I guess if we were to look at the most immediate history in terms of what has been exciting
or far-reaching or impactful, if you would indulge me for a moment or two on yesterday's
Supreme Court ruling.
It was a little over a month ago, I believe six weeks ago, when I did a sermon on my thoughts
regarding the leaked version of the Supreme Court ruling in Dobs, not Dobs, but Planned
Parenthood.
I'm getting my cases mixed up.
It's the Alabama law with the Women's Health Clinic there.
In other words, it was an abortion-related case that because of what Alabama was doing
with their law, it necessarily brought Roe v. Wade right up to the forefront at the Supreme
Court.
So please, if you haven't read or heard or watched that sermon, it's in our archives.
You can find it on Facebook.
We might have a recording of it somewhere.
It's lengthy, but I kind of cover quite a range of things in that sermon.
I want to give a reaction to yesterday, though.
So I do hope that you'll indulge me for, again, just for a moment because the ruling came
pretty much as expected.
It was a 6-3 ruling by the Supreme Court to overturn Roe v. Wade, that landmark 1973
Supreme Court ruling that from a federal level legalized abortion.
Up until that point, it had been decided at the state level, yesterday's ruling, don't
believe the lies you will hear.
It doesn't outlaw it.
It just puts it back to the states.
In a nutshell, the ruling basically said, we the Supreme Court don't believe that we
the Supreme Court should make this decision, that the legislature, that the people in the
states should be making decisions on this issue.
That was essentially the ruling, that it shouldn't be a Supreme Court decision.
It should be a state level.
That was basically it.
You're going to hear a lot of other commentary to distract, to inflame the emotions, to get
people riled up on all the sides.
It's not going to be just one.
But in a nutshell, it just goes back to the states.
So you can pay attention to how states move.
There will be some states that, in fact, some yesterday immediately outlawed abortion.
Immediately.
Just like that.
Other states are going to, and they've already voiced this, they're going to expand it.
Companies are going to offer financial support for ladies seeking that kind of service, etc.
So there's going to be some movement in the coming months and years as far as how the
states and the people react and respond.
I want to give a biblical Christian answer to it, or reaction to it, if you will.
I am thankful that now more babies will be born.
I am thankful that now we won't be coming close to one million aborted babies annually.
I am grateful for that.
I am especially thankful that now in some communities like the underprivileged and so
on, we won't just be aborting a baby because of burdens, because we look at now human life
as a financial rock that gets placed on our lives and holds us down.
We now will see human life as something to be protected and valued and supported.
I would love to now see the conversation shift towards how do we support the families, take
care of the babies that they will now have, rather than how can we provide a way for them
to end life.
I would rather one than the other.
I believe that now we will start to see more black and Hispanic babies born because in
New York City you have a greater chance of being aborted if you are a black baby than
being born.
To me, that's a tragedy.
I would love to see more humans alive.
I think that's good for our society.
I know that it's a sensitive issue and I know that in today's day and age it is tough to
find a family that has not had that topic or that immediate impact be real in their
discussion or real with the members of their family or real with their friends and so on.
My family is no exception to that.
I try to rattle off the different ways that that topic has come up in my family and I
can come up with about a handful, half dozen.
So you struggle to find a family that hasn't faced it or talked about it or had it be an
impact.
I don't want to recognize that.
I don't stand here saying that I'm grateful for the ruling and I'm grateful for the additional
life and I don't want to acknowledge that it is for many, many, many people, many women,
many families, a very challenging and difficult thing to face.
It's difficult to face an unwanted or an unplanned pregnancy.
It's difficult to face it when the finances aren't there.
It's difficult to face it when other struggles and challenges are right in front of you.
It's difficult to consider giving up plans for a future when now you've got another human
that's relying on you.
I want to acknowledge that and I don't want to downplay that it is a real challenge for
many.
I also don't want to downplay that there might be some ladies who chose to have an abortion
and are really struggling with guilt or really struggling with depression.
The statistics are very clear.
Guilt, depression, et cetera, relatively high amongst women who have abortions and I am
actually saddened for that.
I don't want to gloss over that.
What I would like to do is I would like to not pull an either or.
I would like us to not say either you have to take in 15 refugees and adopt 31 children
and do all of these things or you have to allow abortion to be the law of the land.
I don't think that's okay.
I think we should do a both and.
I think we should both celebrate the fact that more humans are going to be born alive
and have a chance at living a fulfilled life and I want I want Christians to step up and
support those ladies.
I want churches to be a safe haven for girls who find themselves with a pregnancy in need
of support, not pointed fingers.
I would like support and not slander.
In other words, I would like girls and women who maybe don't have the husband or the boy
friend there to be with them to find it amongst the pews.
They should not be ostracized.
They should not be harshly criticized.
They should not be condemned.
We should not say suck it up and get over it.
If you're struggling, we should cry with them, hug them, support them, pray with them.
And for those of us who can financially support them, I think that is a burden that comes
to the church community.
We shouldn't just kick them out.
I think there are too often we look at some some situations that are uncomfortable or
we don't find in line with scripture and we're ready to we're ready to condemn or we're ready
to withhold resources when really we should be responding like Christ did.
When that woman that was caught in adultery is just tossed before him into the dirt and
before he spoke to her, he made sure no one else kept pointing fingers at her.
I think we should respond like Christ and make sure that that these ladies are protected
from the accuser of the brethren.
And sometimes that's amongst the brethren.
But then we turn to the ladies and we support them and we help set them back up on their
feet with a loving encouragement.
Go and send no more.
And we're right here beside you.
I think we can do that.
I think we should.
That's my reaction to yesterday.
I of course have many, many more opinions, but I'm not going to go on for for longer
on this.