Reasoning With God believes Pro-Love is the solution to the wounds that are dividing our nation. Pro-Love's goal is to advocate for God's truth in the healing of the wounds that divide our society. These wounds are based on lies and when we are willing to come together to expose those lies, we can free ourselves from them.
Pro-Love is also a process marked by our love for each other. This process allows us to expose our wounds in a safe environment, which helps us move past our self-imposed limitations. Once our wounds are exposed, reasoning with God's Word heals these wounds.
We, humans, have continually ignored God’s warnings and rebelled against His simple law of love by creating our own laws, (Prov. 14:12) “There is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death.” God wants us to put His law of love before all the laws we have created, (Acts 5:29) “Then Peter and the other apostles answered and said, We ought to obey God rather than men.” Our laws reveal our rebellion against His plan because we would not need them if we lived His law of love.
Our ideas of love, good and evil change with every generation because we do not surrender to His Word. We think we can create something better than God can. However, God’s thoughts on love, good and evil never change. He has fully explained His law of love in the Bible, knowing that we can read His message thousands of years later, and it will not have changed. Can we not see how our rebellion has changed everything He created “very good”? (Gen. 1:31) “And God saw everything that He had made, and, behold, it was very good. And the evening and the morning were the sixth day.” He designed everything to work together for good, (Rom. 8:28) “And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.” And when we live our lives in alignment with His plan, we flourish and learn everything was created by Him and for Him, (Col. 1:16) “For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him.”
Yet rather than following His plan, we have turned wine into alcoholism, food into gluttony, work into pride, marriage into divorce, sex into perversions, exercise into obsessions, games into gambling and pride, and gatherings into divisions. God has called us to finish the race He has set before us, (Heb. 12:1) “Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us.” Instead, we willingly allow ourselves to become pawns in a rat race of confusion.
Two years ago, I heard the testimony of a woman who had an abortion six years before. What struck me was that she felt so alone when she first saw those two lines on the pregnancy test. She felt there was no unbiased person or organization she could go to for advice. She was scared and only saw one way to solve the problem. Looking back, she regrets that she never saw her child and that her parents would never see their grandchild.
So, the first issue Pro-Love is attacking, which is dividing our nation, is abortion. We will have discussions on all of the salient points while respectfully listening to the opinions each person brings to the table. The final arbitrator will be the Bible. Many will be surprised by their misunderstanding of what the Bible teaches on this subject. God wants the church to offer spiritual, physical, and financial support to the pregnant woman feeling alone and overwhelmed. She should never feel alone.
Freedom is the key to love, and God mentored us by not building a fence around the Tree of Good and Evil. Instead, He created the garden and left the tree accessible. He allowed us to defy Him and eat the tree's fruit. We, Christians, need to learn that none of us is perfect. We all make mistakes. However, when we support each other amid those mistakes, we can get through them, and our community is stronger every time we do. To this end, women should always have the choice of picking from the seven options. Of course, when possible, birthing the baby is the preferred choice. This is why we need to provide the support the woman feels is necessary for her to choose birthing over abortion. We must listen to her and offer our love and support before reviewing the available options and support systems. Each choice is complicated and requires a comprehensive discussion before it will be understood. This will empower women facing these choices.
Pro-Love believes that we are called to love and support women as they make tough choices in an unplanned pregnancy. We acknowledge that abortion has been seen as the predominant cultural choice despite its physical, emotional, and mental impacts. Pro-Love believes that we should come alongside women in this complex decision-making process to make all of the following birthing options possible:
1. Marry the father and raise the child.
2. Keep the child and raise it alone.
3. Relinquish the child to the father to raise alone.
4. Relinquish the child to a family member who wants to raise the child.
5. Relinquish the child to a family member of the father who wants to raise the child.
6. Relinquish the child to someone else who wants to raise the child.
This support system will include health care, mental health and abuse counseling, shelter, food, clothing, and transportation during her pregnancy. This system will continue to support the mother and baby, if the mother decides to birth the baby, with child care, baby clothes/supplies, and career/school counseling. It would have a family ready and willing to adopt the baby if the mother prefers adoption. If the pregnant woman chooses an abortion, this support system would welcome the woman back after the abortion for post-abortion support, even though we will not pay for an abortion. God wants us to do all this without projecting blame, guilt, or shame.
This solution would include building communities. Mentors for pregnant women, babies, and caregivers. Communities of adopted children to provide the adopted child with sisters and brothers from another mother with the same life experience. The pastor in our group has a sister who adopted a daughter from China. Several other families were there adopting children at the same time. These families ensured the children got together every year with their sisters in adoption, and now all of them are in college and are still connected by their supportive sisters. So, a community of adopted children will be part of the solution. The children should not be made to feel lucky to have been adopted, but rather the adopting parents should feel blessed by the adoption.
So many levels of support are necessary for a loving community to function and support each other. This is just one. We will explore more of these as we look for Pro-Love solutions to other wounds dividing our country.
We all have free will, and Pro-Love believes that giving a woman every potential choice is the most loving approach. It is our hope that by making the other six choices possible, we will build trust and impact birth rates.
God can heal our wounds if we expose them and reason with His created solutions. We have a choice, we can refuse to listen to what God has to say, or we can roll up our sleeves and commit to finding a loving solution to the wounds dividing our society.
Here is the Biblical support for this solution.
1. "He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love." 1 Jn. 4:8. God is love means everything He thinks, speaks, and does is rooted in love. The most crucial element of love is that it cannot be forced. Love must be freely given, or there is no love. So, whenever we try to reconcile verses that seem at odds with each other, we always pick the one that shows God's love. The other verse(s) is (are) probably trying to teach us something, like what not to do.
2. All scripture is important and must be understood in context; within a verse, book, and the entire Bible. Only then do we release the power of His Word. We cannot pick and choose how we are going to interpret a verse while ignoring context. "All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: That the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works." 2 Tim. 3:16-17. He gave us the Bible because He wants us to reason with Him, "Come now, and let us reason together, saith the Lord: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool." Isa. 1:18.
3. "Declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure:" Isa. 46:10. He has seen the end from the beginning, so His plan has an expected end of good, which requires peace. There is no room for evil in His expected end, "For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the Lord, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end." Jer. 29:11. This is why we need to reason with His Word. It leads us to the path of peace, "To give light to them that sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace." Lk. 1:79. The way to peace is not detoured by our wants. Instead, it is paved by our love for our neighbor, "Love worketh no ill to his neighbour: therefore love is the fulfilling of the law." Rom. 13:10.
4. His creation works together for good when we abide in Him and Him in us, "I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing." Jn. 15:5. This abiding is how we fulfill God's will and do our part in completing His plan, "And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God." Rom. 12:2. We can do this when we believe He knows more than we do, "For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts." Isa. 55:9. When we return His love, we will experience what God has prepared for those who love Him, "But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him." 1 Cor 1:9.
5. "A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another." Jn. 13:34. He asks us to love as He does, unconditionally. We certainly do not deserve His love, but He gives it anyway, "But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us." Rom. 5:8. And we should not expect our neighbor to earn our love, but we should give it freely, "Owe no man any thing, but to love one another: for he that loveth another hath fulfilled the law." Rom 13:8.
6. "But why dost thou judge thy brother? or why dost thou set at nought thy brother? for we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ. For it is written, As I live, saith the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall confess to God. So then every one of us shall give account of himself to God. Let us not therefore judge one another any more: but judge this rather, that no man put a stumblingblock or an occasion to fall in his brother's way." Rom 14:10-13. He asks us not to judge our neighbors. Instead, we are to unconditionally love them, "For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this; Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself." Gal 5:14. Which means we allow others to decide whether they will walk in the perfect law of liberty without our becoming their stumbling blocks, "But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed." Jam 1:25.
7. "Then came Peter to him, and said, Lord, how oft shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? till seven times? Jesus saith unto him, I say not unto thee, Until seven times: but, Until seventy times seven."Matt. 18:21-22. He asks us to demonstrate our love with unlimited forgiveness for the sins of others, knowing that love covers a multitude of sins, "And above all things have fervent charity among yourselves: for charity shall cover the multitude of sins." 1 Pet. 4:8, and His love has covered our sins, "And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you." Eph 4:32.
8. "O lord, thou hast searched me, and known me. Thou knowest my downsitting and mine uprising, thou understandest my thought afar off. Thou compassest my path and my lying down, and art acquainted with all my ways. For there is not a word in my tongue, but, lo, O Lord, thou knowest it altogether. Thou hast beset me behind and before, and laid thine hand upon me. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high, I cannot attain unto it. Whither shall I go from thy spirit? or whither shall I flee from thy presence? If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there: if I make my bed in hell, behold, thou art there. If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea; Even there shall thy hand lead me, and thy right hand shall hold me. If I say, Surely the darkness shall cover me; even the night shall be light about me. Yea, the darkness hideth not from thee; but the night shineth as the day: the darkness and the light are both alike to thee. For thou hast possessed my reins: thou hast covered me in my mother's womb. I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: marvellous are thy works; and that my soul knoweth right well. My substance was not hid from thee, when I was made in secret, and curiously wrought in the lowest parts of the earth. Thine eyes did see my substance, yet being unperfect; and in thy book all my members were written, which in continuance were fashioned, when as yet there was none of them. " Ps. 139:1-16. God creates us, first in His mind and then in our mother's womb. So, even before conception, God wills us into being. Children are a gift from God, "Lo, children are an heritage of the Lord: and the fruit of the womb is his reward." Ps 127:3. Jesus has a special love for children, "But when Jesus saw it, he was much displeased, and said unto them, Suffer the little children to come unto me, and forbid them not: for of such is the kingdom of God." Mk. 10:14.
9. "I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live:" Deut. 30:19. In this life, God gives each of us the freedom to choose life or death, and He wants us to give others the same freedom, "Judge not, and ye shall not be judged: condemn not, and ye shall not be condemned: forgive, and ye shall be forgiven:" Lk. 6:37. Therefore, He does not want us to set up laws to limit the freedoms of others, "There is one lawgiver, who is able to save and to destroy: who art thou that judgest another?" Jam. 4:12 and "So when they continued asking him, he lifted up himself, and said unto them, He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her." Jn. 8:7 and "He saith unto them, Moses because of the hardness of your hearts suffered you to put away your wives: but from the beginning it was not so." Matt. 19:8. Instead, He asks us to spread His truth in love, "If it be possible, as much as lieth in you, live peaceably with all men." Rom. 12:18 and "And he said unto him, If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded, though one rose from the dead." Lk. 6:31, so others might see the truth and choose wisely, "That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive; But speaking the truth in love, may grow up into him in all things, which is the head, even Christ:" Eph. 4:14-15. People will never be open to hearing the truth if they do not first feel God's love.
10. We must allow the pregnant woman to choose life or death for her and her baby, for love does not force itself onto others, "From whom the whole body fitly joined together and compacted by that which every joint supplieth, according to the effectual working in the measure of every part, maketh increase of the body unto the edifying of itself in love. This I say therefore, and testify in the Lord, that ye henceforth walk not as other Gentiles walk, in the vanity of their mind, Having the understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart: Who being past feeling have given themselves over unto lasciviousness, to work all uncleanness with greediness. But ye have not so learned Christ; If so be that ye have heard him, and have been taught by him, as the truth is in Jesus: That ye put off concerning the former conversation the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts; And be renewed in the spirit of your mind; And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness. Wherefore putting away lying, speak every man truth with his neighbour: for we are members one of another. Be ye angry, and sin not: let not the sun go down upon your wrath: Neither give place to the devil. Let him that stole steal no more: but rather let him labour, working with his hands the thing which is good, that he may have to give to him that needeth. Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister grace unto the hearers. And grieve not the holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption. Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil speaking, be put away from you, with all malice:" Eph. 4:16-31. Love is God's solution. Jesus came and died to prove it, "But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us." Rom. 5:8. This means we provide the support women need, no matter what they choose to do, "Charity suffereth long, and is kind; charity envieth not; charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up, Doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil; Rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth; Beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things." 1 Cor. 13:4-7, this is how we demonstrate His love and become salt and light in a fallen world, "Ye are the salt of the earth: but if the salt have lost his savour, wherewith shall it be salted? it is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of men. Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid. Neither do men light a candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick; and it giveth light unto all that are in the house. Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven." Matt. 5:13-16.
God has placed us in unique places throughout this world. This blog is about sharing His Word; please share it with those you believe would be blessed by hearing it. Bless you! If you want to receive the Quarterly Newsletter, email us at bill@reasoningwithgod.com. If you want to read past blogs, go to https://www.reasoningwithgod.com/blog.
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