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[/vc_column_text][vc_column_text]A new chapter recently unfolded in this story of Biola University student, Diana Jimenez who displayed a handheld sign depicting the results of an abortion in the middle of her campus. [To catch up on the full story, see the preceding blog post]

My friend Diana was told by senior administrators that she could not show this imagery on campus. Thankfully, Diana recognized that she is firstly called to submit to God. She believed it was her spiritual obligation to expose the horrors of abortion to her peers. Why?: Abortion largely remains tolerable because abortion largely remains unseen.

God is smiling down at Diana, rejoicing over her actions which had powerful, life-saving implications.

A group called arms of audio just published a YouTube video in which they interview a Biola alumni, a nursing department alumni, as well as a former staff member.

Among the comments that were posted on Arms of Audio’s video was the concession of a female Biola student whose baby was saved due to Diana’s “disobedient” display. Her comment is as follows:

There is a lot of people bashing Diana right now but first hand I can tell you she did what she was told to do. I am 20. A student of Biola and always claimed to be prolife. I thought that until I got a positive pregnancy test. This came after a night of partying just outside the campus and had a one night stand with a youth pastor in training. I was going to go to planned parenthood that day and as I walked through campus her signs made me realize there is a human life in my womb …. In that moment I went to my dorm room got on my knees and asked that I would have the strength to be my babies mom. STOP saying she didn’t follow her stupid rules. God came through for me because of her. And Susan Elliot is a tool of the devil.

There have been many faithful Christians who are also very pro-life who have expressed deep disapproval of Diana’s actions. Some of the objections are as follows:

1) Biola gave Diana various options to get her message out, all of which she refused.

This objection misses the whole point. Diana showed graphic abortion imagery on her campus because she saw women dealing with the issue of abortion firsthand when she was a Resident Assistant (RA). Furthermore, Diana has been told by the pregnancy care clinic in the area that Biola women often come into the clinic. Praise God they are going to the PCC, but the fact is that Biola women are getting pregnant. Abortion then becomes a very viable option to women who would prefer to avoid the responsibility that comes a long with a baby, especially as a college student. The Guttmacher Institute reports that 37% of all abortions are performed on women self-identifying as “Protestants”. Lastly, Diana had already held a separate, optional pro-life presentation on campus before her display and there were only five students there. Gregg Cunningham says, “Martin Luther King also had several options which would not have broken the rules in Birmingham, AL in 1963. But none of the approved options would have advanced the cause of civil rights and none of the Biola nurse’s approved options would have advanced the cause of unborn children. With all due respect, “panel discussions” never ended any terrible injustice.” I can testify with Diana that when a student holds an optional pro-life display or presentation, hardly anyone attends, and those that do are already convinced of the pro-life position, so rarely are any minds changed or lives saved.

2) If students can display whatever they want without clearing their material, imagine what students who might be inclined to promote other causes that are contrary to Christian values might do.

This objection is a complete misunderstanding of the Christian University. Colleges such as Biola have doctrinal statements that are at the very core of what they believe and stand for. This doctrinal statement can be enforced on campus when necessary. For example, if a student set up a pro-homosexuality display on Biola’s campus, the school has every right to require that the display is taken down because such a presentation would exist in juxtaposition to the doctrinal statement and standards of the university. To argue that if a student is allowed to show graphic abortion imagery on campus, the floodgates will open, allowing any other presentation to be allowed is simply not true and shows an ignorance of the Christian higher education sphere.

3) Diana must learn to submit to authority. She was intentionally disobedient toward the Biola Administration.

Let me make this clear and to the point. Had Diana submitted to and obeyed the Biola administration, a Biola woman would have aborted her baby and inflicted emotional damage upon herself. This is not something we can agree to disagree upon. Graphic imagery of abortion must be shown. To clarify, The Center for Bio-Ethical Reform does NOT think that graphic imagery is the only way to fight abortion, but it is an extremely effective way and has saved countless lives. This pregnant Biola student was heading to Planned Parenthood that day, and because Diana chose to show graphic imagery of abortion that same day, a baby’s life was saved and a mother’s pain spared.

Put yourself in the shoes of this pregnant woman whose baby was just saved because Diana Jimenez broke man-made rules, and now you’re reading everywhere how wrong Diana was for breaking these rules. I think our response would be the same as this young lady:

“STOP saying she didn’t follow her stupid rules. God came through for me because of her.”

We’re talking about people’s lives, namely the mother and the baby. The debate over this use of graphic imagery at Biola University is now a life and death issue. I say this carefully, but must say it nonetheless: I challenge those of you who were angry with Diana and disapproved of her display to leave a comment for this young Biola student who is keeping her baby, telling her that her baby should be dead. I know none of you wish for that but had you had your way and Diana had obeyed Biola and not shown graphic imagery, this baby would be dead.

Our calling as abortion abolitionists is to make abortion impossible to ignore or trivialize. History has shown that injustices weren’t outlawed until the culture exposed the deeds of darkness (Ephesians 5:11). As long as injustices remain invisible, cultural reform is just as invisible. Awareness precedes human action.

If I grew up in a very pro-life family and didn’t see what abortion did to an unborn baby until I was 18 years old, I know there are many pro-lifers and countless pro-choicers who have never seen the reality of abortion. However, the moment I saw what happens to these precious 3500 babies a day, the course of my life was set. Diana’s obedience to Christ over the administrators of Biola has had eternal impact and should make us all smile with pride, even those of you who believe abortion imagery is unethical.

“One act of obedience is worth a hundred sermons.”
-Dietrich Bonhoeffer

*Disclaimer: I love Biola and have no doubt that they are pro-life. I often brag about their pro-life efforts, in juxtaposition to Westmont College that does nothing about abortion. I quote Gregg Cunningham once more:

“Of course Biola is “pro-life,” but that means little when Biola’s ban on the public display of abortion photos is killing babies just like the one Ms. Jimenez saved when she defied that un-Godly ban. Biola, along with virtually every other Christian school, is helping Planned Parenthood hide the horror of abortion. Biola — and the rest of Christian higher education — is failing to offer an entire major with courses specifically designed to qualify students for full-time service in pro-life ministry. Occasional lectures and chapel presentations are no substitute for the sort of serious curricular reform without which the pro-life movement will continue to be hampered by undue reliance on part-time, amateur volunteers to save babies — while the abortion industry employs full-time, paid-staff professionals to kill them.”

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