Most of the Christians I know would say they are “pro-life” at least to some degree. They say killing a baby is morally wrong and it doesn’t matter if that baby is inside or outside of a mother’s womb. If they believe life starts at conception, they will be against even the earliest abortions because a baby is a baby no matter how small.
I’ve seen many pro-life phrases but one that caught my attention recently was “they feel pain”. When I read that, I think of a baby squirming away from an abortion instrument. I think of a poor little baby in the safest place on earth suffering silently. But Christians everywhere are giving them a voice by standing against abortion. Proverbs 31:8 says, “speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves”. Christians should always be standing up against violence towards those who don’t have much of a voice in our society.
The issue of abortion is not that different from the issue of spanking children. Both are acts of violence towards those who are powerless. Both issues cause suffering and pain. Both are wrong.
Some will say, “spanking done properly is not abuse or violence.” But where can we draw the line? Pain? Bruise? Death? Often corporal punishment DOES lead to stronger violence later. When will we admit that it’s morally wrong to hit/hurt a child just like its morally wrong to hurt an unborn baby? Abortion is a slippery slope just like abuse. Can we morally abort the day before the baby is born? 20 weeks gestation? 10? Let’s just stop trying to justify it altogether.
They say, “it’s for their own good”. But their are no benefits to spanking children or aborting babies. Spanking doesn’t teach your child a lesson any better than a spanking would teach your spouse one. Do the research yourself but spanking has been proven to be ineffective and damaging. No one is better off hurt just like no one is better off dead. We shouldn’t abort babies just because we think they will have a miserable life. We shouldn’t hurt kids to teach them a lesson when we could teach them a different way without hurting them.
And if you think God wants us to spank children because of Prov. 23:13, why wouldn’t you also take Jer. 20:14-17 so literally and out of context concerning abortion? When I take the Bible as a whole, I see that God is so much more loving and gracious and merciful than the best of us humans. I see no justification for any violence against babies and children.
I think Christians should be the ones leading the argument against spanking children. I think Christians should be the ones to rise up and say “they feel pain,” this is damaging, and this is morally wrong. We should feel our hearts grieve because of the violence against babies and children alike. I pray that more Christians will be able to see the damage that spankings can do and start to stand up for those who have no voice.
themeltingmom 