Question 224: How can we expect non- Christians to agree with certain political ideas, like abortion?
Answer 224: This is a great question and there are two options in answering it. However, before we look at the two-options let me be clear about one thing. All of God’s Word is important but we don’t have to agree on everything in order to be saved, to be made acceptable to God. Scripture teaches that Jesus is the only way to heaven (John 14:6) and if a person has that correct, then He is adopted into God’s family. But that does not mean that other things are unimportant and can be ignored.
When someone has a different or wrong view on something vitally important to us, one option is to seek to persuade the person who is not a Christian to change his or her mind on the political or moral issue. Incidentally, since abortion was mentioned in the question, it is much more that a political issue, it is also a very important moral issue which according to Psalm 139:13-16 it could be called murder. But we must ask the question, since the person is a non-believer and holds a position of a non-believer, why should we expect them to believe anything else? Jesus never blamed pagans for believing and acting like pagans, but He did call out religious leaders who were living self-righteous hypocritical lives. Jesus was called a friend of sinners (Luke 7:34). When Jesus encountered people who were living in sin, and did not believe in Him, He was kind and gentle with them because He knew that the problem wasn’t with their behavior but with their heart. His approach was to emphasize the need to have a heart change. Judging and condemning a non-Christian for behaving like a non-Christian is not an attractive way to influence them for Christ. The Apostle Paul emphasized that we as church members are to judge the behavior of those inside the church if they are behaving hypocritically, but we are to leave those outside the church for God to judge (1 Corinthians 5:12, 13).
When I was about 6 years old, the pastor of our church came to our house as a result of my mom wanting him to visit with my alcoholic dad with the intent of getting him to come to church. My dad wanted nothing to do with church. The pastor had a good visit with my dad talking about fishing, hunting and growing things on our farm. But when he went to leave our house, he said to my dad, “Fay, why don’t you quit your drinking and start coming to church?” My dad never when to church but about 30 years later he did stop smoking and drinking on his own. Fast forward a few more years and I flew to Springfield Missouri to visit with him on his death bed. During my 24-hour visit, I asked him, “Dad, if you were to die tonight and appear before God and He were to ask you, ‘Why should I let you into my heaven, what would you say?’” He replied, “I’m as good as the rest of them!” I immediate made the connection between what the pastor told him about quitting drinking and then coming to church. He did it on his own, he did not need the church to help him. The pastor communicated to him that if he would clean up his own life, then come to church he would be acceptable to God. I explained to him that we could never be good enough to earn our way into heaven. That Jesus has done everything for us and all we have to do is to believe in who He is and what He has done for us and God will accept us into His family and into heaven. He prayed to receive Jesus as His Lord and Savior and died two days later.
The other, a far better option, I believe, is when someone holds a different or wrong opinion and is a non-believer, we should befriend that person, love and accept him and in time share the good news of Jesus Christ with him. If and when he does become a believer, God will change his heart and give him a new desire to obey Jesus. God changes us beginning on the inside and then on the outside as well. That is, once God changes us on the inside, our behavior begins to change as well. It is the Holy Spirit’s job to change a person’s behavior. We too often try to do His job for Him and that messes everything up. Our job it to love, accept and be ready to share the gospel when the occasion arises and God will do His job.