“We are men of action. Lies do not become us.”
– The Princess Bride

We’ve all seen some shocking events in the news lately. Undercover videos have removed the gauzy curtains of plausible deniability regarding the true nature of abortion and the truly abhorrent selling of human body parts by Planned Parenthood. For those who are willing to confront the truth of it, we now have widely available and indisputable evidence of the barbarity of the abortion industry — an organization that presents itself as a public servant kills unborn children in their mothers’ wombs and receives cash in exchange for these children’s organs.

“Rescue those who are being taken away to death…”
(Photo by Liane Metzler)

My words here are purposely gentle. If you have not seen the videos — and you have the constitution for what you’ll see — you can view them here.

We follow the One who identifies Himself as Truth

As difficult as these videos are to watch. As sickening as it is to hear people who trade in human body parts joke about buying Italian sports cars with the proceeds, at last we can dispose of all the euphemisms and begin to call abortion the evil that it is — the taking of innocent human life. As difficult as this is, because we’ve taught that it’s rude,  calling evil by its real name is the first step to conquering it.

We can expect opposition, but we should not fear it. The practitioners of this grotesque practice are on video talking candidly about what they are doing. Their complaints at being exposed ring hollow and inadequate compared to the millions of babies they and their colleagues have exterminated.

The opposite of life is not “choice”

Part of the way this evil has persisted for so long is through the corruption of language. Note that for decades, people in favor of abortion on demand have always insisted on being called “pro-choice.” But that’s not all: Abortion proponents have used linguistic gymnastics to refer to the life snuffed out by an abortion as a fetus, an embryo, a clump of cells, a blob of protoplasm — anything other than what it always was — human life.

Consider — and research for yourself — all that we have learned about babies’ development in the womb. The child has a heartbeat beginning at three weeks gestational age. This is earlier than many if not most women even suspect they’re pregnant. Sonograms show fully formed feet and hands – with fingerprints — as early as eleven weeks. Neonatology continues to advance, making it possible for some preemies born at 22 weeks gestational age to survive and go home from the hospital. It’s now possible for pediatric surgeons to operate on unborn children in their mothers’ wombs. With all we know, it simply is a lie to say that unborn children are not human.

And let’s finally dispense with the lie that “what a woman does with her own body is her business.” The child in his or her mother’s womb has its own DNA distinct from that of the mother. If the child is a boy, it’s obviously false that the mother’s body has male genitalia.

A culture of death

You may have noticed that I quote from Proverbs a lot. There’s a good reason for that. Since I seek always to offer practical encouragement, I can think of no better source of wisdom than the book of the Bible written by that wisest of men, King Solomon. Several times in the book of Proverbs, Solomon contrasts wisdom and foolishness, and in chapter 8, Solomon says that all who hate wisdom, love death (Proverbs 8:36). Pretending that truth doesn’t exist, or that it isn’t true, is the heart of foolishness.

So what’s a man to do?

On the issues of abortion and justice, consider how fitting these words from King Solomon are:

“Rescue those who are being taken away to death;
    hold back those who are stumbling to the slaughter.
If you say, “Behold, we did not know this,”
    does not he who weighs the heart perceive it?
Does not he who keeps watch over your soul know it,
    and will he not repay man according to his work?”
– Proverbs 24:11-12 (ESV)

If we love truth, we must proclaim it. And if we love God, we must also promote justice — and by this I mean our faith must result in action. This means protecting the weak from the strong and ensuring that the same standards apply regardless of wealth, status, education, race, sex, etc. It also means that once we become aware of injustice, we have to be willing to sacrifice our comfort to correct it. This is a righteous application of masculine strength.

With all this evidence can we fail?

Unfortunately, yes. The first way we can fail to combat injustice is to simply become jaded — to be so callous that we fail to see the humanity of these little ones being torn to pieces for money. The second is fatalism — we throw up our hands and say it’s too big, it’s hopeless. The third is to assume it’s someone else’s job. The fourth is to grow weary of standing against the deception of the well-entrenched and — as we now know, lucrative — culture of death. But as Solomon reminds us God sees and cares what we do. It matters a great deal that we do not slide back into the comfortable fog of our previous deception.

Are there people seeking to promote themselves instead of genuine justice? Yes. Does their existence mean that there isn’t genuine injustice? No. As Westley said in The Princess Bride, “We are men of action. Lies do not become us.” And as I like to remind you: abuse doesn’t invalidate use.

Abortion is not the only form of injustice in our country — but it is the one perpetrated on the largest scale — 55 million dead and counting since 1973. Now you know. What are you prepared to do?

So how about you? How are you preparing to embrace truth and promote justice? Add your comments below.