Source: https://jeffshort.wordpress.com/2012/03/03/abortion-still-wrong-after-all-these-years/
Timestamp: 2019-04-26 03:47:35+00:00

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We’ve recently passed another anniversary of the infamous Row v. Wade abortion decision here in the United States. It’s the 39th year since the Supreme Court legalized abortion everywhere in America. Before this ruling there were states where abortion was allowed under certain conditions, and other states where abortion was illegal altogether. But with one decision, the Court made abortion legal everywhere in the United States. In the nearly forty years since Row v. Wade American culture has changed a lot – unfortunately, it hasn’t changed for the better, morally and spiritually. Today, it’s pretty much accepted that abortion is available and legal nearly everywhere in our country. Most people today even feel that it’s a woman’s fundamental right. But as Christians we need to assert the very opposite every opportunity we have in order to counter the growing consensus in favor of abortion. There’s no wonder there is a consensus now in favor of abortion in the U.S. The media overwhelmingly favors abortion. The education establishment almost entirely supports legal abortion. Of course, government supports abortion – that is, until the law can be changed. In fact, there aren’t many areas of culture today in America that oppose abortion accept the church and religious institutions, and even these are sometimes unreliable in their defense of the unborn! So as Christians against abortion we’ve got our backs against the wall, as they say. But I’d like to remind us with this message today that abortion is still wrong – even after all these years! Nothing has changed in respect to the Bible’s opposition to abortion. The unborn child in the womb is still a growing, developing, tiny human life. Taking an innocent human life is still wrong, no matter what the law says, no matter what the government says, no matter what politicians or educators or news reporters say, no matter what anybody says! To kill an innocent baby in the womb through abortion is murder; it’s wrong. But because it’s been nearly forty years since the Row v. Wade decision was made, and since for nearly four decades we’ve been living in a virtual killing-zone in respect to abortion, I’d like to outline three solid reasons why abortion is still wrong. I need to remind us over and over again that just because something has been allowed to stand legally decade after decade doesn’t make it right. Just because abortion is legal in the United States doesn’t make it now morally permissible. Some people think it does. Some think that if abortion were really all that bad, it wouldn’t be permitted. But that’s not true. Yes, abortion could be and is bad, and yes, it could be and is still permitted. This is a mistake that needs to be corrected. But in order to change the laws on abortion in this country we need to continue to assert the fact that abortion is wrong, still wrong, after all these many years. Let me review why abortion is still murder, still a grave sin, and still wrong.
First, the Bible calls it murder – and murder is wrong. Exodus 20:13, “Thou shall not murder.” Now some translations of the Old Testament in this passage translate the verse, “Thou shall not kill.” But a better translation of the verse is, “Thou shall not murder,” because the Bible recognizes that sometimes it’s permissible to kill. For example, in times of war, in fighting for a just cause, soldiers are permitted to use deadly force against an unjust enemy; or in other words, it’s permissible to kill in time of war. It’s also permissible, according to the Bible, to kill in self-defense. And there are other instances where killing, although regrettable, is permissible. But in the case of abortion, there is no defense for killing an innocent, helpless child. It would be like, it is like, and it is, killing a child. Once a child is growing in the womb, to kill that child is murder. How could it be anything else? It doesn’t make sense to say that the child isn’t big enough to deserve the protection of society against murder, because then the question becomes – how big does one need to be to receive society’s protection against murder? Any figure is completely arbitrary. Does the baby have to weight five pounds in order to deserve protection against murder? If so, why five pounds? Why not seven pounds or three pounds – or any other weight? What does weight have to do with it anyway? It’s the same with how old the child is. How old does one need to be in order to receive the state’s protection against murder? Nine months old? Five months old? One year old? And when do we begin counting? From the moment of conception? From the moment of birth? From point of viability – that is, at the point where the baby could live outside the womb of its mother if it had to? Again, any point other than the moment of conception is entirely arbitrary. The age of the baby is entirely irrelevant. Once it’s a baby, once it’s been conceived, then it’s a baby and deserves the full protection of society against murder. Today in the United States, babies in the womb do not have protection against murder – they may be destroyed for nearly any reason or no reason at all. So as Christians we need to continue to assert that abortion is murder, period. I know that’s no politically correct, and many people feel that it’s impolite to classify abortion as murder. But we’ve got to be faithful to God’s Word and call abortion for what it is – murder. Some things are right, and some things are wrong, and abortion is wrong. It’s murder. I’m aware that there are some people who call themselves Christians, some liberal church members, who actually support abortion. But this makes no difference from a biblical standpoint. The Bible says in 2 Timothy 3:1-5 that also in the end times some would fall away from the faith. We shouldn’t allow the worst of us speak for the rest of us Christians. Abortion is murder, it’s still wrong after all these years. Let’s continue.
Second, medical science shows that abortion is unjustified killing. Psalm 139:13-14, “For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made.” I’ve already mentioned the fact that it’s impossible to designate any point after conception to justify the taking of an innocent baby’s life in the womb. But there’s more. Science is increasingly showing and revealing just how miraculous the process of conception to birth is in terms of biological development. We know a lot more about the pregnancy process than we did forty years ago. Now it’s possible to trace the movements of the baby in the womb with ultrasound. In fact, one of the strongest arguments against abortion is actually used today by crisis pregnancy centers using ultrasound. Women who are pregnant and considering abortion are shown their baby in the womb via ultrasound imaging. It’s not just a blob or a tissue mass! It’s a living baby! This is one of the strongest methods for discouraging confused women who are thinking of abortion from actually going through with it. They see their baby and it becomes a personal issue, as it should. But the medical and scientific breakthroughs in imaging are just one area of advancement. Other areas of study show how complex and sophisticated are the whole developmental process, from conception through the entire nine months of pregnancy. As we learn more about what actually happens in fertilization and implantation in the womb we are reminded of Psalm 139:14, “I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made.” Every advancement in scientific and medical knowledge produces more and more arguments against abortion because this additional knowledge gives us a greater appreciation and reverence for the miracle of human life. Only willful ignorance can keep a person from marveling at how wonderful God created human life. That’s why Planned Parenthood and other pro-abortion groups don’t want women to view their baby in the womb through ultrasound. These groups don’t want women learning about the actually human life process because this knowledge usually helps the pro-life cause by awakening a woman’s natural and God-given maternal instincts to protect and care for her child, not destroy it. So Planned Parenthood and other abortion organizations fight against scientific and medical knowledge, and especially they fight against the use of ultrasound images. As Christians we not only have God’s Word on our side in fighting against abortion, we have medical science on our side as well. But there’s more.
Third, legal reasoning shows that abortion is wrong. Romans 1:21-22, “For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools.” After forty years the legal community has been able to read, examine and reflect on the infamous Row v. Wade Supreme Court decision that put us in the mess we are in today as a nation. Millions and millions of babies have been aborted since 1973. There are so many it’s easy to loose count, but we must not. I think the latest figure I’ve heard is around 50 million babies have been murdered since abortion was legalized in the United States. Think about that number – 50 million. That’s more babies murdered here in the U.S. over the last forty years than the entire population of entire countries of the world. For example, Canada has around 33 million citizens today. Yet, in the U.S. since 1973 we’ve killed more babies through abortion than Canada has citizens! In fact, we’ve murdered more babies through abortion in the last forty years than most countries of the world have citizens today! I won’t even get into the terrifying abortion numbers worldwide; it’s just too awful to think about. Let’s just work on ending abortion in the United States first. That’s the challenge God gives us as American Christians today. But the legal community has had decades to reflect on the Supreme Court’s abortion decision, and the verdict is in – there is no justification for it based on legal precedent or constitutional reasoning. In other words, most legal scholars today admit that the decision was a bad one, from a legal standpoint. Not that they oppose the outcome; sadly, most support legal abortion. But as far as justifying abortion with the Row v. Wade decision, they pretty much all agree, it doesn’t justify it. In other words, it was a bad legal decision. Or as some legal authorities have described it, a case of “raw judicial power.” The judges concluded that society needed abortion legal so they came up with a rationale to make it legal, period. Even though they butchered constitutional law, even though they misinterpreted medical scientific information, and ignored all legal precedent, they achieved their goal, legal abortion. And since the Supreme court is the “supreme” court, they had the final say. Nobody could overrule it. But as Christians, we not only have God’s Word on our side, not only do we have medical science on our side, we also have legal reasoning with us as well. So when we make the argument against abortion, let’s use all three. Some people are surprised to learn that there are scientific and legal reasons against abortion. That’s because the media has almost completely brainwashed us all into thinking that abortion is only a “religious” issue, nothing more. We need to remind people that it’s a life and death issue. There are many reasons why abortion should be opposed.
But what good will arguing against abortion do anyway? If it hasn’t changed in forty years, why bother? Well, there are some encouraging signs that people are coming to their senses and realizing that Row v. Wade was a big mistake. One very encouraging development is the growing opposition to partial-birth abortion. Finally, most people are waking up to the horrors of abortion through ultrasound and other visual aids. Partial-birth abortion is particularly gruesome because it involves aborting a baby that is viable – or in other words, it’s capable of living outside the womb. The ugly procedure of partial-birth abortion involves partially delivering the baby and destroying it piece by piece until it’s dead. It also means that in some parts of a hospital, for example, some babies, let’s say eight months old, are being delivered by live birth, and given to their mother. While, in other parts of the same hospital, other babies are being aborted at eight months, and delivered to the trashcan or dumpster. It’s insane. And more and more people are starting to understand the insanity of abortion. But that doesn’t mean that fighting for unborn life will be easy or easier today, even with advancements in medical science, even with a growing consensus of legal scholars increasingly criticizing Row v. Wade, and even as we make it plain that the Bible opposes the murder of innocent babies in the womb. We must remember that after forty years of abortion, most people think of it as a personal right of women. The whole issue is now clouded and confused with women’s rights and freedom of choice and all kinds of other concepts and ideas. After forty years it’s become something that many people have gotten used to and have just accepted as a given. Changing it will require, well, a miracle at this point. But we must remember that God is a God of miracles. The Bible is full of examples of supernatural miracles that defy explanation. Yes, it would take a miracle for America to restore protection to unborn children. For many years we thought that perhaps it could be a straightforward process of packing the Supreme Court with conservative judges who would then overturn Row v. Wade. So then the strategy was to elect a conservative pro-life president to appoint pro-life judges. Well, we’ve had a number of pro-life presidents who have appointed a number of pro-life judges, yet we still have legal abortion. What happened? The problem is the process of packing the Court hasn’t worked yet. Therefore, we can’t rely on it alone to do the job. We need to continue praying to God for a miracle and also bearing witness in society that abortion is still murder, yes, even after all these years!
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