How to be a Pro-choice Christian

“The Christian Left” are three words that go together as well as “Hillary and evangelical.”  If you have ever scratched your pro-life head and pondered, "How can millions of professing Christians be pro-choice?” I would like to answer that question in an effort to keep you from exploding the next time you site a “Jesus was a Liberal” bumber sticker.

As an evangelical Christian, you read the Bible with several unshakeable pre-suppositions. You believe the Bible is the inspired, infallible, inerrant Word of God. You believe the Bible’s major focus is God’s plan of redemption so that He can be most glorified.  Because you hold these pre-suppositions, you read the Bible and interpret it in a very specific way.  You submit to it.

Your pro-choice Christian friends interpret the Bible a different way.  Why?  Because they have different pre-suppositions than you do.  Pro-choice Christians approach the Bible believing that the Good Book is a group of stories that may or may not be true. Their main purpose is to teach us how to love each other, especially the poor and downtrodden. In other words, they are liberation theologists.

Evangelicals approach the Bible by asking, "What did the author intend to teach?"  Pro-choice liberation theologists ask, "Forget what the author intended, what does the Bible mean to me?"  Furthermore, liberation theologists combine Scripture with reason, experience and science.

Liberation theology teaches that:

1) The Bible PRIMARILY teaches us how to treat each other.

2) Doing good deeds is more important than good theology.

3) God is predominantly concerned with the poor and how we treat them (i.e. justice).

4) Jesus came to earth to show us what true love is and how we should treat each other. Jesus was not incarnated to save the earth but to represent God’s immersion into man’s oppression. Jesus died because he upset the political and religious system of the day.

5) Sin isn’t about angering God with works of lawlessness, but more a result of the absence of love for one another.

6) Salvation is less concerned with life after death and more concerned with making God’s kingdom come on earth through equality for all.

7) The church does not exist to save souls but to battle for the injustices of the oppressed.

Liberation theology has roots in Marxism (you cannot be happy under capitalism with one person living better than another).  Dietrich Boenhoffer believed that theology must start with a "view from below." In other words, taking care of our fellow man is THE most important aspect of Christianity. “Forget salvation and correct theology, we gotta do stuff.”

With that, Liberation theologists, i.e. pro-choice Christians, believe that what is most important is living a faith that primarily addresses the needs and concerns of the hurting.  Pro-choice Christians believe abortion is wrong, but to force a woman to have a baby when she doesn’t want to is just not loving.  

Pro-choice Christians are able to sleep just fine at night because they believe they are actually doing God’s most important work. They have little concern for the salvation of souls but a burning desire to prove their love by helping the poor. You see, liberation theology, which looks very admirable on the surface, is in fact a works righteous religion.

Liberation theology allows pride to stay firmly in place while they build habitats for humanity in an effort to either work their way to heaven or prove to the world how good they are. Are Christians supposed to "do justly and love mercy?" Absolutely.  But that desire flows from a heart that has been shown immeasurable mercy when God saved us.

At its inaugural press conference, recently launched Christian Alliance for Progress announced their desire to reclaim Christianity and take back their faith from the religious right.  If we are to take them at their word, liberation theologists believe in a different Gospel than we do.  That is bad news.  Paul warned the Galatians that if they believe another gospel, they are not saved.  John warned that if you believe in the wrong Jesus, you are not really a Christian.

Am I saying that all liberation theologists are going to hell? Of course not.  But we do have every right to be concerned about the salvation of every pro-choice Christian we know. 

We don’t need to have a political debate with our neighbors; we need to start witnessing to them.

By Todd Friel Email: todd@wayofthemasterradio.com Click here for bio and archived articles