by Pastor Nathan Cherry, The Family Policy Council of West Virginia.
The issues of life and marriage are not merely cultural, social, or political issues. They are biblical moral issues. Unfortunately, marriage and the sanctity of life have been so politicized that many pastors have failed in their duties to preach and teach in light of the Gospel.
Unwilling to offend anyone in their church, many pastors have abandoned biblical preaching on marriage and life in favor of a more appealing message of God’s love. To be sure, the message that God loves all people is important. But refusing to engage these moral issues facing our congregations is a disservice that has led to misunderstanding and lack of biblical literacy on these topics. The shepherds charged with guarding the flock have been asleep while the wolves have crept in and led the sheep astray.
I hear the excuses all the time. The one I get most often from fellow pastors is that they don’t preach on “political” issues because they only preach the Gospel and the Bible. This is a poor attempt to sound spiritual while failing to engage biblical moral issues in the church. The idea that the sanctity of life is not found within Scripture is absurd. Remember what God said about offering children to Molech (Lev. 18:21, 1 Kings 11:7)? This provides a biblical basis for preaching and teaching against abortion and standing for life. Ravi Zacharias said it this way:
“Can we really carry a burden for the world if we don’t carry a burden for every human life?”
A truly Gospel-centric pastor will no more be silent on the evils facing our culture than he will be silent on sin and repentance. Life is not a political issue. It is a biblical moral issue.
