“The Bible says to Republican, evangelical conservatives Matthew 25:41, ‘Depart from me, you who are cursed.’ Indeed, evangelical Republicans sold their soul years ago.” DG

I know this will be shocking, but from time to time I get hate mail…

And some of those times, it is an excellent opportunity to instruct my readers. This is one of those times. Here, then, is the email I received on 2/28/2021, followed by the email I replied with. By the way, the “heroic writer” blocked me before I could even respond to him, so I do not feel the least twinge of guilt doing so here, and with an added dash of sarcasm.

Hello, DG, good to hear from you. Your email was interesting, to say the least. I know there is likely no way I could ever get you to understand the obvious truth in my column that babies in the womb are living beings and therefore should not be butchered and killed, but I very likely will be able to help others through an “abortion” of your email. So kindly bear with me while I pull it apart limb by limb, just as happens to those precious babies you so callously disregard.

You begin by saying, “Is the Bible inerrant, completely true, inspired by God? If so, what does the Bible say about abortion? Nothing, that’s right, nothing. If abortion isn’t in the Bible God never intended to call it murder.” DG, Tylenol is going to love you on my behalf; just having to read something so devoid of logic or sensibility makes my head hurt. What say we insert any other life-ending word or phrase into your sentence and see if you can see the problem. How about “If Holocaust isn’t in the Bible God never intended to call it murder,” or “If slicing a throat isn’t in the Bible God never intended to call it murder,” or “If cutting someone’s brake lines and causing them to plunge over a cliff isn’t in the Bible God never intended to call it murder.” None of those things are, in fact, in the Bible. Nor by the way are lesser things such as me shoving a sixteen penny nail up your nose or turning a bunch of rabid racoons loose in your house as you sleep at night. God expected humans, made in His image, to have enough intelligence to understand that the words “thou shalt not kill” apply to any innocent human life, no matter the location (i.e. the womb) or the methodology (i.e. abortion). In your case, He may have given you too much credit.

From there you say, “If God meant abortion to be called murder God had 788,280 words in the King James Bible to plainly say so.” Once again, let’s apply your formula to other things and see how well it works. What say we try this one: “If God meant dropping someone into a volcano to be called murder God had 788,280 words in the King James Bible to plainly say so.” Or how about “If God meant staking someone to a mound of giant ants and allowing them to be eaten to death to be called murder God had 788,280 words in the King James Bible to plainly say so.” Again, the fact that God did not use the word “abortion” in Scripture means exactly as much as the fact that He did not use the word fratricide, genocide, infanticide, patricide, amicicide, episcopicide, femicide, mariticide, or hundreds of others.

Not content with that, though, you move on to say “Abortion, infanticide and child abandonment were permitted under Roman law at the time of Jesus but, Jesus said nothing about either.” Now, to be clear, it seems that you just advocated for all three. That is a pretty gruesome set of positions to take. If I am wrong, and you only advocate for one or two out of the three, do please tell me which ones are which. But don’t stop there; be sure and tell me as well how you justify cherry-picking Roman support/the “silence of Jesus” and regarding some as right and others as wrong. But do please go step farther, as well, and remind me why Rome should be used to justify anything, since they also regarded slavery as legal, butchered anyone whoever stood in their way, and crucified Jesus…

After that, you say, “The Bible tells you it doesn’t consider you alive until you take your first breath. Genesis 2:7 says Adam was formed without life and received life through God’s breath; the biblical translation means ‘breath of life’. So, the Bible says when you can breathe, on your own, you’re alive (a person) or can sustain life outside the womb without medical help. You are alive when you are no longer part of your mother and can breathe on your own.”

“The Bible tells you it doesn’t consider you alive until you take your first breath?” Oh, DG, a grade schooler with a modicum of logic could dismantle this with one question: Is the one man who was never a baby at all what you believe represents normalcy for every other human who did start life as a baby? If He is, then by all means get rid of all your clothes and go live in a garden…

Not one other human being ever had God “breathe into his nostrils the breath of life;” just Adam. From that point on every human being literally begins to breathe in the womb through the oxygen carried to them from their mother’s bloodstream. Even more bewildering, though, you segue from that fallacy into an even greater one, saying “So, the Bible says when you can breathe, on your own, you’re alive (a person) or can sustain life outside the womb without medical help. You are alive when you are no longer part of your mother and can breathe on your own.”

DG… do you realize what you have just done? If not, take some time and mosey on over to the ICU of most any local hospital. In that place you will find a great number of people who for the time being cannot breathe on their own, and who if all medical treatment were withdrawn would quickly die. And yet most of them will recover quite nicely, thank you, unless someone with your views happens to be the doctor or nurse and simply starts unplugging all of the “not living” people.

Then you opine, “Doctors call a fetus a baby because that is the term uneducated people understand. Doctors know a fetus is not a baby.” Ah, there we go. It usually does not take long for the characteristic hubris and arrogance of the pro-abortion crowd to surface. I will be sure to let all of my “uneducated” pro-life doctor, nurse, lawyer, business owner, teacher, and other intelligent friends know that they are, in fact, uneducated, since “DG” said so.

From there you wax legal, saying “In Summerfield v. Superior Court (1985) Arizona’s courts found that even a viable fetus was not a ‘person’.” So, we are going to decide morality on the basis of legality? I’m sure Dred Scott and the Jews “legally” murdered in Nazi Germany will be glad to know that is how things work.

You then, DG, turn to Ezekiel 37 to try and prove your point, once again using the “breath of life” argument. That was a prophecy of the rebirth of the nation of Israel, DG, and has literally nothing at all to do with abortion. I find it exceptionally intriguing how you began your diatribe with “What does the Bible say about abortion? Nothing, that’s right, nothing. If abortion isn’t in the Bible God never intended to call it murder,” and then violate your own twisted principle by taking passages wildly out of context to try and insert your pet beliefs into them.

The next approach you take is to say, “An article attributed to Billy Graham stated that many who were told their child will be born with a defect actually had healthy babies. Graham offered no verifiable, researched proof.” DG, that proof is so abundant that anyone can find it if they choose to. I have an easy time finding it; every week one of those babies whom a doctor tried to convince his mother to abort is sitting in my church listening to me preach. He is a fine, healthy young man, with four children of his own.

From there you repeat the error of many who have come before you, saying “Exodus 21:22-25 describes a pregnant woman that comes between two men fighting. The woman miscarries but had she died it would have been ‘eye for an eye’ justice. The Bible treats the miscarriage as property loss not murder.”

You could not be more wrong, DG. The Bible does not say or mean miscarriage. It says, “so that her fruit depart from her, and yet no mischief follow…”

That means that, after getting hit during the fight, the woman went into labor and gave birth. Her fruit “departed from her,” the baby came out. But then it says “…and yet no mischief follow…” that means that the baby lived. She gave birth because of getting hit when the two men were fighting, she went into labor, but the baby lived. In that case, the man who hit her and caused her to go into labor is still punished, he has to pay monetary restitution, because after all, there will probably be some medical expenses incurred for her and the baby.

You turn your attention from there to “ecclesiastical support” for your position, stating, “In 1972, messengers at the Southern Baptist convention’s annual meeting passed a resolution supporting abortion under almost unlimited conditions.” DG, the Southern Baptist Convention also supported slavery for many decades…

Then you say, “Roe v Wade saves women’s lives.” Really? I find that very interesting since according to U.N. estimates, over 100 million girls have been killed simply because they are girls. It is called sex selective abortion. It sounds to me like Roe v. Wade and comparable laws around the world do the exact opposite of “saving women’s lives.” Furthermore, the overwhelming majority of abortions here in the U.S. and everywhere else around the world are not even remotely “life or death situations,” and I rather suspect even you know that.

“If you don’t like Planned Parenthood then where are the far-right, conservative organizations to help women avoid pregnancies?” is the next gem you came forth with. DG, birth control is literally free from the Health Department, which every last one of us “mean Christians” pay taxes to support. As for Planned Parenthood, I contend that they are not interested in helping women avoid pregnancies; abortion is a big, profitable business.

You then produce the inevitable canard, “If you’ve never adopted a child not genetically your own you can’t truly say you’re against abortion.” Oh, DG… does no one ever learn logic anymore? How about we try this once more. “If you’ve never taken a former prisoner into your home you can’t truly say you’re in favor of rehabilitation.” Or how about “If you’ve never taken an overseas refugee into your home you can’t truly say you’re against genocide.” Or how about “If you’ve never taken a homeless family in you can’t truly say you’re against homelessness.” Or how about “If you’ve never taken a Jew into your home to live you can’t truly say you’re against anti-Semitism.”

Do you like how that works? You see, DG, while many, many, MANY Christians have adopted children, not all are able to do so. And yet that still has absolutely zero to do with abortion. Zero. It is merely a diversionary tactic. Furthermore, our church and most every church I know in some way support Crisis Pregnancy Centers, tending to those very mothers and children you claim we do not care about.

Then comes the gun-control pivot, “If you’re not for gun control then you can’t say you’re against abortion because school shootings are nothing more than abortion at a later date allowed
by gun rights people lacking courage to act on gun legislation.” In fact, DG, I most certainly can say that I am both against abortion and against gun control. See? I actually just said it. And it is actually true. And the ladies who have defended themselves against would-be rapists twice their size, including some ladies in my very own family, would doubtless wonder why you are so pro-rape and anti-woman as to hold the position you hold.

Then you say, “At least an unaware fetus doesn’t have to live a traumatized lifetime of constant fear after a shooting.” Unaware, DG? I take it you have never had children. They are indeed very aware, even in the womb. My wife and I both spoke to our kids in the womb. Then when they were born, with the doctor and my wife both speaking, all three of them instinctively turned their head toward my wife and away from the doctor. Every. Last. One. They knew her voice, DG.

Then you say, “Moreover, it is amazing how the church tolerates the sin of divorce.”

You cannot see my face right now, DG. If you could, you would see it bedecked with the most bewildered look, wondering how people’s once-lucid reasoning skills have morphed into a mental pinball machine…

But I will just let that one pass; some things aren’t worth the time and effort.

You end your screed with, “Stop putting words in God’s mouth.” I haven’t done that, DG, you have. You have also ignored the words in His book. And the facts of science. And the rules of logic. Babes in the womb are very much living persons, DG, and my column gave more than enough facts to support that truth. As such, taking their lives is utterly wrong.

Thank you for giving me the chance to help some people who can be helped by using your email in this way. It surely was not what you intended, but as my kids would say, “life be like that sometimes.”

Oh, and by the way, Matthew 25:41 does not mention Republicans. None of the 788,280 words in the King James Bible do.

Pastor Bo Wagner can be reached by email at 2knowhim@cbc-web.org, and his books and audion downloads are available by clicking the “Store” link above.