We believe that scripture alone should be the foundation for everything we think, say and do as Christians (2 Tim 3:16-17, Acts 17:11); this is especially true for the practice of abolition.  If the Bible is God’s revelation to man, and if the Bible is an account of what God is doing to abolish wickedness from our world, then any attempt we make to mirror our Father’s endeavor should reflect what we see Him do in that revelation.  All five tenets of abolition are justified and grounded in the conviction that God’s word alone must be the foundation for everything we believe.

Two theological propositions in particular undergird every abolitionist movement in history.  The first is that all human beings are made in the image of God (Gen 1:27, 9:6), and the second is that God Himself became a man to redeem man from his sins (Jn 1:14, Is 9:6).  As anti-slavery abolitionist William Lloyd Garrison once stated, the image of God in man “is a death-blow to all claims of superiority, to all charges of inferiority, to all usurpation, to all oppressive dominion.”

Often Christian activists will exclude the gospel from their efforts because those they are engaging don’t believe in the Bible, and it is therefore concluded that they must be won by reason built on common ground.  This however commits the Pretended Neutrality Fallacy, and ignores the biblical assertion that there is no common ground between the word of God and the wisdom of man (Matt 12:30, Jas 4:4, Luke 16:13).

We believe that the gospel is central to changing the hearts and minds of those in our culture.  Abortion is sin, and the only answer to sin is repentance and a saving faith in the finished work of Christ.  Those who want to leave the gospel out of the discussion are leaving out the cure; parents are sacrificing their children precisely because they do not have the gospel, and we aim to bring that truth as salt and light into conflict with the evil of our age.

We demand the immediate and total abolition of abortion.  Many activists will compromise with abortion so that laws which allegedly work toward its abolition can be passed (for example, allowing abortion in the case of rape).  We however recognize that this practice is neither strategically sound nor consistently Christian.  Compromise with sin breeds more sin (1 Cor 5:6).  Throughout scripture, God never calls us to repent gradually, but requires a radical cutting off of our wickedness (Matt 5:23-30).  Jesus did not tell sinners “from now on, sin less and less,” He told them, “from now on sin no more.” (John 8:11)

If the cure for abortion and other evils is the gospel of Jesus Christ, then abolition can only be carried out by those to whom the gospel has been entrusted (Matt 28:19-20).  The body of Christ alone is empowered to be salt and light in a dark world (Matt 5:13-16); we alone expose evil by our light (Eph 5:6-11); we alone destroy the ungodly thinking that defends evil (2 Cor 10:3-5); we alone can carry out the work of abolition.

As reflected throughout these tenets, we rely on the providence of God, not the pragmatism of man.  Our beliefs flow from scripture, so they will seem foolish to worldly thinkers.  However, we recognize that “the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men,” (1 Cor 1:25) and we seek to conquer evil by His wisdom and strength, not by our own (Ps 20:7).

Worldly Christians discard the gospel, preferring to meet unbelievers on their own terms using their own wisdom; we rely on God’s solution to sin, the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.  Worldly Christians join with unbelievers who are opposed to abortion so that they can have greater numbers; we recognize that our God doesn’t care about numbers (Jdg 7), that there can be no union between light and darkness, and that the worldview held by unbelievers is the very thing which makes abortion acceptable in the first place.  Worldly Christians will compromise with evil, falling for the lie that sin can be regulated into gradual submission; we fall on our knees before the living God in repentance, and call our nation to immediately do the same.

Our trust for victory is solely in God.  We may be personally defeated, but our principles never.  Truth, justice, reason and humanity must and will gloriously triumph as we stand on God’s Word by the power of His Holy Spirit.