Stand With Life

There is much that passes for Christianity these days, and people take moral stands, yet those positions are not consistent with the teachings of Scripture. Titus chapter 1 states:
15 To the pure all things are pure, but to those who are defiled and unbelieving nothing is pure; but even their mind and conscience are defiled.
16 They profess to know God, but in works they deny Him, being abominable, disobedient, and disqualified for every good work.

This is a clarion call for each of us to examine our lives and evaluate our behavior.  We have called upon the name of Christ and claim to know Him, but do our attitudes and words really, really reflect Him.  We have to be so sure that the convictions we say that we hold are reflected in our actions and  that we are responding to others in a Christlike manner.  We all have a conscience that directs us, and we have to make sure that our conscience is being informed by the Holy Spirit and the Word of God.

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Jesus was devoted to expose the condition of the heart and pointed out areas where people said they
honored God, but their hearts weren't in it.  We have to make sure that our hearts are right.  Jesus taught in Matthew chapter 15:
7 Hypocrites! Well did Isaiah prophesy about you, saying:
8 'These people draw near to Me with their mouth, And honor Me with their lips, But their heart is far from Me.
9 And in vain they worship Me, Teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.' "
10 When He had called the multitude to Himself, He said to them, "Hear and understand:
11 Not what goes into the mouth defiles a man; but what comes out of the mouth, this defiles a man."

Is this really a place where media companies want to stand, making threats to make wholesale changes regarding a filming location?  It could be bluster, could be the pursuit of political correctness, but you have the entertainment industry up in arms because the state of Georgia's Legislature made a decision to defend life.

The Wall Street Journal took the CEO of the Walt Disney Company, Bob Iger, to task.  The op-ed piece states:

Mr. Iger told Reuters this week that it would be “very difficult” for Disney to continue filming its movie and television content in Georgia if a new state abortion law takes effect. “I think many people who work for us will not want to work there, and we will have to heed their wishes in that regard. Right now we are watching it very carefully,” Mr. Iger said.

The Journal also pointed out:

...for Mr. Iger this looks like a business and political mistake of the kind he rarely makes. Disney of all companies should not want to be seen as an engine of the left’s cultural imperialism. The company’s new streaming service is pitched as “family friendly,” which presumably means customers in Macon as well as Manhattan.

The piece rightly points out that Iger is risking offending large numbers of people, stating: "It won’t help Mr. Iger’s business or his progressive causes if he persuades half the country that Disney thinks they’re deplorable."

Disney, Netflix, and others have participated in this rhetoric, and it has caused some Christian leaders to call out the double standard.  In a LifeSiteNews article, Focus on the Family President Jim Daly is quoted as saying: "Whatever happened to the tolerant left? Is there no room for people who peacefully and respectfully voice their opposition to the loss of nearly one million innocent lives each year?”

Tony Perkins of Family Research Council said, “If you still have a subscription to Netflix – I got rid of mine because the content is becoming increasingly objectionable; that's beyond their conduct as a business – contact them."

The article also quotes Iowa pro-family activist Shane Vander Hart, who wrote, "I think that Georgians and pro-life advocates canceling their Netflix subscriptions can do Netflix far more harm than Netflix boycotting Georgia," adding, "I don’t care if a company is neutral on an issue I care about, but I do care when they work against me.”

This would include content creators J.J. Abrams, Jordan Peele, and Ron Howard, who have spoken out against the law.  But, the Motion Picture Association of America has said it would be "monitoring developments," according to the article.

And, then there is the hypocrisy that is exhibited by Disney regarding its choice of filming locations.  As the Wall Street Journal points out:

More than a few Americans may also notice the contradiction that Disney is more worried about filming in a U.S. state that has passed a law democratically than it is operating its theme park and hawking its films in China, which uses facial-recognition software to monitor its population and has a million Uighurs in re-education camps.

In various parts of the world, abortion is illegal, yet Netflix and Disney have continued to film there.  According to a Breitbart article:

Variety reported Monday Netflix intends to increase production in Egypt – where abortion is illegal – with Paranormal, directed by Amr Salama and based on the horror books by late Egyptian author Ahmed Khaled Tawfik.

Netflix filmed a show called Jinn in Jordan, where abortion is also illegal, "except to save the life of the woman or if her health is threatened."

And, the article states: "the Washington Free Beacon reported that Disney filmed part of its 2019 film Aladdin in Jordan as well."  It goes on to cite the Free Beacon article:

In 2015, the company distributed Star Wars: The Force Awakens, which was filmed in Abu Dhabi, the capital of the United Arab Emirates, where abortion is illegal except during the first 120 days of pregnancy and only when the mother’s life is threatened or the baby is diagnosed with a “lethal abnormality” that is “incompatible with life.”

Republican pollster Logan Dobson also observed on Twitter that Star Wars: The Last Jedi filmed scenes in Croatia, Ireland, and Bolivia – all nations in which abortion was highly restricted at the time of filming...

OK, I am starting to rack up a number of nations here.  These pro-life laws being passed in state after state are in fact, bringing those states more in line with the overwhelming majority of nations in the world.  Consider these facts from a LifeNews.com article:

The White House issued a statement of policy that “The United States is currently out of the mainstream in the family of nations, in which only 7 out of 198 nations allow elective abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy.”

It goes on to say:

Fact Checker’s Michelle Ye Hee Lee traced the claim back to its original source, a 2014 report by the pro-life Charlotte Lozier Institute.

The report is based on an analysis of 198 countries and other independent or “semiautonomous” regions with more than 1 million residents.

Of these countries, 59 allow abortion “without restriction as to reason,” or “elective,” or “abortion on demand.”

So, less than a third of those almost 200 countries allow abortion in the first place - and only 7 out of those 59 allow it after 20 weeks: Canada, China, Netherlands, North Korea, Singapore, the United States, and Vietnam.

There are several points to which I want to call attention.  First of all, we remember that there may be consequences when we stand for truth.  Georgia Governor Kemp recognized this, but did not give in to threats from movie moguls who indicated displeasure with the state's defense of life.  Alabama Governor Ivey also faced opposition, yet stood strong with a principled view of the value of life.

The rumblings from entertainment types is actually hypocritical.  And, the Bible tells us to let love be without hypocrisy.  Jesus saved some of His most directed words for the hypocrites.  For each of us, we have to make sure that we are grounded in Biblical principles and that our actions do not contradict what we say we believe.  We can be devoted to live with a sense of consistency and conviction.