As Christians we are to be the hands and feet of God when interacting with those who don’t believe. We are not to condemn them, but we are to show empathy and love as we share about God.
This is especially true when it comes to those who are seeking an abortion. We must remember that, along with wanting protection for the children, we also should want to extend ourselves to those women who believe that abortion is the only option, as well as to those who have already made that choice.
Rosaria Butterfield was a self-described leftist lesbian professor who despised Christians, until she started researching the Bible in order to write about how it misled people. What she found was the truth. Rosaria went from opposing Christianity and the pro-life movements to understanding what it really means to believe in God and be pro-life.
“A pro-life mindset reveals that for the woman who has had an abortion, if Jesus is your Lord, He has paid for that along with every other sin.”
Another case where this focus of loving over condemning is needed? Interacting with homosexuals.
Having once identified as lesbian, Rosaria shares some of what it was like for her to experience such a dramatic shift in worldview and what kinds of questions really got to her.
“It was really through an understanding of original sin that the Lord allowed me to really just ponder something: is my lesbianism a distortion of who I am to original sin, or is it a reflection of who I am? Are my deepest desires a reflection of the truth or a distortion of what it means to be human?’”
In the end she came to the conclusion that people who say ‘I’m born this way’ are actually correct – but not for the reason they may think.
“We’re all born this way; it’s called original sin. We are all born in Adam, but by God’s grace through Jesus we are given, not necessarily a victory over sin that allows us to be like we no longer have those feelings or those desires… but what we are given is a liberty from the bondage to sin.”
It is with this liberty, Rosaria says, that we can glorify God with our bodies and our sexuality. By having fidelity in marriage and chastity in singleness, we can reflect godly sexuality. And by extending love, grace, and patience in interacting with those around us who struggle with a major life choice or lifestyle that we don’t agree with, we can reach more nonbelievers and spread the Truth to those in need.
