The Myth of Life

There are many people who say they are "pro-life." What does that mean? 90% of the time, it means that the person fights for the life of a fetus inside a woman's womb. As a former fetus myself, I am deeply glad that my mother was, in these terms, "pro-life." However, I must question such a grandiose moniker being place on merely making sure women carry their babies to full-term. That is not really "pro-life"... it is pro-birth. And, don't get me wrong, I am pro-birth. But, pro-life is something completely different.

A dear friend of mine wrote a song with a line that says, "Just because I'm breathing doesn't mean I living life." Therefore, we must define life.

Is life the ability for blood to pump, air to breathe, or food to digest? Is life merely the things that happen from birth until death? Is life the quality of animate objects? Is the life the sequence of events (spiritual, physical, and mental) that hold existence together? Or, is life something much deeper?

I am pro-life, but I must define what I mean by that statement.

• I am pro- "best possible home life." Many children are born into homes where they have no hope before they began. They are born to homes without fathers. And, they are born into families with histories of violence. This must be corrected.
• I am pro- "affordable cost of living." So many people are bogged down by home prices, gas prices, and keeping up with those around them. From this, they cannot live. They can only work to keep up.
  
• I am pro- "affordable health care." Many people could not afford the medical expenses for birth, dental work, or check ups. Then, they get chewed out for thinking they could skirt one. That is not right.
• I am pro- "anti-war." There is an irony in the fact that we care that babies get born, but we want to throw those babies 18 years later into the War Machine to die.
• I am pro- "agent of death control." What good is it that we convinced a mother to have her child if that child has no father, joins a gang, and picks up a knife, gun, or drugs to kill someone or himself?
  
• I am pro- "community assistance." Yes, people take advantage of programs. But, everyday, I see families who are struggling to feed, clothe, and shelter their little ones and themselves. I refuse to throw the program out because of scheming people.
  
• I am pro- "targeted education." All people need to learn. Some students are in a cycle that, statistics say, they will never get out. People need skills and teachers who are patient and loving.
• I am pro- "trans-global relations and international peaceful discussion." The world is "everyone vs. us" until we recognize that we are all one. I have friends in 20 different countries around the world right now. There is no "us", and there is no "them" anymore.
• I am pro- "birth." As I have just mentioned, I believe in all life. I believe that babies should be brought into the world, but I believe it is our job to make the world livable for them. I struggle thinking about babies being born with handicaps, to fatherless homes, into the cycle of crime and poverty, or victims of a rape case.
  
• I am pro- "life." The life of the baby, the life of the mother, the life of the father, the life of the grandparents, the life of the surrounding neighborhood, the life of the state, and the life of the religious community.
  

Life is more than blood, breath, and excrement. True life is found in believing that ALL life is valuable. From the baby being born to the crippled old man dying... From the high school senior with an attitude problem to the kindergarten child with his hands on his first diploma... From the American born solider to the Iraqi born Muslim... From the African American who suffered the full brunt of segregation to the white middle-class teenager has never seen such horrors... From our best friends to our worst enemies... ALL LIFE IS VALUABLE. And, it should be treated as such.

True life is living a life of love, service, humility, and sacrifice. True life is looking at every person as the image of God that they are. True life is not found by fighting for birth but by being peaceful until death. True life is experienced now and continues forever. It has little to do with clothes, food, drink, air, or blood. It has everything to do with relationship, attitude, knowledge, and passion. True life is found, modeled, and experienced through Jesus.

The Myth of Justice

So much thought, time, and man power is pumped into the struggle for justice. I remember a certain super hero who stood for "Truth, Justice, and the American Way." All the while, this super hero lived a lie by having duel identities, really only fought one person a a few monsters, and never went from rags to riches. But, I digress. Many people say that the only reason worth fighting for is the attempt to bring justice to those who do not have it.

What is justice? Is justice an ideal impartiality that makes decisions on the lawfulness of an action? - Who is impartial? Is justice the administration or the end result of the following of the law? - Whose law is used? Is justice being impartial, compartmentalized, and fair? - What is fair? Is justice conforming to the principles and ideals of one's metanarrative? - Can we do it?

God's justice seems to be mixed. God punishes the Israelites and other nations for their inabilities to follow Him alone, and this is just. God asks His people to care after those who cannot care for themselves (orphans, widows, those who are hungry, etc.), and this is just. According to Jesus, the justice of God exists when the blind see, the deaf hear, the lame walk, and the dead rise. According to Scripture, justice is not a shiny ideal created in the halls of the ivory towers. Justice is lived. "Love mercy, act justly, and walk humbly." Justice is an action.

In a fight between two parties, the "justice" system tries to find the guilty party and the oppressed party. The guilty party has some kind of sentence that is supposed to bring justice to the situation for all parties. However...if a woman is raped, justice for her is not merely the imprisonment of the guilty party. True Justice would have to take into account the fact that this woman has lost her sense of safety, of love, and of trust. True Justice would seek to correct the guilty parties problems by more than imprisonment. True Justice would recognize that justice cannot and does not occur on one day in a courtroom, but it will take a lifetime to create.

And, what is justice for countries? How much blood should be split before a country feels it has been justified? If the guilty party has been utterly destroyed, do we feel justified? If the death tools for both parties even out, do we deem that mission a justified mission? Whose justice does a country fight for? Can a dispute over apathy and faulty economics be settled by the banging of the war dreams and the slaughtering of thousands? Can a war over oppressive religious matters ever be solved by retributive justice or eye-for-an-eye vengeance?

Justice is God's work. True justice is not getting even. True justice is finding a way so that all parties (guilty and oppressed) will walk away with something to grow from. True Justice is not the implementation of the law process. True Justice is the willingness to judge and take on yourself the penalty. True Justice is not an ideal that can never be achieved. True Justice is real, lived, and experienced through the full life that comes with Jesus. It is experienced NOW, and it will continue forever.

The Myth of Freedom

Ever since the beginning, humans have striven to create our own freedom. The temptation in the garden was more a question of whether Adam and Eve wanted the freedom offered by God or their own version of "freedom." They chose their own twisted, ironic version of "freedom," and we continue to play the same game today. Whose freedom do we want? Or, maybe more importantly, what is freedom?

Is freedom the ability to do whatever you want whenever you want to do it? Is freedom the feeling of knowing that no thing or person is in charge of you? Is freedom the result of a government, or is freedom the presupposition of a government? Is freedom merely a pipe-dream of post-Enlightenment thinking? Is freedom the state of being willing to chose without force? Are any of these actually ever completely possible?

John Meyer has a song that says belief should not be the basis on which anyone fights. I will go further, and risk placing my foot in my mouth, to say that we should never fight for the sake of something we struggle to define.

God's offer, in the beginning, was the freedom to walk within His world under His guidance. Freedom is not an absence of rules, authority, or order; nor is freedom the presence of a certain government, religion, or currency. Freedom is, quite simply, a life lived in such a manner that rules, government, order, and religion are not forced, coerced, or stated, but they are lived.

The offer of Christianity (in its purest form) is the opportunity to live within a story and existence of freedom. There is a better life offered that far surpasses morals, ethics, and "being good." There is a different freedom presented that exists IN THE MIDST OF slavery, persecution, and martyrdom. There is a story told that transcends language, position, patriotism, and gender. This story is the Gospel. Mere words cannot do it justice; it is best heard when lived.

Humans have tried to create their own idea of freedom only to become enslaved. Humans do not want freedom; we want slavery on our own terms. Do not confuse military success for freedom. Do not believe that financial gain will make you free either. Do not believe that politics can free you.

Freedom comes from knowing and living out the fact that there are two things that matter: 1) Loving God with everything and 2) Loving all others as if they were you. This is the life that brings freedom. This life may bring pain, discomfort, imprisonment, or death, but in the end they are the only things that matter. Because even in death, it is not over.