By Judie Brown
Recently deceased preacher Voddie Baucham Jr. delivered a message on cultural apologetics for Christians. His words are striking in their generosity, their love for Christ, and in their advocacy for always acting with mercy, even when we are righteously angry. His message was inspired by 1 Peter 3:15-17, which reads:
Simply proclaim the Lord Christ holy in your hearts, and always have your answer ready for people who ask you the reason for the hope that you have. But give it with courtesy and respect and with a clear conscience, so that those who slander your good behavior in Christ may be ashamed of their accusations. And if it is the will of God that you should suffer, it is better to suffer for doing right than for doing wrong.
Though Baucham died at age 56, we have a suspicion that his words will be heard for years to come. This is so because his legacy of love for people and his desire to teach mercy are sorely needed in our day.
We are steeped in a dreadful aura of disdain for God and His many blessings, and this reality confronts us every day, especially on Catholic college campuses. Even though Catholic teaching defines the use of contraception as sinful, some students are seeking ways to acquire birth control, including via a covert contraceptive delivery network known as “womb service.” This is a stunning example of treachery to our Lord and our faith.
And while this might seem like the most obnoxious example of young people’s behavior gone amuck, we might want to also ponder Pope Leo XIV’s latest comments on the death penalty.
The pope recently said, “Someone who says I’m against abortion but says I’m in favor of the death penalty is not really pro-life. . . . Someone who says I’m against abortion but I’m in agreement with the inhuman treatment of immigrants in the United States, I don’t know if that’s pro-life.”
Further, he opined, “So, they are very complex issues, I don’t know if anyone has all the truth on them, but I would ask first and foremost that there would be greater respect for one another.”
His comments on the death penalty stir controversy among many because on the one hand there are innocent babies being condemned to death by their own mothers, and on the other hand there are individuals who have exercised their free will and have committed heinous crimes, such as the murder of Charlie Kirk.
Jeffrey Mirus considered the questions of abortion and capital punishment, writing in 2007:
If the massive opposition to capital punishment were based on any sort of logic, a similar opposition to abortion would even now be bringing whole political systems to their knees. This, ultimately, is what makes me conflicted about the death penalty. Of course, one should support the good despite any misunderstanding and hypocrisy which come along for the ride. But there is a great deal of such baggage in this case. It bothers me. It makes me very nervous. I don’t like it.
We don’t like it either because we do not believe that complex issues arise because of a fungible concept of charity.
Turning to the Catechism, we note that charity is “the greatest social commandment. It respects others and their rights. It requires the practice of justice, and it alone makes us capable of it.”
It is not an act of charity to kill a preborn baby. It is not an act of charity to consciously kill anyone. This is so because there is a perpetrator and a victim—the one who kills and the one who dies. Nothing complex about it! But there is a need for charity, for understanding, and for the ability to expose evil, which is a direct threat to charity.
Above it all, we need fervent prayer so that we never offend God by our actions or words. In moments like this, we pray, “Almighty ever-living God, who in the abundance of your kindness surpasses the merits and the desires of those who entreat you, pour out your mercy upon us to pardon what conscience dreads and to give what prayer does not dare to ask. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, forever and ever.”