I was born twenty-five years ago this past January. Sadly, the day of my birth falls close to one of the most important landmarks in recent moral history. Two days after I was born, the U.S. Supreme Court made its ruling in the Roe vs. Wade case, throwing the door wide open for the wholesale slaughter of unborn babies in that country. Since that time, more than 35 MILLION unborn babies have been murdered in the United States alone. The Nazi holocaust is a brilliant shade of white in comparison to this bloody number. In Canada, the situation is not brighter. Conservative estimates are that more than one million unborn lives have been taken since 1970 in Canada. In Canada today, approximately 1 in 5 unborn babies are "terminated."

The recent birth of our son brought the disgust much closer to home for my wife and me. Shortly after this happy event, I read in the newspaper about the local abortion mill. At McMaster University Hospital here in Hamilton, if you want to go to the maternity ward, you take the elevator to the fourth floor and take a right. If you want to go to the baby butchers, you take the elevator to the fourth floor and take a left. As taxpayers, you and I pay for this sinfulness which pollutes our inglorious nation. We should be very angry. We should be motivated to do something. We should speak up whenever possible, whether it be with government officials, through letters to the editor, or especially in personal conversations. We have a duty to speak up about this sin, but how should we do it? In this article, I won't deal with counselling in crisis pregnancies or confronting those who perform abortions. Instead, I'll look at giving an answer to those regular acquaintances in our lives who might challenge us about our position on abortion. As we'll see, this is definitely a topic to be discussed under the heading of "In Defense of the Faith." The "faith" is foundational to being pro-life.

Postmodernism⤒🔗

The Roe vs. Wade decision was handed down in 1973. That year followed closely one of the most tumultuous decades in history. Especially the late 1960s were ultimately to determine the course of history for our generation. Free love and the sexual revolution turned the world upside down. Moral and spiritual anarchy clouded the air and polluted the lungs of society. This age of rebellion produced what we today call postmodernism. Postmodernism is a way of looking at the world which is completely different from what preceded it. Modernism was a worldview which said that absolute truth existed and could be discovered through reason and science. Postmodernism denies the existence of absolute truth. Postmodernists deny that objectivity is possible, and they deny that there is such a thing as absolute right and wrong. This worldview is very popular around us. We live in a postmodern world. But what does this have to do with abortion?

To understand the connection, we have to look at one of the key elements in the development of the postmodern worldview: existentialism. Though you might not be familiar with the word, you may be familiar with the key concepts. Existentialists say that there is no meaning or purpose in life. There is no meaning in life other than the meaning you create for yourself. This is a self-centred philosophy with no room for God. Absolute morality is nonexistent, since everyone creates their own meaning and no one's meaning is more right or wrong than any other person's meaning. The most important thing is that you create your own meaning, that you make your own choices which authenticate yourself.

Just Make your Choice!←⤒🔗

At this point, I think you may begin to see the connections to the abortion debate. Gene Edward Veith in his excellent book Postmodern Times (Wheaton: Crossway, 1994) is clear on this very point. I would like to give you a quote in which Veith lays out the connections:

Moral values, like other kinds of meaning, are created by the self (according to postmodern existentialists). The best example of an existential ethic can be found in some of those who advocate abortion but call themselves "pro-choice." To them, it makes no difference what the woman decides, only that she makes an authentic choice whether or not to have the baby. Whatever she chooses is right — for her.

"Pro-choice" advocates are not interested in any objective information that might have a bearing on the morality of abortion. Data about fetal development, facts about how abortions are performed, philosophical arguments about the sanctity of life — all such objective evidence from the outside world is meaningless and can have no bearing on the woman's private choice. (p.38)

This sort of thinking about the abortion debate is common at all levels of society. "Personally I would never have an abortion, but I wouldn't say that it's wrong for someone else, it's their choice." This tolerant gibberish is rampant. It shows us that the facts no longer matter. Many people simply don't care that abortion stops a beating heart. Many don't care about the gruesome appearance of an aborted child, the silent scream or the nauseating details of partial-birth abortions. The facts don't matter in this new worldview. We must recognize that we're dealing with a new way of looking at the world.

The implications of this are earthshaking. The postmodern worldview is the philosophical foundation of the abortion holocaust. What then is the antidote? To answer that question we must ask another question: what is the root of the postmodern worldview? Scripture gives us the answer to that question. At the heart of the postmodern worldview is a denial of the transcendent God of the Bible. Psalm 14:1 says that the one who says there is no God is a fool. By "God" in this passage Scripture means Jahweh who has revealed Himself in His Word. Moreover, when Scripture says that the postmodernist is a fool it's not saying that he is intellectually stupid. The point is that such a person is sinful. Sin is foolishness. According to 1 Corinthians 1:18, the message of the cross, the forgiveness of sins, is folly to those who are hell-bound. The postmodernists think they are the wise people, but their wisdom is foolishness (sin) with God. The root problem of the postmodern worldview is sin. The postmodern fools refuse to reckon with Jahweh. They live their lives in sinful foolishness. Then we also see that abortion is only a (dreadful!) symptom. Abortion points to the root problem of our postmodern society: rebellion against God and His Word.

The Antidote←⤒🔗

If the problem is sin, the gospel of Jesus Christ is the antidote! Only the Word of God (the wisdom of God) has the power to dismantle this rebellious and anti-Christian worldview. We're not in a battle for unborn lives as such, but in a battle against every philosophy of life opposed to the King of kings. The battle against abortion is a battle for the Christian faith! Recognizing this, we are set for developing a Scriptural apologetic against the postmodern worldview which has caused the abortion holocaust. What shall we say when we encounter people who come with the old line, "I'm personally against it, but...?" Can we let them continue on their road to destruction? The love which we should have for them screams at us to do otherwise. But we need direction in how to do this.

As always, Scripture is our guiding light. Proverbs 26:4, 5 gives us instruction on how to deal with the fool, the one who denies the God of the Bible and His revelation. We're told to adopt a two-pronged approach: the folly and truth approaches. This means, first of all, showing the postmodernist his sinful foolishness by stepping into his shoes and showing his inconsistency. By doing this we can appeal to the fact that whether he likes it or not, he is still God's creature, and deep in his heart he knows that his sin is foolishness. Were it any different, he would not be able to reason, not to be able to function in society, and he would actually cease to exist (cf. Acts 17:28). Concretely, with the "pro-choicer" who comes with the choice lines quoted above, we might reply with something like, "Well, you know I might agree with you. So if I can apply your reasoning to something else, I'm personally against sexually abusing your children, but if someone else wants to do it, I wouldn't say that it's wrong. It's their choice." "Well, hold on one minute!" the pro-choicer will respond. It is only the extremely hardened postmodernist who will allow you the validity of that reasoning. The sexual abuse of children nearly always (and naturally!) arouses a strong emotional reaction. Then you have the opportunity to show how arbitrary and foolish life is apart from God and the absolute standards of His Word. Of course, all of this is to be done with a loving spirit and from a passionate desire to see the pro-choicer falling down before the Lamb in worship in the hereafter.

The Biblical injunction of Proverbs 26:4, 5 means secondly showing the pro-choicer the truth, asking him to step into your shoes so that he may see that the Christian way of looking at the world is consistent. Christians have absolute standards of right and wrong because they have a God whose character defines those standards. We believe in this God, we believe in His Son, whose sacrifice makes up for our inability to keep those absolute standards. And so yes, we admit to the pro-choicer that we are inconsistent in the way that we live our lives. We sin and do wrong. But it all fits within our worldview. With our way of looking at the world, all the wrong is justly dealt with. Either we are punished for our sins, or someone else takes it upon Himself. Here you have the opportunity to lovingly present the gospel message as the only answer to the postmodern foolishness which has led to the abortion nightmare. Through all of this, your burning hope is that the Holy Spirit will work through God's Word to convict the pro-choicer of sin and bring him to his knees before Christ.

It is striking that one of the most vocal pro-lifers today was once a hardened abortionist. Carol Everett operated a profitable abortion business before one day turning her back on it all. What was the decisive turning point for her? She became a Christian. Her experience should be instructive for us. Traditional pro-life educational methods have some value (especially for those in the Church), but the Scriptural and most effective way to be pro-life in a postmodern world is to be pro-eternal life. We must powerfully contrast the Christian worldview with the postmodern worldview. We're called to use the Sword of the Spirit, the Word of God, to cast down that vain worldview which has resulted in the temporal deaths of millions of unborn babies, and the eternal death of millions more. Will my son, when he is twenty-five, still live in a nation which does not believe in absolute moral standards and does not flinch at murdering its young? Humanly speaking, the answer depends on the faithfulness of you and me. O God, give us strength!