My blog posts are normally focused on spreading the gospel, in particular to the general population of New Jersey. But today I’ve decided to weigh in on the raging pro-life versus pro-choice controversy to see if I can get a clearer picture of what is going on. I’m doing this primarily for my own benefit, to try and understand the intensity of emotions that are associated with this topic.

To bring clarity to the discussion it seemed necessary to determine the actual scope of the phenomenon of abortion in the world today. Is it merely a peripheral issue, as some people believe? Is it a matter of re-hashing old legal arguments that have already been settled once and for all? Is it a matter of ultra-conservatives struggling against left-wing radical extremists? Is it a rare and private departure from the norm of human behavior?

Searching the internet for information on this topic led me to the Guttmacher Institute’s website, where I learned a great deal about abortion in the world today. I immediately discovered, for instance, that over the entire earth, between the years 2015 and 2019, roughly 73 million unintended pregnancies ended in abortion, per year. Assuming that 2020 was no different, simple math reveals that 365 million abortions have been performed worldwide over the past 5 years to terminate unintended pregnancies. Whether these were medical emergencies where the mother’s life was at risk, or purely elective abortions, was not specified.

Prior to 1970, most countries (although not all) had laws outlawing abortion. Presumably, the number of abortions being performed at that time was much lower, and for the sake of this article I have assumed it was negligible, close to zero. (The number was certainly higher, but I couldn’t find any data to make an accurate estimate.) Therefore, to graph the number of abortions performed between 1970 and 2015, a triangle starting at zero in 1970 and rising to 73 million in 2015 would indicate that 1.642 billion abortions were performed during the 45 years prior to 2015. Adding that figure to the 365 million abortions performed since 2015 yields a total of roughly two billion abortions performed worldwide over the last 50 years, according to data supplied by the Guttmacher Institute.

Whether a person thinks abortion is a safe and necessary means of population control and a mercy to struggling women, or whether another person thinks this is the greatest case of mass genocide in the history of the world, still, in either case, two billion represents a number of individual souls greater than one quarter of the entire population of the world, currently estimated to be around 7.8 billion people. Two billion children is twice the total population of the entire Western Hemisphere (North, South, and Central America combined). This is a very large number of human beings by anyone’s count.

The Guttmacher Institute also keeps track of laws governing abortion across the globe.  According to their data, there are six nations on earth that still outlaw abortion completely, six nations out of a total of two hundred and twenty. Two hundred and fourteen nations, or 97% of the world’s governments, currently allow abortion in one form or another.

The United States was certainly not the first nation to legalize abortion. Russia, for instance, legalized abortion back in 1920, and many other nations followed suit. But the SCOTUS decision in 1973 was particularly instructive because of the train of thought that was employed in the decision making process. The website supreme.findlaw.com offers a really helpful summary of what we need to know about Roe v. Wade.  To summarize the summary, the court’s decision boiled down to two things: 1) It was impossible to determine when life begins in the womb, so the fetus could not be considered a person, that is, a person who was entitled to protection under the Constitution, and 2) The woman, and only the woman, had an absolute right to determine the fate of her unborn fetus. It was her own private decision to make.

Hillary Clinton, speaking about this during her 2015 bid for the presidency, said, “Under current law, as it now stands, an unborn fetus has no legal rights or protections under the U.S. Constitution. Furthermore, under current law it is a woman’s absolute legal right to choose an abortion.” She wasn’t being nasty or vindictive or cruel. She was simply stating true legal facts that needed to be recognized.

As a thinking person, of course, I find the SCOTUS arguments troubling.  What follows are my own private thoughts with regard to the data I have just cited, and I don’t mean to go off on a rant, but the current legal framework of thought is not the only framework of thought that exists. Biology has an equally valid framework of thought. Genealogy has a framework of thought. Cultural anthropology has a framework of thought.  Astrophysics has a framework of thought. People who rise to prominence in any of these disciplines are considered experts. They have competence to speak authoritatively in their field of knowledge. Their input should be weighed carefully and they should be given the deference they deserves. It would be highly irregular for a chemist, for instance, to make a pronouncement that contradicted a known fact of geology.

If an astrophysicist were to discover a tiny carbon chain in a space rock, he would immediately declare the existence of life in outer space. Similarly, a biologist has no trouble determining when human life begins. It begins when a male sperm unites with a female egg. The resulting child has a completely unique DNA, beginning immediately. That child has two parents who are absolutely responsible for the child’s conception. Likewise, that child has two sets of grandparents and four sets of great-grandparents. These facts are taught and understood in ninth grade biology.

Ancestry, or genealogy, follows the same logic, attaching actual names to the individuals involved. I have been able to trace my father’s ancestry back five generations to the mid 1700’s, and I was surprised to discover that in five generations, each person has 62 adults in his or her direct bloodline, not counting siblings or aunts and uncles. Everyone has parents, grandparents, great-grandparents, etc. Why does this matter?  It matters because each of those adults made a decision to do what was required for the transmission of human life.  They were glad to participate, they knew what they were doing, and they knew they were accountable for the outcome.

Although some of those adults may not have taken their responsibilities seriously, a cultural anthropologist would understand that there has always been an expectation that the immediate blood relatives need to protect and nurture new members of their own family.  While most of the bloodline would be long dead at the time of a child’s conception, there are, almost always, six adult direct blood relatives alive at that time: a father, a mother, and two sets of grandparents. This is considered to be the child’s support team. Six adults. To an anthropologist, the idea that giving life is somehow solely the choice and decision of the mother would be a completely strange and novel concept.

So, despite the contradictory and irregular pronouncements of certain SCOTUS judges speaking outside of their field of competence, I think we should defer to the biologist to determine when human life begins, and to the anthropologist to determine who is responsible for the fate of the child.

With regard to the propagation of the human race, in a perfect world, in all cultures across the earth, all six adults, the parents and grandparents, would hover around a developing child from the moment of its conception, providing support, protection, education and love throughout the child’s lifetime.

In an imperfect world, for many reasons, some of those adults might be missing, and the responsibility for the child’s care would be assumed by others.

In a dystopian world, all six adults would turn their backs on the child and refuse to take any responsibility whatsoever, thus rendering a unanimous decision for abortion.

It is hard to believe, but two billion abortions must require the permission, or at least the tacit agreement, of twelve billion living adult blood relatives, a six-to-one ratio.

Yes, this seems like a ridiculously huge number. The point I’m trying to make is that abortion in the world today is not being driven by some left wing radical fringe, nor is it peripheral to the many important cares and concerns of the human race.  The complete freedom to choose abortion without fear of reprisal or punishment is mainstream thinking for almost the entire human race with very little exception or opposition, and has been for the past 50 years. Those who oppose it are in fact on the fringe. That would help to explain why seven (of the nine) Supreme Court justices, highly intelligent men who knew the facts of life, searched so frantically through the Constitution back in 1973 to provide a path for abortion, on the flimsiest of legal precedent. The decision, I believe, had already been made for them, and has now been ratified by twelve billion adults and 97% of the world’s governments. That’s basically the entire population of the earth, those who have lived over the past 50 years, and those who are alive now.

We, the human race, have collectively chosen to eliminate a significant portion of our population through the process of abortion. This is a fact. We wanted abortion, we have given ourselves permission for abortion, and we will continue to press for unrestricted abortion. Some politicians actually make that a central part of their platform. We have evidently created such a toxic world that killing our own children seems to be the best solution to our problems.  And somehow we have managed to put the full responsibility for this decision completely onto our young pregnant daughters while the rest of us go off scot-free.

People like myself, the ones who are slowly waking up to these realities, clearly need to take some action, and join with the ones who have been fighting this battle for decades. We should join the resistance, and fight for a reversal of unjust laws, and continue to march on Washington each year, and pray for an end to abortion.

But in addition, I believe we should double down on our efforts to spread the gospel. I’m completely serious when I say:

“Print up seven billion copies of the gospel of Jesus Christ,

 and pass them out everywhere.”

Jesus, the master of the universe, certainly tried to talk some sense into the leaders of his day. He argued with them and reasoned with them and pointed out the inconsistencies in their thinking.

But he spent most of his time setting up a new society, which he called “The Kingdom of God”.  The Kingdom of God is society with a leader who knows what He is doing, and a framework of thought all it’s own, stretching back to the dawn of history, and looking far into the future and beyond. Whereas this framework of thought sometimes nudges science, and occasionally challenges customs and norms, it has frequently and dramatically come into direct conflict with human law. The Kingdom of God seems to have singled out the “legal framework of thought” for particular scrutiny and harsh judgment. I’m not speaking about the work of an individual lawyer or judge or legislator. I’m talking about an important branch of human thought that has been captured and twisted by the human race to justify a whole range of irresponsible and destructive behaviors that often unfortunately end in abortion.

God’s kingdom on earth is precisely what the human race needs at this darkest hour. If I’m not mistaken, those tiny little sixty-page books, The Gospels, are the official invitations to join the Kingdom of God. They also serve as the front door through which a curious and frightened individual can enter and find a brand new beginning.

I’m stuck on this idea:

“Print up seven billion copies of the gospel of Jesus Christ,

 and pass them out everywhere.”

1 – Cultivating the Land

Here is my very short and completely oversimplified history of Christian evangelism, and where I think it should go from here.

Jesus introduced the concept of Christian evangelism this way: “A farmer went out to sow his seed.” (Luke 8:5)

I view Christian evangelism as an agricultural enterprise being conducted by Jesus, the owner of a large estate. The estate, in this case, consists of fields of people, the human race, spread out over the entire surface of the earth. Jesus further explained that “The seed is the word of God.” (Luke 8:11). I interpret that to mean the record of his words and actions while he was in the flesh, in other words, the gospel itself. The gospel is the seed that Jesus was, and is, sowing.

We don’t need to guess how Jesus went about developing his estate. He selected a group of laborers, trained them in his farming techniques, equipped them with the seed (the gospel), and sent them out to nearby fields to begin sowing.

After a certain period of time the harvest came, and Jesus the owner was able to show a small profit. Next year, using his profit, he sent out additional laborers to plant new fields, with the same result, thereby expanding year by year.

Fast forward, 2000 years. This farming project has been a colossal success and now covers 30% of the earth’s surface. (30% of the earth’s inhabitants currently identify as Christians). It is organized and robust, and it supports a massive and thriving farming community. Obviously, the owner is quite pleased with his progress.

Seeing his success, and being forward thinking, the owner (Jesus) is understandably eager to plant and develop the remaining 70% of his land. His instructions haven’t changed in the least:  “Go into the whole world and proclaim the gospel to every creature.” (Mark 16:15).

There are undoubtably many ways to proclaim the gospel in our world today, and as long as we are making an attempt, progress is certainly being made. But due to the economies of scale it may no longer be feasible to send out small teams of evangelists to increasingly hostile and far-flung lands to impart the gospel message. That model may have to give way to new mechanized “farming” techniques. The same exact seed (the gospel) needs to be planted, but what new tools do we have at our disposal?

In our day and age, for the first time in human history, individual gospels can be mass-produced by a process known as print-on-demand. Quality copies of individual gospels (each approximately 60 pages long) can be mass-produced for mere pennies.

And, for the first time in human history, these small printed gospels can be distributed rapidly and intelligently by another new process known as “direct mail”. Direct mail is often used by advertisers, and politicians, to put a physical copy of their brochure into the hands of prospective customers, or voters. It is inexpensive, and studies have shown it to be almost 10 times as effective as digital marketing.

These new tools are increasingly available within vast areas of currently “un-planted” territory in every continent across the globe, the very countries we are trying to reach with the gospel, those very people who have never been approached, ever, with the message of Jesus. 70% of the earth’s population, over 5 billion individuals, fall into this category. Statistically, the average age of these people is 26 years old. Could these modern tools be put to use in the service of global Christian evangelism? 

My son, who works as a groundskeeper at a local private school, was sitting with me one afternoon on my deck, admiring my lawn. He commented that while the lawn looked nice enough, it was almost entirely made up of weeds, with very little actual grass! Ouch! To remedy that, he suggested I get some high quality grass seed and spread it evenly across the entire lawn. This process, known as “over-seeding”, might take several applications, but eventually the new grass would choke out the weeds and my lawn would be both beautiful and healthy.

It is a well established fact, and almost every serious commentator looking at the current Catholic landscape would agree, that the “Lord’s Wheat” is looking rather thin these days, and the fields are rapidly being over-run by weeds. That is certainly the case in North America. I know this is a complicated and many-faceted problem. But perhaps the church might consider a program of “over-seeding” as an option, even right here in the United States. The seed is the word of God, (Luke 8:11) and the church has four varieties of high-quality seed at its disposal:

• The MARK variety. Perfect for a first application, also known as the “quick-start” variation.
• The LUKE variety. Produces robust, healthy growth. Does well in full sun.
• The MATTHEW variety. Deep rooted and fine textured.
• The JOHN variety. Intense and everlasting.

Four successive applications of these marvelous seeds, carried out over the course of several years, might be all that’s needed to restore the church’s vitality and fill the barns with finest wheat.

In the United States, the US Postal service has a direct mail program known as EDDM, or Every Door Direct Mail. I have been experimenting with EDDM for the past several years as an efficient and economical way to spread the gospel to a widely diverse population within the state of New Jersey. As of this date I have mailed out over 5,000 copies. I have no way to measure the effectiveness of this process at present, but I am hopeful that at least some of the recipients will be curious enough to pick up the gospel and give it a read.

I am not Pope of the Catholic Church. I’m not the bishop of a diocese or the pastor of a church. I do happen to be father of five grown children, and grandfather to a small but growing number of lovely grandchildren. This is my “domestic Church”, over which I have direct responsibility. My church’s landscape is similar to that of the wider church, disturbingly over-run with weeds! To counter that I have embarked on a gospel seeding program. This year at Christmas I gave every family in my little church a copy of Mark’s gospel. Next Christmas they will be surprised to receive a copy of Luke’s gospel. The following year I have copies of Mathew’s gospel for them, and finally on the fourth Christmas they will all receive a copy of John’s Gospel! At least they’ll know the gospel is important to me. What they do with it is up to them.

Returning to my farm metaphor, if spreading gospels through the mail ever became a thing, laborers, (dependable and hard working postal employees), could begin sowing gospel seeds immediately through the use of Every Door Direct Mail. They would not require the customary long years of training needed in the past; no training in ministry, no theology, no psychology, no ordination, no investiture of any kind. Postal workers, by the very nature of their job, are responsible, accountable, judicious, and trustworthy. They have been trained to deliver the mail without judging its content or interfering with its purpose. They are amply paid and they depend on their jobs for their livelihood. They are the perfect people to carry out Christ’s wishes: “Go out to all the world and tell the good news.”

Those highly trained men and women currently on staff within the vast farming community (the church) would have their hands full when the next harvest came in. The seed is just as potent as ever, and promises an abundant harvest, as always.

My next post, Mixing Metaphors , develops the farming metaphor a little more.

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“Lord, every nation on earth will adore you.”

Right now, in the cosmos, a courtship is underway between two very unlikely lovers. One is the king of all there is. He is literally the King of the Cosmos. The other is a foolish and stubborn individual who is largely unaware of her lover’s interest, or even his existence. She is wandering around trying to make the best of her life in a confusing and dangerous world.

The king who seeks her love has provided a path, a gate, a portal, leading directly to his side. He is ardently hoping that she will pass through that portal and step inside, so that he can woo her and win her love and take her to himself.

He is Jesus, the Son of God.

She is the human race. She is us.

The portal is the Christian gospel.

Opening the gospel, opening the portal, is our prerogative. This cosmic courtship, like any other courtship, must begin with an initial introduction between the parties involved. Otherwise it remains merely a fantasy in the mind of one or the other, and never comes to anything. Once inside, however, the love affair begins in earnest.

The Christian gospel has enormous depth, and levels that humanity will never completely penetrate. But essentially it is a fascinating, emotional, passionate, and still developing love story between Jesus, the undisputed master of the universe, and us, the human race. Jesus is fervently (and almost obsessively) in love with us and has been pursuing us relentlessly for over two thousand years, even to the present day. In the gospel, the unfolding story of his courtship and love is revealed to us.

As a baby, Jesus astonished us. And as an adolescent, we thought him bright and clever. (See the second chapter of Luke’s gospel.) But when he came of age, around 30 years old, we somehow managed to catch his eye and win his heart. Filled with the spirit of love, he began showering us with marvelous and extraordinary gifts in the way of a suitor, and he began talking to us about his family and his father’s kingdom, of which he was heir. We listened, of course, with interest. As time went on he even began to speak of himself as “the bridegroom,” and us as his “pearl.” “A merchant,” he was overheard saying, “went out seeking beautiful pearls. When he found one pearl of great price, he sold all that he had and bought it!” He called us his “vineyard.” He called us his “little flock.” He called us his “treasure.”

Now all this sweet talk eventually found it’s way to the very top echelons of that cosmic realm, where Jesus’ father reigns as king and powerful beings rule in the heavens. The glorious and seraphic members of his father’s court were justifiably taken aback and puzzled at the news of this new love interest. They were quite familiar with Jesus, so there was understandably some shock and wonder and even dismay at this new turn of events. It might be helpful to picture the son of a great king traveling to a poor and remote settlement, and unexpectedly falling in love with an uneducated and very common peasant girl during the course of his visit. Naturally there were other contenders in this love game back home, brilliant, intelligent, well-groomed, and highly qualified, hoping to take their place at Jesus’ side when he became king.

Some of these splendid individuals were genuinely happy for him and wished him nothing but joy and happiness. Others, especially those with exaggerated self-importance, were disturbed and clearly envious, to the point of rage and hostility. One of them, known as Lucifer, decided to intervene directly and see what could be done. (A detailed account of this exchange can be found in the fourth chapter of Matthew’s gospel.) Finding Jesus alone, this gorgeous heavenly luminary showed up and made his pitch, “I can offer you food at the snap of your finger, risk, thrills, and excitement, and unbelievable popularity with the crowds! All you have to do is love me, and me alone!”

This was a tempting offer, to be sure, a wild fling with a dazzling escort. But Jesus thought way too much of his father and his family to run off with that floozy. Besides, he had already fallen in love with us, his treasure, his pearl! Though we were no great prize, we were his choice. He sent that arrogant highborn prince off empty handed with a curt dismissal, and that was that.

It wasn’t too long after this that our relationship with Jesus began to sour. For some unfathomable reason we began to grow alarmed and put up our defenses, questioning his every word and analyzing his motives. Our resistance only seemed to spur him on and strengthen his resolve to win our love. The second chapter of Mark’s gospel records the beginning stages of this angst, which only seemed to gain momentum as time went on.

Then one day Jesus met privately with his father’s legal team. Recorded in the ninth chapter of Mark and known as the “Transfiguration”, it was here that the facts were evidently all laid out on the table: We, the human race, as desirable as we might be, were in fact a convicted race of criminals and outlaws with a rap sheet that included thousands of years of treachery, deceit, murder, rape, war, pillage, carnage, and wholesale wickedness of every imaginable sort. The question begging to be answered was: How was Jesus going to reign over his father’s kingdom of justice, with us at his side as his future bride? Something drastic needed to be done to rectify our legal status, and it was going to be expensive and painful.

Immediately after this meeting we saw Jesus resolutely marching off to Jerusalem, the local seat of government, and declaring his intention of paying off our debt. We learn the rest of the story from the fourteenth and fifteenth chapters of Mark. Jesus was brutally crucified and put to death. But the gospel writers were careful to point out that he did it “for our sake.”

And now that the debt was paid and we were cleared of all charges at the price of his blood, Jesus was free to take his beloved bride to himself and carry her home, no?

The tragedy of the story, the cruel twist, is that the bride-to-be, on the eve of her wedding, declined his offer. Remember that poor peasant girl, the one that he fell in love with? That was us. That continues to be us. What were we thinking? We positively rejected him! If the truth were known, we hardly paid any attention at all to what he had done for us. We couldn’t wait to forget all about him and get back to our old miserable life.

At this, Jesus went away stung to the heart. And we, the human race, the intended bride-to-be, have spent the last two thousand years trying to justify our behavior. We go over and over the facts as we see them. We argue that he is distant and aloof. Our friends all agree that he is only out to enslave simple-minded people. He has endless rules that he expects us to follow, we contend, and for him enough is never enough. We presume that if we take one step out of line we are cast off forever. He says he loves us, we declare, but we are left to suffer and die…and on and on we go as the years go by.

Then one day quite unexpectedly we find ourselves in his house, perhaps at a wedding, or a funeral. In his house we discover that he is deeply loved and honored by the people who know him and work with him and follow him. They can’t stop talking about him and praising him. As we marvel at this, suddenly someone throws open the gospel door and begins to read, and we are confronted with him face-to-face! There he is, holding out his hand and beckoning us once more to join him!

Deeply embarrassed and covered with confusion at this sudden encounter, we find we have nothing to say. We take flight. We run for the nearest door, jump in our car, and drive far, far away as quickly as possible.

But reflecting on this chance meeting leads us to a more realistic and healthy appraisal of the situation:

• After all this time he does still appear to have feelings for us.
• He is, in fact, very rich, which is a consideration.
• We are older now, we have been pushed around a bit, and we have to admit that we have no other offers on the table, no other prospects for a happy future.
• The fact is, if truth be told, we are running out of resources, and may be on the verge of some serious hard times.
• His offer, when seen in this light, does seem quite generous, after all.
• And he did, a long time ago, pay the price for our freedom.
• He seems like the kind of person we could learn to love.
• Perhaps we were too hasty in turning him down?

These new thoughts begin to move about in our brain, and we begin to feel something tender stir in our heart.

And then comes another chance encounter like the one before. Or perhaps we intentionally open that gospel door for another look. Once more, Jesus immediately appears and invites us in. We are still flustered from our earlier meeting, but we are somewhat more prepared, and we feel as though a simple acknowledgement, a thank-you, might be a good way to break the ice. We start to speak, but then it all spills out, “I am so sorry for the way I treated you, for the terrible things I said, for being so thoughtless and cruel. I can scarcely think of my behavior without pain and embarrassment. Is there any way that you could possibly forgive me, give me another chance?…”

Says he, without a moment’s hesitation “I will never reject anyone who comes to me!“ (John 6:37)

Now that’s direct talk! There’s no mistaking his intentions now! Most of us feel a wave of emotional ecstasy when we realize the implications of what we are being given. A fabulous future at the side of this joyous and generous king, with no legal fine print to dash our hopes!

It may be peculiar to imagine, but all of the ecstasy and disappointment and bliss and sorrow and joy that describe human love and marriage in our world is merely a faint reflection of this central and supreme cosmic drama between us, the human race, and Jesus, the king. Saint Paul, in his letter to the Ephesians, describes human marriage as “A great mystery. I mean it refers to Christ and the church.” (Ephesians 5:32) We are the single object of this divine invitation, and if we have a beating human heart we can respond enthusiastically in the affirmative.

There will come a time when Jesus will have to move ahead with this marriage. He will be forced to dismiss those who have persistently refused his offer. That event, found in Matthew’s gospel chapter 25, will be known as the “Final Judgment” and it will be a very sad time indeed. It is true that many people will turn at the last minute and come back, especially those who have been kind and generous and humanitarian during their lifetime. “Come’” he will say. “Come and receive the inheritance that has been prepared for you, since the foundation of the world!”

Those others, however, who never thought of anyone but themselves, will have to go. With enormous sadness and a breaking heart, Jesus will watch as a sizeable portion of humanity walks away in one final act of senseless defiance. Where will they go? What will they do? Who will take care of them?

It is far from certain that Jesus will ever get over this bitter and tragic disappointment. Nor is it certain that we will soon forget that awful day. The only thing we do know for certain is that the choice is entirely up to us. Happiness and joy (and a complete make-over!) as the bride-to-be, or loneliness and desolation in a dark and terrifying void.

The gospel comes to a close at this point, and we can imagine Jesus saying, “Please end my heart’s torment and say yes to my love.“

The Christian scripture concludes with a book known as “Revelation”, and that book describes the day of our future happiness, our wedding day. It’s not possible to even imagine what that day will be like, except that we will somehow be prepared and adorned, as a bride is adorned for her husband. (Rev. 19)

A 1970s love song from the Carpenters might describe our wedding day:

“We’ve only just begun, to live, white lace and promises. A kiss for luck and we’re on our way, we’ve only begun!”

Christianity is not a philosophy. It is certainly not a set of rules and regulations. Nor is it irrelevant or outdated or stale or boring. Those things describe what will be left if we pass up this incredible opportunity.

What inexpressible joy awaits us if we simply step through the gospel door and say yes!

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