I contacted my pastor about using a bulletin insert regarding Sanctity of Human Life Sunday. He responded by saying "the Lord has called us to keep things simple, and focus on the Bible." How would you respond to this?

Answered by Larry Gadbaugh, CEO of the Portland Area Pregnancy Resource Centers

The reformed doctrine of the sufficiency of the Bible is not meant to exclude addressing issues that are not explicitly addressed in the Bible, such as abortion, euthanasia, suicide, racism, slavery, etc. It means the revelation of God's will in the Bible - whether by commandment, example, wisdom, principle, etc., is sufficient for teaching, applying Christ's perspective on everything and anything we encounter in life. The Bible is God's truth that exercises authority over any other source of information, including tradition, experience, or empirical observation.

A misapplication of the "Bible alone" that avoids or ignores issues because they are not explicitly mentioned in the Bible, leaves the Christian to conclude that Jesus Christ is not Lord over everything, and has nothing to say about much in the modern world. This contributes to relegating our faith to merely "church" stuff, or personal issues. This is an over-reaction to excesses that have become so enmeshed with temporal and political issues that the Gospel has been watered down or flushed down the drain.

Every church is accountable to the Lord, and I'm grateful for any church faithful to the historic doctrines of the Bible, and for their faithfulness to their understanding of Christ's mission for that congregation. But I'm concerned for the Christian community who is left adrift without Biblical application of biblical teaching on issues that are killing our neighbors, (and our families) while we remain unequipped in how to think, talk or act about it.

I am convinced that every church that engages the culture by equipping her members with biblical truth, applied with compassion, empowers the Christian to love our neighbor in a way that unleashes the power of the Gospel in a powerful way.

For further insight on this subject, see Randy Alcorn's article: "Life Issues: Distraction from the Great Commission or Part of It?"

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