Friends, welcome. For those of you just joining us on the Case for Life program, it’s a pleasure to have you. Today, I want to address a critical question that has been on my mind lately: Why is it that many individuals who start out with such passion and conviction in the pro-life movement eventually falter, fizzle out, or otherwise cease to be effective defenders of the unborn? I’ve had the opportunity to connect with people I once mentored or influenced early in their pro-life journeys, only to find that their active engagement has waned significantly. This has led me to ponder: what short-circuits their commitment? What can we, as aspiring or current pro-life apologists, do to ensure our longevity and effectiveness in this vital cause?
While we often focus on the specific arguments and claims made by those who advocate for abortion, today I want to shift our attention to the foundational elements that underpin a sustained and impactful pro-life advocacy. If you are watching today and harbor a desire to be a long-term defender of the unborn, or if you know someone who does, I want to discuss three crucial pitfalls that can undermine your ability to engage effectively over the long haul. Some of these may seem self-evident, but I assure you, their impact is significant. Overcoming these pitfalls is essential for anyone committed to defending unborn life from a biblical perspective.
The Indispensable Foundation: Courage
The first critical element for long-term pro-life engagement is courage. Now, let me be clear about what I mean by courage in this context. As Christians, we must recognize that the world will inherently oppose us. And I say this as gently as possible: if your actions and beliefs are not provoking some level of discomfort or even animosity from the prevailing culture around you, you are likely not having the impact you should in bearing witness to Christ.
Consider this: last week, navigating the Atlanta airport, I observed a group of Jehovah’s Witnesses distributing their Watchtower magazines at the entrance. While one might find their beliefs unconventional, the general reaction of passersby was not one of hatred. They might have been seen as peculiar or perhaps even irritating, and people might have chosen to avoid them, but there was no widespread contempt or hatred. Similarly, think back to the tragedy of the Heaven’s Gate cult in the late 1990s, who believed in shedding their physical bodies to join a spaceship accompanying the Hale-Bopp comet through mass suicide. While people undoubtedly viewed their actions as tragic and perhaps even bizarre, there wasn’t the same visceral hatred directed towards them as there is towards those who stand for the unborn.
The crucial difference lies in what we, as Christians and prolifers, stand for. We challenge the very structures of thought that the dominant culture embraces. By “culture,” I mean the influential forces shaping human perception: education, the entertainment industry, news media, and academia – all of which are overwhelmingly pro-abortion. In fact, the culture doesn’t merely tolerate abortion; it loves it and will fiercely resist any attempt to restrict the killing of unborn children.
The animosity directed at prolifers has little to do with personal likability or perceived eccentricity. It goes much deeper than being labeled as “narrow-minded” for focusing on the issue of abortion. Our critics often attempt to derail the pro-life message by demanding that we demonstrate concern for a litany of other social issues – poverty, immigration, refugees, equal pay, and so on – implying that a singular focus on abortion invalidates our “pro-life” credentials. Sadly, some pro-life advocates fall into this trap, believing that a “PR makeover” or a broader approach is the solution.
But let me be unequivocally clear: the reason the culture hates you as a pro-lifer is not because you are perceived as too narrow. To prove this, consider posing this direct question to your critics: “Suppose I dedicate myself to addressing every issue you’ve listed. I champion the cause of refugees, I work to alleviate poverty, I advocate for immigrants and equal pay. If I do all of this to your satisfaction, will you then join me in opposing abortion?” The answer, almost universally, will be a resounding no. The fundamental right to abortion is non-negotiable for them. They don’t hate you for a perceived lack of broad concern; they hate you because you oppose the intentional killing of an innocent human being in the womb. There is no way to sidestep this core conflict.
Therefore, courage, in this context, is the ability to stand firm on the truth, even when it means facing hatred, contempt, and relentless opposition. Jesus himself forewarned us of such persecution, and we should not be surprised when it manifests. My definition of courage extends beyond mere bravery. Bravery can be found even in those who lack moral principle, such as a kamikaze pilot or a pro-abortion activist disrupting a pro-life meeting. Courage, true courage, is rooted in moral principle; it is the unwavering commitment to truth, even when pursuing that truth invites scorn and hostility.
Think of Abraham Lincoln in 1860, who refused to compromise on the issue of slavery through the Crittenden Compromise, even when faced with immense pressure to avoid war. Or consider Winston Churchill in 1940, standing firm against the overwhelming tide of British sentiment that favored appeasement with Hitler. These individuals, facing immense opposition, demonstrated the courage to stand against what they knew to be profoundly wrong.
As a pro-life advocate, you will undoubtedly face similar pressures. You will need to be less concerned with being liked and more focused on whether you possess the courage to confront profoundly wrong and, dare I say, demonic ideologies. Without this unwavering courage, your long-term effectiveness in this movement will be severely limited. This does not mean we should be intentionally offensive, but it does mean that our commitment to truth must supersede our desire for approval. Courage is loving the truth so deeply that you are willing to take risks and endure hardship for its advancement. There is simply no alternative for those who intend to be in this fight for the long haul.
The Essential Tool: Intellectual Fortitude
The second critical pitfall that can derail long-term pro-life effectiveness is what I term intellectual deficiency. Many individuals who are deeply moved by the tragedy of abortion and possess a genuine heart for the unborn may lack the intellectual grounding necessary to effectively engage the arguments that underpin the pro-abortion agenda. They may be heartbroken by the issue, but they haven’t equipped themselves with the knowledge and reasoning skills to counter the prevailing worldview. Consequently, when they engage in conversations, they often find themselves outmatched and unable to persuasively defend their pro-life stance.
If you aspire to be a long-term advocate for the unborn, particularly if you are younger, committing to mastering the moral logic of the pro-life view is paramount. You should strive to know the arguments of the opposing side even better than those who espouse them. Familiarize yourself with the key thinkers who have shaped pro-choice philosophy, individuals such as Peter Singer, Judith Jarvis Thompson, David Boonin, Kate Greasley, and Michael Tooley. Understand their core arguments, their underlying assumptions, and their logical frameworks.
Imagine being able to engage in a debate and confidently suggest to your opponent, “Let’s try something interesting – let’s switch sides. I’ll argue your position, and you argue mine, just to see how well we understand each other’s viewpoints.” This level of intellectual mastery should be your aim. In many cases, I have found that I understand the positions of those I debate better than they themselves do, and I could often articulate their arguments more effectively.
Cultivating this intellectual mastery of the moral logic of the pro-life view is not merely an academic exercise; it is intrinsically linked to courage. When you are intellectually grounded and confident in the truth and reasonableness of your position, your courage to stand firm against opposition will be significantly strengthened. Conversely, a lack of intellectual preparedness breeds uncertainty and undermines long-term commitment. Therefore, dedicate yourself to continuous learning, critical thinking, and a deep understanding of the philosophical and ethical foundations of the pro-life stance.
The Structural Framework for Longevity: Wise Life Choices
The third crucial area that can significantly impact a pro-lifer’s long-term effectiveness involves what I call poor structural choices – decisions in life that, rather than supporting your advocacy, ultimately hinder it.
For those of you who are younger, single, and perhaps under the age of 25 (though this can apply to older singles as well), the first and perhaps most significant structural choice revolves around dating and the selection of a life partner. You must prioritize finding a partner who shares your fundamental worldview. The notion that “love is blind” and that strong feelings can overcome fundamental differences in worldview is, frankly, nonsense. Your understanding of ultimate reality (creation versus design), the nature of knowledge (objective truth versus subjective construction), the intrinsic value of humanity (image of God versus functional worth), ethics (objective morality versus relativism), and cosmology (afterlife versus oblivion) must align with that of your potential spouse.
Furthermore, and this may be perceived as overtly partisan, but I believe it is a crucial consideration: be exceedingly cautious about entering into a marital relationship with someone whose fundamental political views are vastly different from yours. The leftist worldview, as we are increasingly witnessing, can be deeply hostile and even violent in its pursuit of societal transformation. A core tenet of many leftist ideologies is the belief that existing societal structures are inherently oppressive and must be dismantled, even through forceful means. If you are married to someone who subscribes to a worldview that seeks to tear down the very foundations you believe in and raise your children according to these principles, you will inevitably face profound and damaging conflicts.
The biblical wisdom in the admonition “Do not be unequally yoked” holds profound truth in this context. And if you are a Christian, please hear me on this: under no circumstances should you ever become romantically involved with a non-believer. This is a firm and absolute principle, irrespective of your feelings. It is a direct act of disobedience to God, and that alone should be sufficient reason to avoid it. Moreover, aligning yourself with someone who does not share your core spiritual values will almost certainly be detrimental to your future pro-life effectiveness. I have heard the anecdotal defenses – stories of long-lasting marriages between believers and non-believers – but I must state, based on my observations, that compromise almost always flows in one direction: towards the non-believer, often at the expense of the believer’s principles, particularly in the realm of sexual ethics.
Regarding interfaith relationships among Christians, such as between a Protestant and a Catholic, the situation is more nuanced. While there is alignment on the fundamental issue of the sanctity of life and the wrongness of abortion, significant theological differences exist, primarily concerning justification (how one is made right with God) and authority (the ultimate source of spiritual truth). The Catholic view generally emphasizes an infused righteousness received through union with the church, while the Protestant view emphasizes a declared righteousness based on faith in Christ’s merits. Similarly, Catholics recognize both scripture and the teaching magisterium of the church as sources of authority, whereas Protestants hold to the principle of sola scriptura (scripture alone). These fundamental disagreements can lead to significant challenges in raising children, particularly regarding church attendance and religious education. While alignment on the pro-life issue is crucial, theological misalignment can create considerable friction and hinder long-term unity in pursuing shared values.
Another critical structural consideration is finances. Many well-intentioned prolifers undermine their long-term potential by failing to manage their finances responsibly, accumulating consumer debt, and taking on unaffordable car payments. If your aim is to engage in pro-life work for the long haul, especially on a full-time basis, being burdened by debt will severely restrict your freedom and ability to pursue that calling. Scripture wisely states that “the borrower is a slave to the lender”. I have witnessed too many passionate prolifers hampered by crippling debt, unable to dedicate themselves fully to pro-life ministry. Therefore, particularly for younger individuals, avoiding debt like the plague is a foundational structural choice for long-term success.
Finally, your presentation also matters. This refers to how you appear to others. I have encountered many dedicated prolifers with unconventional appearances, and while I value their commitment, we must be mindful of potential barriers to communication. I recall a conversation with a prominent Christian influencer who, despite having numerous tattoos, acknowledged that he often needs to cover them to be invited to speak to certain audiences. He recognized that his appearance, while personally meaningful, could inadvertently hinder his ability to reach the very people he wanted to influence. This is not about judging personal choices as inherently sinful; rather, it is a matter of prudence. As prolifers, our goal should be to remove as many unnecessary obstacles as possible that might prevent people from hearing and accepting our message. Thoughtful consideration of how we present ourselves can significantly impact our ability to connect with and persuade others.
Conclusion: Building for the Long Haul
In conclusion, making it long-term as a pro-lifer requires more than just initial enthusiasm. It demands a steadfast courage rooted in the unwavering truth of the sanctity of human life, an intellectual fortitude that equips you to confidently engage and dismantle pro-abortion arguments, and wise structural choices in your personal life that support and enable your ongoing advocacy. These choices encompass the foundational relationships you build, the financial stewardship you practice, and the way you present yourself to the world.
I urge you to reflect on these three critical areas. Are you cultivating the courage necessary to stand firm in the face of cultural opposition? Are you diligently honing your intellectual understanding of the pro-life case and the arguments against it? Are you making life choices that will empower, rather than hinder, your long-term effectiveness in defending the unborn?
For those seeking to build a strong intellectual foundation in pro-life apologetics, I encourage you to explore our Pro-Life 101 course available on our website. In just seven days, you can gain the intellectual grounding needed to articulate the pro-life view persuasively and encourage others to reconsider their stance.
Thank you for joining us today on the Case for Life. Your commitment and perseverance are vital in this ongoing fight for the unborn. Let us strive to be not just passionate advocates, but courageous, intellectually sound, and structurally prepared champions for life, for the long term.
Episode Transcript
This transcript was generated from the episode’s YouTube captions and lightly edited for readability: filler words and the mid-show announcements have been removed. It may still contain transcription errors.
Hello friends. Why don’t many pro-lifers make it for the long run? What happens to them where they fizzle out or otherwise cease to be effective when they started off so well? We’ll talk about that today on The Case for Life program. Thanks for joining us. It’s great to have you. By the way, if you have not already seen our new pro-life 101 course that in seven days will prep you to be an effective pro-life defender. I encourage you to visit our websites and see that course because it will help you engage persuasively.
I hope you’ll do that. You know, I have had an interesting thing lately. I’ve been in contact with some friends of mine. I’ll use the term friends who I mentored early on or otherwise had an impact on their lives and yet they did not continue on long-term being effective pro-life apologists. Something happened that shortcircuited them. And I got to thinking about this today. Why is it that we are not more effective at keeping people engaged on the pro-life issue when they decide early on that’s what they’d like to do with their lives is be defenders of the unborn.
What happens to people that they fizzle out or quit? And today I want to talk about a few things. I realize this is a little bit of a shift from looking at arguments and specific claims that proabortionists make, but if you’re watching today and you aspire to be a pro-life apologist or you know someone in your family who wants to be, I want to talk about three pitfalls that will shortcircuit your ability to engage long-term. And the and some of these might seem rather obvious, but I want to tell you they matter.
And if you get tripped up by these, it’s going to set you back in your efforts to defend unborn life from a biblical perspective. So the first pitfall is a lack of courage. Now, let me get something clear here. We need to understand as Christians that the world is going to hate us. And can I just say this as gently as I can? If you aren’t doing things that cause the prevailing culture around you to hate you’re probably not where you need to be in terms of your witness for Christ because generally the world around us does not hate people who are merely weird.
Let me give you a couple examples of this. Last week when I was going through the Atlanta airport, there was a lot of Jehovah Witnesses standing around at the entrance to the airport passing out Watchtower magazines. And I will admit, I think they’re strange, but I don’t hate them. And the people going into the airport didn’t hate them. They may find them irritating. They may go out of their way to avoid them, but we don’t hate them. The world doesn’t hate them.
Also you think about even tragedies like I remember one in particular in 1997 or 98 I can’t remember the exact year there was a cult group called heaven’s gate and they believed that there was going to be a spaceship that was going to come through the Hailbop comet and take them up to the mother ship and they would live eternally provided they were able to shed their physical bodies through mass suicide. And I forget the exact number of how many people did it, but a large number of these cult members committed mass suicide in hopes that they would be reunited with the mother ship coming from the Hailbop Comet. Now, when people heard about the Heaven’s Gate cult, they might have thought, “Wow, those are a bunch of wackos.” And they might have thought that’s a tragedy.
But here’s the thing, they did not have contempt and hatred for them. The way it works though with Christians is we are despised and hated because of what we stand for. We challenge the structures of thought the world loves the culture. When by culture, let me define what I mean. By culture, I mean the people who influence humans, education, the entertainment industry, the news media, academia, you know, and all of that stuff is overwhelmingly pro-abortion. In fact, let me go a step further.
The culture does not merely like abortion. It loves it and will do everything it can to oppose those who want to get in the way of unrestricted child killing. The reason the world hates pro-lifers has nothing to do with you being likable or unlikable. It does not have to do with the fact they think you’re weird. It doesn’t even have to do with the fact that you’re narrow. I have heard pro-lifers really trip up their pro-life witness because they buy the premise of our critics.
Our critics say, “Oh, you’re narrow. You only deal with one issue, abortion. If you really cared about life, you’d care about poverty. You’d care about immigration. You’d care about refugees. You’d care about equal pay for women.” And they give you a laundry list of a billion things that you allegedly don’t care about. Therefore, you’re not really pro-life. And what I wish pro-life leaders would do is counterpunch. Why do they so often buy the premise of their critics and say, “Oh, you know, the problem is we need a PR makeover.
We got to appear more loving and more broad in our pro-life approach.” No. Listen to me. The reason why the culture hates you as a pro-lifer is not because you’re too narrow. And here’s how you can prove it. Look the critic in the eye and say, “Suppose I do everything you’re demanding of me. I take on refugees. I take on solving poverty. I take on helping immigrants. I take on campaigning for equal pay for women and oppressed minorities. Say I do everything you demand of me.
Will you now join me in opposing abortion?” And I think you know the answer. 100% of the time your critic is going to say no. Women have a fundamental right to an abortion and I will fight for that till my last breath. That’s the answer you’re going to get. Now notice what’s going on here. They don’t hate you because you’re narrow because you took those issues off the table and they still opposed you. They hate you because you opposed the intentional killing of an innocent human being in the womb.
There is no way to re remove that that problem. They’re going to hate you if you stand for life. And courage is the ability to stand in the face of that and say, “I’m going to stand on my principles even if those around me will hate me, despise me, and do everything they can to oppose me.” Jesus said this would happen. We should not be surprised that this happens. Now notice I’m defining courage a little bit different than bravery. I’m defining courage as standing on truth and pursuing truth even if it means you’re hated.
That is different than mere bravery. There are there are non-principled people that are brave. For example, a kamicazi pilot in World War II was certainly brave, but I wouldn’t call him courageous. A pro-abortion advocate who disrupts a pro-life meeting might be brave, but they’re not courageous because they don’t have moral principle under them. Here’s what courage looks like. It’s Abraham Lincoln in 1860 refusing to sign on to the Kittindom Compromise, which would have reunited the states, but left slavery intact. Lincoln was under overwhelming pressure to strike a deal like the Kittenden compromise and people in the north wanted him to do it.
They didn’t want to go to war. He had copperhead Democrats in the north that were opposing him trying to abolish slavery. Lincoln refused to reunify the nation if slavery was allowed to be the law of the land. He stood against that. Churchill did the same thing in 1940 when every major institution in British culture was trying to pressure him to strike a deal with Hitler so that they could avoid war. I mean even someone like Lord Halifax who was in his inner defense circle tried to undermine Churchill and tried to secretly get a deal made with Hitler and Mussolini.
And Churchill refused to go along with it because Churchill who had courage understood you cannot make a deal with evil. You must fight it whether you want to or not. You must oppose it. That’s courage. And you’re going to have to have a lot of that if you’re going to survive long term as a pro-life advocate. You’re going to have to worry less about being liked and worry more about do I have the courage to confront thought structures that are unbelievably demonic and evil.
And if you don’t have that courage, you won’t make it long term in this work. I can promise you that. Now, of course, that doesn’t mean we become, you know, jerks who go around mouthing off and unduly offending people. But understand the reason you’re hated is because of what you stand for. Courage is loving the truth so much that you will take a risk and take hits for advancing it. And you’ve got to be committed to that. There is no way around that.
Now, another pitfall that trips up pro-lifers long term is what I call intellectual deficiency. And these are pro-lifers who have very good hearts. They have a heart for the unborn, but they may not have a mind for the unborn. And what I mean by that is this. They’re brokenhearted over abortion. They want to do something about it, but they haven’t learned to engage the worldview and arguments that are in play that drive the pro-abortion agenda. And when they get in conversations, they are simply outmatched when it comes to the ability to engage their critics.
If you want to be in this work long term, and I especially here want to make sure those of you that are younger are listening to me, you need to make sure you commit to mastering the moral logic of the pro-life view. You should know the arguments on the other side better than the critics do who espouse those arguments. For example, you should be able to know what the major thinkers on the other side think. People like Peter Singer, Judith Jarvis Thompson, David Boon, Kate Griezley, Michael Tulie, people like that, you should know what they argue better than the classmate sitting next to you who thinks they understand the pro-choice position but actually really don’t because they give very crummy arguments for it.
You want to be able to walk into a imagine a debate where you walk into a debate and you say to your opponent, “Hey, let’s do something interesting here. Let’s switch sides. I’ll argue your view, you argue mine, and let’s just do this to fool the audience and have some fun. I could actually do that. In fact, in most cases, the people I have debated, I know their position better than they know their position, and I could argue it better than they’re arguing it.
That’s what you want to aim for. Intellectual mastery of the moral logic of the pro-life view. If you don’t do that, you’re going to find yourself lacking courage because you won’t have confidence that your position is true and reasonable to believe. And that’s very detrimental to long-term success. Now, here’s a third reason you or a third pitfall you want to watch out for if you want to do this work longterm. And I’m going to take a little time on this one and I’m going to encourage you to buckle up because I’m going to say some things that might tick a few of you off, might make you think, who is this guy talking to me?
What does he know? But I hope you’ll hear me out because these are important things. What I mean by poor structural choices are decisions you make in life that prove to be a hindrance to pro-life advocacy and long-term effectiveness rather than a help. So, let me start with those of you that are younger that are single and under the age of, let’s say, 25, although it could apply to singles who are older. I suppose the first and biggest pitfall, you knew this was coming, is dating.
You have got to make a choice for a life partner with someone who matches your worldview structures. I mean, so many couples think, “Oh, love is blind. If I have a strong enough feeling, I can be with anybody and it won’t matter. Our differences will patch them up.” That is complete BS. That is garbage. The reality is worldview has everything to do with choosing a life partner. You need to make sure that person holds your worldview when it comes to ultimate reality.
Did this universe come from nothing and was it caused by nothing? Or was there a designer who designed us with purpose in mind? You need to make sure your view of knowledge matches the person you’re thinking about marrying. Do they believe for example that we can know moral truth or is it something we just construct for ourselves? You need to know what that person thinks about humanity. Is humanity intr are humans intrinsically valuable because they’re made in the image of God?
Meaning they’re valuable simply because of the kind of thing they are. Or are they valuable only because of some function they perform. You need to make sure your life partner agrees with you on ethics. Are right and wrong real? And do we have an obligation to get in line with it or is it something we just relativistically decide for ourselves? And finally, you need to understand cosmology. Where did we come from? And not only that, where are we going? Is this life it?
Is the grave the end of everything? In which case, it really doesn’t matter how we live now. There’s no future consequences. Or will we stand one day before a judge and give an account for our lives? That matters. And the person you marry needs to line up with you that way as well. And I’m going to add one more here. And this may strike some as being overtly partisan. Too bad. I don’t care. I really think you need to be careful about aligning with someone in a marital relationship when your political foundations and your political views are vastly different.
Let’s be clear, the leftist worldview is very hostile. We’re now seeing how violent it can be with people running around burning up Teslas and doing that kind of stuff. Here’s what a lot of people don’t realize. The leftist worldview inherently, in other words, intrinsically promotes violence. Here’s why. The leftist worldview is that the current structures we see in society are oppressive, evil, and must be torn down. And if you need to use violence to do it, go for it. In fact, I remember in the 60s, it was very prominent for left-wing agitators to say by any means necessary.
Meaning they were going to enforce their worldview by any means necessary. Now, let’s think about this for a moment. You’re married to someone who is on the left. They are part of a party, maybe the Democrats, for example, or a socialist party that believes it is their job to tear down society as we know it so that it can be rebuilt according to woke principles. How do you have a long-term relationship with somebody who thinks that and wants to raise their kids to think that way and wants to leave a legacy built on that premise.
I think you can see the problem here. Now, what I’m getting at here is the Bible is wise when it says, “Do not be unequally yolked.” And here’s another principle I want to say to you. If you are a Christian, please listen to me. Under no circumstances should you ever get romantically involved with a nonbeliever. That is an absolute final no. Full stop. I don’t care what your feelings are. I don’t care how you feel about it. It disobys God and that’s reason enough not to do it.
But secondly, you’re aligning yourself with someone who does not share your core values. That will be a disaster to your future pro-life effectiveness. And I’ve heard all the excuses. Oh, I have an a grandpa and grandpa who’ve been or grandpa and grandma who’ve been married for 46 years. They’re going to have their 50th anniversary in a few years. They don’t agree on religion and they’re happily married. Well, two things with that. First of all, merely being happy is not the barometer of what a Christian marriage looks like.
A Christian marriage exists for a deeper intrinsic principle to bring God glory. And you can’t do that when you’re married to an unbeliever. But secondly, and I’m just going to say this anecdotally, and if people hate me for it, too bad. I have never known a believer who dated a non-believer where compromise happened toward the Christian. Rather, it’s always the Christian compromising his or her principles to accommodate the unbeliever. And as you might guess, the most common area that happens is in sexual ethics.
The Christian will be pressured to engage sexually in ways they know do not match up with their biblical worldview. And I’ve seen it happen again and again and again. And I don’t care how many times you tell me, “Oh, I could see a case where that didn’t happen.” I know the practical reality. So, this will trip you up. Don’t go there. When we come back, I want to talk about two other areas you need to be concerned about in terms of life structure.
We’ll pick those up after the break.
Welcome back everyone. Great to have you with us again. If you have not already taken a look at our Prolife 101 basic pro-life apologetics course, I hope you’ll do so. In just 7 days, you could be a very articulate defender of the unborn. And that gets back to something I just talked about a moment ago in the last segment that when pro-lifers are not intellectually grounded, their effectiveness over time tends to wayne rather dramatically because they don’t have the confidence that their position is true and reasonable to believe.
And you need that confidence to build your courage to stand against evil. Now, before the break, I mentioned that we were going to talk about two more areas where you can trip yourself up for long-term pro-life effectiveness. I also want to take on something here that was recently asked of me at a pro-life conference. A young woman said to me, “I am dating a wonderful young man. I’m a Protestant and he’s a Catholic. Do you think that could be a problem in terms of pro-life?” Well, in terms of pro-life, no.
Because you are aligned on the issue of abortion being wrong. You’re aligned on the issue that humans bear the image of God, and you have a proper theological foundation for understanding human value. There’s no misalignment there. But, and I’m going to say this gently, and again, if it causes some waves, so be it. And without getting into a debate over who’s right, Catholic or Protestant, that’s not the purpose of what we do here. I just want to point out some very significant differences.
Catholics and Protestants primarily disagree on two issues. Justification and authority. Let me briefly unpack that. The doctrine of justification has to do with how do we get right with God. The Catholic view generally goes like this. When you are at union with the church, you receive an infused righteousness. You were made righteous. You get an infusion of righteousness that makes you okay with God. The Protestant view is different. The Protestant view is not that we believe on Jesus and were made righteous.
The Protestant view is that when you believe on Jesus because of the new birth, you are saved because you are declared righteous. Meaning God the Father declares you righteous, not in virtue of your own righteousness, which is as filthy rags. Rather, you are declared righteous because Jesus was righteous and died in your place on Calvary. It’s the merits of Christ that are attributed to you in this case, not an infusion of righteousness. That’s why Christians still sin after they are regenerated or born again.
This is a very important difference and a lot of people want to gloss that over and say, well, that doesn’t sound that different. But it is different. There’s also a difference on authority. What is the ultimate source of spiritual truth? Well, for the Catholic, it’s scripture and the teaching magisterium of the church. Now I want to say something here. Some Protestants misconstrue what Catholics teach. They don’t say that the Bible isn’t important. No, every Catholic I’ve ever met believes scripture matters.
Okay? So, don’t we don’t want to misconrue their view. But they say that in addition to scripture, there’s another source of authority that has to do with tradition, the magisterium, papal decrees, things like that. Protestants, on the other hand, say this, scripture alone is the sole source of authority for matters related to our spiritual lives. How we get right with God, for example, how we live a discipled Christian life, how we honor Christ with our life being a witness, and so on and so on.
So, notice the differences between the two are rather significant. So, if you’re a pro-lifer who is not of your faith tradition, where are you going to send your kids to church? That’s going to become a source of conflict in your relationship. Where are you going to send them to school? What faith tradition are you going to raise them in? The two are rather mutually exclusive when it comes to justification and authority. So, I think that’s a problem for a pro-lifer. Yes, you’re aligned on the issue of life, but no, you’re not aligned theologically.
And finally, a way that pro-lifers mess up long term has to do with finances and presentation. Finances. What I mean there is they don’t think carefully about money and they go into debt either with consumer credit card debt or car payments, buying things on credit they can’t afford. Can I just say to you that as a pro-lifer, you’re going to have to sacrifice to make it in this work long term. And if your goal is to do it full-time, you don’t want to be straddled by debt.
Debt will put you in a very bad position to move forward. The scripture is really clear. The borrower, the borrower is a slave to the lender. And I know many good in pro-lifers with wonderful intentions who have so much crippling debt, they don’t have the freedom to follow Christ in a pro-life ministry. And that’s a sad thing to see. So, I would encourage you if you’re younger, the way to set yourself up for success structurally, avoid debt like the plague. I mean never borrow.
Stay out of it as much as you are possibly able to because it’s not going to help you long term. Finally, I would say your presentation also matters. And by presentation, I mean how you appear to people. I have met some wonderful people who are pro-life who have tattoos all over their bodies. And by the way, I’m glad they are part of our team. But I remember what one said in particular to me. This is a rather prominent Christian influencer, blogger.
He has his own radio show. And he said to me when I appeared on his show, he said, “As you can see, I got tattoos all over my body, but I have found that if I don’t cover them up, people won’t invite me to speak. I’m not able to reach people that would otherwise listen to me.” And I have learned a hard lesson that being covered in tattoos has been a hindrance to me reaching the very audiences I want to reach.
Now, let me be clear. I don’t believe there’s anything inherently sinful about tattoos. I don’t think you can go to a passage in scripture and say, “Here it is. Hezekiah 36:12 says, “Thou shalt not have a tattoo.” I mean, it’s not in the written word of scripture. Okay? So, I’m not making this a sin issue. I’m talking here about prudence. I’m talking about how you appear to people. I think as a pro-lifer, your goal should be to remove as many obstacles as you can that might be a hindrance to people accepting your message.
That’s all I’m saying. So, those are some things to think about. You want to make sure you have courage. You want to make sure you have intellectual fortitude. And you want to make sure you make wise structural choices with your life having to do with who you marry, who you date, your financial things. These things matter when it comes to long-term pro-life longevity. Thanks for joining us today, friends. And again, if you have not already looked at the pro-life 101 course, in just 7 days, you can become intellectually grounded in the pro-life view in a way that will persuade others and encourage others to take a second look at what we actually believe.
Thank you for joining us today.