Thread by @RevChrisDavis

I have been pro-life my whole life

It drove our decision to adopt 3 children

We have donated to Crisis Pregnancy Centers

Until recently it has driven our voting

Yet I have not been able to celebrate
#RoeVsWadeOverturned—a former dream—like I thought I would.

Why?

A 🧵

I believe it is an ends/means situation

What drives my pro-life conviction is the Imago Dei, the belief that the babies carried by mothers in any situation bear the image of God and are worthy of dignity and honor.

Dignity and honor is not what got Roe overturned. +

It feels like a hollow victory when the political party that got us here—which I once revered as the holy and righteous party—shrugs its shoulders when gun violence takes the lives of image bearers

And has been led by a man who shows no dignity and honor to the least of these. +

For me the tipping point was Charlottesville in 2017, when President Trump spoke of there being “good people on both sides” of a protest when one side was self-proclaimed white supremacists.

I wrote about it here: therodandstaff.com/2019/01/04/unt…

+

The pro-life movement motivated me to adopt children. And when raising those children with my wife attuned me to other Imago Dei issues (racism, misogyny, abuse and neglect) I realized that the political movement claiming to be pro-life did not care about those issues.

+

So while I celebrate the possibility that #RoeVsWadeOverturned will reduce the taking of lives in the womb

I grieve what got us here.

It feels hollow

Unconvincing that we truly, robustly value life

That we genuinely care for the least of these

+

And I am reminded that the follower of Jesus’ ultimate ethic is to glorify God, to magnify his reputation—the character and renown of our Creator and Redeemer.

That will remain my ethical endgame

Because if my witness to God is compromised

Even “wins” are losses.

SDG

/END