Abortion & the Art of Compromise
photo credit: click/Morguefile
In politics we are told, the art of compromise is brought to bear fruitfully in the struggle between parties. The cherished hopes of right and left, conservative and liberal, are often fought under the precept that everyone must give a little in order to reach an agreement. Compromise then, is seen as almost an ideal, something for which to strive in the effort to rule well. Those who are unyielding, who refuse to shake hands at some center, are viewed as obstinate perfectionists who are playing at a game wrong for them. Those rare few are thought to be an impediment to progress. They are understood to be arrogantly moralistic. Who could get along with such people? In the political culture they are ostracized, avoided, and shunted into obscure posts hopefully to be heard from only rarely, or better yet, never.
Currently, there is a running argument between pro-life advocates about the need, or supposed need, to advance the cause bit by bit with that art of compromise, or if it is wiser, more morally perfect, to refuse compromise and demand full change from the society at a single stroke. This article is written in a continuing attempt to bring Biblical knowledge to bear on the current culture and to help advance the kingdom of Christ in this world. The command to “seek first the kingdom of God and righteousness” is a cognizant reality for me.
Only Biblical Wisdom Will Save Our Culture
Only a robust conversation based in God’s word has the power to change hearts and lives. Arguments from science or common sense will not work because we are struggling against moral and spiritual forces that, essentially, are not moved by logic or science. They are only turned around by the power of the Spirit of God working through His word preached. Nothing else has the strength to dissolve calcified human hearts, hearts so rigidly turned toward sin that the murder of unborn babies seems good to them.
We all ought to be confident that Scriptural wisdom is the only sufficient path for Christian people with opposing views. This conversation should never devolve into a back and forth over what works or does not work, or what is right for me is not right for you. These types of defenses presuppose that our fallen minds can burrow through soil and stone, confusion, and every unknown, to arrive at righteous wisdom, all without God’s written interventions to direct our thought. This way of approaching any question is fundamentally flawed. It rests the outcome of our thinking on minds that were born in sin and continue to sin, as one confession words it. Our need is to turn from our natural mind and means. It is to repent and begin seeking, through Scripture, all the wisdom and knowledge of God He has made available.
Righteous People Are Not Compromisers
Searching through the doctrines, stories, and lives of Biblical revelation, I have been hard pressed to find good examples of righteous men compromising to advance God’s kingdom. I looked for clear written endorsements, or endorsements by example, of some Biblical hero, that would clinch an argument for compromise. I reviewed whether the great men or women of Scripture moved the kingdom forward by using the art of compromise to carry the Lord’s work in the correct direction. These three dimensions, Biblical doctrine, stories, and lives of Biblical heroes were the categories for my search. When it comes to doctrine I can find no example when any doctrine is ever compromised for the greater good. Scriptural doctrine is an expression of God’s mind and will concerning us. There is no time when the Lord reverses His law or dilutes His expression of it. There are cases when law was fulfilled by Christ, but never a case when God’s law was advised as something to be reduced in application or strength. Doctrine for the church was not something offered in compromise until a better situation could be arranged. We do not find any sense that God was trying to eek out bits of change toward right teaching as time and circumstances allowed.
The heroes in Scripture have this similar sense about them. It was their very refusal to compromise that made them great. When they did we see them as falling into sin, dragging down the nation they were supposed to be lifting toward the paths of righteousness. When Moses struck the rock instead of speaking to it, he compromised. God’s punishment for that simple act was to keep Moses from entering Canaan. The Lord buried his body east of the Jordan. Samson compromised his testimony by consorting with a Philistine woman and a harlot. For this, he had his eyes gouged out and was forced into hard labor till the end of his life. Judas compromised himself for thirty pieces of silver. It is his deception and treachery that convince us he was unredeemed when he went to hang himself. We look in vain to find the example of compromise by Biblical characters that led to righteousness and advanced God’s kingdom. Biblical heroes are marked by their refusal to compromise. That is a large part of what made them heroes.
Likewise, the prophets are steadfast men who refused to budge a millimeter in their messages. We remember the sturdy prophet Nathan addressing David straight on with the words, “you are the man.” Concerning the prophets of Baal Elijah commanded, “kill them all.” As Jeremiah strode through Jerusalem he was unwavering in his prophetic speech; repent or the Babylonians will overthrow this city. He was thrown in prison for his efforts and nearly died from being abandoned in a muddy well. John the baptizer thundered, “Hypocrites, even now the ax is laid to the root.” Informing Herod to his face, “you should not have Herodias your brother’s wife,” cost him his head (Note: There is no record of him bartering to lose only part of his head). We remember John for his rigid lack of compromise. He was not trying to get along with anybody.
Judge Ehud never met king Eglon half-way. When tribute was due Ehud met that wicked king and shoved a sword into his belly. No compromise there. Ehud made no attempt to work the angles to lessen the tribute year by year. Ehud made it an all or nothing proposal. It was succeed or die trying. That aspect is what makes him a hero and gives the narrative moral force. When Joshua announced, “As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord” we sense no incrementalism there. He was not calling Israel to start making progress toward a more righteous society. Rather, he was bringing them to their senses by making clear the choice.
Incrementalism is what I am fighting against. We never see Biblical doctrine, stories, or heroes using incrementalism to overthrow evil and advance God’s kingdom prerogatives. Rather, we see stalwart people. They are unyielding in their demands that God’s law, His Biblical morals, be followed absolutely. We discover that political compromise is moral compromise. We should not think that political compromise is any less invidious than other types. There is no Biblical allowance for that doctrine.
With Abortion—Forget the Art of Compromise
Compromise breeds compromise, never full compliance. Small compromises by us teach the larger society that we are not sincere, especially in this life and death issue. Respect for Biblical principle breeds respect for Biblical principle. If we stop incremental compromising and stand on unyielding Biblical ideals, we are communicating the accurate message that this moral issue has no righteous meeting place at the middle. That is the right message. If we accept in any way what God does not accept we are trying to put ourselves on His throne. We are imagining we can rule this world more wisely than He. Given that God rejects abortion wholly, we ought to agree with Him and seek only that course. While we want to save lives, our main duty is to promote Godly law and His righteous kingdom. We cannot sacrifice Godly principle for incremental gains. We need to fight this battle uncompromisingly or we will never see this evil turned around. Confront the world with Scripture. Confront them with Scripture, and demand a complete end to legalized abortion. For this, there is no art of compromise.
Suspender Man™, Don Schanzenbach, has long been an outspoken advocate of recapturing culture for Christ. He holds a MA in applied Biblical studies and a doctorate in applied theological studies in the field of political philosophy and government from New Geneva Seminary. He has been thinking, writing and speaking on Christian culture for two decades.
Had the 18th-century founders (like their 17th-century Colonial forbears) established government and society upon Yahweh’s moral law (including Exodus 21:22-23, as well as the mandatory death penalty for murderers), Planned Parenthood wouldn’t exist and millions of infants slaughtered in their mother’s wombs would be living.
There certainly wouldn’t be any fund raisers for such murderers. This is but one of tens of thousands (millions if you count the murdered infants) of consequences of the whirlwind today’s America is reaping as a consequence of the wind sown by the constitutional framers:
“[B]ecause they have transgressed my covenant, and trespassed against my law … they have sown the wind, and they shall reap the whirlwind….” (Hosea 8:1,7)
“… 3. Every problem America faces today can be traced back to the fact that the framers failed to expressly establish a government upon Yahweh’s immutable morality as codified in His commandments, statutes, and judgments. (Would infanticide and sodomy be tolerated, let alone financed by the government, if Yahweh’s perfect law and altogether righteous judgments were the law of the land? Would Islam be a looming threat to our peace and security if the First Amendment had been replaced with the First Commandment? Would Americans be in nearly as much debt if usury had been outlawed as a form of theft? Would crime be as rampant if “cruel and unusual punishment” had not been outlawed and criminals were instead punished with Yahweh’s altogether righteous judgments? Would we be on the fiscal cliff if we were taxed with a flat increase tax rather than a graduated income tax?)….
“On February 27, 2009, James Dobson conceded that we have lost the culture wars. This is the consequence of Christians [including Dr. Dobson] having spent the last two centuries lopping at the rotten branches of our culture’s corrupt tree while watering and fertilizing its roots.
“We should lop away at the tree’s corrupt branches (infanticide, sodomy, the economy, etc.). However, until the root of these problems is Biblically addressed, we will never shut down the infanticide mills, we will never defeat the sodomites, and we will never fix the economy. In short, we will never win the culture wars. This issue is more than important for anyone concerned about God, our nation, and the future of our posterity, it’s the cutting- edge issue of our day….”
For more, see our Featured Blog Article “5 Reasons the Constitution is Our Cutting-Edge Issue” at http://www.bibleversusconstitution.org/.
Then find out how much you REALLY know about the Constitution as compared to the Bible. Take our 10-question Constitution Survey at http://www.bibleversusconstitution.org/ConstitutionSurvey.html and receive a complimentary copy of a book that EXAMINES the Constitution by the Bible.
Abortion is a word coined to try to refute murder .
You forget that the Mosaic Law is the biggest compromise of them all. The Mosaic Law permitted men to divorce their wives and to keep concubines, but Jesus condemns both practices as adultery. The Mosaic Law said, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself,” but Jesus’ standard is “You shall love your enemies.” The Mosaic Law permitted herem warfare, but Christians are required to distinguish between combatant and civilian. Whereas in ages past, God tolerated these practices to grow righteousness bit by bit, today all will be judged by Christ’s perfect standard.
Jesus never condemns having concubines as adultery. Please state chapter and verse if you think so. Loving your neighbor as yourself is not in contradiction to love your enemies – both can be morally correct at various times. If you do not like biblical herem warfare then complain to God about it, not anyone here. God’s law is perfect altogether and ought to be our standard for morality and for civil law.