“Laws have to be backed up with resources and political will. And deep-seated cultural codes, religious beliefs and structural biases have to be changed.”
These shocking words were spoken by Presidential candidate Hillary Clinton as she delivered the keynote address at the 2015 Women in the World Summit in New York City on April 23rd.
In her 23 minute speech, Mrs. Clinton highlighted the issues of unequal pay, work practices, family leave, childcare costs, education and insisted “no matter who you are or where you come from, you too can be a champion for change.”
She said some positive things about the role of women in society. The main-stream media praised her speech. However, her statement about the need to change religious beliefs was not widely reported.
In the context of the speech Clinton criticized candidates who want to withdraw funding from Planned Parenthood, a provider of abortion services.
To a cheering audience, the former first lady said, “Yes, we’ve cut the maternal mortality rate in half, but far too many women are still denied critical access to reproductive health care and safe child birth.” Of course, “reproductive health care” is “liberal-speak” for abortion.
Reaction from pro life leaders has been emphatic, though not comprehensively reported. Among them, Louisiana Governor. Bobby Jindal said, “Hillary Clinton said that people who are pro-life have to change our religious beliefs. This is why the fight for religious freedom is so important. Our religious beliefs are between us and God, not us and Hillary Clinton.”
Nigerian Bishop Emmanuel Badejo, bluntly responded, “If these values are not precious to Hillary Clinton, I think she has no right at all to call for a change in religious values and religious beliefs.”
Politics aside, Clinton’s attack on “deep seated religious beliefs” is wrong. For the record, my religious beliefs are anchored in the revelation of God’s Word, the Bible. They are NOT subject to change. Regardless of the politically correct pablum Presidential prospects spew out.
Past posts on ThePreachersWord have documented what the Bible teaches about the unborn.
While the Bible never directly speaks of abortion, it does identify that conceived within the mother as a child. Twenty-six times the Bible uses the expression “with child” to refer to pregnant women. The term fetus is never used. Luke, the physician, records that Elisabeth, the mother of John the Immerser, conceived a son (1:35). In verse 41 the doctor wrote “the baby leaped in her womb.” The baby! Not the fetus! It is the same Greek word that Luke uses to describe Jesus after he was born (2:12, 16). God views the unborn baby and the newborn baby in the same way. Both are living human beings.
In the midst of his suffering Job cries out, “Or why was I not hidden like a stillborn child. Like infants who never saw light?” (3:16). The unborn child is called an infant!
The Psalmist, David, wrote, For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well. My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place. When I was woven together in the depths of the earth, your eyes saw my unformed body. All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be. (Ps 139:13-16)
For the sake of Truth and the life of the unborn, let us hold fast to our religious beliefs!
–Ken Weliever, The Preacherman
ThePreachersWord 
Sadly, comments like that won’t keep her from being elected. When our current president was out campaigning for the office the 1st time we made the statement that people in the midwest cling to their guns and their religion. Most of the media seemed to fixate on the guns portion of the quote. My eyes turned toward the religion. My religion is NOT a bad thing. It does NOT make me resentful, spiteful, or bitter. In fact, my religion is why I am not resentful, spiteful and bitter. What needs to change is the anti-religious movement in this country.
And do not be deceived the change does not begin by putting the right person in the White House. It begins by putting God’s word in your heart, then in your children’s hearts, and then into your neighbors’ hearts and so forth. If we want to see this nation turn around we need to be better about evangelism.
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Amen!
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Brother Bob Dickey recently preached on things GOD hates. First he explained that GOD’s righteousness demands that He hates certain things/practices, then explained that we, as His children and in in obedience, must hate what GOD hates. Abortion is certainly one thing that GOD hates.
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He didn’t seem to hate slaughtering women and children in the Bible. But now He’s apparently not cool with it? (1 Samuel 15.3, Ezekiel 9.6, et.al.)
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I understand where you are coming from however it bothers me that people who consider themselves “Christian” want to take my rights away as a woman. Shouldn’t the decision of an abortion be, between the woman, the unborn child’s father (if the fetus wasn’t conceived from incest or rape), and “God.” “God” gave us as human’s free will. I agree that your religion is not a “bad thing” however I as a woman wish people of your religion would stop judging others for their decisions even if you may not agree with them. It is because of the “Christian” point of view, and the hypocrisy of about 95% of “Christians” is why I no longer consider myself a “Christian.”
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Thanks for reading my blog and especially this post. You sound like a sincere and caring woman. Let me suggest a couple more things for you to consider. (1) I’m not writing from the viewpoint of “civil rights,” but what the Bible actually teaches. My motivation is not political, but spiritual.
(2) I am encouraging people to make decisions based on the will of God. You say the decision should be between you, the father and God. Well, God has already rendered his decision in His revealed Word, the Bible! And his view is unchanging!
(3) Jesus instructed about the nature of judging. He said in John 7:24, “Judge not according to appearance, but judge righteous judgment.” No, we should not impose our personal judgments based on appearance, but based on God’s standard of righteous, the Gospel (Rom. 1:16-17).
(4) How do you determine 95% of Christians are hypocrites? Some are. But 95% seems very high! And how are you determining what a hypocrite it? If it’s because someone says abortion is wrong that doesn’t make them a hypocrite. But I would be a hypocrite to write this post, and then encourage my wife or daughter to have an abortion. BTW, isn’t your determination that someone is a hypocrite also a judgment?!
(5) Take a couple of minute to read an earlier post about a lady named Norma McCorvey. I think you will find it enlightening,
(6) Finally, don’t give up on Christianity because of a few hypocrites, or some doubts about the beliefs of others. God loves you and sent Christ die for your sins and mine. He desires that you come to Jesus to receive His mercy, grace and pardon.
Again, thanks for reading!
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First and fore most I want to thank you for the compliment you gave me in your reply to my comment. Secondly, I would like to address the six (6) points that you had said in your reply to my comment to your blog.
1) You mentioned that you weren’t writing from the “view point of ‘civil rights’ but what the Bible actually teaches. My motivation is not political but spiritual.” I cant speak to what your true motivations are because, I’m not you and believe that you do have a spiritual motivation to what you say however I disagree with you when it comes to the political motivation. I say this because, 1) you mentioned Hillary Clinton (who is running for president and 2) you discussed abortion. We all know that abortion is a hot topic here in the United States and is considered extremely political.
2) Yes, I did say that the decision was (and still is) between the woman, the father (if its not incest or rape) and “God.” What I failed to say is that I as a human will have to answer to “God” and account for what I have done in my life. That was the point I was trying to get across. I shouldn’t have to account for what I do with my body to what others may think is “immoral.”
3) It also says in the Bible, not remember exactly where, but God also said that he is the only one to be the judge, or something along those lines. Yes, we as humans naturally judge others however that doesn’t mean we share those judgments with others.
4) The 95% that I mentioned is from my personal experience with others of the Christian faith. Please read: http://gertiesjourney.com/2014/11/23/mental-illness-and-evangelical-christians/ so you can see part of why I struggle with Christians. Yes, it does sound a little judgmental of me saying Christians are hypocritical but please oh please don’t take it as a judgment. That wasn’t my intention to have it come a cross as a judgment and I apologize that it came a cross that way.
5) I did read the blog entry about Norma McCorey and that was her decision to become pro-life. I’m sorry that it didn’t enlighten me like you had hoped it would but it didn’t. It was her choice and that is why “God” gave us free will.
6) I’m sorry but I think its a little late to change my mind about Christianity. Read the post that I linked in #4 and you will understand just a sliver of why it’s too late. Secondly, if “God” was a “God” of love then why does he allow “his children” to get hurt and be in the position to need an abortion if he “HATES” it so much.
Thank you for reading my comments and replies.
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Dear Ken — We’ve talked about this in the past, but with some unresolved issues (in my mind). I’ve had numerous questions of which only 1 you clearly addressed.
(1) I believe that abortion should be legal, safe, and extremely rare. You directly addressed that this view is supported in Scripture at least to circumstances where a woman’s life is threatened by the pregnancy. You’ve stated that the Bible clearly states that we have the right to protect ourselves.
(2) What can we glean from Scripture about circumstances of rape?
(3) What can we glean from Scripture about incest — especially where issues of the baby’s health is severely impacted?
(4) What can we glean from Scripture where something has terribly gone wrong during pregnancy and the baby is horribly deformed — and if born would probably have a life of extreme pain.
(5) What can we glean from Scripture about partial abortions where multiple deformed babies threaten the lives of healthy babies in the womb?
(6) What can we glean from Scripture of what “extremely rare” means? Should Government or the woman be the Judge of this decision?
(7) Are there examples in our Bible of people being between the “Rock and the Hard Place” — where you really don’t like any of the options? The example here is making birth control available to unwed teenagers that would dramatically reduce the number of pregnancies and thus abortion rates. This is what’s occurred in Western Europe. Your prior response of “just don’t sin” just isn’t a practical government policy in a secular world.
(8) In the past you’ve not cited mainstream studies/data on abortion. Going to highly reputable World Health Organizations’ data paints a very different picture than you present. This data shows that the highest demographic group of abortions are coming from low income and older women who already have children and who are in some type of long term relationship. These Health Organizations place a huge percentage of the problem on men not wanting to wear a condom.
Organizations (like Planned Parenthood) which you cite, say that something like 99% of their funding goes to women health family planning services in providing safe and more effective forms of birth control (IUDs) — where women are relieved to the pressure from men.
Along the line of my “Love thy Neighbor” theme, what does Scripture say about this — where an affluent woman just uses an IUD, but a poor woman can not afford it?
Finally, I want to share a horrible statistic I’ve seen. In Mississippi and Louisiana where abortion is highly restricted, these States have epidemic rates (higher than many 3rd World Countries) of sexually transmitted diseases (STDs). These are the secular consequences of when in the name of Christian values, groups like Planned Parenthood are not funded for women’s health.
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Stephen, I believe that I have. Of course, not to your satisfaction! Once again you are more concerned about civil law and civil rights, I am more concerned about what the Bible says about life! If you type “abortion” in the search engine, you will find plenty of Biblical answers! 🙂
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Stephen ~ Great questions. Of course, Scripture doesn’t address any of the items you bring up, which is why they haven’t been addressed on this blog and also why it’s imperative that we, as a society, have to find common ground to discuss these points. It’s not really surprising, however, that a book written 2,000 years ago doesn’t address the issues of our day. And it’s to that point, that Mrs. Clinton’s quote is extremely relevant and accurate. Civil law and civil rights are the only issue at hand here because when it comes to the laws of our land, laws aren’t formulated based on any religious text, much less the Bible.
Besides, I don’t think any of us want to be taking lessons in morality from the God of the Bible. He is jealous and proud of it, misogynistic, homophobic, infanticidal, racist, filicidal, pestilintial, quite vindictive and petty to name a few. As an aside irony, it’s interesting how God was cool with slaughtering innocent women and children back in the day but now He’s apparently not cool with it, according to Mr. Weliever. (1 Samuel 15.3, Ezekiel 9.6, et.al.)
The Constitution is the guide for our government structure. So to discuss any American civil law or right in the context of the Koran, or the Book of Mormon, or the Bible or “the will of God” is really disconnected and quite frankly irrelevant. We have all manner of religions in this country, and we have all manner of belief systems in this country. Why should an atheist’s civil liberties be impacted by what your interpretation of “the will of God” is? Why should any man anywhere be able to dictate to a woman what she can or can’t do with her body?
We have to find a common ground. I believe that common ground is statistics, facts, science, research, societal norms, and who we want to be as a country. If we’re having a discussion with that foundation, then we can collectively get somewhere. But a deeply held religious belief isn’t a foundation for a civil liberties discussion because not everyone in said civilization holds the same religious beliefs, if any at all.
“We must respect the other fellow’s religion, but only in the sense and to the extent that we respect his theory that his wife is beautiful and his children are smart.” ~ H.L. Mencken
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Dear Ken — I write/post not to espouse my “own views”. I write to understand you and folks like you. I have a choice. I can either walk away from Christians I disagree with, or try and find a way to coexist in a loving (Agape) relationship with them.
Remember, my perspective is that I’m the Student — You’re the Teacher.
I just don’t understand how many people (say in the Church of Christ) can on one hand be the most loving and caring people I’ve been blessed to have in my life. But on the other hand can be so hard-nosed which does effect and destroys personal relationships.
Your comments that I seem to be more concerned about “Civil Rights” are so foreign to me. Was say, slavery about civil rights or was it about not hurting other people?
I read that in Supreme Court arguments on same sex marriage that over 600 instances of discrimination against gays was presented. Is this about “civil rights”, or about not hurting people?
When you talk about “civil rights” of Christian business owners not wanting to bake a cake for a gay wedding, you baffle me. I’d bake a cake and use the opportunity to witness the Good News of Salvation to them. And, this just isn’t my opinion, I base it on God’s Word. I go to (for example) 1st Corinthians 9 telling me that I must give up my individual rights to accomplish something much greater.
Anyway — I’d really like for you to write some posts in the coming year about “when Christians disagree”. Obviously, the World hasn’t done a very good job at this with so many dominations and divisiveness among Christians.
Maybe I just need to walk away — but at least I want to try.
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