VA: Planned Parenthood objects to crosses on church property. What next??

 Well this is abortion provider appreciation day but this Planned Parenthood  president is  busy complaining about a church posting small crosses on their own property. The don't want the crosses to symbolize killing as in abortion and suggest that displaying the crosses is mean spirited. What nerve! The pastor sees the crosses as redemption  and says we must speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves and he is not going to be cowered by the criticism....good for him. Churches are guilty of being silent too long. We need more pastors like him.

 

Church's crosses cause controversy...(with who....those who profit from abortion that's who)

Members see them as a message of redemption and peace for women in the area who have had an abortion.

By Jorge Valencia
  981-3349

Photos by KYLE GREEN The Roanoke Times

Michael Grooms, senior pastor at Rainbow Forest Baptist Church, stands next to the largest of 729 crosses that the church has erected on land overlooking U.S. 460 east of Roanoke. The crosses recognize the 729 abortions performed in the area in 2008.

The church's leader sees the crosses as a symbol of redemption. And the local Planned Parenthood administrator sees them as a political statement.
What's clear is this: There were 729 abortions during 2008 in the areas between Alleghany and Roanoke counties, and members of Rainbow Forest Baptist Church commemorated them by staking the same number of crosses on a grassy hill the church owns beside U.S. 460 near Bonsack.
It's an expression in an emotionally contentious issue, and it's an example of how some faith groups vocalize their convictions.
"Someone needs to speak up for those who can't speak up for themselves," the Rev. Mike Grooms said. "I'm not going to not do it because it's not the socially accepted thing to do."
Members of Rainbow Forest, where about 600 congregants meet weekly, put down the 3-foot crosses in mid-January, forming the shape of a large cross on the hill. They wanted it to be a memorial and a message of redemption and peace for each woman who had an abortion, Grooms said.
"We're all sinners. I'm not any better than a woman who has committed an abortion," Grooms said. "I have also sinned."
But David Nova, the vice president for Planned Parenthood in Roanoke, said that to him the 729 crosses represent a political message, not one of redemption.
"The display is a mock cemetery," he said. "It likens abortions to killing. In many respects, it is mean-spirited and not redemptive."


The idea for the crosses did originate from a goal to educate people. Members wanted to speak up for each abortion recorded in the Virginia Department of Health's 5th District in 2008, the most recent figures available, said Lorrie Ruff, a member of an education ministry at the church.
Church members have also participated in the 40 Days for Life vigil outside of the Planned Parenthood building, driven a bus to Washington, D.C., for the March for Life, and advertised in their church bulletin a Bible study for women who have had abortions.
"We just want to be about the Lord's business," Ruff said, "to stand up for what the Scriptures say we're supposed to do, to stand up for our churches and our country."
People outside of the church have written to Grooms criticizing the memorial. He said this week that members plan on leaving the crosses on the hill until about Easter, and their intent is a message of redemption.
Standing below the hillside monument as afternoon traffic on U.S. 460 whizzed by, he said, "We are not here condemning anyone. The only one who can condemn us is God."