I do try to avoid politics in this blog. Political concerns are temporary. Politics change. And there are those who lock onto a particular political party for their entire life time, even if the party in question changes completely. These are people you have to feel sorry for because they have no vision in them. Personally, I feel that matters of the Spirit are far more important. What I look for first in a candidate is their personal belief and how they live their lives. Politics just are not important to me if they are actively following Christ; although, if they are actively following Christ their politics will fall into line.

          But there are times when politics and Spiritual things cross paths. The recent wave of state’s laws that forbid an abortion if the infant’s heart beat is detectable is one of those things.

          The Bible tells us in Exodus 13 that what opens the womb belongs to God. It is sacred. Killing the infant and then extracting it from the womb kind of spits in God’s face. This comes on the heals of some states allowing for partial birth, or even complete birth, abortion. People on both sides are getting more and more angry. We will soon be seeing abortion as a major political issue.

          It has always been a Biblical issue. My own personal stand on it is that life begins at conception. Not even at the fetal heartbeat, but conception. I am against abortion at any time and for any reason. Some will say that my attitude is that of a typical man. My life is not turned upside down, my body is not affected, I am not the one being stuck with a child. While it is true that my body was not affected by pregnancy (although I wish I had something to blame this mess on), my life was turned upside down and I never thought about being ‘stuck’ with a baby. I was the one who got up during the night, I cleaned up my share of spit up, I changed diapers. But I also walked into the house to squeals of delight and little hands reaching for me to pick him up, I got to look into little eyes staring up at me and growing heavy as he had his final bottle and then the pleasure of a child falling asleep in your arms, I felt the joy of those first steps. All through the growing up years I dealt with the negatives, but I also took joy in all of it, negatives and positives. How could someone even think of abortion?

          However, this blog is not about abortion. It is about something else, something that gets to the heart of feelings that give rise to abortion.

          Alyssa Milano is an actress. I vaguely remember her as the cute little girl in the show “Who’s the Boss.” Actually, I have never seen her in anything else, but I understand she has made a career for herself. She is also one of those Hollywood types who believes that her opinion actually carries weight in the real world. She believes people listen to her. She vehemently opposed the nomination of Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court, saying that the American people did not want someone like him on the bench. When he cleared confirmation, she went ballistic, saying there would be dire consequences. The citizenship did not rise up with pitchforks and torches, however. In fact, most people were quite content with the new judge. In spite of this, Ms Milano still feels her opinions are listened too.

          With the new anti-abortion heartbeat laws, Ms Milano has come up with a novel way to bring the Republican lawmakers who are responsible for such laws to toe the line. She is calling on women around the country to go on a sex strike to force the rescinding of these new laws. This, she believes, will liberate woman nationwide from the cruel oversight of men.

          There are problems with this idea. First, there are many women nationwide who feel abortion is murder. There are many people who simply disagree with abortion. Secondly, Ms Milano feels that these laws all come from men. Many women also serve on the legislatures of those states. Third, Ms Milano apparently feels that men in this country are so motivated by sex that a sex strike will work. And fourth, Ms Milano believes that there are enough women in the country who do not think she is a nut who will follow her advice. And, she is overlooking the obvious; if the strike goes on indefinitely, there will be fewer abortions anyway. The medical profession has determined that sex and conception and birth are somehow all related, something Ms Milano has apparently not been informed on.

          As could be expected, a great many people, liberals and conservatives alike, are reacting to this strike call with disbelief, as though they are waiting for the punch line to the joke. A few days ago, Ms Milano reacted to criticism. She told an interviewer that she was pro-life. She said no one wants an abortion, but sometimes there is no choice. This also raised a few eyebrows. In my experience, I have known quite a few women who desperately wanted an abortion. They didn’t want to have a baby, they were going to go to college, they didn’t like the guy involved in the pregnancy, they didn’t want to quit smoking of quit their particular drug of choice. In fact, I, personally, have never known a woman or girl who was pregnant and needed an abortion because it would affect her health or who was raped or a victim of incest. I know those women exist, but I have never met one. I know women in that position who have wrestled with the possibility of having an abortion, but none went through with it. And I say that knowing that my experience is greater than most. Where there have been abortions, they were very much wanted.

          There is a psychological thing called ‘projection.’ It is the notion that if I feel a certain way, then everyone must feel that way. It seems to affect women more than men, but men fall to it, as well. The person literally pushes their own desires and wants onto someone else, as though they share those thoughts. Marsha and I sat in a church congregation one Sunday morning when the pastor of that church said that pornography was the hardest struggle for all men. Marsha and I looked at each other and said at the same time, “WHAT?”  (loud enough to get people to turn and glare at us) I thought about it and realized that it was his problem and he assumed it was every man’s. This is apparently what Ms Milano is suffering from. She believes that if women will just withhold sex, they can control the male population and she believes it is a universal understanding.

          To me, thinking that everyone thinks like you think, is pure arrogance. We see it a lot, though, both in conservative and liberal thought. This causes people to get angry at others, as though they have neglected to follow the only real school of thought. When you get angry with someone you turn them away and you can never get them back.

          We are all different. We all think differently. It is easy, even natural, for me to see the Bible as completely true, completely God’s word. I wasn’t brought up that way, but I have had a personal encounter with Christ that changed me. For other people, it is easy, even natural, to not believe the Bible in its entirety. They have never had my experience. But if I get angry at them, I will never see them come to Christ.

          So, being one who believes the Word of God completely, let me give you a challenge. Instead of getting angry at these people for their beliefs, let’s pray for them. It might be politics, it might be off the wall opinions, it might be unGodly beliefs. Doesn’t matter. Prayer is more powerful than all.

         Blessings.