Due
to my belief in the regulative principle of worship, I’m
not exactly the world’s biggest Christmas-keeper. Don’t
get me wrong: it’s not that I’m a sour-faced Scrooge,
or that I don’t think highly of the Incarnation of our Lord;
I do. In fact, it is because of my reverence for Christ
and His Word that I resist any attempt to make the keeping of
holy days (besides the Lord’s Day) a matter of moral obligation
rather than of Christian liberty (Romans 14:5-6; Colossians 2:16-17).
But the whole
Advent season can nevertheless be useful—and not just for
Macy’s and Sears. The Christian apologist may find this
season an opportunity to speak some truth to postmodern Americans,
many of whom rarely let their minds drift anywhere close to the
subject of religion during the rest of the year.
In fact, as
I pondered the narrative of Christ’s birth I noticed an
interesting application to the abortion debate. The terms of this
debate, unfortunately, are too often set by our unbelieving culture,
which holds a decidedly bleak view of childbearing and mothering.
Children, seen through this lens, are at best an inconvenience
and at worst an insufferable obstacle to the happiness of selfish
men and women. The solution for many? Get rid of ‘em before
they’re born.
The Gospel
narrative, however, couldn’t contradict this prejudice more
sharply. It reveals the “mystery of Christ” (Ephesians
3:4) in which God determined to save sinners through the birth
of a Child. Think of that—the salvation of the world
effected by the hampering of Mary’s career! The Christmas
story explains the glorious truth that the seed of the woman has
been born to crush the serpent (Genesis 3:15). Children are the
heritage of the Lord (Psalm 127:3), and this Child above all was
valuable.
We also can’t
miss the testimony of Luke 1:41 and its relevance to the debate.
When Mary, carrying the unborn Jesus, met her cousin Elizabeth
(pregnant with John the Baptist), John “leapt” in
Elizabeth’s womb at the sound of Mary’s voice. Abortionists
tell us that an unborn child isn’t a person. It’s
a strange “non-person,” of course, that can rejoice
at the sound of a woman’s voice. Barbara Boxer and Bill
Clinton may not have become alive until they were born, but John
was different—thus it’s pretty hard to imagine Mary
or Elizabeth heading for the local Judean abortion clinic.
This biblical
perspective on life, childbearing, and abortion, so intertwined
with the story of Christ’s birth, is part of the message
that we must get out to our culture. We cannot allow our opponents
to claim the philosophical high ground; their presuppositions
must be challenged and their dogmas contradicted. In a sense,
that’s what the Advent is all about. The Son of God, the
divine Logos, became man in order to bring His people
to Himself and so that these people might glorify Him in all they
think or speak or do. Christ is not merely a babe in a manger;
He is Lord of all creation, and by Him all things material and
intellectual consist (Colossians 1:16-17). His Word is our authority,
and our task is to go and teach all nations to obey that
authority.
So whether
you’re “regarding the day” or not; whether your
house contains a Douglas fir or a life-size statue of John Knox,
accept my good wishes—and remember the first coming and
intellectual lordship of Christ the next time you discuss abortion.
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Christopher
Alexion is a homeschooled high school senior with interests
in a Calvinistic view of apologetics, philosophy, and
politics. He pursues these interests through writing,
and several of his articles have appeared on the Internet.
When not immersed in an essay or good book, however,
he can often be found listening to secular music (from
the Baroque era), working on projects around the house,
and—though not often enough—playing baseball.
He lives in New Castle, Delaware. |
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