A suspicious package was found yesterday in front of an abortion clinic in Austin, Texas. It has just been confirmed that the package was indeed a bomb.
It is absolutely wrong for anyone to take this kind of action for the purpose of stopping or punishing abortionists.
In Romans 13:1–7, Paul explains how God has granted the government authority in His stead to keep order by rewarding good and punishing evil, saying:
Do what is good and you will have praise from the [government]; for it is a minister of God to you for good. But if you do what is evil, be afraid; for it does not bear the sword for nothing; for it is a minister of God, an avenger who brings wrath on the one who practices evil.
If we are to stop the practice of abortion in this country, justice must be sought through the government as long as it is functioning. In this democratic country, this means that we work to change the minds of our fellow citizens who will then change the laws in a democratic manner, at which time the government will apply the appropriate punishment to convicted abortionists.
God has not given citizens the right to bring His wrath and punishment against those who do evil; this power belongs only to the government. Therefore, if a person kills an abortion doctor, that person is committing unlawful murder both in the eyes of the government and in the eyes of God.
This kind of violence is not only horribly wrong, it is also profoundly foolish. As we seek to change people’s minds on the issue of abortion in order to collectively change the law by democratic vote, this kind of action destroys clarity and causes people to fear pro-lifers and to cease to listen to their arguments. (It’s unfortunate that a solitary person here and there can taint everyone else, but that’s reality.) The result is that, besides a person being unlawfully injured or killed, the overall cause of ending the practice of killing unborn children suffers a severe setback. So what practical good could the killing of one abortion doctor possibly do? And how much harm in every way!
The following is Stand to Reason’s official statement on abortion violence (from the website):
It’s always wrong to take a human life without proper justification. Abortion is such a wrong because it destroys a valuable human being without good reason. Therefore, civilized people are morally obliged to campaign vigorously against this wrong and use appropriate means to end it.
In opposing this evil, however, one is only justified in using the degree of force necessary to stop a harm that is within his power to prevent. Lethal force is never justified when other means are available. Since there are no imaginable circumstances in which lethal force is the only means available to end the harm of abortion, then lethal means are never justified.
Killing abortionists, then, is also an example of taking human life without proper justification. To do so would be to violate the basic principle that pro-lifers are committed to defending. Therefore, Stand to Reason condemns the use of violence to end the harm of abortion and does not knowingly associate with those who condone it.