A Thermonuclear Trumpet

Knocking Down the Jericho Wall of Abortion Apathy

 

By: Rolley Haggard

The apostle Paul noted that “if the trumpet gives an uncertain sound, no one will prepare himself to the battle.” His point: If what we're hearing doesn't sound to us like a clear call from God, even when it is, we're unlikely to mobilize.

History bears this out. It is precisely what happened with the transatlantic slave trade. One of the reasons it took so long to end that horrific business is that too few Christians believed that God wanted them to actively oppose it. The biblical message they heard on the issue was confused and indistinct, like a trumpet giving an uncertain sound. As a result there was no consensus, no united front, and slavery continued.

It wasn't that the message was not loud enough: Everyone heard the noise that was being made over slavery. It was that the message was not clear enough: The people of God were getting mixed signals and thus weren't sure what their responsibility was.

From abolitionists they heard biblical arguments against slavery. From some clergy, willing for different reasons to justify slavery, they heard other supposedly “biblical” arguments that either sanctioned slavery, or at the very least downplayed how important it was to God that it be abolished.

The result? The church did not rally to the battle, at least not in sufficient numbers. What the church ought to have done, and arguably could have done, peacefully, the state had to do by bloody civil war.

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Rolley Haggard is a feature writer for BreakPoint.