On January 22, 1984, President Ronald Reagan designated the third Sunday in January as National Sanctity of Human Life Day. This Sunday marks the 40th anniversary of this important day when we celebrate human life, especially that of the unborn. Over the past 40 years, many changes have occurred in the pro-life movement. The development of ultrasound technology has advanced the pro-life cause, as people see more clearly that what is developing in the uterus is not just a clump of cells but a human being.
Films and other pro-life campaigns have also helped reveal the true evil of those who murder children in the womb. Of course, the most significant development was the U.S. Supreme Court, which rightly recognized that the U.S. Constitution does not provide the right to abortion and struck down the U.S. Constitution. Roe v. Wade in June 2022.
Alongside these positive developments, however, there are worrying elements in the pro-life movement among Christians. We live in a very tense political environment and many Christians view abortion as more of a political issue than theological and spiritual. This perspective often leads to prioritizing political solutions, even at the expense of theological truth and spiritual power.
Some believers, particularly among younger people, have wrongly conflated the issue of abortion with social issues such as immigration, health care and poverty alleviation. This conflation of issues has led to confusion about abortion and the need to oppose it because of its inherent evil. This logical fallacy, sometimes called “whataboutism,” leaves many Christians feeling that they cannot speak out against the killing of children in the womb unless they simultaneously oppose poverty or other social problems, thereby weakening opposition to abortion.
A third problem is that some Christians don’t really understand why we should oppose abortion. For example, some say we failed to find the cure for cancer because the person who could have discovered it was murdered before he was born. This idea suggests that we oppose abortion because of its net negative effect on society. This erroneous value system often leads to the practice of aborting abnormal or deformed children who cannot bring any tangible benefit to society.
As we seek to eradicate the scourge of abortion from the laws of our land and pray that the gospel will change the hearts of women seeking abortion, we must understand why we oppose abortion and why it This is a particularly important question for Christians. Let me give three reasons why Christians should vigorously oppose abortion.
1. Abortion attacks the character and nature of God
When the Bible describes who God is, a key attribute of God is that He is the source and giver of life. In the Creation story, God gives birth to all life in the world. The world God created was very good and devoid of death. Romans 5:12-14 clearly shows that death did not come into the world until sin entered into the world.
When the Gospel of John exegetes the creation story in the light of the Incarnation of the Word, it says that life was inherent in the Word (John 1:4). Jesus declared that He is the bread of life (John 6:35) and that He is the Light of life (John 8:12). Jesus is also the resurrection and the life (John 11:25) and the way, the truth and the life (John 14:6). He came that those who believe in him might have life more abundantly (John 10:10). The purpose of the Gospel of John is so that readers can believe that Jesus is the Messiah and has life in his name (John 20:31).
God’s character is undoubtedly defined by life. He is the living God.
Furthermore, when God created humanity, He created us in His image (Genesis 1:26-27). We were created to reflect the reality of who God is. Because we are the image of God, any attack on human beings without divine sanction is an attack on God himself. This includes the murder of babies knitted together in the womb.
As Christians, we must oppose abortion, not for pragmatic reasons, but because abortion is an attack on the character and nature of God. To call abortion a “right” or to tout it as something “good” is to say that death is a good thing and that the image of God is so insignificant that it can be rejected on demand.
2. Abortion attacks those God cherishes
Throughout Scripture we see the divine importance given to children. For example, when God looked upon the wicked city of Nineveh, He wanted to show compassion to its citizens, noting that over 120,000 people did not know the difference between their left hand and their right hand (Jonah 4:11). . God was probably referring to little children who cannot discern right or wrong, but who would be taken away with their parents in a city-wide judgment.
Jesus himself was the prime example of God’s love for children. In Luke 18:15-17, people brought their babies to Jesus to be blessed by Him. The disciples found this embarrassing for Jesus and rebuked these parents, perhaps reprimanding them for wasting the Master’s time with children as insignificant as infants. Jesus, however, ordered the children to be brought to him, and he praised them as examples of those to whom the kingdom of heaven belongs. Our Lord, far from finding children harmful, loved them and wanted them to be brought to Him to bless them.
The example of Jesus reminds us of the importance of children in the eyes of God. Too often in our society, children are seen as obstacles to career advancement, accumulation of wealth, or exciting vacations. Children are often pushed aside or treated as unimportant. To treat children this way is antithetical to the way of Christ, and to murder them as they develop in the womb is to destroy those whom God is creating. Because of God’s love for children, Christians must also show love toward children. We should cherish what God cherishes and hate what God hates. God loves children and hates the killing of these little image-bearers. Because we fundamentally want to model the holiness of our Lord, we must oppose this horrible evil.
3. God commanded us to defend the weak and vulnerable
No one in society is weaker and more vulnerable than children. The children are physically weak and unable to defend themselves. They are mentally weak and incapable of discerning threats from evildoers. Children are also easily deceived and hurt. This is especially true for those in the womb, whose cries for help are inaudible and whose cries from the pain of being torn to shreds in the womb are silent to the outer ears. When mothers abandon their children and leave them to be massacred, how can we not lament and cry over this great evil? How can we not denounce such bloodshed among the most innocent and vulnerable among us?
Psalm 41:1 says, “Blessed is he who considers the helpless; the Lord will deliver him in the day of trouble. Psalm 82:3-4 says, “Justify the weak and the fatherless; do justice to the afflicted and the needy. Save the weak and needy; deliver them from the hand of the wicked. Proverbs 24:11 adds, “Deliver those who are led away to death, and those who stagger to the slaughter, oh, hold them back.” » Scripture repeatedly calls us to defend the orphan. James 1:27 defines pure religion as caring for orphans in their distress. Although those who are murdered in the womb are not orphans in the sense that their parents died, they are orphans in the sense that their parents abandoned them to death. To speak out against such evil, to pray for God’s mercy to put an end to it, and to call sinners to repentance for committing murder or sanctioning murder, falls to us as those whom God has called to defend the orphans and save those who are taken away. to death.
Abortion attacks the character and nature of God, attacks those God cherishes, and destroys the weakest and most vulnerable among us. This Holiness of Life Sunday, let us remember, as Christians, why we value life, why we oppose the killing of those in the womb, and why we seek to abolish such killing from our country. And may God pour out his compassionate mercies on us and change the hearts of our fellow Americans, that we may live in a nation whose people love life because we love Christ.
Dr. Robb Brunansky is the teaching pastor at Desert Hills Bible Church in Glendale, Arizona. Follow him on Twitter at @RobbBrunansky.
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