For years, when talking about the media, what came to mind was television, radio, and movies. Average Americans had few personal opportunities at media exposure through these venues, and the ‘lucky few’ who received their so-called 15 minutes of fame often did so via a local news camera seeking their comment on a terrible accident or a horrific crime. Possibly, a friend knew a friend who was on a game show where fabulous gifts and prizes could be won by simply giving the correct answer to an unimportant trivia question. But America is a very different place today, I’m sure, to the consternation of media personalities from every genre.
With the click of a mouse and the aid of a computer, millions have become journalists, reporters, media critics, etc., etc., etc. With the help of online sites like YouTube and My Space, anyone with a camcorder can be the star of a three-minute video or an elaborate production which can rival some of the things coming out of Hollywood — very good and very bad. However, rarely has cyberspace been used for positive reasons, in my opinion. Or perhaps the bad stuff on YouTube and My Space gets all the attention while the good things are ignored or not publicized and this creates a negative image in the minds of some who see the Internet as a breeding ground for all social ills.
In January of 2007, I wrote a column for the Illinois Family Institute (IFI) titled, “Haunted by the Decision to Abort, A Personal Reflection on the Issue.” In the piece, with the help of my wife, Julie, I tried to explain how our decision to abort a child nearly 30 years ago has had a traumatic impact on our lives ever since. That column has come a long way. A version of it first ran in the now-defunct Christian Coalition magazine under a different title. After that, I rewrote the column for the Illinois Leader (a former Internet news service) to address another issue — how the decision to abort affects men.
Each time I updated the column, it had a profound impact on me and my wife. It continues to be a cathartic experience which we hope will educate others as to the heartbreak abortion can bring to a family. In our case, it was a family of two, which concentrated the impact of our “choice” like a laser beam which bored into our psyche for years, until we found relief through Christ’s salvation.
I had hoped the column served others as it had served us, and many readers told us it had. But recently, the Internet — what I once thought was a wasteland strewn with the dark images of forlorn people — became something different to me. You see, my Pastor was conducting a series of sermons on many of the social issues which impact our culture every day. One of his sermons was to be about abortion. So, I sent him the third version of the column I had written for IFI over a year ago. The Pastor felt others needed to hear our testimony so we videotaped a session with him about the abortion my wife and I had when we were in our mid-20’s.
It is truly amazing how the Lord can use a singular moment, when I put down my first thoughts about our decision to abort, up until today, when the Lord is still using our tragedy to help others. The testimony Julie and I gave can now be seen on YouTube.
What also became clear to me — after this latest effort to share–was how God can use any technology to help get His word to His people. Therefore, the Internet is not a place we should cede to dark forces. It can be much more than a place for pornography or the sexual abuse of children and every other form of depravity known to man. The Internet can be — and has been — a tool where the positive things in life can also be extolled. It can be a place where we can share our experiences, good and bad, to help make the lives of others better.
The Illinois Family Institute has been using the Internet in this positive mode for years. But, at times, it seems as though the good simply gets buried by an avalanche of evil images. This can make the most positive of us jaded or depressed about the potential of new technology.
I hope many of you will tune in to YouTube to see our testimony about abortion, even if the act does not seem to have an impact on your life. The truth is, abortion affects us all. However, until our society understands the level of trauma abortion has wrought on our culture, the practice will never disappear.
No, a column on the Illinois Family Institute’s web site and an interview on YouTube will not relieve us of the guilt we suffered due to our decision to abort a child many years ago. Only the Lord, through His vessel of forgiveness, had that power. But we hope the ability to share our thoughts on the subject will save another man or woman from going through unnecessary pain and, more important, allow an unborn child to live the life God meant him or her to live.
NOTE: Both Julie and I would like to express our thanks to Pastor Dustin Fulton, Jefferson Street Christian Church in Lincoln, and the Illinois Family Institute for giving us the chance to share.
