This is Not a Blog about Birth Control

When I was 16 I found out my older sister was on birth control and I called her a slut. I was young and outspoken. I was new to a relationship with Christ and I hadn’t quite formed my own opinions yet, but I loudly shared what I thought I knew. And it was hurtful to my sister. Even though the only physical contact I had had with the male specimen was holding hands and I didn’t truly understand the weight of the word slut or anything about sex, my ignorant exclamation, even in it’s wrongness,, still stung when it fell on my sister’s ears. The fact of the matter is that I was upset that my sister was having sex outside of marriage- but my expectations were entirely unfair. The funny thing is, the expectations I had as an immature, not Biblically educated teenager, reflect the expectations of Christendom as a whole on today’s society.


As Christians, and certainly as republicans, people heap the expectations of our beliefs on the whole of society. This is why you have Rick Santorum railing against the use of birth control as it promotes premarital sex without consequence. This is the certainly why robust pundits feel it completely appropriate to call women who use birth control sluts and prostitutes. Let me first of all, say that this is not a blog about birth control. But this is a blog about the Christian expectations heaped on an unredeemed world.

Why is so common to expect those who do not know Christ to act like they do? We all know how our lives were changed by Christ, how we became a new creation, how we were washed clean by the blood of the Lamb, how we committed to sin no more. And we all know that our flesh still tugs at us even though we fell feet first in love with Jesus. With Christ we are made new, with Him we have the ability to no longer be what we were. But we also know, that even with Christ, this shit ain’t easy. So exactly why do we expect those who still carry the weight of their past with them to behave as though they are espoused to the King? Why do we expect those who are of flesh, who live in this world of temptation as we do, but who don’t know the irresistible love of our Savior to make choices like they do? Listen, I don’t want to see pregnant 14 year olds, expectant mothers running to abortion clinics, or insecure 20 year-olds screwing anything with 2 legs as much as the next Christian. But I also don’t bemoan the continuance of sin in an unsaved world or hate those sinners who don’t know Jesus. I hurt for them, I long for them to be saved and to come to know the Savior, but forcing my ideologies on them isn’t going to bring them anywhere near the love of Christ. Let’s face it, before we crawled into the cleansing embrace of Christ, we weren’t doing so well either. But someone telling us we were evil sinners who’s penchant for pleasure was sure to be the end of civilization wasn’t what sent us into His arms. It was probably someone showing us Christ’s love through their actions and their genuine care for us. So what exactly are we trying to accomplish by attempting to legislate our faith? Because the only thing we are doing is reiterating their idea that we are crazy, legalistic, conservatives that don’t care for them at all.