I have a question after reading a piece on Hillary Clinton's faith in Mother Jones because it caused the head of a dear colleague to explode after reading it. What is the proper response to a sister in Christ who is unequivocally and unapologetically in rebellion to God's Word as it relates to the preservation of the life of the unborn?

Scripture sets out many standards of conduct--we're to love one another as well as our enemies. But, we are also called to a higher standard as believers, and the apostle Paul goes quite far in condemning and calling for excommunication of the unrepentant believer (after many loving steps have been taken to turn this person toward repentance).

I'm not going to put Senator Clinton's faith under the microscope, nor various policy positions on which the Bible is silent. But her defense of abortion can't be squared with a single scripture. Would the Fellowship (see the article) embrace a "godly" politician whose only foible seemed to be misdemeanor stealing (or rather defending those who steal)? Having just read the autobiography of Mike Timmis (current chairman of the Board of PFM), I know that Fellowship leader Doug Coe wisely challenged Mike to leave the celeb Christian speaking circuit and get things right with his family--extremely valuable advice given what happens next in Mike's story.

Has the Fellowship ever said to Senator Clinton, "Get out of politics until you get square with God and His position on unborn life?" For that matter, should the church Senator Clinton attends counsel her along these lines?

We all have sins that need to be purged from our conduct. The important thing is recognizing those sins and openly agreeing that "yes, this is an offense against the glory of God and even though I still fall prey, I hate it and hope never to do it again--or approve of those who do."

Instead, Senator Clinton has said she wants abortion "safe, legal, rare." If we're going to kill, it needs to be done safely so only the intended target is killed; legally so the conspiracy of killers cannot be prosecuted; and rarely because killing unborn babies is so distasteful if you think about it very long.

(Image © Mother Jones)

Comments

[Tom Buttaccio]

The article on Senator Clinton's faith, at the end of the article, stated, "killing unborn babies is so distasteful"...
I'd like to make a point on the word to kill. I believe the correct word to be used is to murder. A killing can often be justified an sometimes necessary, whereas a murder is always an unjust killing such as the defenseless abortions in our society.

[Jason Taylor]

John Newton took several years before realizing that industrialized kidnapping was a form of oppression. We can't always be sure a Christian who is pro-choice is a hypocrite.

[benjamin ady]

It's more than distasteful. It's one of the hardest decisions a mother-to-be will ever make.

I'm so glad, though, that there are Christians about that can welcome a Hillary Clinton into their midst without having to "counsel" her with their opinions about what God thinks about her ideas about complex difficult issues. I remember in the church I grew up in, it was all to common to hear sentences starting with "Well *God* says ..." It's *so* astoundingly offputting. Even "Well *I* think ..." ought to be said with some degree of ... humility/ability to allow the other to disagree.

I find it astoundingly kewl that the fellowship you speak of is more interested in real fellowship than in correcting other people's political views.

[Drew Clyde]

The problem is that abortion has become a political issue, which at times takes away from that fact that it's a spiritual issue. I like what Jeff said about that this is an issue between Hillary and the followers of Jesus that are hopefully in her life and have access to talk to her about things in her life that are wrong and not glorifying to God. We've all got the areas of our lives that are sin that we may not be able to see clearly but are evident to those who care about us. We need to intentionally have true community with other Christ followers that we've given permission to speak into our lives and hold us accountable. It's not fun, and most of the time we don't want to hear it, but that's why it's so important to make sure those people are mature followers of Jesus and have our best interest at heart.
This isn't something that should be handled through politics. It doesn't do much good at all for me, someone who doesn't have a relationship with Hillary to speak at her about where she is disobeying God. That just fuels the idea that this is a political issue and probably pushes her more in that direction. I pray that she has those people in her life that care about her that have the courage to do what we're called to as believers and speak into her life about the incosistency with her beliefs about this issue and what God thinks about it. Then I hope she responds as she should and sees her sin, repents, and makes it right.
I can disagree strongly for her stance for all the reasons we should, and I can not vote for her b/c of that reason and others, but I hate that this is a political issue b/c it makes many people forget exactly what the issue is we're dealing with and the seriousness of it. I liked it better when it was a spiritual and moral issue.