Eve in Exile by Rebekah Merkle

Eve in Exile

And the Restoration of Femininity

Rebekah Merkle

Published 2016

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WHAT EVER DID GOD MAKE WOMEN FOR? 

This is one of the multitude of questions Rebekah Merkle answers in Eve in Exile. She contends that modern day feminists have led women to a "boring dead end," and even feminists no longer understand what they are demanding. However, Christian women are not doing any better by "escaping" and "romanticising" the past, as a way to combat current feminism. Holding nothing back, Merkle offers an encouraging, victorious argument for (Christian) women by presenting our biblical calling and feminine attributes. It's time to "bring Eve back from exile."

God has called women to change the world through the gospel. Men cannot do this job alone if women are distracted. We have come to believe the lie that being a stay-at-home mom (SAHM) is a trap compared to the working/career woman, who experiences absolute fulfillment.

Scripture is clear that those who focus on saving their own lives will lose it; whereas, those who lay down their lives for others will find fulfillment. And yet, the world tells us that women who pursue their own dreams are the winners. Furthermore, it is not men telling women what to do. We have liberty, and we do this to ourselves.

Merkle includes a short overview of the history of feminism: overall, the message was to divorce women from the responsibility of fertility. Men were free from accountability of children, and it wasn't fair for a woman to remain celibate if she had to avoid pregnancy; hence birth control and abortion, which provided "the emancipation from restrictive biology."

After WWII, housewives became discontent. America had a technological growth spurt and modern day conveniences made work efficient and simple. Work became demeaning and women complained, bored of the technological blessings. While women of the 50s were not oppressed, the ideals for women became superficial. 

Betty Friedan taught that women would be happier to leave hubby, kids, and home and pursue education or their own career. This idea was embraced wholeheartedly; but was Friedan right? Did it cure discontentment? 

There is more evidence to support that women are less happy than ever. I am leaving out the details that Merkle includes, including how many women take antidepressants today (not to mention the divorce rates, counseling, stress and anxiety, etc.). Merkle states that what women truly needed was not a sexual revolution or careers, but God's grace. 

The idealistic, superficial shallow view of homemaking of the 50s needed to be chucked. It was a lie. 

To be fair, feminism sought to address essential issues:  

• education of women
• end of slavery
• drunk husbands and fathers as social ills
• voting and citizen rights
• end back-alley abortions 
• superficial ideal of housewife in the 50s as wrong
• pornography and prostitution are both social ills.

However, today's third wave feminism - no one really knows what it stands for - is just a lot of angry women, lacking cohesive objectives. All of feminism's intentions have already been accomplished; all that is left is to erase femininity completely.  Today's feminists embrace, approve, and celebrate many of the destructive practices that first and second wave feminism brought to light. This is absolutely backwards and confusing, especially the part where they are now advocating for transgenderism, men using women's restrooms, and men ruining sports for women indefinitely! But I digress. 

SO WHAT ARE WOMEN DESIGNED FOR?

Work is GOOD. "God did not create Eve so Adam could have someone pretty to look at." Eve was made to help Adam subdue AND fill the earth. God designed women to be interesting. We were not created to be unable to think or speak for ourselves.

Women were designed to sacrifice for others, as we are natural caregivers. That is why replacing the work of caring for home and family with a career cannot make women happy. Also, the corporate world is the wrong setting. This is where women feel cooped up and forced to compete with men. 

Women were designed for motherhood, but feminism separates women from their natural creation purpose. We were designed for a specific role with fixed limits on our feminine nature, and we must live within these boundaries while honoring God's intention. 

We need to return to our abandoned stations and guard them by manning and securing our own homes, families, and lives, disciplining ourselves through faithfulness, obedience, and sacrifice. "Mothers are raising the next generation of souls forever." 

Merkle points out that just because there is an obvious difference between two things does not imply that one is better than the other. Feminists hate that women and men are different with complementary roles. 

The author examines 1 Corinthians 2 and explains how this verse is not about inferiority or superiority, but rather that men and women are equal in the Lord. She shows how submission out of love and servitude gloriously resembles Christ. "Submitting to one's OWN husband is the most powerful, magnificent, intoxicating, concentrated picture of glory. When a woman submits to her husband, then glory grows. When a woman rejects submission, glory fades." 

The fruit of feminism is rotten to its core and barren; its beauty diminished. Women presenting themselves as sex objects or celebrating their sexual "liberty,' which is not the way the woman was created to share herself with her husband, is ugly. Sexual slavery is the standard in our culture today, and women falsely believe they are finally in control of their lives because they bypassed the submission part. 

Running away from the scriptural requirement to submit to one man, as an equal, within the protection of marriage, has resulted in women living in submission to numerous men, with no protection at all, and with her bearing the entire weight of responsibility for the outcome. The fruit of this lifestyle must either be killed or she must raise the child alone. 

The Titus Two Woman: Women WITH households (tend to be married and with children) are called to RUN THEIR OWN HOUSEHOLDS. "Women managing their own households are cities on a hill," raising up the next generation, passing down their wisdom to younger women, and impacting the rest of the world. 

Feminism is just rebelliousness against God's creation, design, and command to women to help fill the earth, preferring sexual freedom from accountability and presenting birth control and abortion as basic human rights. 

WHAT ARE WOMEN TO DO? 

Christian women need to recover a sense of importance of the home, and being wives and mothers. Recognize that feminism focuses on the group - womankind - and its first duty is to thyself. A married woman's priority is to her home, husband, and family. If her work extends beyond the home and family, it should return in blessings to her husband and children, not take away from them. 

A woman chasing her own dreams, beauty, and pleasure suffers loss of fulfillment. SAHM need to change their perspective about their work, challenge themselves to think creatively, and go beyond doing the bare minimum. "But to whom much is given, much is required." Consider how materially blessed we are. 

We have been given talents, and we need to turn a profit; invest what God has given to us. Pursue excellence. Improve, create, and build. Glorify God with your attitude. Be an influencer instead of being influenced. Ask God to show you how to turn a profit with what He has given you. 

The home is essential work and God wants women to tend to it.The home is power: it nurtures, feeds, provides rest, safety, and a pleasant atmosphere, gives shelter, and fosters loyalty. Don't bury your talents. "Working outside the home is not prohibited so long as it makes the home more potent, glorious, compelling."

"When Christian women trust God and obey Him, He will never trick us." Women influence the world by making it attractive, pleasant, and good. How many have been lured by the lies of false beauty? Our job is to make holiness beautiful. We draw people to the truth by showing beauty in Christ. 

This is difficult, I know, but the author says: If you "lay [your] dreams down, He gives [you] fulfillment. Bury [your] own ambition, and He returns it with interest." 

Imitate God in [y]our fruitfulness. It will look like what God shows [you] is beauty, not [y]our ridged expectations. Be the glory of your husband. Build your house. Work hard. Be ambitious and productive. Learn more, run harder. Use the gifts God has given you, the desires he has given you, the constraints he has given to you, and figure out how to weave those into something glorious, unique, compelling, special, beautiful that cannot be contained and beckons a broken world to come and see that that Lord is good.

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This book targets women, particularly Christian women, and obviously wives and mothers, although there is a message for singles. It is a difficult topic and requires a change in thinking. This is about obedience, and we do not have the right to ignore God's commands or adopt the world's ways. All of us will be held to account for our  disobedience in this area. The author makes clear that every woman has different talents and is in unique circumstances, and her work will look completely different than everyone else's. It is your challenge to find out how to tend to your garden by obeying God and glorifying Him in the role He has given you. By trusting and obeying Him, we not only find fulfillment, but the return will be multiplied.

I understand many women, including Christians, will disagree with Merkle. However, I believe she is correct because she uses Scripture to support her arguments; and we can't change God's intentions and commands. 

I also did not go into my own marriage and motherhood knowing any of this. I chose to stay home with my kids out of a natural desire to be with them. It was not easy living on one income, and we had some difficult financial years. But I would never exchange being home for a "rewarding career or job or even my own business." Managing a home, raising five kids, homeschooling, and being married to a low maintenance husband is enough for me. Even still, Merkle convicted me because I realize I am not always putting in 100% of myself. I can be lazy and selfish, too. I still have a lot of work to do. So for me, this was definitely an excellent read. I hope other women will find it encouraging as well. 

You Who? Why You Matter and How to Deal With It by Rachel Jankovic

You Who? Why You Matter & How to Deal With It

Rachel Jankovic

Published 2019

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Rachel Jankovic states the goal of this book is to "encourage and equip believing women to see their identity in Christ as the most essential part of them, and to see all the ways that will work its way out in their lives, manifesting itself as strength, dignity, and clarity of purpose." Right away she opens the conversation about our obsession with identity and how we easily believe the foolish watered down philosophy of the self. Satan (IMO) wants people to replace God with this worldly philosophy.

Philosophy: Life's Questions

Man has asked the same questions about himself forever: Who am I? What am I for? How did I get here? What is the essential me? etc. Man wants to know HIS meaning in life. 

Traditional philosophy argues that our minds make us human. But without God, might we be just animals? Some philosophers believe that our lives are worthless because we are the result of chance (there is no God); but that does not solve the desire for meaning of the self.

Now keep in mind two philosophies: good ol' nihilism, which states that all existence is devoid of meaning and nothing matters anyway, and existentialism, which is related to nihilism, but is associated mostly with action or doing.

Existentialism: You Make Your Own Meaning

Jean-Paul Sartre gave the definition for existentialism, which reiterated is: 

You don't mean anything, objectively. You exist as a person before you mean anything. Existence comes before you have any essence or value at all. Essence is something that only happens through your own action, when you develop an essence. [Essentially], You make your own meaning.

Sartre believed his teaching to be the only means for hope. Sartre replaced God with a man-made remedy for hopelessness: You can be anything you want; you are what you make yourself; your story is yours to create; only you can make it happen. Sartre refuted that even proof of God existing cannot save man from himself; you still have to do something to save yourself from despair, hopelessness, etc.

Jankovic argued that Christians should naturally reject existentialism because "it is built on the absence of objective meaning, absence of God the Father, and absence of any intention or purpose for humanity that exists outside of each of us individually." 

Sartre's ideas came directly from his own "private brain" for his own "private purposes," and his ideas became influential the whole world over. Basically Sartre put himself in the place of God and he told man how to live, and like obedient subjects of authority, the world listened and obeyed. Basically he said: There is no God, but I am going to act like God and tell you how to live.

Another philosopher, Abraham Maslow, developed the hierarchy of needs based on humanism and existentialism that focuses on self-actualization, the all-important what it means to be human: your essential SELF.

As humans achieve a level, starting at the bottom, they move up to the next level. You can only have a sense of self-worth or high self-esteem before you reach the "holy grail" of self-actualization. From the pinnacle of SA, you will know who you are and your place in the world. This is man's goal of feeling "right" in the world. Christians should recognize that this is not a biblical concept. 

Under this philosophy, people look at others as a means to help them become the best version of themSELVES -- because others exist to help YOU fulfill YOUR needs. Again, Christians should recognize that this is not a biblical concept at all. 

Conflicts with Worldly Philosophy

Many of us have grown up with the Sartre-Maslow philosophy of how to become what you are and what makes you you. It is part of the self-help movement that we use to be our best selves. We are working toward becoming us, and we are told our lives make up the story of who we are with a beginning, a middle, and an ending. We want to admire and flatter ourselves with the story of ourselves. 

But when the story of ourselves - our degrees, careers, cars, hobbies, pleasures, social media, etc. -- becomes everything we are, this is a problem, not a solution. If our essence (our self-developed story) gives us value as humans, what happens when we change (because we do change!)? What about those who do not have the ability to direct their own lives, like those with handicaps or mental incapacitation, or dependent people? Remember Sartre: "Without action, we have no essence. Mere existence does not imply the presence of a true self."

If it is the will and action of the individual that makes us what we are, how could someone without a will or the ability for action matter as a human?

[This also made me think: What if you are unable, by something out of your control, to be who you desire to be? Is your life then a failure? I think this is a very real issue for people, which only leads to more hopelessness.] 

When you remove Creator God from "the story," you remove our true human value. If there is no Creator, then it is easy to question the value of personhood. Regarding today's culture, I found this line relevant: "People are looking for their own human value in a society that they believe is denying them the opportunity." That just adds another level of hopelessness to the fight. 

The Abortion Argument

How do we determine who matters and who does not when values clash? A woman creating her own self finds her fertility to be an obstacle in her path toward self-actualization, threatening her potential. You can see how pregnancy is a problem, and why a baby growing in her womb who cannot speak for itself, and in essence is not fully a self, does not take precedence over the pregnant woman who has achieved more of the levels on her way to self-actualization. She must be in charge of her destiny! This is why abortion and birth control (I added) are the means to get woman on the same level of freedom and opportunity as men (and higher)!

This is also why the abortion movement has been able to be honest about their mission. It used to be ignorance, but today they admit it is not a clump of cells. There is no shame in murdering a baby in the womb even up to birth because the highest cause for self-determination, absolute perfection, and ultimate self has been so elevated above life itself. Women must have freedom if they are going to be the author of their lives, and they must have ultimate control. Human babies do not have essence because they have never exercised their own will; therefore, they cannot be compared to their mother. The baby is not a person because it is not in the process of writing its own story.

Pushing the Boundaries of Culture

When people who come from nothing are writing their own stories, then it follows that there are no boundaries. It's one for himself and everyone else better get out of the way. People who believe the philosophy of self-creation must prove themselves. This leads to rebellion: rebellion of culture and rebelliousness towards God. 

The issue for Christians is that we value life from conception as a unique life made in the image of God, regardless of its abilities. It does not need to do anything to have value. Its value is based in what God did by creating it and giving it life. For Christians, life should be protected at all stages and circumstances. To the world, only those exerting their own will have value and should be protected. That is why the culture does not have conflict with abortion, sexual experimentation, or even sex changes for children because it is recognized as pursuing one's will over his life in pursuit of his own story. Anything goes.

This is also why it feels and looks like HATE when Christians do not affirm the lifestyle choices of each self. It feels like direct unfair criticism of a unique story of self. It is an offense to disbelieve him. How dare you deny his truth? Yet, Christians know they are a small character in the greater story written by the Creator. "You cannot, as a character, outwrite the Author of you."

Christians Struggling With Identity Issues

The self-created you and the God-created you do not go together. If you are trying to recreate yourself, you will never be at peace. We cannot be a little of ourselves and mostly of God or a little of God and mostly ourselves. We must be all of God's. We cannot think that we can remake ourselves and He is going to approve. 

Hard Truths

Jesus is our only hope. "There is nothing special about us if it is not resurrected in Him." Our selfishness, lust, self-centeredness, envy, greed, obsessions, guilt are dead in Christ. We cannot make them look good on social media. Our liberty in Christ is that we can let them go and submit to Him. You are not the author of your own identity; but rather, you live in Him and He in you.

What is Our Purpose?

We were created to be bigger than ourselves! We were created to be worshippers. Humans like worship, do we not? "The Westminster Confession of Faith states that the chief end of man was to glorify God and enjoy Him forever." Live to the glory of God in everything you do. Life is not about us, but the glory of God. We can never fill the empty selfish desire to reach absolute self-actualization and glorify ourselves. If you want to know yourself, know God. He knows you. Live for Him and you will be living toward your full potential. 

It's About His Story

God's story about Creation is not finished. Our story begins with "In the beginning, God...," and the story of God and His people continues to this day. All of your life yesterday, today, and tomorrow - all of your great and small actions, housework, dinner decisions, conflicts at work, relationship issues - is all part of the story that is being told. And the end of the story is your eternal life (which actually does not seem like an end because it is eternal).

When Christians work on thier "own story," they should do so in obedience to God by way of sacrifice and faithfulness to Him. We become part of God's purpose as we submit to Him and He shapes us into something greater. Jankovic writes about planting flags, which is being intentional about what you do to the glory of God. Your work becomes an offering to God's glory. Even small things will be made great, as long as they are done to the glory of God. "The obedience of contentment and gratitude will not stay small."

So Why do Christians Struggle With Their Purpose?

When trials arise, as they will and do, faith is shaken, and Christians wonder how God could have made us for disappointments that oppose our wishes, abilities, or interests. We believe lies that God made us for more and better purposes. We struggle with rejoicing in our circumstances. However, in hindsight, we see, when we obey and submit, how God works through our trials. Then we pass on our glory to Him.

Jesus is more than we ever wanted, but when we look elsewhere for satisfaction, we are seeking something that satisfies for a term, if at all. We want to know that our lives matter, that someone loves and cares immensely for us, that we are truly known. But does not Christ already satisfy all of those desires by dying for us first on the cross before we even knew Him and while we were still in our sins? Does He not already know everything about us? Does He not know every little trouble, conflict, anxiety, sorrow of our lives? 

We want to drink hesitantly from a sippy cup of comfort while God offers us the opportunity to stand under a Niagra Falls of glory.

We have eternal forgiveness, and we seek cheap validation. We have an omnipotent, omnipresent, and eternal God, and we just wish someone knew what we were going through. 

Think of it: "God intentionally created YOU out of nothing without help from anything or anyone else." Under that understanding, "you are meaningful." You belong to and are accountable to the Creator. Compare that with the world's idea that you were a "wild accident" now tasked with being your best YOU, if you want to matter in this world. You only have to answer to yourself (or are accountable to the mob, in my opinion. Good luck with that). Until then, you are meaningless. 

The world is wrong. 

Believe in Yourself?

Self-worship and identity are lies. The brainwashed world repeats the lies, and people adopt it as truth. The lie replaced the truth of total belief, hope, and trust in God, causing the world's identity crisis, sending billions out to find their self-worth. It is a never ending cycle.

Meanwhile, we change constantly because we grow and mature, but our God does not change. He is the same yesterday, today, and forever. He is fixed and never goes through a midlife crisis. Christians are not shaken by change because they are steadfast in Christ.

Obedience and Sacrifice in Christ

Jankovic says obedience is what transforms us; acting on what we read in Scripture changes our knowledge of self. She says there are things God gives to us -- personalities, pleasures, weaknesses -- that we can sacrifice to God, to lay down, to give up, ways to obey. This obedience transforms you. 

Jankovic also describes Christians as STAFF. We are workers for the Kingdom and we should be about His business. We are heirs to the King, but we are not princesses demanding to get everything we want. "We are called to imitate the King and the selfless work He accomplished for us." We are called to even turn trials and suffering into blessings for others. (So much for the idea that others are for our betterment.) 

One great suggestion is to read Christian biographies or memoirs to see how they lived because we can learn about ourselves and how to live. It is like finding out about your descendents. 

Another suggestion is for Christians to stop thinking of their feelings as insights. "Our feelings are something that need to be managed." It is part of God's commandment to practice self-control. Our feelings lie to us and they are not to be trusted. They distract us and lead us astray. Again, give your emotions to God and ask Him to lead and show you how to live your emotional life and obey Him. 

Body Image

I think we women are more apt to struggle with body image than men. Either we worry too much about our bodies or we worship our bodies. Again, we don't need to love ourselves; we need to love our Maker. God made our bodies and we should be grateful. We do not need to make ourselves into the image of the woman on the magazine cover, but we do need to faithfully reflect our Creator, and that includes being grateful for our bodies as they are. 

And it is not enough to look at Christ. He is not in the distance or part of the scenery. We reflect His glory like the moon reflects the sun's glorious light. 

Sin 

"Sin diminishes and destroys the self, worshipping and serving the creature instead of the Creator. Self-worship is self-destruction. It cuts us off from the source of ourselves -- the Creator. Fallen man wants to reject the truth and do the opposite, which is to glorify self -- not God." 

The Choice is Ours 

Think of the future: "do you want to be in your self-made costume in Hell or your true self, made in Christ and in Heaven?" You can't keep being "true to yourself." I bet the cycle is exhausting. But you can be true to Christ and set free of the burden of constantly improving yourself. 

For Christians, we must feed daily on the Word of God without excuses of distractions, weakness, and lies. Reading your Bible is obedience and through obedience your faith will grow and you will become the best you in Him.

This is the work He has for us: that we speak His language here, live His story here, be thoroughly, completely, obediently His people here, and go about our daily lives planting flags for our homeland, claiming all the territories that we encounter here for His kingdom. We claim all of Christ for all of life, forever. 

The more we worship Him, the more we know Him; the more we know Him, the more we will know ourselves. 

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If you would like more ideas from the book, here is the author discussing the issue at hand:

Uncle Tom's Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe

Uncle Tom's Cabin

Harriet Beecher Stowe

Published 1852

American Novel

The Well-Educated Mind Novels

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This was my fourth time reading Uncle Tom's Cabin, which was read at the request of a book club I recently joined.  The first time I read it was only because I was curious; the second time was because I had my son read it for high school, and I wanted to ask comprehension questions; and the third time was for The Well-Educated Mind reading challenge.  

For me, that third time screamed parallels to a more current American pandemic: abortion.  In the 1850's, slaves were property under the law, and an owner had the right to do with his slave, as he so desired; but in the late 1900s to this current day, an unborn baby is property of its mother under the law, and a woman has the right to dispose of it, if she so chooses. 

This fourth read was interesting because I realized that Mrs. Stowe was targeting not only slave owners for breaking up families and treating people like they were without human feeling or souls, or our government for permitting slavery to exist, or Northerners who harbored similar feelings toward blacks; she also had a stern lecture for fellow Christians, or the Church, in general. 

According to Mrs. Stowe, the Christian Church was too silent on slavery. She said,

Scenes of blood and cruelty are shocking to our ear and heart.  What man has nerve to do, man has not nerve to hear.  What brother-man and brother-Christian must suffer, cannot be told us, even in our secret chamber, it so harrows up the soul!  And yet, oh, my country! these things are done under the shadow of thy laws!  O Christ! thy church sees them, almost in silence! 

When she learned, after the enactment of the Fugitive Slave Act, that "Christian and humane people...recommending the remanding escaped fugitives into slavery, as a duty binding on good citizens...what Christian duty could be on this head, - she could only think, These men and Christians cannot know what slavery is; if they did, such a question could never be open for discussion."

Of slavery, she said,

Nothing of tragedy can be written, can be spoken, can be conceived, that equals the frightful reality of scenes daily and hourly acting on our shores, beneath the shadow of American law, and the shadow of the cross of Christ.

She implored Christians and the Church to receive runaway slaves, and educate them and assist them to safer shores.

At the very end of her conclusion, Mrs. Stowe warns the Church:

A day of grace is yet held out to us.  Both North and South have been guilty before God; and the Christian Church has a heavy account to answer.  Not by coming together, to protect injustice and cruelty, and making a common capital of sin, is this Union to be saved, - but by repentance, justice, and mercy: for, not surer is the eternal law by which the millstone sinks in the ocean, than that stronger law by which injustice and cruelty shall bring on nations the wrath of Almighty God!

Yikes!  I think Mrs. Stowe was one mighty, courageous woman: to take on a whole nation by writing this "living dramatic reality," in order to shake Americans out of their slumber, to expose the wickedness that was being legally permitted right before their eyes and ears, if they would just see and hear the evil; if they knew the truth, Christians (at least) could not - should not - remain silent. 

Well, I used to think the same thing about abortion - if only people knew the truth about what happened during an abortion, if they saw the results and heard the stories, they would be moved. Unfortunately, I think we are a different generation now.  I think many people know the horror, but they feel apathetic, dispassionate, or even powerless.  However, Stowe is correct in her concern that our Nation will have to answer for its sins; in fact, I have a feeling we are seeing God's judgment upon our country this very day for our national iniquities.  Every nation is subject to God's judgment.

Anyway, while we were still reading Uncle Tom's Cabin, my friend asked me if we were going to read anymore about the cabin because it was only a small part of the story. Why was it titled Uncle Tom's Cabin if it was not a bigger part of the story?  Well, it is true: it is only in the beginning; and it wasn't until the very last paragraph that Stowe leaves us with, George, Tom's master (giving a eulogy for Tom), speaking to his newly-freed slaves:

So, when you rejoice in your freedom, think that you owe it to that good old soul, and pay it back in kindness to his wife and children.  Think of your freedom every time you see Uncle Tom's Cabin; and let it be a memorial to put you all in mind to follow in his steps, and be as honest and faithful and Christian as he was.

I have to believe that it was just a symbol for an honorable, faithful man, and Christ-like figure.  His cabin was a safe and loving home for everyone who entered it because he was a good Christian husband, father, and friend.  Stowe made him to be someone we should strive to be like.  And I'll say, Good luck with that because his character was absolutely perfect.

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What if Harriet Beecher Stowe made a case against abortion instead of slavery?

In my previous post, I claimed that an aspect of slavery exists today where one group treats another group as property.  That aspect is present in abortion.

At the time of Dred Scott, no blacks in America had legal standing as persons in the court because they were considered property, and the Constitution protected slaveholders’ rights to their property.  In the case of abortion, the Constitution defends a woman’s right to her body as her property, and therefore, if she does not want what is growing inside, she has the right to have it removed.  The human life in her womb in not a person; it is her property. 

What would it look like if Ms. Stowe argued her case against abortion using her case against slavery?  Remember, similar arguments are laid out in my Final Inquiries for the slavery dispute.  I only changed the argument here to focus on abortion.

Slavery is immoral and must be abolished immediately.   Abortion is immoral and must be eradicated immediately. 

Abortion is a demeaning procedure for women, a violent end for her unborn baby, and rejection of a father’s responsibility.  It is a vehement practice by those who provide the service, and the corrupt business practices are either covered up or protected under the Constitution. 

Christians cannot support slavery.   Christians cannot support abortion.

Children are a heritage from the Lord.  Scripture tells us that He knew us before we were born, and He knit us in our mother’s womb.  We are made in His image - in His likeness. 

God is in control of all things, and man does not have the right to take life according to his own will.  Abortion is murder, and murder is a sin.  Therefore, if a Christian supports abortion, he has an improper perception of God's law.

Christians cannot remain silent or look away; it is his duty to stand for righteousness.  Christians must obey God’s laws, which are above their nation’s laws.  Who else is going to speak for the defenseless? 

Americans cannot support slavery.  Americans cannot support abortion.

The Declaration of Independence revels our unique character: Americans recognize that all persons enjoy the right to life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness, which come directly from God, not government, and cannot be taken away, unless in violation of law.  Abortion proponents believe these rights are proscribed through government and then only pertain to a specific group.  This contradicts any idea that is truly American.

Slavery hardens and corrupts the hearts of men.   Abortion hardens and corrupts the hearts of men.

Abortion is no longer shameful, and it permits people to be selfish by putting their 
needs before others. 

Abortion distorts ideas about unborn babies, pregnancy, sex, and marriage.  People fight for the right to abort, and fear if abortion becomes illegal, then their own lives and future will be threatened.  Also, abortion is a lucrative business, so greed motivates those who provide its service.

Slavery causes slaves to commit moral injustice.  Abortion causes people to commit moral injustice.

Abortion encourages irresponsible behavior because life at its early stages is disposable:  one may abort if the baby is not a preferred sex, deformed, or has a health condition; or maybe there are too many fetuses; or the elderly or infirm are not worthy of maintaining life; or maybe someone who has a feeding tube is not worth life: remember Terri Schiavo?

Blacks have souls, too.  Unborn babies have souls, too.

While the Bible is silent on the fate of babies who die through abortion or miscarriage, we do know that God is merciful toward those who are not capable of knowing the Gospel, such as the mentally handicap, young children, and babies.  When King David lost his newborn son, he stopped mourning because he knew he would be reunited with him at the resurrection.  

Science has maintained that human life begins at conception, though abortion proponents have worked to change that by stating life begins at implantation in order to ease the RU486 concern.  But a living being already forming in utero began ten days before implantation.  If we are created in the likeness of God, and that likeness begins at conception, and since God makes no mistakes and does everything with purpose, I believe that an unborn baby is already equipped with a soul and is able to be redeemed and go to heaven.

Would HBS agree?  I have no idea!  But frankly, it works for me.  Like slavery, abortion is a grave evil that is making America's soul sick.  Will it take another civil war to end its practice?  I pray not.  God help us!