It is said by some that, “The road to hell is paved with good intentions.” Is it? Or is it paved with justifications by Christians?
Recently, I posted some information that I found to be incredibly disappointing. I discovered that a Christian company called “Thirty-One Gifts” is giving money to groups that fund Planned Parenthood. I asked the people on my page to contact the company and ask them to stop giving.
As pro-lifers, we should always take the time to educate the public about links to the abortion industry. This was yet another opportunity. For several hours, the posts were positive, ”thank you for letting us know,” “I will be sure to send an email,” “this is a great opportunity to educate them about the abortion industry,” et cetera. Even consultants were coming on my page thanking me for this information. They were going to go back and get some answers. Great! That was the point of my post.
Then the bomb dropped. The “Thirty-One” all women’s mafia invaded my page. These are all Christian women who sell Thirty-One Gifts. However, based on their comments, you wouldn’t know they were Christians.
One called me the devil. Several said that, as Christians, we should not be judging this organization, even though they are helping to fund abortion. Some wanted to know HOW MUCH money was given to Planned Parenthood by these organizations, as if that matters.
Regardless, as most of them pointed out, Thirty-One Gifts does a lot of good, surely we can overlook this. A few of them even visited my page to defend Planned Parenthood. So, there it is. There are Christians who defend abortion funding, Christians defending their own sinful actions. Christians defending sin.
Why do we insist on justifying sin? Does that sin provide us with an income? Does that sin make really cute purses? Maybe we don’t want sin to inconvenience us? Maybe we’re personally committing these types of sins and by defending the sins of others we can somehow justify it to ourselves that we’re really not so bad? Maybe we think defending the sins of others would lessen the guilt we feel? Yes, probably all of those in this case.
Please understand that I never said to boycott Thirty-One Gifts. I simply wanted to give people the opportunity to contact this company and inform them where their money is going. Isn’t that what we should do? Shouldn’t we, as pro-lifers, want to do as much as we can to stop the funding of the abortion industry? Some of us do, but, apparently, some of us do not.
I know all about the justification of sin. I mean, I did it for 8 years. I would tell myself, “God doesn’t want women to die from illegal abortions, so working in the legal abortion industry must be the right thing to do.” Sometimes I would say, “We at Planned Parenthood do SO much good. Abortion is just a tiny percent of our business. You can’t let abortion overshadow the good that we do.” This went on and on.
I remember attending an event where the president of “Clergy for Choice” was going to be speaking. I was so excited! Finally, a pastor defending abortion, I thought. I was sure that I would be able to pick up many more justifications.
He was asked about the unborn child. His answer, “The unborn do not become babies until the mother decides they are wanted.” Huh. That sounded pretty good to me! Yet, another justification on my road to hell.
In Father Tom Euteneuer’s powerful book, “Demonic Abortion,” he wrote about neutrality and justifications in our Christian world. He said,
“Unless the disciples of Christ truly awake from their slumber and unite in opposition to the heinous crime [of abortion], the collective guilt of this industry will fall upon us all as a people, and Jesus will say to us, like He said to the weeping women of Jerusalem on His Way to Calvary, ‘Do not weep for me. Weep for yourselves and for your children.’ We will not be held accountable if we fail to stop such an immense evil, but we will receive a withering judgment if we live amidst the evil and do nothing about it. The Medieval poet, Dante Alighieri (1265-1321), is supposed to have said that ‘the hottest places of hell are reserved for those who in times of great moral crises maintain their neutrality.’”
I pray that we all stop making justifications for our personal sins and the sins of others. I pray that when we hear these sorts of things, “but they do a lot of good,” we will be reminded that doing good doesn’t matter when it comes to killing a human being, regardless of their age.
I pray that we will be a people of courage. I pray that we will not worry about being inconvenienced for the sake of standing up for what is right. I pray that we will not worry about being popular or maintaining the status quo. I pray that we will stand up, unite, and fight.
After I left the abortion industry, I learned a very important lesson. When something is right, you don’t have to justify it. Right is always right, even if no one is doing it and wrong is always wrong, even if everyone is doing it.
A friend just showed me this news. I never heard of Thirty-One until last week. I am so upset I just bought something from them. I try so hard not to buy from anyone who funds abortion. And to think you can trust a Christian company! It’s sickening!Thanks for sharing this. I added your book to my reading this. God bless you for all that you are doing to speak out against abortion. 🙂
Thank you so much Abby. When I decided to get my act together and be a committed pro-lifer, it was scary to see how much people can attack you for standing your beliefs. It was much easier when I was just mild or would not speak up about it. But after the fear, I realized: bring it on. I’m happy to be in the right side.
“Blessed are they who are persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”
I am an Independent Consultant with Thirty-One and a devout Catholic. I actually met you, Abby at our county’s Right to Life fundraiser in 2010. I just wanted to say that I agree that everyone, Christians especially, needs to stop relativizing what Planned Parenthood does. As for Thirty-One itself, a couple of comments: 1) the company founders are Christians, but the company is not exclusively Christian; it is open to women of all faiths as well as those who are not religious at all. 2) Because of this, not all Consultants are going to be troubled by this news 3) despite there being some consultants (Christian and non-Christian alike) who defend or justify the support of these organizations, there are plenty of us who do not agree and are contacting the company accordingly. Please encourage and support us rather than lumping everyone together as the “mafia”. I know you mentioned consultants who were against these contributions, but unfortunately it’s comments like “the mafia” that people will remember more. Instead, I encourage everyone to focus on helping us consultants who may be faced with the decision to leave our businesses should the situation later warrant that. I don’t think it will come to this, but please don’t abandon us as we work to fix the situation.
Abby,I was wondering what examples you have of Thirty-One giving to Planned Parenthood. I’m a consultant and would like to know so that I am as informed as possible on this as this is a concern.
Thanks for the update, Abby! And thank you Jennifer! I too would encourage all people to contact the company and let them know how we feel about passing on money to groups that fund Planned Parenthood. While I may not fully support second-order separation, I believe that those Christians in charge of Thirty-One will hear the outcry from us pro-lifers. It may be that they are unaware of the ties. So let’s pray and let our voice be heard!
How do we find out what companies 31 gives to that support Planned Parenthood? I want to do some checking. We need to dig and check things out for ourselves. Please help us to do this by giving us the names of the groups they support or at least where to find it. This will hurt and damage their company…that may be fine if it is all true but if not, that would be horrible.
This is what I sent to Thirty-One Gives:
I support you in your efforts promote our positive lifestyle as Christian women. Your emphasis on Gospel values is your best feature.
Yet I am troubled to see that you are giving money to the Girl Scouts and the YWCA. You might think they are for the best interests of “girls” and “young Christian women,”— “intuitively” obvious? —but I am sorry to say they have plunged drastically from Christian values.
Partnering with Planned Parenthood, they now promote a view of sexuality which undercuts girls’ long-term emotional and physical health by facilitating early sexual activity.
Expanding access to contraception and abortion is a policy that needs to be carefully reconsidered — especially in the light of 21st century research on the negative impact of early sexual experience for young women. We need to resist the sexualization of children and teens, not subsidize it.
Funding the Girl Scouts and the YWCA sounds like it should be a positive choice, but it’s not – because of their Planned Parenthood connections.
Please research the divisive and controversial policies of Planned Parenthood. The expert testimony of Dr. Miriam Grossman http://www.miriamgrossmanmd.com/
would be a good place to start.
Just wanted to thank you for opening my eyes..I honestly have never looked into what abortion and the abortion industry truly is…I found myself researching over the weekend! I was stunned and horrified to see what is truly taking place in our country!! I also checked out more on the Girl Scouts and more importantly who Planned Parenthood is!! I have been a consultant for Thirty-One Gifts for almost two years and quite frankly disappointed that we are funding these organizations..I hope this is nothing more than poor judgement..there are so many organizations out there that could use our support! I am questioning whether or not I can go on representing this company that is suppose to represent woman in Proverbs 31 ..I encourage more people especially CHRISTIANS to do the research and see what is going on around us every minute of everyday!
Julie-You can see what other companies/celebrities/organizations support/partner/associate with Planned Parenthood at the Life Decisions International Site here:
http://fightpp.org/
The website shows most of the larger and more recognizable ones, but you’ll have to purchase the complete list.
Always remember that there will be weeds among the wheat i.e. Matthew 13:26-43. Nevertheless, we true believers are not to be overcome by evil but continue to overcome evil with good. God will fight for us. As we press into the Lord Jesus Christ, He will direct us as to how to deal with the poser christians.
I pray fervently every day for the lives of unborn children and for abortions to be illegal and for people working in abortions to leave their work. It is extremely evil. So we need to pray, bind evil in Jesus Name and Jesus will prevail..
Thanks for the update. I didn’t know this and just went to one of their parties. Wonder if I can ask for a refund to let them know I disapprove.
Some Christians are angry because they don’t want to possibly have to find another job or get out of their comfort zone and confront their employer on the company funding of abortion… so sad. People are often not interested in truth if it’s going to cost them something. Though sounds like a few are taking this seriously and seeking to do what’s right — kudos to Jennifer!! Thanks for keeping us informed Abby.