Abortion is a part of our culture, and it’s up to us which part.

In the time I’ve been leading a Bound4LIFE chapter, I have heard a comment from several that never occurred to me as an obstacle to attending a Silent Siege. Several parents of children of varying ages expressed that they wanted to come pray with us but didn’t have a babysitter.

Since I’d been around children praying for the ending of abortion with more vigor than some adults, this was a new dilemma to me. As I listened to their concern, I saw it was truly well-intended. Pro-LIFE parents who are horrified by abortion don’t know how to expose children to such a thing when they haven’t even learned fractions.

The reality, though, is that in our current society, they are probably going to learn about abortion before fractions. Abortion truly has become the wedge issue in American politics, and in some cases, even in American churches (this ought not to be as there is an absolute line in the Father’s eyes, but it has). And outside the church walls, our society is so desensitized with the watered-down language we use that it’s not a far reach to imagine a playground discussion that might go like this:

“My grandma is picking me up after school because my mommy had to go have an abortion today.”

“What’s an abortion?”

“My mommy got pregnant, but she says we can’t afford another baby so it’s an operation so she won’t be pregnant anymore.”

If you don’t think this conversation is likely, you may find some sand over your head. This language is normalized in our culture. When we started calling murder choice and gave it clinical names like abortion and RU486, it ceased to be taboo among those who would never say “I have to go murder my child today, so I will be out for a couple days.”

We are quick to quote Proverbs 22:6, “Train up a child in the way he should go, Even when he is old he will not depart from it.” Teaching children to pray for life should be part of training up a child. It’s one of the biggest and most critical issues in our nation today. If we train our children to pray and to stand for life, when they are old they will not depart from the call.

The fact is, abortion exists. We are praying and doing all we can politically to stop that, but until that happens we have to decide what to do with it in our culture. Abortion is either part of a culture of life or a culture of death, and, really, that decision for children is in the hands of the adults.

It’s certainly understandable why parents would not want to have to explain such an awful thing. The more sensitive the child, the more difficult the explanation. But being pro-life needs also to be proactive. If we teach children now that praying is normal and life is valued, they won’t grow up traumatized that they learned of abortion. Instead, they will grow up sensitive intercessors who move the throne room of God with pure and sincere prayers.

It’s a fallacy to imagine we can protect these young ones from all the evils in the world and then one day they will wake up at age 16 or 20 and say “Hey, I think I will go be an intercessor now.” We have an opportunity now to teach them. When we make intercession for life normal, we create a culture of life around us. We send a message that we are not burying our heads in the hand, but we are also doing something positive with what we see.

Children know the world has bad stuff in it. They know we can’t take away the bad with a wave of our hands, but they want to know how to deal with it. They want to see how we respond.

Perhaps Jesus’ attitude toward children fits this best:

“And they were bringing children to Him so that He might touch them; but the disciples rebuked them.  But when Jesus saw this, He was indignant and said to them, "Permit the children to come to Me; do not hinder them; for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. (Mark 10:13-14)

Jesus knew that children had a unique capacity to grasp the things of God. He didn’t send them away to a children’s version of Himself until they were old enough, and he rebuked the Pharisees who wanted to keep them away.

The power in prayer, and especially that from the pure faith of children and those with childlike faith is unparalleled. It’s not something to protect a child from; it’s something to embrace. When we show them a culture of Life, we truly raise up a generation of those who will stand against darkness.