Woman with a Parasol—Madame Monet and Her Son by Monet
Last week, my wife brought to my attention a tragic story.
On Wednesday, June 3rd, famous YouTuber Jesse Ridgway announced that he and his wife had decided to murder their baby. Or, in Ridgway’s words, “terminate the pregnancy.”
The reason?
Down Syndrome
Since the announcement, many have rightly responded with disgust, condemnation, and calls for repentance. In the wake of the backlash, Ridgway doubled down on his decision, although it was “difficult” and “traumatic.” Further, he has now become the victim in the situation, claiming to have received numerous death threats and hateful messages.
When I first heard the news, I was indignant. The words of the imprecatory Psalms quickly came to mind. As I longed, and still long for, God to judge the wicked who practice and promulgate child sacrifice. Not that they might simply be punished, but that they might come to repentance, casting aside their works of darkness and believing in the Lord Jesus Christ.
Beyond my repulsion, the incident made me think deeply about this question:
How did we get here?
When I began to think about an answer, I was led to ask several more questions, like:
How is this legal?
When did Down syndrome become grounds for abortion?
How did human life become so expendable?
How did murder become mercy?
Historically, in the West, child sacrifice and abandonment were largely done away with by Christianity. The pre-abortion-like practices of pagan Rome, once commonplace, were vanquished by a Christian Church that cared for orphans and saved the neglected based on the assumption that all humans have dignity.
But now in the West, particularly in America, which self-identifies as approximately 60% Christian, the cultural work of our Christian forefathers has been undone. Every year, in the United States alone, over one million abortions are performed.
One million.
To put this into a broader perspective, consider this chart, which compares the number of deaths via abortion in the U.S. since Roe V. Wade to other high casualty events in our nation’s history.
Since Roe V. Wade, an estimated 66 million abortions have been performed. A generous estimation of the combined casualties of all U.S.-related wars is 2.6 million. Thus, the number of abortions performed within the past 50 years exceeds the amount of combat-related deaths within the past 250 years by twenty-five times.
What on earth could propel a civilization to do such a thing to its future generations?
Mercy.
Or, so I have come to believe.
Not real mercy, of course. But a fraudulent one. A mercy that slays the other on the altar of convenience; a mercy that claims to have “done the right thing” for one’s family; a mercy that sees children as a liability; a mercy that masquerades as charity.
Americans have been fooled by a false virtue at the expense of millions of lives, and it’s not hard to see why.
Because the most hideous vices are those that hide behind the guise of virtue.
I firmly believe Jesse Ridgway and his wife were making a decision that they deemed correct, given the circumstances. They saw their choice, not just as a preference, but as a duty they needed to perform. Their child was diagnosed with a condition that comes with real struggles, risk, and discomfort. Wouldn’t the virtuous thing be to save the child and family the time, pain, and effort?
Wouldn’t it be merciful to everyone involved if they simply “terminated the pregnancy?”
My plea to the Ridgway family is to realize that murder is not mercy, no matter how you dress it up.
You can play the hero.
You can play the victim.
But you cannot escape the fact that you intentionally ended the life of your child.
Regardless, God will not be mocked. The irony of this whole situation is that, in the end, their child wins. In the presence of his Maker, he will not be deemed as dysfunctional. But his soul and body will be made new. His future state of resurrection stands in judgment over his parents’ current state of corruption. One day, they will stand before their Creator, and their purported selfless mercy will be exposed for selfish murder. And, if they do not repent, the real suffering, pain, and disability will be theirs as they face the wrath of a holy and righteous God.
However, the Gospel of Jesus Christ does not merely pronounce judgment on the wicked but offers forgiveness for the penitent. I believe in a Gospel where Jesse and his wife could embrace their child in glory.
This glorious reality is what I truly long for in the wake of this situation. I pray that by God’s grace, Jesse and his wife would be struck by the weight of their sin and flee to Christ for pardon. And I pray that the Lord would put an end to the wicked practice of abortion.
May he raise up a generation of men and women who are unafraid to speak the truth; who unapologetically defend the dignity of human life; who intelligently engage in political action; and who courageously expose false mercy for what it is…
Murder.
Beautifully written.