Today's blog posting is long but the subject is of eternal importance. Read it through and then share our own thoughts on the subject.
"Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations." Jeremiah 1:5"But when God, who set me apart from my mother's womb and called me by His grace, was pleased." Galatians 1:15
"Your eyes saw my unformed body; all my days were written in Your book and ordained for me before one of them came to be." Luke 1:15
"Listen to me, O islands, and pay attention, O distant peoples: The LORD called me from the womb; from the body of my mother He named me." Isaiah 49:1
What God says in His Word certainly has to inform the discussion around whether to allow a child to develop and be born and have a chance at life or to destroy that opportunity.
Since God clearly has intention for the unborn of which we are not privy then we do not have the right to make that choice without running the risk of going contrary to God's purposes.
However, going contrary to God's expressed purposes is not something with which we as a nation are unfamiliar. We seem to do it on a wide range of moral issues.
I have a rule of thumb when it comes to moral issues. It is this: What God prohibits He does not regulate and what God regulates he has not prohibited." A corollary to that rule is: "What God loves I should love and what God hates I should hate."
Proverbs state that there are seven things that the Lord hates and among them is "hands that shed innocent blood." One should only need to search the phrase "innocent blood” in Scripture to get a pretty good idea of how God feels about shedding of innocent blood and how he deals with those who do.
Unfortunately for us God is not interested in our opinion on these matters. The shedding of innocent blood is expressly prohibited and in no way regulated therefore it is spoken of as an abomination unto the Lord.
Ultimately, in these matters, for Christians it is a matter of will we obey man or will we obey God . . . will we adopt societies norms or will the standards God has established in scripture determine our choices.
Scripture is not complicated and does not need us to go through all sorts of intellectual gymnastics to understand its meaning. That is required only when we don't like its clear self-evident meaning. Scripture was written in vernacular Greek of the day so the man on the street could understand its meaning and the Scripture says, God hates the shedding of innocent blood and there are none among us more innocent that the unborn.
I will add here that another aspect of this that we often neglect is the fact that we do not fully understand the mind of God. We do not know what His purposes for any of the unborn are nor do we know the means by which He brings his “called ones” into the world. I have a friend whose mother was a prostitute. She could have aborted him. Instead she took the high road. Gave birth and then put him up for adoption. He was adopted by Godly people became a Christian evangelist who was God’s tool to lead many into the kingdom of God. I myself was a candidate for abortion because of fear on the part of medical people for my mom’s life. Thankfully for me my mother believed in the sanctity of life and here I am. Preaching the gospel for 50 years.
I wonder how many scientist, ministers, doctors etc. were never known because their pre-birth lives were literally “cut” short by the abortionist tools. I am so glad that Mary the single mother of Jesus didn’t opt for an abortion or our salvation would never have been provided. My point is . . . . the inconvenient truth of an unwanted pregnancy may just be the source of a mighty blessing from God. If not that child then perhaps that child will become the parent of a great leader in some arena of life.
In response my view someone who claims the who abortion issue is not about the ”fetus” but the mother’s rights suggested that I look at Exodus 21:22-24 to get an idea of the relative importance God places on the pre-born. It reads, “If people are fighting and hit a pregnant woman and she gives birth prematurely but there is no serious injury, the offender must be fined whatever the woman’s husband demands and the court allows. But if there is serious injury, you are to take life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, 25 burn for burn, wound for wound, bruise for bruise.” (NIV)
So, I looked. In fact I looked pretty hard at Exodus 21:22 (NIV) and without a full blown exegesis of the chapter I must confess that I fail to find anything there that speaks to the issue of either a woman's right to choose or the unnatural ending of a pregnancy. What I did find is a ruling that should two men be fighting and the pregnant woman is struck of one tries to interfere and by either of the combatants so that as a result of that blow she miscarriages then her husband can demand damages or in the case of a death he can demand the death.
The first question one is confronted with is when it speaks of serious injury and death is it speaking of the woman or the child. The short answer for me is that the primary focus is on the woman but given the concept of the “tree and its fruit” the unborn child would be considered the fruit of the tree.
The significance is not that there is different values for the woman and her unborn child but that both held value for the husband. The injury or death of either as a result of such a blow would be considered something for which the husband could exact compensation in any amount he chose. The exception would be in the event of death and then the rule of “an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth” would come into play and the offender could be executed.
I find absolutely nothing here that is applicable to a woman intentionally aborting an unborn child. That is simply not discussed in Scripture and with good reason. Namely, such an act was incompressible. Evidence of the incomprehensibility of such an action is the fact that Joseph initially sought send Mary away and not to deliberately abort her child which in fact was not his.
What I do find is a clear indication that violation of the law carries with it price. Some of which are fixed and others that are negotiated settlements. I guess you'd say some are high crimes and some are misdemeanors; some are criminal and some are civil.
Paul takes this up a notch from the actual physical acts and motives with which humans deal to the spiritual dimension of such actions. Clearly when says that “the wages of sin is death” he ups the significance of these kinds of activities. This passage in Exodus is absolutely devastating for a sorceress and idolaters. So much for Exodus 21:22.
As far as rights, be they human, men’s or women’s right to choose and decide the verdict is absolute and clear. Everyone has the right to choose or decide. In one sense our life is the result of the sum total of our choices.
However, we all understand that having the right to “choose” does not justify the choice. I wouldn’t argue for a minute the right to choose. You see the right to choose comes with the responsibility for the consequences of that choice. It is the Biblical consequence that those who advocate for abortion dislike. Trust me, in nearly 50 years of ministry I have had many a woman sit across from me weeping bitter tears for child they aborted when just a young women. It is like killing another person . . . you never forget and you always wonder what the result would have been if you had been older and wiser when you acted.
That is why the pro-abortion folks want to refer to the forming child as an embryo, a fetus, a glob of bloody cells. The newspeak of our day wants to convert the terms describing the progression of development as separate from the child that is developing. That lunacy is why only the most hardened abortionist like the racist Margaret Sanger and Governor of Virginia, Ralph Northam, endorse abortion in the last weeks of gestation and beyond. No one among them seems to know when that process produces a person. Perhaps Genesis 1:24 is informative here: “And God said, 'Let the land produce living creatures according to their kinds”
I'm sure if you think about it a while you can come up with a million examples of this principle. We all have the right to choose. Everyone always has. It is the consequences of our choices that have grated us. Some consequences may be good and others not so good; sometimes the consequences can be reverse and sometimes they are final. Abortion, like suicide is a permanent solution to a temporary problem. It is like driving nails using a sledge hammer.
Unfortunately for too many having the abortion does not eliminate the long term consequence unless somehow we sear our conscious
However, when you are using your right to choose (decide) and that choice is going to effect another then the rights of that human must be weighted into the choice you make. As someone once said, "Your rights end at my nose."
MY Body, MY Choice Argument:
Now a word about whether or not the “Right to Choose” argument is even valid. It seems to me that the “My Body, My choice” argument was thrown out the window many years ago.
We decided as a society that the “My Body, My Choice” argument was not absolute. For example:
1. If I want to commit suicide the government steps in and says that is not a right you have. Suicide is a crime against yourself and while not always prohibited it is heavily regulated in cases of terminal illnesses.
2. If you want to put harmful drugs in your body the government says you do not have the right to do so. The taking of drugs, both helpful and harmful, are heavily regulated and often failure to follow the regulation lands you in jail.
3. Let say you have decided to sell some of your body parts. Oops, Not a “My body, my choice” issue. The government steps in and says not allowed. You can donate but you cannot monetize.
4. Even in the case of abortion under today’s standards the right is not absolute. It is highly regulated.
Let’s be honest for once about abortion. Abortion is an industry in which the single largest beneficiary of which is Planned Parenthood. Planned Parenthood is the brain child of Margaret Sanger and avowed a business established by a blatant racist. It, abortion has nothing to do with “My body, my choice.” It is more like an inconvenient truth.
Here are the facts:
1. Only about 1 percent or less abortions are for women who are the victims of rape
2. Less than one half of one percent of abortions are for incest
3. Only 13% of abortions has to do with birth defects, or other health issues of infant or mother. These are virtually performed in hospitals not abortion clinics.
4. About 85% of all abortions are for convenience of some kind. Things like education, finances, embarrassment etc.
The Real Kicker: While it might be your choice it is not even your body that you are choosing to kill it is a new human life at some stage of its development all the way through actual birth. “And God said, "Let the land produce living creatures according to their kinds: the livestock, the creatures that move along the ground, and the wild animals, each according to its kind." And it was so.” Genesis 1:24
If you simply favor killing an unborn or new born child just be honest and state it plainly. Stop all the intellectual gyrations and word games. Stop twisting Scripture to establish abortion. Just admit that for some reason you believe birth control is inconvenient and/or self-discipline is so lacking and that abortion is a handy way to make up for stupid carelessness.
Finally, what if someone has had an abortion. What does that do to their standing before God. It does the same thing that all sin does it separates them from God. But they need to know that while the “wages of sin is death” and the “soul that sins will certainly die.” s
Fortunately for us God is in the sin forgiving business and that upon repentance and faith He will “forgive their sin;” . . . "cleanse them from all unrighteousness;” and . . . . . “remember it against them no more.” The woman in this case should then go forward with their life as though they had never sinned. Remember the words of the Lord to Peter when the Spirit said to him, “do not call what I have cleansed unclean.” How wonderful is the grace of God.
How shall my tongue describe it, here shall its praise begin?
Taking away my burden, setting my spirit free;
O the Wonderful Grace of Jesus reaches me!
By it I have been pardoned, Saved to the uttermost;
Chains have been torn asunder, Giving me liberty;
For the wonderful grace of Jesus reaches me.
By its transforming power, Making him God’s dear child,
Purchasing peace and heaven For all eternity—
And the wonderful grace of Jesus reaches me.
Wonderful the matchless grace of Jesus,
Higher than the mountain, sparkling like a fountain,
All-sufficient grace for even me!
Broader than the scope of my transgressions,
Greater far than all my sin and shame;
Oh, magnify the precious Name of Jesus,
Praise His Name!
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