds like a small number, but these are people who are dear to me. They are my family.

So, what is the big picture in abortion? We have not just eliminated 54.5 million children since Roe vs. Wade. We have eliminated entire families. Let’s do another math problem. We’ll use the statistic that there is a 50/50 chance of having a boy or girl in every pregnancy and assume that there were 27,250,000 girls and the same number of boys and they would have married each other to make it easier to calculate. So now we have 27,250,000 couples. The average number of children for a couple is 2.2 children. To account for more or less children per couple, we’ll assume 2 children per couple. That is 54.5 million children. Add that to the number of their parents, who were aborted and that is 109 million people that have never existed. That is just parents and children. It does not take into account successive generations. That is astounding! Out total population in the US is 312,299,000. That 30% of our population, gone.

Some of you reading this may be thinking that it’s a good thing that none of those people existed because we couldn’t sustain all those people. First of all, population control is NO reason to kill any human being. Second, we are not hurting that much in our country. I go grocery shopping every week and there is plenty on the shelves. I also live in a place with lots of open space. We have room. Third, as a Christian I believe God told us to ‘be fruitful and multiply.’ He didn’t say to ‘multiply until you don’t think the population is sustainable and then start killing off the babies and old people.’ He told Abraham his descendents would be like grains of sand or the stars in the sky. Grab a handful of sand the next time you go to the beach and start counting. Or look up at the sky on a clear, cloudless night with no moon and start counting the stars. Impossible, right?

Abortion doesn’t just allow a woman to ‘control her destiny’ by removing  an impediment to that future. It takes a life and all the lives that would have come from that person. Each baby girl and baby boy has all the ‘equipment’ to produce new life before they are born. That genetic code will never be reproduced and the individuals who would have come from that person will never exist. Who are we eliminating? A person with the cure for cancer? A gifted artist? Look at Steve Jobs and imagine what the world would be without him. No, he didn’t create a product that fundamentally changed lives, but he was gifted and added something to the world it would not have had without him. That is something to think about.

She Looked So Normal

Last night, I went to a Girls’ Night Out event at my church and the woman in front of me was holding a beautiful newborn baby girl. She was dressed in purple overalls with a flowered onsie and a feathered headband. She had ten fingers, ten toes (at least I’m assuming-she had socks on), two eyes, two ears; well you get the point. She was perfect. Angelic, sweet, slept the entire time with a few squeals and stretches to break the quiet. The surprising thing? She’s in foster care awaiting a “forever family“. She was an unplanned pregnancy. Seemingly ‘unwanted’ by her birth mother. But she looked so normal!

And she is. But Planned Parenthood and the entire pro-choice movement would have us believe that unwanted and unplanned children WILL be poor, unfit, become a drain on society and become criminals. This is an ideology started by the eugenics movement; a movement that held as its basic belief that their were ‘unfit’ (poor, disabled) people in society that would never amount to anything and their were ‘fit’ (rich) people who should be having children and would be the successful of society. They wanted to mandate mandatory sterilization through the water supply to the poorest sections and economic permission for having children. In other words, if you could prove that you could produce productive offspring and could afford to support them, they would shut off the chemicals in your water and allow you to reproduce. If you were rich however, you could have as many kids as you wanted. In Margaret Sanger’s mind, the poor produced criminals. If we could stop the poor from having children, we wouldn’t need prisons. Margaret Sanger was a proponent of eugenics and the founder of Planned Parenthood. Does the name make a little more sense?

Planned Parenthood’s motto is “Every child a Wanted Child.” In their mindset, a wanted child is the only ‘good’ child there is. An ‘unwanted’ child should not make it into this world. Apparently they want to maintain grey areas on many things, but a decision about an unwanted/unplanned child is black and white (and I’m not referring to ethnicity). A planned child will have a good life, an unplanned child will not. So let’s just be “merciful” and end it before the problems start. WHO ARE WE TO DECIDE THAT?

As I looked at that beautiful baby girl last night, I saw potential. Yes, she could make bad choices and do horrible things in her life, but more likely, she will do amazing things; big or little. She could be the very person to find the cure for cancer or balance the federal budget or she could be a mom who loves her kids and her husband and helps them reach their potential. We don’t know the plans and potential for any person’s life and we do not have the right to end their lives simply because we think we know what the future holds. And by the way, I consider her biological mom a hero. She sacrificed her body, her time and her life for this little girl. She gave her daughter life, the greatest gift anyone can give another. She acted selflessly instead of selfishly. Now that’s empowering.

Just How Liberated Are We, Really?

I recently read the story of two great women in our country’s history - Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony. They fought for rights for women in a time where women had very few. At that period in our history, when a woman married, she lost all rights to property, inheritance and children. What she possessed became the property of her husband, including the woman herself. If a woman left an abusive husband and took her children, she could be imprisoned on charges of theft. These two women fought for women to have the right to have a say in their elected officials and to bring them equal standing in the minds of men. Since that time, women have gained the right to vote, the right to their own property and the right not to be property. The dress of women changed as they were further liberated as did their participation in the work world. The advent of birth control brought women the freedom to control the number of children they have and combined with the movements of the 1960s, they gained freedom to express themselves sexually.
I believe, however, that the sexual freedom has brought full-swing back to where we were before the two women mentioned above came to the forefront. Some would disagree that sexual freedom and the freedom to ‘control our destinies’ is a bad thing, but lets looks at it closely.

Now that I am a wife and the mom of a boy, I am more aware of how much sex plays into so much of our society. Just walk through the mall and you’ll see Victoria’s Secret with women dressed in sexy underwear, mannequins in clothing stores in provocative poses, and topless men and women in black and white advertisements. On TV, we are shown that if a man cracks open a beer, scantilly clad women will show up, we see Victoria’s Secret models bouncing their way across a windy room, viagra commercials and KY commercials and girls dressed less than modestly in kids shows and cartoons. Movies tell us that sex on the first date is part of a long lasting romantic relationship and sometimes okay just between friends. I see young teens all the time dressed in short shorts and skirts and tiny low-cut tops. They are dressed in ways that seem like they don’t want guys to forget that they have certain parts (guys are very aware whether they can see it or not…) Women are told by companies that they need make-up, hair color, anti-aging creams and teeth whitening to be desirable. Beauty and youth the most desired commodities a woman can possess (if you believe the media).

So, why do I believe that this has taken us back in time? Girls are taught at a young age that the outward appearance is what will get them far in life. We’d like to think as a society that we are enlightened and that we encourage our girls to be and do whatever they want, but the media tells them otherwise. At the heart of most every girl (I realize not every girl thinks this way) is the desire to find the man of her dreams and have children. Our society tells girls that she needs to be beautiful and young to find a man. They are taught to believe that sex sells. Girls dress a certain way to compete with each other for the men they encounter. If you dress sexy, more sexy than another girl, you attract a man and if you have sex with him, that will either secure the guy or help you know if he’s the right one. In that quest, young women fail time after time to secure or find the ‘right’ guy and try over and over again. Parents and doctors give these girls birth control pills to keep them from getting pregnant while on this quest, but forget to tell them they actually don’t HAVE to have sex. Through this experience, these young women become like a balloon in a Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade, held down by many and prevented from being free. It is a slavery that our daughters are subject to. A slavery to believing acceptance is based on outward appearance and that sex will get them the love they want and need. These girls find themselves bound by sexually transmitted diseases, raped, pregnant and at risk for jumping into a bad relationship for all the wrong reasons. They also find themselves struggling with anorexia and bulimia due to that focus on outward appearance. 7 million women suffer from these disorders, 95% of those women are between 12 and 25. The number of AIDS cases among young women has increased to outnumber cases among young men and about 1 in 8 teens contracts an STD every year (one every 13 seconds). A quarter of sexually active teens have contracted an STD. One out of every ten new mothers is a teen and 44% of rapes in this country are among teens with 80-92% of them knowing their attacker. And then there is the emotional anguish young women endure when they find themselves pregnant and are convinced that an abortion is their best choice. Do we sound liberated?

I lived in the Dominican Republic for a short period of time in my 20s. I quickly learned that the way I was dressing attracted a lot of attention. I wasn’t dressing immodestly in my mind, but I was in shorts and I have long legs. It’s a hot country! In the DR, legs are a man’s focus sexually. I didn’t know a lot of Spanish at first, but I would hear the men comment as I walked by. As I began to learn the language, I was disgusted at what was being said to me and quickly ditched the shorts for long pants, sacrificing my physical comfort for a little less of the lude comments. One man told me he wanted me to come back to his house and go to bed with him. Men may not be saying that to our young women, but they are thinking it and some guys find themselves ‘lucky’ enough to actually have that unspoken request answered in the affirmative. No guy jumping into bed with a girl he barely knows is thinking that he wants to sleep with a girl to make her happy and fulfill all her dreams or even to show her love. He’s looking out for his own gratification. The young woman could be thinking the same of herself, but more often than not, she becomes a slave to his (and her own) desires.

I don’t say this to bash men, as the mother of a boy I realize the task ahead of me to teach my son to be respectful and to cherish the women in his life. But this is the reality of our world and we need to protect and cherish our daughters. To truly help your daughter live a liberated life, try teaching her to be confident in herself and who she was created to be. Help her to find her purpose in her life. Watch her, talk to her, determine her strengths and weaknesses and guide her in the direction of the correct path for her life. Help her to keep her focus on that. Teach her modesty. Modesty may not attract every guy on the block, but it will help to attract the right guy in the right time. Teach your daughter the power of saying, ’No.’ Don’t let the media, their friends or their school lie to your daughters about who they are, who they should be or about sex. Be brave, give them the facts. Tell her she doesn’t have to have sex before marriage and believe it yourself. She’s not missing out. The truth always sets you free.

A wife of noble character who can find? She is worth far more than rubies. Her husband has full confidence in her and lacks nothing of value. She brings him good, not harm, all the days of her life. She selects wool and flax and works with eager hands. She is like the merchant ships, bringing her food from afar. She gets up while it is still dark; she provides food for her family and portions for her servant girls. She considers a field and buys it; out of her earnings she plants a vineyard.She sets about her work vigorously; her arms are strong for her tasks. She sees that her trading is profitable, and her lamp does not go out at night. In her hand she holds the distaff and grasps the spindle with her fingers. She opens her arms to the poor and extends her hands to the needy. When it snows, she has no fear for her household; for all of them are clothed in scarlet. She makes coverings for her bed; she is clothed in fine linen and purple. Her husband is respected at the city gate, where he takes his seat among the elders of the land. She makes linen garments and sells them, and supplies the merchants with sashes. She is clothed with strength and dignity; she can laugh at the days to come. She speaks with wisdom, and faithful instruction is on her tongue. She watches over the affairs of her household and does not eat the bread of idleness. Her children arise and call her blessed; her husband also, and he praises her: Many women do noble things, but you surpass them all."

Charm is deceptive, and beauty is fleeting; but a woman who fears the LORD is to be praised

Proverbs 31:10-30

　

What's Love Got to do with It?

In the 1940s, a man named Dr. Benjamin Spock came to the forefront of parenting with his book, ‘The Commonsense Book of Baby and Child Care‘. His parenting methods were different than what had previously been practiced and widely received. He, however, went to an extreme in parenting to the detriment of our society. He taught a child-centered approach that made the children the center of the family. This may sound wonderful, but it isn’t. As other child psychologists jumped in to put in their 2-cents (or got THEIR millions), child-raising began to lack teaching self-discipline, self-control and a realistic view of self. Instead parenting became more and more challenging as children learned that they were in control, they would always get their way and their were no consequences for unacceptable behavior, if that was something that was ever defined. The new parenting guide stressed building self-esteem by ignoring bad behavior and rewarding good behavior. Parents gave away their authority and created a generations of people who feel entitled, are self-focused, and do not believe in consequences.
Our justice system plays into it by giving criminals the opportunity to not pay consequences for their crimes. Corporations and non-profits know that by giving a reward, they will draw more people to their product or cause. We get prizes for donating! We even have to set aside just one day a year specifically for service.
So back to the title. What does love have to do with this and how does it play in to my usual subject? During the new wave of parenting, children were taught that they were the center of the universe and only what they wanted mattered. Love gained a new definition. It became an inward force. Even Noah Webster, my usual go-to for a definition of a word, falls short. Love is defined as, ‘strong affection for another arising out of kinship or personal ties (maternal love for a child) (2) : attraction based on sexual desire : affection and tenderness felt by lovers (3) : affection based on admiration, benevolence, or common interests (love for his old schoolmates). This is a poor definition of what love really is and what we are desperately missing in our culture today. Love is often defined in terms of emotions, feelings and attraction. If something gives us goosebumps, butterflies, a feeling of excitement or attraction, we call it love. As a result, people assume they ‘fall out of love’ because they don’t have those feelings anymore. We can’t fathom loving someone who doesn’t do something or give something to us or someone we are not attracted to. How many times have you heard a person express surprise at a physically unattractive person finding love? We have mistaken lust for love and dismissed the true state of love altogether. We are grossly misdirected as to what real love is. Sex is usually the measure of love between two people and our youth often seek out sex as a way to find love. This has lead to many problems in our society. Sadly, it’s not a new problem.
  Let’s go to the author of love himself as find out what He says about it.
1. Love is not primarily an emotion or an attraction. Love is an action.
*Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends. John 15:13
*But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Rom 5:8
*But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions--it is by grace you have been saved. Eph 2:4-5
*This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers. If anyone has material possessions and sees his brother in need but has no pity on him, how can the love of God be in him?
*Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth. 1 John 3:16-18
This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us. 1 John 4:9-11
So, love is sacrificial and active.
2. Love is not about me.
*If you really keep the royal law found in Scripture, "Love your neighbor as yourself," you are doing right. But if you show favoritism, you sin and are convicted by the law as lawbreakers. James 2:8-9
*'Do not seek revenge or bear a grudge against one of your people, but love your neighbor as yourself. Leviticus 19:18
*The second is this: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' There is no commandment greater than these." Mark 12:31
*The commandments, "Do not commit adultery," "Do not murder," "Do not steal," "Do not covet," and whatever other commandment there may be, are summed up in this one rule: "Love your neighbor as yourself." Rom 13:9
*The entire law is summed up in a single command: "Love your neighbor as yourself."
Gal 5:14
*You have heard that it was said, 'Love your neighbor and hate your enemy. But I tell you: Love your enemies…’ Matt 5:44

*For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the measure of faith God has given you. Rom 12:3
Love your neighbor. AND your enemies. That pretty much covers everyone. Love is not about me. If all of us were thinking this way, everyone would be loved and taken care of.
3. Love does not have conditions (ideally) God shows us the way…
*"I have loved you with an everlasting love; I have drawn you with loving-kindness.” Jer 31:3
*“And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love,may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ…” Eph 3:17-18
*Because of the LORD's great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. Lam 3:22
*For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Rom 8:38-39
*But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Rom 5:8
*For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. John 3:16
We did not have to do anything for God to love us. He loved us before we were a thought and simply because we are His.

In our society today, we have forgotten how to truly love. We love ourselves, many times to an extreme thanks to focus on building self-esteem, putting ourselves first and factoring in how decisions would effect us instead of helping someone without any promise of reward. People look to sex to fulfill them, to give them the love they seek. We are ‘love’ hoarders. When a person seeking love through sex or acceptance find themselves in a place where true, sacrificial love is required of them they only look back to themselves and how giving in this way would deplete them of the love they seek. The only true source of love is God. No human can love perfectly on their own. Only with God’s help can we truly love. Abortion or any other human rights violations, basic human needs and any other human issues will never end if we continue to seek for ourselves instead of giving of what we have.

As I read comments from people who advocate abortion, I am heart broken at the lack of love our society has for others. It sounds like they are full of love for women and their health but to hear them refer to a human being as a punishment, a parasite, a ‘tenant in need of eviction even if it means death’ is sickening. But it goes back to what I mentioned at the beginning. We are self-centered, don’t believe in consequences and we base love on how attractive and beneficial someone is to us. Take a child who would change your life, is a result of an action you don’t want to stop, and you can’t see and yes, they become unlovable and defined as unwanted. Changing peoples’ minds about abortion on the surface is a start, but changing how people love is the only way to end abortion outright and only God can do that.