The events of the last two years have brought many challenges and hardships to the people in our country. It’s easy to be overwhelmed by the turmoil, hate, and violence that seems to fill the air like a dense fog. What I see around me is reminiscent of Saint Paul’s words in 2 Timothy, where he warns us of what we may see in the ‘last days’.
In the last days, people will be self-centered, lovers of money, irreligious, and disobedient (2 Timothy 1-3).
Until recently I’ve wondered if our country is not spiraling toward that end but perhaps there’s hope amid the chaos.
In a confused world where people seek pleasure in all things, the world offers except God. In an environment where children are ruthlessly slain in cold blood by the evil that is allowed to thrive in another human being. In an age when being politically sensitive is more important than the truth, I see a tiny flicker of light!
In a recent ruling, the highest court in the land acknowledged a Washington high school coach’s right to kneel and pray after football games. This comes after years of suppressing prayer and the ‘God’ word from our schools. I rejoice at the courage of our justices and pray that this is the first of many steps to legitimize the One who created us.
Of even more importance and subsequent controversy, the Supreme Court overturned the longstanding Roe vs Wade ruling reversing the court’s previous judgment to permit abortions in our country. This specific action has catapulted our country into even deeper dissension. It opens wounds already sensitive from the battle lines drawn between black and white, red states and blue states, and liberal vs conservative.
While I am definitively pro-life, I haven’t always borne that philosophy. This ruling is especially poignant for me considering I couldn’t have been more pro-choice at one point in my life. I believed women should have total autonomy over decisions made about their bodies. I knew little of Scripture then, and God was not part of my life. This gave me a distorted, and limited view of what was right and wrong.
Over 40 years ago, I impregnated a girl. I was just nineteen then. When she told me she was pregnant, I was indignant that she could have allowed this to happen. I wasn’t in love with this girl, and I doubt she loved me. We would get an abortion and my life would go forward as planned, I told her. There was little to discuss. It was as simple as that.
The girl ultimately found a place where the procedure could be done, and on a cold January day, I drove her to the address she gave me and watched her enter the doors of the facility. It never occurred to me that an hour later they would end the life of my child.
For decades, that moment was no more than a forgotten footnote in my life. It wasn’t until years later that the egregiousness of my act became clear, and I began to accept responsibility for what happened. I turned my back on my child, and on God that day. But like the Prodigal Son in Luke’s gospel, He forgave me. Seven years ago, the Lord led me to the Catholic church, where I was baptized and confirmed, culminating the end of a long, meandering journey.
I sometimes wonder what my son or daughter would have been like if the mother and I had allowed it to survive. Would they grow up to be creative and smart? Would they be athletic and disciplined? Could they have even achieved greatness in the world? I’ll have to live with the fact I never gave them the chance.
Abortion, and this recent Supreme Court decision, is a lightning rod for controversy and dissension in America, like a knife turned in an opened wound. Given my past, I clearly see the other side’s point of view. I was once one of them. But I am grateful now that my eyes have been opened.
I know we have not heard the last of this volatile issue. Where the law goes from this point forward, only God knows. If the ban on abortion remains, I rejoice that almost a million children will be spared in our country each year.
In Psalms 24:1, it’s written, ‘The earth is the Lord’s and all it holds, the world and those who dwell in it.’ We should be thankful for the actions of our Supreme Court judges who remembered those words and had the courage and integrity to act judiciously.
Yes. Perhaps there is hope for us.
5 thoughts on “Perhaps There’s Hope ”
I agree with all of John above’s comments. I was immediately appalled when Bob makes reference to he was “just” 19. Nineteen is emancipated, old enough to vote, serve in the military and drink in most states. It was a sorry excuse. Girls/women don’t impregnate themselves and no it isn’t just the gals responsibility. That is the big problem. We, as a society, do not hold boys and men responsible and it is time we do or nothing will change. You say you have been forgiven. What kind of penance have you performed. It is easy to reference your bad behavior 40 years ago. Your penance should have been that you would write stories about your own failure as a father and write stories and books about what responsibilities boys and men need to be held to reduce the number of unwanted out of wedlock pregnancies.
Bob, thank you for sharing and witnessing to the truth.
“Son of man, when the land sinneth against me by trespassing grievously, then will I stretch out mine hand upon it, and will break the staff of the bread thereof, and will send famine upon it, and will cut off man and beast from it: Though these three men, Noah, Daniel, and Job, were in it, they should deliver but their own souls by their righteousness, saith the Lord GOD. If I cause noisome beasts to pass through the land, and they spoil it, so that it be desolate, that no man may pass through because of the beasts: Though these three men were in it, as I live, saith the Lord GOD, they shall deliver neither sons nor daughters; they only shall be delivered, but the land shall be desolate. Or if I bring a sword upon that land, and say, Sword, go through the land; so that I cut off man and beast from it: Though these three men were in it, as I live, saith the Lord GOD, they shall deliver neither sons nor daughters, but they only shall be delivered themselves. Or if I send a pestilence into that land, and pour out my fury upon it in blood, to cut off from it man and beast: Though Noah, Daniel, and Job, were in it, as I live, saith the Lord GOD, they shall deliver neither son nor daughter; they shall but deliver their own souls by their righteousness.” Ezekiel 14:13-20
No, I do not think a period of real suffering can be avoided. We have seen what wealth and power have done to this country, and the only hope is for our wealth and power to be taken away and our pride to be broken. We see in history that this is inevitable; it does not require the Gospel to see that power leads to excess, excess leads to weakness, weakness leads to destruction. Aside from a few churches, nothing in the USA is even putting up resistance to this cycle, and ultimately these churches will only be able to produce a few Noahs, Jobs, and Daniels; these bones can live, but only after they have first become DRY bones.
Personally, I have always “leaned” toward pro-choice, but making it clear that my personal choice would be for the life of the child. After all, God is pro- choice, isn’t He? (Deuteronomy 30: 19-20)
As I read your words: “I was indignant that she could have allowed this to happen.”…the thought occurred to me about “who” exactly decides that the responsibility for pregnancy is solely on the woman? It is no wonder that women demand legal abortion be available with that kind of attitude and pressure.
It seems to me that the “choice” of possibly bringing a child into the world was made when the decision was made to engage in sexual intercourse (by both parties) rather than “if” pregnancy happens. Why blame it solely on the woman?
Further down you said: “It never occurred to me that an hour later they would end the life of my child.”…why would this suddenly be (merely) “my child” rather than “our child”??? Again, I don’t see any consideration for the thoughts and/or feelings of this woman.
I think that your article is well meaning but it could understandably cause enormous pain for women, in particular. Men need to face up to the serious consequences of engaging in sex outside of marriage. It is no “small” sin…
It’s right up there next to the other commandment about not killing people!
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