Monday 11 August 2014

Aborting in the Name of Jesus

It is one of the most disturbing articles I've ever read. The
current issue of Esquire magazine profiles the "abortion
ministry" of Willie Parker, a doctor who flies in and out of my
home state of Mississippi to perform abortions at the state's
only abortion clinic. The word "ministry" isn't incidental. Dr.
Parker says he aborts unborn children because Jesus wants him
to.

Parker, the article says, preached in Baptist churches as a young
man, before going into medicine. He had, he says, a "come to
Jesus" moment where he became convinced that he ought to do
abortions. "The protesters say they're opposed to abortion
because they're Christian," he says. "It's hard for them to accept
that I do abortions because I'm a Christian."

The profile portrays Dr. Parker as he prepares women for the
abortions he is selling them. He tells them to ignore everything
but their own consciences, and then, of course, he informs their
consciences that abortion is morally acceptable. "If you are
comfortable with your decision, ignore everything from
everybody else."

Apparently, he knows how to ignore everything else, including
the conscience. The article quotes him talking a woman through
an abortion by telling her that her unborn child is "very small."
In the most chilling passage of the article, Parker has just
aborted triplets, and is sorting through the aftermath. He then
points out the body parts of a nine-week unborn child he has
just aborted. "There's the skull, what is going to be the fetal
skull," he says. "And there are the eye sockets." Parker points
out, "That's an eye."

The article states: "Floating near the top of the dish are two tiny
arms with two tiny hands."

Parker says that he is not disturbed by these body parts because
he is "not deluded about what this whole process is." It doesn't
disturb him, he says, it just tells him the woman's uterus is
empty, and she's no longer pregnant. He doesn't consider the
"fetus" a person because the child is totally dependent on the
mother, and "that dependence puts it in the domain of her
choice."

Parker says his "come to Jesus" moment, persuading him of the
"call" to abortion, happened when he heard a sermon by Martin
Luther King Jr. on Jesus' parable of the Good Samaritan. By
performing abortion, Parker sees himself as the Samaritan,
caring for the beaten neighbor on the side of the road.

That would be true, of course, if the Samaritan in Jesus' story
had euthanized the neighbor, to put him out of his misery. Of
course, he didn't. Instead, the Samaritan took the neighbor on as
his own kin, nursing him back to health and caring for him, a
picture that looks a lot like what many of the pro-life churches
and organizations Parker dismisses are, in fact, doing for women
in crisis and their babies.

Ironically enough, the one left for dead on the side of the Jericho
Road was also totally dependent. Without the embrace of love
and the kindness of a passer-by, he was left for dead. He was
hardly viable on his own. The priest and the Levite passed on,
Dr. King preached rightly, probably because they were afraid.

Fear paralyzed them from seeing the humanity of another. The
road to Jericho was filled with "choice," as person after person
averted his eyes from the hurting human being in front of them.
The one on the roadside was dependent, totally dependent, on
one who saw life as better than death.

Dr. Parker could be that Good Samaritan. Instead, he looks into
the sonogram screen and says, "And who is my neighbor?" (Lk.
10:29).

Let's pray and work for an end to the injustice of abortion. Let's
pray and work for better solutions for women in crisis. But let's
pray for doctors like this as well.

There is no one living who is beyond the call to salvation, and
there is no sin that cannot be overcome by the redeeming blood
of Christ. Jesus confronted Saul of Tarsus on the way to commit
violence, and turned him around, using him to carry the gospel to all of us. And the Lord can do the same now. The gospel can
even save one who is so far gone that he believes he is aborting
in Jesus' name. That's good news for all kinds of sinners. We
can pray that this abortion doctor hears and receives that sort of
mercy that transforms the direction and purpose of his life. We
can pray for a "come to Jesus" moment that puts him on the
right side of the Jericho Road.

source: christianpost

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