Pastor Ryun Chang (AMI Teaching Pastor, Ph.D.) will present a series of blogs, dealing with various issues raised in the recent election that showed a deep divide, impacting both society at large and the church. The thoughts presented are processed through the lens of the Radical-Middle (both/and), personal narratives, and pastoral concerns. Your rational feedback is welcomed.
Disclaimer: The views expressed here do not necessarily represent the respective views of AMI pastors.
DEVOTIONAL THOUGHT FOR TODAY
It’s Not About Being Pro-Life or Pro-Choice but About Being Consistent
1 John 2:6 (NIV): Whoever claims to live in him must live as Jesus did.
1 John 4:20: Whoever claims to love God yet hates a brother or sister is a liar.
When “Jorge”—originally from Puerto Rico—saw me jogging in Chester Park this December, he was happy to see me, since we hadn’t seen each other for over three years—I had moved away from that neighborhood. As we were chatting, my ears perked up when Jorge, a naturalized citizen who has long retired, said that he voted for Trump, since only a quarter of Hispanics voted for Trump. Seeing my surprised reaction, he added, “I was going to vote for Clinton, until the third debate made me realize that her position could make any abortion legal at any point during a pregnancy.” Then it dawned on me that most foreign-born Hispanics (i.e., immigrants), certainly more religious than the general population, are socially more conservative. About 60 percent of them (PEW Research Center 2014), perhaps still bearing the influence of Catholicism, continue to hold that what’s inside the womb is life.
The best defense for abortion is the consideration for life and health of the mother, which makes up for one to two percent of all the reasons given for abortion. The worst argument for abortion is unwanted pregnancy—meaning, adding a baby will lead to disruption of lifestyle. Once, my heart sank upon being told by my wife that she was pregnant, not long after our third child was born. While I was worrying about the cost and squeezing another person into our tiny house, my wife blurted out “April Fools!” Yes, I guess I sort of know how unwanted pregnancy feels like and that’s no reason to abort the life inside the womb.
I ask this question to Bible-believing Christians: When does life begin? If you say, “after the birth,” then, I fully understand why you support abortion; at least you are consistent, as is Lena Dunham who wishes that she had an abortion to “fight the stigma around the issue.” However, if you agree with the psalmist who declares, “For [God] created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made” (Ps. 139:13-14), and yet support abortion, then, you are being greatly inconsistent, for belief that life begins at conception necessarily renders abortion a morally indefensible act. And even if abortion is permitted on account of life and health of the mother, it must meet stringent requirements (like in legal euthanasia), or otherwise not-so-critical medical conditions can readily become a justified ground for taking the life of another human being.
The apostle John’s statements, “Whoever claims to live in him must live as Jesus did,” and “Whoever claims to love God yet hates a brother or sister is a liar,” simply means that we be consistent—that our belief match our action. How about you? Are you consistent?
Prayer: Dear Lord, I praise You this morning for giving me life, both physical and spiritual. Though, at times, I may be dissatisfied with my life, teach me to be content and thankful, knowing that You gave me this life. Fill me with the Spirit, so that I may always find satisfaction in only You. Amen.
Bible Reading for Today: Judges 10
LUNCH BREAK STUDY
Read 1 Cor. 4:17 (NIV): For this reason I have sent to you Timothy, my son whom I love, who is faithful in the Lord. He will remind you of my way of life in Christ Jesus, which agrees with what I teach everywhere in every church.
1 Cor. 10:23-4: “I have the right to do anything,” you say—but not everything is beneficial. “I have the right to do anything”—but not everything is constructive. 24 No one should seek their own good, but the good of others.
Questions to Consider
- What was so important to Paul that he sent Timothy to Corinth to inform this to the believers there?
- Apply the answer of question 1 to abortion: In light of that, what is the point of the morning devotional?
- Pro-choice really values women’s right to choose. Based on 1 Cor. 10:23-4, is there something more important than having the power to choose? Choosing between two socks is one thing but over life and death?
Notes
- What was so important to Paul was being consistent: he wanted the Corinthian believers to know that his way of life in Christ Jesus was congruent to what he taught publicly in every church.
- The morning devotional wasn’t about whether abortion is wrong per se; it was about being consistent between what you say you believe about the Bible and what you believe about abortion. Be consistent.
- What’s more important than the power to choose is making the right choice, since not every choice is as beneficial or constructive. The choice is made not from the standpoint of what is best for me but in consideration of what is good for others. If you believe that what’s inside the womb is a person, then you need to seek that person’s good, not just yours.
EVENING REFLECTION
Perhaps, you were angry reading this morning’s devotional or the lunchbreak study. It’s okay. The issue is a volatile one and passion can run high. Before you go to sleep, would you pray that our society would give more consideration to unborn babies than, in some cases, abused animals. I love dogs but none of them ranks higher in God’s sight than humans, which certainly should include the unborn. Jesus says, “Truly I tell you, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it. And he took the children in his arms, placed his hands on them and blessed them” (Mk. 10:15-6). There is no ontological difference between this child and the unborn. If we really walk as Jesus did, then we would love and bless the unborn. Think about it. Really! And be consistent.
One can be tempted to think that justice is synonymous with “social justice,” that it is all about maintaining fair social and political relations. But in Christianity, the primary aspect of justice is about how the individual relates to God; the word “justification,” which is at the heart of salvation, is just another form of the Greek word for “justice.” Christian justice is mainly about how a person can be made right before God, which is through faith in divine grace and exemplified by good works.
In our world, there seems to be a new name above all names, the purpose above all purposes—the almighty ideal of social justice. It would be troublesome, however, if social justice is viewed in the same light as the saying, “One man’s art is another man’s pornography.” Yet there have been many different conceptions of justice throughout the ages. Thrasymachus in Plato’s Republic says that justice is simply whatever the strongest in society have deemed to be just (“Might makes right”). The 18th century philosopher David Hume said that justice is a human convention invented for the collective self-interest. Popular, contemporary theories of social justice revolve around ending the oppression of identity-categorized minorities based on race, gender, and sexuality.
Somebody is terribly mistaken here! As Isaiah 1:17 indicates, a desire for justice is good, but if predicated on a reckless theory of justice, such passion can be a great force for injustice. We can have all the fervor of a patriotic warrior as we march off to the grand, glorious war for social justice, but if we have pledged allegiance to the wrong ideological king, we may find ourselves making the nations much worse off. An earnest search for wisdom, knowledge, and God’s justice can go a long way toward making sure our social justice arrows hit the right targets.
The AMI QT Devotionals for January 28-29 are provided by Joanna Tzen. Joanna graduated from U. Penn and currently works in Philadelphia. She married Paul in 2014, and they attend Grace Covenant Church.
Yesterday, we talked about Sabbath, but maybe there is the question of whether this is even necessary, practical, or applicable in today’s world. I know that in my own life, there were instances where I misinterpreted the need for Sabbath as a weakness. Clearly, I was equating my worth to my productivity. So if I saw a need or an opportunity was presented, I quickly accepted. Though some good still came out of those decisions, it often came at the greater expense of my relationship with God or others, or other priorities to which I was committed.
I’ve been reading a book titled Emotionally Healthy Leader, where the author interestingly brings up the topic of the Sabbath. So what exactly is a Sabbath? Is it an Old Testament practice that we no longer observe as Christians?
The recent United Nations Security Council’s resolution to condemn Israeli settlement in territories taken during the Six-Day War (1967) continues to stir passion on both sides. While U.S. support for Israel may not be what it used to be, Christians who believe in the literal fulfillment of end-time prophecies are squarely on the side of Israel. Yet, in the midst of this bitter conflict, we have forgotten a people whom the believers have more in common with than the Israelis.
In 2015, while attending a conference on theological education in Turkey, I befriended a theological educator named Jiries from Jordan. He is a Palestinian. Never having met a Palestinian Christian before, I cautiously asked, “How do you feel about American Christians unilaterally supporting Israel?” Jiries answered, “It’s a matter of human interpretation of the Bible on the one hand, and God’s justice on the other.” I understood what he meant by “human interpretation,” but since I didn’t get the justice part, I asked for an explanation. The following is his story.
Last March, no one was in a small Narita airport chapel when I entered; later, while I was reading the Bible, a young Muslim walked in. I quickly felt uncomfortable because he prayed in a prostrated position directly in front of me. Upon seeing the ceiling compass, however, I realized that I sat in a direction toward Mecca. While the scene may have looked funny to some, no distraction was going to keep this Muslim from prostrating before Allah—that’s taking one’s faith seriously and we ought to respect that!
Shortly thereafter, a Muslim woman walked in; and before praying, she first put on her white prayer clothe. But when I glanced to see if she was praying, to my humor, I saw her fidgeting with her smartphone. I had no idea what she was searching, but seeing her sidetracked by the same gadget that distracts all of us had a strange effect of identifying with her humanity—that is, whether we are Christians and Muslims, we, as human beings, share a lot in common.
But to say that Christians and Muslims pray to the same God would be an insult to both. I tried to demonstrate that the first time I visited a prayer room at the Hong Kong airport. Seeing that only Muslims were praying, I also wanted them to know that Christians pray earnestly and take prayer seriously just as much as Muslims do, since they typically believe that Christians don’t really pray much. First, to distinguish myself as a Christian, I knelt facing the opposite direction from the wall faced by Muslims. At the outset, I was very conscious of wanting to show an earnest praying Christian, but as my prayer got more intense, I forgot all about my surroundings. It dawned on me only after I was done praying that I was the only one left in the chapel. To the extent that any Muslims in the chapel noticed a Christian praying as fervently and extendedly as they, I hope it was a moment of distinguishing our faith. That day, nothing really happened in the prayer room: They prayed, and I did too, with no one interfering on another.
A Christian apologist writes, “Christianity is the only true faith, all other religions are of the Devil. . . .”
What’s substantially different among them is their afterlife strategy: Buddhism exhorts its followers to do good on earth to achieve a better reincarnation, while Islam demands that its adherents obey the Five Pillars of Faith (the confession, daily prayers, almsgiving, fast, pilgrimage to Mecca). In short, these are man’s effort to save himself. On the contrary, the Christian faith declares that since man cannot save himself because of sin, God saves him through the atoning death of His Son Jesus. In short, this is God’s effort to save man. On this account, we break with Eisenhower: Our salvation makes no sense unless it is founded on the belief in Jesus Christ.
After reading a story about Christian mission work in a Muslim country, a reader commented, “Since when did we consider the Muslims to be unbelievers? They do not need to be converted because the Christians and Muslims believe and worship the same God.” This person’s point isn’t entirely without merit, since both the Syrian Christians and Jews referred to God as Allah before the rise of Mohammed in the 6th century. But upon a closer examination, because the original meaning attached to the name Allah underwent a dramatic makeover in the Koran, anyone who says that the Christians and Muslims worship the same God is either ignorant or condescending toward religion itself.
As Bible-believing Christians, we ought to disagree with contrary beliefs, but if we are to love our “enemies” (i.e., those with whom we disagree), we should make some effort to know what they actually teach, and then disagree—rather than going just by secondary sources, or worse, hearsays. So when I started to study about Islam, I discovered—to my surprise— some agreeable things the Koran says about Christ.