Tens of millions of Christians, Evangelicals, Catholics, and Mormons are praying for the end of the “murderous” practice of abortion, yet fetuses continue to be aborted. Surely, millions of prayers from millions of Christians would get God’s attention, yes? Why is God ignoring these prayers? If God is pro-life, why doesn’t he do anything to stop abortion? If God is all-knowing, he knows who is going to have an abortion. If God is all-powerful, he has the capability to stop abortion. Millions of prayers are prayed by millions of Christians every day to an all-knowing, all-powerful God, yet abortion doctors continue to perform abortion procedures. Why?
It’s been almost fifty years since the U.S. Supreme Court legalized abortion, and despite non-stop attempts by right-wing Christians to force Planned Parenthood and other abortion clinics out of business, women continue to have abortions. Billions upon billions of prayers have been uttered, yet abortion continues unabated. Pro-life yard signs. Pro-life billboards. Pro-life newspaper ads. Pro-life websites. Pro-life videos. Pro-life pickets. Pro-life marches. Pro-life sermons. Pro-life laws. Pro-life politicians. Yet, women continue to have abortions.
Based on the evidence at hand, God is either dead, not listening, or is pro-choice. Christians claim that the one true God is the Bible God, and that they are God’s chosen people, yet he has turned a deaf ear to their prayers. If abortion is the abomination Christians say it is and God does nothing about it, doesn’t this mean that he is either dead, powerless, or indifferent? Perhaps it is time for Christians to accept the fact that their God is like Baal in 1 Kings 18. Elijah, when challenging the prophets of Baal to a God-duel, had this to say about Baal:
And it came to pass at noon, that Elijah mocked them, and said, Cry aloud: for he is a god; either he is talking, or he is pursuing, or he is in a journey, or peradventure he sleepeth, and must be awaked.
Perhaps the reason the Christian God hasn’t answered the earnest pleadings of pro-life Christians is that he is on vacation, sleeping, or taking a shit. Or perhaps the Christian God is a fiction, and the only way to put an end to abortion is to work to make abortion safe, legal, and rare. Instead of waiting for God to do something, perhaps pro-lifers should embrace policies that drastically reduce the need for abortion. Instead of demonizing those of us who are pro-choice, how about working with us to make sure that teenagers and young adults have comprehensive sex education and access to free birth control? How about making sure every woman in the United States has free access to birth control, thus eliminating the need for abortion? Or, you could just keep uttering prayers that make absolutely no difference.
Bruce Gerencser, 66, lives in rural Northwest Ohio with his wife of 45 years. He and his wife have six grown children and thirteen grandchildren. Bruce pastored Evangelical churches for twenty-five years in Ohio, Texas, and Michigan. Bruce left the ministry in 2005, and in 2008 he left Christianity. Bruce is now a humanist and an atheist.
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What’s the logical point of praying anyhow? Obviously if you don’t believe then there’s none, but if you do believe then please explain.
Abortion is only wrong, per se, if you have some sort of religious belief, or if you have some moral reason as to why you think it’s unacceptable. In the latter case then, as you are not religious, there can be no reason to pray. However, if you think it’s wrong because god says it’s wrong then why pray about it? He already knows it’s going on, being as he’s all-powerful, and as he’s the one you think told you not to do it in the first place why pester him by telling him about it over and over again. Presumably if he really wanted to do something about it then he would; he doesn’t. Work it out.
i saw an image macro the other day that said “There are 800,000,000 different Gods that human beings worship… but don’t worry, because yours is the only right one.”
What audacity you Christians have! If your god is almighty and all knowing then he chose to allow for any given crime/war/atrocity/disease/tragedy to happen.
Who are you to pray to him and ask him to change his divine script!? Seriously. Ugh. Mortals.
25 years ago I was a conservative Christian, and pro-life. But the kind of pro-lifer I was believed in a woman’s bodily autonomy for rape, incest, and life threatening diseases. I was pro-contraceptives all the way. And a LOT of pro-lifers were like that then.
So now, I am a liberal, non-Christian theist, and pro-choice. But what has happened to the pro-life movement? They have become more rigid, more extreme, and more demeaning to a woman carrying a fetus.
Quite frankly, I’m scared of the thought of ANY of the GOP getting the presidency, and Kasich is no moderate: he’s responsible for the plight of woman’s reproductive health being denigrated in Ohio.
A particularly clever Christian might say that this is still according to God’s plan, and that this is the absolute best plan he can have if he is to allow free will.
Honestly, I think that’s BS. If I may borrow the words of YouTuber darkmatter2525, God is “playing Metaphysical Peekaboo” with us. This isn’t an allowance of free will. It all traces back to whether or not we believe in God. Even the abortion issue is about that.
I’m sorry, Christians, but if your God is as powerful and wise as you believe him to be, then he can put a stop to abortion just by showing up and explaining to us exactly WHY it’s wrong- instead of, you know, giving us the whole, “I’m God, you’re not, do as I say or else” spiel. Show up and tell us that souls exist and when they become attached to the developing child. That’ll put an end to the debate REAL quick.
But, no, he doesn’t do that. Helping people make an INFORMED choice is somehow a bigger violation of free will than keeping us in the dark.
Sorry, my former brothers and sisters, but the human race is on its own with this. If God exists, he doesn’t care, is pro-choice, or is just not very good at coming up with plans- whoever said being all-powerful and all-knowing would also mean you were all-wise?
You know, it’s obvious by all of your comments that you have never sought the truth FOR YOURSELF, never read or understood the Bible, nor actually investigated the evidence all around you.
Most likely, you simply formed your OPINIONS based on what others have said and what is CONVENIENT for you. But if you would actually take the time to seek the REAL truth and not just go by hearsay, you would find that SCIENCE has PROVEN many of the things from the Bible, that HISTORY has seen the fulfillment of many of the prophecies of the Bible IN OUR DAY AND AGE, and take a look (a REAL look…an INVESTIGATIVE look) at the history of the nation of Israel through Biblical AND non-Biblical sources, you will find an ABUNDANCE of hard, REAL EVIDENCE for not only the EXISTENCE of God, but also for the CAUSE/EFFECT of much of what is happening in the world now.
Why don’t you take a critical, scientific look at 2 movies:
– MONUMENTAL
– 4 BLOOD MOONS
Where is YOUR evidence? Compare your evidence for unbelief to evidence in just these 2 movies.
While you’re at it, why don’t you also check out Finger Of God?
Links deleted
Why don’t you see for yourself where the FACTS point? Hmm? Why don’t you seek the TRUE NATURE OF GOD yourself and understand His will, His love, and His MERCY for YOU!
But alas, I know it’s just so much easier to JUDGE in IGNORANCE, than to actually put in any effort to KNOW THE TRUTH. It’s so much more convenient to simply be lazy and/or fearful and just stay in your comfort zone.
IGNORANCE IS BLISS, right?
Now I’m not looking through rose colored glasses. I know there have always been “preachers” and churches that have been deceitful, etc. But the TRUTH has been, and ALWAYS WILL BE THE TRUTH…whether you CHOOSE to believe it or not. And you WILL know the truth either in this life or the next.
Sure, you can simply blow this off or even delete this post. I don’t care. But wouldn’t doing that prove my point? Even if no one else ever reads this except you…YOU would still know, wouldn’t you?
I read why you hate Jesus. I can tell that you have never known the REAL Jesus; the Jesus of the Bible, the Jesus that is alive and present with you, even now.
But if you feel any stirring in your spirit and want to know the REAL TRUTH, then I would suggest 2 places for you to start:
Links deleted
Of course, the first thing you would have to do, is FORGET EVERYTHING YOU THINK YOU “KNOW” and start with a blank slate.
Forget about “RELIGION”. Just look for the REAL EVIDENCE and see if what they teach is truly from the Bible, is in agreement with the rest of the Bible, AND is evident in the world today and throughout history.
God Almighty loves YOU with a PERFECT LOVE…regardless of how you CHOOSE to see Him. It’s called GRACE.
May the Lord bless you and open the eyes of your understanding. In Jesus name, Amen.
*sigh*
You had one accurate sentence, although we are applying it to your preachy rant. “Ignorance is bliss.” Yep, and you seem pretty blissful in it.
Believer by evidence, I weep for the children that might be exposed to your rigid truth, your hatred of human life, your delusional woo-woo. Imagine that somebody reads your words very carefully, with a heart for understanding you and at the end, they sigh. They sigh.
It would help prevent abortion to have free, effective contraceptives in all public places, in dispensers, especially bars and nightclubs, for starters. Anesthesia for fetuses in abortion procedures. We are so backward. Why is any surgery done on fetuses and babies routinely without painkillers ? Doctors claim they don’t feel pain during surgery. There are videos that prove otherwise. Pass this on to any would- be patients you know.
God is omnipotent and in control claim Christians . Millions of spontaneous abortions/miscarriages have occurred throughout history. This must mean that God is the greatest abortionist of all but he is opposed to women’s right to choose. How many women are traumatized by experiencing miscarriages every year but God’s will be done. His ways are mysterious and all things work together for good. It must be exhausting to have to continually try to twist yourself like a pretzel to justify these beliefs
God doesn’t want to make abortion illegal because then what would mobilize evangelicals to vote for his favorite GOP candidates, like Donald Trump? It’s not like God can overturn an election on his own, duh!
Right wing pastors are fond of saying that abortion will destroy America…and they might be right. People voting for the religious right got us Donald Trump.
Bruce, I agree with everything you say about making abortion safe, legal and rare–and, more important, what should be done in order to ensure as much. The problem is, what you say is based on logic and reason: something in which that the “pro-life” crowd doesn’t truck.
Pro-lifers don’t want women to have access to free or cheap contraceptives, or free or cheap pre-natal care, or help raising the baby. Because that means those women would be able to just have sex whenever they wanted. It’s so much more important to them to stop women from having sex outside of marriage, or inside marriage without getting pregnant. Can’t have those slutty sluts having sexual autonomy. And yes, I believe this is at the root of almost all pro-lifers. When discussed this issue with them it always boiled down to stopping women from having sex without consequences.
In the end, that is much more important than saving a fetus. They never talk about men taking any sexual responsibility, oh no, it’s okay for men to have that consequence-free sex. (It might be a sin but then the men can just ask forgiveness from God and oops! go back to having more consequence-free sex.)