“They will know we are Christians by our love.” This is one of my favorite songs to sing in Church. They will know we are Christians by our love. They will NOT know we are Christians by our apologetics. They will NOT know we are Christians by our logical proofs, as to exactly why abortion is wrong!
Now these proofs are good, and these apologetics are very useful tools. They are important to have, so that we can defend what we believe in. But when there is a young, frightened mother at a stage in her life where a baby would throw all her plans off track, she does not need every argument in the pro-life book thrown at her. She knows abortion is the wrong thing to do, because she is human. And natural human instinct is to protect your own.
Now somewhere throughout history, that natural, maternal pure instinct was overpowered by something that can be the most dangerous thing in the world.
Fear.
This fear can send a young mother into shock, and her knee jerk reaction just may be to get an abortion. Why? Not because she did not hear the right logical argument picking apart the horrible act which she is considering. It is because she was not shown love. And that, ladies and gentlemen, is nobody’s fault but our own.
With abortions becoming more and more widespread, it has been found that roughly 1 in every 3 woman in America has had an abortion. 1 in every 3 women was not shown adequate love by her neighbors. If any of us come across one such woman, our initial response must be one of warmth, one of understanding. One of love. Only by raising love above all else will we truly end not only abortion, but all the evils of this world.
Life is the most wondrous and valuable entity in our world. It is created, it is lived, and it is taken. That is the natural order. Now somewhere along the line, this order has been distorted. It is created, and then in the blink of an eye—destroyed.
Each year, almost half of all pregnancies among American women are unintended. About half of these unplanned pregnancies, 1.3 million each year, are ended by abortion. What these 1.3 million need to know is that there are 1.5 million looking to adopt! But our culture is losing respect for life.
Elie Wiesel, a well known Holocaust survivor, is quoted as saying: “The opposite of love is not hate, it is indifference” I know of nobody who hates babies, but most are uncomfortable with the issue of abortion. This discomfort can translate to indifference, mostly due to the complexity of this issue. Problems like rape, incest, and deformities in babies can make people hesitant to join the pro-life cause.
If a raped woman commits an abortion, she is ultimately punishing the victim of the crime, the baby, rather than the guilty party, the rapist. It is certainly not fair to the woman who had this vile deed done to her, but it is even more unjust for the baby to lose its life!
But hesitance due to controversial issues like this can cause many to lose their love for life, and this evolves into indifference. The only way that we will proliferate the pro life rate, is if we can turn that indifference back into love.
And how to we do that? By showing nothing but love to our neighbors as we go about our everyday lives. You all do not need convincing that abortion is wrong, I’m quite sure that truth resonates in each and every one of us. But it is vital that we make love the context with which we interact with others. By doing this, we will lead by example, we will turn indifference into love, and we will cause life to once again conquer death.
I urge you to hate the sin, absolutely despise the disgusting, horrifying sin of abortion. But I implore you, show nothing but love to the sinner. Show nothing but love, and pass no judgement to the “potential” mother.
Only by doing this will we truly spread the message of life.
Only by doing this will we show the world just what being pro-life means.
Only by doing this will we truly fulfill our mission here on Earth.
For they will know we are Christians by our love.
Andrew Agrippina is the 2014 GRTL Statewide Oratory Contest winner and GRTL Summer Intern. This entry is his winning speech from the 2014 Oratory Contest.