Just a few months back, during my drive home from work, I was tailgated by a speeding car with a license plate that urged me to “choose life.” I noticed the hypocrisy immediately. How could someone value the life of the unborn while placing the lives of others at risk with reckless driving? Perhaps the car was driven by a man with a passenger in the midst of labor or some other emergency. I do not know. Even though that experience is a weak example of the hypocrisy found in some of the so-called pro-life groups, it was enough to initiate the question of what does it mean to be truly pro-life.
As I stated, the speeding car was a poor example of the hypocrisy found among some pro-lifers. But for many Pensacolians, there are two terrible examples: Michael Griffin and Paul Hill. These two men shot and killed abortion doctors and escorts at Pensacola abortion clinics back in the early 1990’s. Apparently these men forgot or ignored the teachings of Christ, who is the perfect example of what it means to be pro-life.
Unfortunately, the hypocrisy can be found in other areas of our society. Take, for example, the political positions of some pro-lifers. Many support massive spending on the military while taking strong stances against increases in healthcare funding. I guess they are not pro-life when it comes to people dying due to a lack of access to affordable healthcare. And what about the hungry and the poor found all over the world? How can one claim to be pro-life while withholding compassion towards the needy? And how can someone claim to be pro-life while abusing a child, spouse, or co-worker. Of course, most pro-life folks, Christian and non-Christian alike, are not compassionless pro-war wife beaters. However, my point is this: pro-life is not a political stance, it is a way of life. It is a natural result of integrating Christ’s charge to “do unto others as you would have them do unto you” into our daily lives. So, as I remember that speeding car with the pro-life license plate, I remember that all of us (me too) need to look at our pattern of living and see if we are indeed pro-life.
Paul Hill did the right thing. You obviously do not care that babies are being murdered in Pensacola. Paul Hill did not murder that babykilling abortionist. He killed him. There is a difference between murdering someone and killing someone. Paul Hill protected the 32 babies the babykilling abortionist was going to murder from being murdered. When one protects innocent people from being murdered, in this case the 32 babies the babykilling abortionist was going to murder, with lethal force that is defensive action.
ReplyDeleteMr. Spitz....
ReplyDeleteI do care about the unborn and I do consider myself pro-life in that respect. However, I ask in my post that people expand their definition of pro-life beyond that of the abortion issue in order to include other aspects of their lives. I'm not trying to minimize abortion, but I'm just trying to bring all the other types of suffering I see daily brought back into focus.
I know you support violence against abortion physicians. I cannot agree with you on that matter. And I do understand the difference between the broader term "killing" and the more narrower "murder." My whole argument against such violence is too long to post in the comment section and perhaps I'll do a write-up on this blog. Yet, I do ask you to do one thing: instead of violence, use prayer. That one thing will go much further than the concept of living by the sword Christ warned us about.