Category: Abortion
Subject: Abortion
Immorality Rages
From 1920 until 1933 it was against the law in the United States to manufacture, sell or transport alcohol. This time was known as Prohibition , and it was a wildly unsuccessful experiment, as laws were continually broken, especially in urban areas. People wanted to drink alcohol, and rather than making a large segment of the population criminals, Prohibition was repealed.
Today, not only is the manufacture, sale and transportation of alcohol legal, it is big business. Only the most radical of religious conservatives hold to abstinence as a moral conviction. In fact, the manufacture and consumption of marijuana is also legal in Colorado, and nationally 53% of all Americans support its legalization. Among 18-34 year olds that number rises to 68%.
In the News: A New Dialogue on Abortion?
Christians deal with moral issues so often that there is the danger of wearying of the fight. The daily bombardment of unrighteousness requires vigilance on our part, but I fear that some Christians simply tire of hearing about topics like abortion, homosexuality, racism, pornography, and other troubling societal problems. We must remember, however, that our enemy is relentless. He never ceases in furthering his agenda, and has been described by Peter as walking “about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour” (1 Peter 5:8). Therefore, God’s people must be constantly on guard, constantly defending what is right (cf. Jude 3), and constantly applying Paul’s exhortation, “And let us not grow weary while doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart” (Galatians 6:9).
In the News: 41 Years of Roe v Wade
This week I came across a powerful video on YouTube, titled, 41 Years of Roe v Wade. It was produced by the Texas Alliance for Life, and consisted of 41 different women, born from 1973 to 2014, each giving a statistic or fact about the fight for unborn lives since that time. The video can be found with a simple search using the title, or by typing in the following URL:
Here are a few of the points made in the video:
In the News: A Day of Infamy
“Righteousness exalts a nation, But sin is a reproach to any people” (Proverbs 14:24).
June 26, 2013 was a day of infamy for the United States of America. On that day, on both the state (Texas), and the federal level, events transpired that will further degrade our moral standing before the Almighty God of heaven.
Sermon: The Sanctity of Life
The text of Exodus 21 is used as a beginning point to explain the rationale behind being pro-life (the abortion issue), and at the same time supporting capital punishment (the death penalty). Both positions are scriptural, and based upon the principle that life is sacred.
In the News: At What Point Life?
Here are some further comments I have made in an online discussion on the subject of abortion. These are edited a bit to make them more usable in an article format:
From the Preacher’s Pen: Abortion – A Polarizing Issue
(This is a comment I recently made during an online discussion on the subject of abortion. It is edited for space).
The abortion debate is polarizing. I think by nature it must be. If one holds my position, it is black and white, and there is a place for condemnation of the act. If one holds the other position, the belief is that condemnation is inappropriate. The crux of the matter is whether a fetus is a child. If one grants that the fetus is human, when that life is taken it is murder. If it is not human, then it is simply a part of the woman, and there is nothing immoral about removing it.
Morality is objective, not subjective or relative. The true standard of what is moral has been established by God, and man has no right to alter it. When men do so (be they individual or government) they substitute their own will for God’s. As it relates to our topic, abortion is a subset of the general category of murder (as is genocide, patricide, matricide, infanticide, etc.) We rightly have laws against all of these. When men choose to disregard these laws, we as a society judge and punish them. While mitigating circumstances (upbringing, mental illness, economic circumstances) may lessen the punishment, it does not change the fact that a crime has been committed, and innocent parties have been harmed. When in 1973 the laws on abortion were changed, the Supreme Court wrongly allayed itself against the will of God. Abortion should still be illegal. The purpose of government is to protect the innocent. There is no more innocent an individual than an unborn child.
So, to me there is little nuance, and there is every reason to judge and condemn. I will never hesitate to speak out for the most innocent and pure individual in every abortion scenario — the threatened unborn.
In the News: Abortion and Rape
Each election cycle, pro-abortion and pro-life advocates bring before the public their best arguments in an attempt to gain momentum for their agendas and causes. One of the most formidable arguments made by pro-abortion advocates is that abortion should be allowed in the case of rape or incest. The argument surely has emotional appeal, as all readily concur that it would cause severe emotional trauma for a woman to bring to term a pregnancy that had its beginning with her violation. She is innocent, surely she should not have to suffer the further indignity of giving birth to the byproduct of her victimization.
In the News: A New Euphemism for Abortion
In a recent story that appeared in the New York Times titled The Two-Minus-One Pregnancy, Ruth Padawer profiled a 45 year old pregnant woman who had chosen to “reduce” the fetuses in her womb from two to one. Following is a quote from that profile:
She was 45 and pregnant after six years of fertility bills, ovulation injections, donor eggs and disappointment — and yet here she was, 14 weeks into her pregnancy, choosing to extinguish one of two healthy fetuses, almost as if having half an abortion. As the doctor inserted the needle into Jenny’s abdomen, aiming at one of the fetuses, Jenny tried not to flinch, caught between intense relief and intense guilt.
Continue reading “In the News: A New Euphemism for Abortion”
In the News: Partial Ban on Abortions – Arizona
I came across a rather peculiar story last Thursday, in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. The title of the article, a short blurb from the Associated Press, Abortions based on fetus’s race barred.
The article states:
Gov. Jan Brewer has signed what is likely the first legislation in the nation to ban abortions over ethnicity.
The law makes it a Class 3 felony to knowingly perform or provide financing for an abortion sought because of the rae or sex of the fetus or a parent’s race. The maximum punishment is 3 1/2 years in prison.
This is one of the most bizarre stories I have read in a while. Of course, I am certainly in favor of banning abortions, for whatever reason, but for the life of me I can’t imagine the practicality of this law.
Continue reading “In the News: Partial Ban on Abortions – Arizona”
Sermon: Abortion
Both science and scripture agree, life begins at conception. As such, the legalization of abortion in 1973 stands as one of the most egregious sins against God and man that has been perpetrated by this nation. Christians must speak out against such atrocities.
Sermon PowerPoint: Click Here .
Sermon Audio: Click Here .
In The News: The Intolerance of the Tolerant
Many are aware of the furor that has erupted over Barack Obama’s decision to have Rick Warren deliver the invocation at his inauguration ceremony. Obama promised during his campaign to bring people who differ together so that our nation might come to embrace common ideals despite strong differences. His choice of Warren, who believes what the Bible teaches on the subject of homosexuality and abortion, is an example of Obama keeping this promise.
Interestingly, though this promise among others constitutes one of the reasons he was embraced by the left in this country, it is also the reason why he is being criticised by those same supporters when said promise is put into practice. It seems that homosexuals and abortionists want us to listen to and accept them, but they are unwilling to listen to and accept us! In effect, they are intolerant of those who are intolerant! Put another way, they have long complained of being “marginalized” by society, and now that one of their own is being put into office, they are seeking to do the same to those who disagree with them!
Continue reading “In The News: The Intolerance of the Tolerant”
Sermon: The Problem with Redefining
When people arbitrarily redefine terms, it allows for all types of sin. If you can redefine life, you can justify abortion. If you can redefine murder, it allows for assisted suicide. If you can redefine marriage, it allows for homosexual unions. If you can redefine adultery, it allows you to to keep a wife after an unlawful divorce. Men may redefine, but it does not change God’s will!
Sermon PowerPoint: Click Here .
Sermon Audio: Click Here .
In The News: Obama and ‘Infanticide
Anti-abortion activists accuse Obama of “supporting infanticide,” and the National Right to Life Committee says he’s conducted a “four-year effort to cover up his full role in killing legislation to protect born-alive survivors of abortions.” Obama says they’re “lying.”
At issue is Obama’s opposition to Illinois legislation in 2001, 2002 and 2003 that would have defined any aborted fetus that showed signs of life as a “born alive infant” entitled to legal protection, even if doctors believe it could not survive.
Obama opposed the 2001 and 2002 “born alive” bills as backdoor attacks on a woman’s legal right to abortion, but he says he would have been “fully in support” of a similar federal bill that President Bush had signed in 2002, because it contained protections for Roe v. Wade.
FactCheck.org
Analysis:
It seems that in every Presidential election, the issue of abortion is hotly contested, with the unhappy result of polarizing Americans. While it is certainly not appropriate to use the pulpit as a political tool, it is the responsibility of Christians to speak out against sin. Abortion is sinful, and those who are supporting it are supporting the killing of unborn children. According to scripture, the unborn is a child (cf. Psalm 139:13; Luke 1:41).
A Philosophical Discussion of Abortion
The primary question that one must ask when considering the morality of abortion is, “When does life begin?” It is the question that will determine whether one believes abortion to be merely the removal of tissue, or the murder of a child.
Though many reject it, science supplies only one answer to the question. From the time the sperm fertilizes the egg, a unique organism, with a unique DNA signature, exists. If the DNA were to be examined by an expert to determine its origin, it would not be identified as the DNA of the mother, or the father. It would not be identified as the DNA of some animal. It would be identified as unique human DNA, related as a child to the mother and the father.
