Comments from a Listener about Bristol Palin

Listener Vince from NY has given us permission to publish the following message. Thanks, Vince!

It was upsetting to hear some of the comments about Bristol Palin this morning. Many of us are so quick to judge this young lady, but the Bible is very clear that it is not our place to judge anyone. Besides, judging doesn’t help anyone. It just fuels the fire of animosity and character assassination that we keep throwing at her.

This is one of the most blessed and joyous times of her life. Her family should be allowed to focus on the beauty of pregnancy and childbirth. She should be cherishing the new experiences of motherhood and filling her heart with the grace and love the Good Lord provides with His Miracle of life. But rather than showing her our love, support and happiness, we are disgracing her and forcing her to wear the scarlet letter of “teen parent.”

But not all teen parents are worthy of such disgrace. About 2000 years ago, an unwed, pregnant teenager had to survive in a society that wanted to stone her to death. Today she is revered as the mother of our Savior.

Twenty years ago, I was a teenager in high school. My future life looked fantastic through that windshield with nothing but blue skies ahead... I vividly remember calling my girlfriend on a pay phone by the cafeteria and finding out she was pregnant. In an instant, the priorities of my life changed. I could no longer see the blue skies ahead, even though they were still there. I was scared. I didn’t know what to do, and I didn’t know what society would do to me. But I was fortunate. My girlfriend and I accepted this responsibility with love. My mother was so encouraging and supportive. Some people accepted us; some did not. We stuck close to those who did. We got married and raised our family together. Here it is, 20 years later, and we just spent the morning getting our four kids off to school. We have one in college, one in high school, one in middle school and one in elementary school. And we have a morning schedule in chaos. ;)

Unfortunately, our society finds much more pleasure in ridiculing someone than encouraging her. Maybe we think we are lifting ourselves up when we push others down. But when we push people down, they will just move over to others who do lift them up. Some of those influences may be negative and provide false hope. Fortunately, we all have someone we can turn to and He will lift us up. Thank God that he sent His son not to judge us, but to save us. Pray that those who need encouragement turn to the Lord Jesus for the real hope of eternal love.