The Travesty of Talk

As I was reading tonight, I put together a few thoughts I would like to be able to come back to later. So, here goes.

We all know that talk is cheap. Perhaps talkers are also easily deluded. Perhaps there is in talking the potential for travesty, for deception, for confusion, for distraction. Perhaps evil is found in a multitude of words.

For example, take a person who talks a lot about God, who talks about Jesus, who talks about the Bible, who talks about church, who talks about being a Christian, but whose life is a far cry from Jesus' life, whose actions are not consistent with Jesus', whose attitudes are not like Jesus', whose relationships are a mess, whose finances are worse, and whose life is generally undesirable...

What is the result of this person's life?

The result is a goodless and Godless and powerless and changeless and costless and lifeless "gospel" which is not even a gospel at all because it is not even good news.

On the flip side let's talk, for example, about abortion. Let's talk about women's rights, let's talk about the right to choose, let's talk about politics and party lines, let's talk about "fetuses", about Roe V. Wade, let's talk about terminating a pregnancy, let's talk about the woman's body, let's talk... talk... talk... talk...

The result of this talking is an evilless and intellectualized and murderless and shameless killing of an innocent baby.

The truth is, causing a premature delivery of a baby so that it will set aside to struggle for breath and die is a kind of evil hard difficult to believe it is real. The truth is, pulling a baby part way out of her mother in order to kill her is a kind of raw evil I cannot imagine any person or society can come to accept. The truth is, finding a baby's heart and fingers and toes and nose on an ultrasound in order to inject her heart with drugs that cause cardiac arrest and death is an heinous evil that does not allow any person to sit idly by and claim innocence.

The truth is, in Jesus Christ is found life, hope, peace, redemption, power, love, purpose, future, security, and joy. The truth is, Jesus Christ transforms relationships, brokenness, attitudes, bondage, addictions, pain.

It can be helpful to talk about good and evil. Of the utmost importance, however, it that good and evil must never be reduced to talk.

UPDATE IN RESPONSE TO COMMENT:
In the comment, there was a well-said conclusion to remember that what this is all about is a person's soul. I am in complete agreement. Talk is cheap. Talk is also a travesty. All the TALK about abortion has conditioned us not to be too offended at it. Perhaps the least offensive method of abortion I know is to find a baby's heart and inject it with poison to kill it. Worse yet is to have a live birth and just watch her die in full view of the mom and/or medical professionals who could comfort and save the baby. Equally revolting is to deliver the baby part way and then kill her before she is fully delivered. There is no way around the severity of this evil.

I know people get scared. Bad things happen. However, without glossing things over - what kind of soul can do this to their own child? Typically, I think even scared and overwhelmed people's hearts melt at the sight of their child. Our culture has whitewashed this issue with all the talking. It has shifted our attention from what abortion really is and focused us on the mom, who may very well be in a bad place in life, or other extraneous circumstances. However, one way or another, every time an abortion takes place, a mom enters a facility and agrees with a medical professional on a very practical way to kill the baby growing inside her. There is ultimately no sugar coating this issue. It becomes very down-to-earth, very practical, very simple, and very ugly.

By no means do I have my life altogether. I am in need of the grace and mercy of Jesus Christ every day. Apart from Him, I would be adrift in confusion, hopelessness, and darkness. Abortion, like other sins, puts us in need of forgiveness. And even abortion can do nothing to separate us from the love of Christ. What is not reasonable, however, is to go on with our heads in the sand. Forgiveness is contingent upon repentance and confession. Finally, the travesty of talk is in masking the true nature of abortion so that repentance and confession are clouded (and perhaps removed from many people). If we no longer "get it", we're not in a place we can confess it and turn away.