August 11, 2015

Note: For more stories on Planned Parenthood check our Life Blog and Facebook pages as well as Planned Parenthood – The Latest. Also check out these brochures available through Concordia Publishing House: Planned Parenthood: It’s Not What You Think! and Why Trust Planned Parenthood.

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Already we see the shock wave reduced to mere ripples. The undercover video showing Planned Parenthood’s senior director of medical services, Deborah Nucatola, casually discussing over lunch the altering of abortion procedures to preserve vital body parts for sale to researchers caused an enormous shock wave. Organizations immediately put out press releases, called press conferences, and issued statements. Members of Congress vowed to start investigations. Even national broadcast media covered the story.

But as I write this less than a week later—ripples. Even a subsequent video seems to be viewed as less shocking. To be honest, I’m not sure why people were so shocked in the first place. The nation’s largest provider of abortions, Planned Parenthood, and other organizations where the vulnerable are murdered have been dehumanizing unborn babies for decades. They must do this to validate their inhuman actions. They speak of “reproductive rights” and “products of conception” and “viable tissue.” When human life has been reduced to a “product,” why are we so surprised when those who do so want to sell and profit by their product? Plus, it has the added benefits of salving consciences and helping with the untidy task of disposing of dead babies.

Don’t get me wrong. I’m glad for the shock wave and for the reaction that ensued. It raises awareness and helps more people see the existence of a bloody darkness behind the word “abortion” that we use so frequently and indifferently. It also gives us opportunity to examine ourselves and ask if we are perhaps stuck in a comfortable complacency. After all, it seems as though the shock of the ongoing butchery of abortion 2,800 times each day and the assault on women and families that accompanies it day after day has been reduced to ripples, does it not?

I count myself among those who need an occasional shock to help me rethink and regroup. But what I have learned over the years is that being shocked and reacting to shocking revelations is not enough. Being anti-abortion or anti-Planned Parenthood is not enough. We need to be For Life! But more, we need to be For Life because God is! Even more, we need to be For Life because God is as an ongoing part of what we do as God’s people gathered by His Spirit in local congregations.

Think about it. We have some shocking news. “God became a speck, an embryo in a fallopian tube!” “God was born!” “God lived as a friend of sinners.” “God embraced dirty, smelly sinners!” “God suffered for unlovable and unloving sinners!” “God died!” “God rose again!” “God wins!” “Sin, death, Satan defeated!” “God reigns over all!”

That’s the most positive and powerful shocking For Life news I can think of. As I love to say, it is tailor made for these issues of life and death, pain and suffering, grief and regret. Have you been shocked by the Planned Parenthood news and the ongoing tragedy of abortion? If so, good for you! Have you been shocked by the Good News of God’s great love For Life? If so, even better for you! Is affirming life part of the ongoing ministry of your congregation? If not, maybe now is the time to make that happen. We at LFL are ready to help and equip you to do so. Give us a call. We do not want the shock wave of the Gospel of Life to ever become a ripple.