In the opening scenes of Patriot Games, retired CIA analyst Jack Ryan (played by Harrison Ford) heroically thwarts a terrorist attack on a member of the Royal Family in London. During the attack, Ryan kills several of the terrorists including the younger brother of one of the group’s leaders, Sean Miller (played by Sean Bean). Miller becomes obsessed with revenge for the death of his brother and later in the movie attempts to murder Ryan’s wife and daughter, critically injuring the girl in a car crash. Filled with rage, Ryan returns to the CIA, demanding to be reinstated, help find Miller, and end the threat to his family.

In one particularly poignant exchange, Ryan passionately makes his case to return: “Marty, I am not standing here with my hat in my hand! I am telling you, I want back in.”

I want back in! I want to engage! I want to defend my family. This is the kind of passion I would love to see in every Christian when it comes to defending the intrinsic value of every member of the human family. We should all be saying: I must get involved!

Recently, a mentor gave me some wise counsel regarding Christians engaging in the public square. Over the next several posts, I’d like to talk about three pieces of advice he gave, and specifically, how they apply to the belief that human life begins at conception. The first piece of advice is simply: Get in the game!

If you are already actively involved in the pro-life movement with Merely Human Ministries or some other organization, great! Keep doing what you are doing! Your work for the Kingdom is so incredibly important.

But if you are new to pro-life persuasion, this series of posts is especially for you.  I want to help you make the case for the pro-life view in the most compelling way that you can.  But you can’t do that if you haven’t yet engaged!

Contrary what you may have heard, Christians do get to voice our opinions as citizens.  Some might even argue—and I would say correctly—that we are obliged to do so.  But in any case, it is entirely appropriate.  To be a driving force for the common good is right and proper. Public policy decisions must be made through discussion and debate and sound moral reasoning.  Any other way is simply an illicit power move in someone’s own private interest.  And though ultimately, Christians are informed by God’s Word as to what the common good entails, this does not mean—as some assert—that we cannot contribute to public discourse or to shape public policy.  On the contrary, this is the nature of our self-governance.  Everyone gets a voice.

So, over the next several posts, let me encourage you not only to get involved and engage in pro-life persuasion for the common good, but let me also suggest a better way to do it based on some sound advice I got myself.