One more thing

Some might think from my previous post that I am undecided about the upcoming election. This is not the case. As much as I disagree with the Republican party on things like gun control and tax increases (if it will help someone else, especially a child, get dental care or shelter or a better education, even if it is done in a monumentally inefficient way, then, please, take my money. Take as much of it as you need.), I think there is no question that there are certain issues that the Republicans have right. It IS our job as Christians to take a stand for righteousness. And, like it or not, and you may not, the Bible is exceedingly clear on some issues that will face us tomorrow. I used to think that I as a Christian did not have a right to demand that those who were not Christians adhere to the same standards that I upheld. But I was wrong. God is the God of the world. His authority, His supremacy, His will for how things should be done, apply to the righteous and the unrighteous. The difference is that Christians realize it.
Writer Tony Woodlief wrote an article you may want to read (http://online.worldmag.com/2008/11/03/what-does-it-mean-to-be-a-christian-voter/). He writes about how he has gradually allowed the abortion issue to become the central issue around which he casts his vote. He says : "There is...painful clarity that comes with single-mindedness. Jobs, highways, schools, economic growth—none of these matter if we're willing to sanction murder to get them. Perhaps my mentality is a recipe for political isolation for Christians, for the losing of elections, and maybe even a loss of national greatness. I worry that the alternative, however, is to lose something far greater, which is our ability to discern good from evil, and to act accordingly."
It is all too easy to let the world's mentality veil our clear sight about right and wrong. It's especially easy when we are educated, when we read The New Yorker, when we don't want to seem uninformed, rigid, narrow. But tolerance and broad-mindedness are not Biblical. God's way IS narrow. It is open to everyone but the conditions are specific and clear.
I couldn't agree more that we are under an obligation to care for the lives that are already in this world, but to me, taking a stand against abortion is the only logical start to this conviction. If you don't start valuing life at the beginning, it seems to me like obsessing over how to keep the worms out of your tomatoes when you sat on your porch and let the birds carry off the seeds.