A Heritage of Ideas

Abortion

Abortion is an issue that has divided families, religions and communities. It seems that everyone has an opinion which they think is correct: the feminists believe that no one should be allowed to tell a woman what to do with her own body; the moderates believe that abortion should be allowed in cases of rape or incest; and, the pro-lifers believe that abortion is wrong. Add partial-birth abortions to the issue and it gets even steamier.

What is the correct position for a Christian to take? Isf abortion wrong or is it a woman’s choice? Many people claim that the Bible does not address the issue of abortion because it is a modern issue; the answer, however,  lies in what the Bible says about life, pregnancy and death.

First of all, let’s examine God’s thoughts on life and pregnancy. The Bible clearly states that God knew us before we were born, while we were yet in our mother’s uterus. Psalms 139:14-16 states:

I will praise thee [God]; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: marvellous are thy works; and that my soul knoweth right well. My substance was not hid from thee, when I was made in secret, and curiously wrought in the lowest parts of the earth. Thine eyes did see my substance, yet being unperfect; and in thy book all my members were written, which in continuance were fashioned, when as yet there was none of them.

The Conception of Life  

This scripture plainly states that God knew us at the point of our conception and before our structure was formed. Psalms 71:5-6 also tells us that God kept us in our mother’s womb:

For thou art my hope, O Lord God: thou art my trust from my youth. By thee have I been holden up from the womb: thou art he that took me out of my mother’s bowels: my praise shall be continually of thee.

Abortion proponents argue that the fetus is not a child but, rather, that it is only a fetus. This argument negates the value of the sanctity of life: since it is “not a child,” then it does not matter what we do to the lump of tissue. However, if we look at what the Creator has to say about it, we find it completely differs from the pro-choice, or abortionist, theory.

In Jeremiah chapter 1, we read the story of the calling of Jeremiah to ministry. God clearly states to Jeremiah when he was actually called to minister to the nation of Israel :

Then the word of the LORD came unto me, saying, Before I formed thee in the belly, I knew thee; and before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee, and I ordained thee a prophet unto the nations.^[1]

This does not sound like God was speaking of some lump of tissue, a non-existential fetus, but rather a person. God says that before He formed Jeremiah and before Jeremiah was born, He sanctified and ordained his as a prophet to the nations. God recognized and called Jeremiah before he was born! Isn’t that awesome? God knew you before you were actually born.

God has plans for every individual also. Not just Jeremiah. Millions of abortions are performed each year. How many prophets, ministers, scientists, and others have been terminated before they were actually born? What were God’s plans for those children if had they survived?

The Bible clearly states in Exodus 20:13, Thou shalt not kill. It is one of the Ten Commandments that form the basis of the Christian theology. Jesus said He came not to destroy the law, but to fulfil it. This means that the Ten Commandments are just as important today as they were when Moses brought them down from the mountain top to the people of Israel .

Abortion’s History

Proponents argue that abortion is a modern-day phenomena that was not addressed during the biblical era. However, it was also prevalent in the pagan nations surrounding Israel and, eventually, in Israel . It wasn’t called abortion; it was called child sacrifice. It was the slaughter of innocent children by their parents:

Yea, they sacrificed their sons and their daughters unto devils, and shed innocent blood, even the blood of their sons and of their daughters, whom they sacrificed unto the idols of Canaan : and the land was polluted with blood. Thus were they defiled with their own works, and went awhoring with their own inventions. Therefore was the wrath of the LORD kindled against his people, insomuch that he abhorred his own inheritance.^[2]

Psalms says the wrath of God was kindled against the Israelites for the murder of their innocent children, their sons and daughters. These children were sacrificed to the idols of Canaan , including Baal.  Today, we are sacrificing our innocent sons and daughters to the idols of self, money and convenience. The arguments are the same: “We do not want children; but we want sexual satisfaction.”“ I am too young to worry about raising a child.” “We can’t afford to have kids now.” At this point in time, I need to concentrate on my career and not have time for children.” We put ourselves, money and convenience before the lives of innocent children.

There Are No Unwanted Children

We need to realize that no child is unwanted. Many families wait for years on adoption lists to adopt a child while thousands are killed by their mothers and the medical society. Why? Because the parents will not accept responsibility for the child they have conceived long enough to give him or her life and another couple a family. It’s not convenient for them or it is too embarrassing. The excuses vary, but the result is the same: a wanted child dies.

We have a society that wants to have the privileges of adulthood (sex) but not accept the responsibilities of their actions. With the numerous forms of birth control available, they still insist abortion is necessary.

The Romans used to say that what a society does to their children, their children will do to them. That has proven true: now we have those arguing for euthanasia. The termination of the elderly. We believe that our children are too much of an inconvenience to us and now our children believe that the elderly are too much of an inconvenience to them. Oh, the argument is tempered: It’s their right to die. But who will be there later to argue that it’s their right to live? It certainly won’t be the millions of children which we have aborted over the last few decades, will it?

Additional Scriptures:

Psalms 127:3

Psalms 147:13

Proverbs 17:6

Malachi 4:6

© Copyright 1998 by Synthia Robinson-Pack. All rights reserved.

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