Final Thought Here:
Misidentifying the Problem
If Jennie-Mae can save a baby through rhetoric, then I'm completely on her side.
If she can save a baby, and a murder, through a skillful argument, then God bless her.
My point was NOT that we shouldn't use a skillful argument to do good, if in fact we ARE able to do that.
We should always use our gifts and talents to do good.
The point I was making was that we shouldn't misidentify the problem.
The problem is one of sin, not of logic.
We have a problem of deep, penetrating, vile, and egregious sin in our nation.
It's so bad that Billy Graham once said, "If God doesn't judge America, he'll have to apologize to Sodom and Gomorrah."
We need to properly identify the problem, so we can apply the correct solution.
We need the right wrench for the right bolt.
If American can be saved, it will be saved by the preaching of the gospel.
If America can be saved, it will need a spiritual solution, because the problem is a spiritual problem.
The Rational Train of Thought
Let's think about it rationally:
How do you convince a person to stop doing a wrong thing, when THEY DON'T CARE ABOUT WRONG IN THE FIRST PLACE?
If they don't care about right and wrong, then it doesn't matter if you DO prove a thing is wrong.
THAT is the problem.
It would not matter if you prove abortion is wrong; people will still just do it because they want to do it.
It's a problem of sin.
It is futile using rhetoric to prove a thing is evil...
if a person is happy doing evil.
Proving abortion is wrong will have no affect on people who WANT to do wrong.
Final Questions
A. Are there some people who still have enough conscience they are capable of hearing, who would benefit from explanations and rhetoric?
Sure.
We should do whatever we can to reach those people.
B. If we reach this minority of people who still have a conscience, and convince them to do right, could that save some lives?
Sure.
We should always try to reach people, and do good, in whatever ways we can.
C. If we seek this minority of people who actually care about doing right, and we convince them to do right, will it change the laws or the culture?
No.
It won't change a thing on the macro level.
Our nation is full of people who WANT to do evil, and don't actually care about right and wrong.
So we'll still be a nation that callously murders babies on a tremendous scale.
D. If the churches turn back to their spiritual weapons, like prayer, and preaching of the gospel, is there any hope of saving our country and changing our culture?
Yes.
Our country may already be too far gone; I really don't know.
But it's at least possible for spiritual change to happen across a nation.
It's possible.
Conclusion:
1. We should always do whatever we can to reach people, and turn them toward God, and exhort them to do right.. inasmuch as we can.
2. However, if we can prove, through logic and rhetoric, that abortion is wrong, it still won't affect most people... because most people WANT to do wrong.
3. The primary problem is a spiritual problem: people simply WANT to do evil. For a spiritual problem we must rely on spiritual solutions, like prayer and preaching of the gospel
4. If we think a human solution like rhetoric, will solve a spiritual problem like willful sin, then we're really applying the wrong solution to the problem... and it's not going to work. A few people will listen and be affected, but using rhetoric to prove a thing is wrong will not affect a whole nation of people who WANT to do wrong. It's like putting out a fire by throwing more fire on it.
I won't be posting in this thread again.
God bless everyone.
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