Stars Snuffed Out

Everyone has a unique destiny to change the world around them for good in a powerful way. (If you didn’t know you had a destiny, check out the series on identity.)

We know that God hand-formed every person in their mother’s womb before they were born and carefully fashioned them so they would be the best-qualified person on earth to fulfill the glorious role He prepared especially for them.

Have you ever seen the Milky Way?

It’s beautiful, isn’t it? One of the reasons it’s so beautiful is because every star is shining brilliantly the way it was intended to, in exactly the place it was designed to shine.

What would happen if we began to snuff out stars?

It would still be beautiful, but it wouldn’t cause the awe it was intended to. The universe would be a darker place than it was meant to be.

If every person has a destiny, and every person was meant to shine and give light to the world, what happens when we begin to snuff out destinies before they’re even born?

Since 1970, over 50 million destinies have been snuffed out, and the world has become a darker place than it was meant to be.

I know abortion is a really controversial issue, and it’s hard for people to have conversations about it while still maintaining respect for people who hold opinions that they disagree with.

But I think we need to talk about abortion

because we can’t talk about identity and destiny without considering what happens when we, through brute force, terminate another person’s chance to make the world a better place.

However

I have seen a lot of pro-life (anti-abortion) material out there that devolves into intensely critical rhetoric. As you’ve probably noticed by now, I don’t believe abortion is a good choice because it robs people of their destinies and also causes untold damage to the woman whose pregnancy is terminated.

While I am against abortion, I am also against the heavy tone of judgment often laid down on the people who choose it.

I believe that every person who has gotten an abortion has done so because they believed it was necessary or the best choice at the time. I believe that many women would not choose abortion if they had better options offered to them or were more informed about the consequences of abortion.

I believe the way that many anti-abortion activists treat women who choose abortion is wrong.

Jesus said,

He who is without sin among you, let him throw a stone at her first.

I’m not perfect and neither is anybody else. We all do the best we can with the choices and information available to us at the time.

There’s no judgment here about those choices.

Paul said,

If I could speak all the languages of earth and of angels, but didn’t love others, I would only be a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. If I had the gift of prophecy, and if I understood all of God’s secret plans and possessed all knowledge, and if I had such faith that I could move mountains, but didn’t love others, I would be nothing.

When we speak out of judgment, we’re just making noise. I think we need to have this conversation about abortion, but let’s talk about it in love.