Famed Pastor Pens Controversial Warning to Young Followers: '9 Reasons to Not Marry Someone Who's Pro-Choice

In a recent blog post, Pastor Mark Driscoll of Mars Hill Church in Seattle, Wash., detailed nine reasons why he believes pro-life Christians should refrain from marrying pro-choicers.

In particular, the preacher said that those who support abortion rights "do not value children the same way" as those who oppose them. Considering how flammable the abortion issue is, his strongly-worded list is sure to ruffle some feathers.

Photo Credit: AP

The short article begins with Driscoll sharing his own personal faith journey. In high school, he recalls being intensely "pro-abortion."

He met his wife, Grace, while the two were still teenagers. At the time, she was a pro-life, evangelical Christian; he was a Catholic who disagreed fervently with the church and his then-girlfriend's views on the matter.

Driscoll eventually changed his views on abortion. Now he's speaking out in an effort to warn the single men and women who follow his ministry to avoid marrying pro-choice partners.

"I recently asked Grace if she would have continued dating me and married me had I not converted and become pro-life," he wrote. "She said that she would not have married me if I had not become earnestly pro-life. She was right."

Meshing a pro-lifer and a pro-choicer, he said, creates an "irreconcilable conflict." While it's possible to come to an agreement on most issues, when it comes to life or death, Driscoll said there is no middle option.

Here is the pastor's complete list of reasons why he believes a pro-lifer should avoid walking down the aisle with a pro-choicer:

1. You submit to the authority of Scripture, and they do not.
2. You believe all that the Bible says about human life: that it is superior to animal life, endowed with a soul, and imprinted with God’s image. They do not.
3. They do not value children the same way that you do. You cannot bring a child into this world with someone who does not value the child as God does and as you do.
4. If your future unborn child is suspected to have some sort of complication or “birth defect,” the conclusions you and your spouse will arrive at could very easily be life versus death.
5. If a future pregnancy comes at a tough time (job loss, inconvenience, hard season of life), you may find yourself under pressure to murder the child—a massive, stressful, possibly irreconcilable conflict.
6. If they do not think biblically about having children, it’s probably safe to assume that they won’t think biblically about raising children either.
7. Division is literally two visions, and you have division about issues that are exceedingly deep and important. This will cause a rift in your marital relationship that is supposed to be “one flesh.”
8. They disagree with God, and you cannot spend your life supporting someone who disagrees with God on a matter as vital as human life.
9. They are wrong.

This list is certainly a lot to take in, particularly for those who disagree with Driscoll's stance on abortion. What do you think about the pastor's stance on the issue? Let us know in the comments section, below.

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