America's Greatest Sin

This morning we come to an issue that I believe to be one of the most crucial topics we have ever addressed here at this church...an issue that I myself am very passionate about yet an issue that to often the church has been willing to turn a blind eye to. Abortion. It’s an issue that divides political parties, that stirs our emotions and can bring out the best or worse in us. And it’s one of many issues in our society that deal with the issue of the sanctity of life and who determines whether a life is worthy to be lived and when a life shall end.

Leo Alexander, who was consultant to the Secretary of War and on duty with the office of Chief Counselor for War Crimes in Nuremberg, says that what happened with the holocaust in Nazi Germany "all started with the acceptance of the attitude that there is such a thing as life not worthy to be lived."

Notice, that in Germany, the holocaust all began with "the attitude that there is such a thing as a life not worthy to be lived." That sounds a lot like today’s statistic when it comes to abortion. A life is deemed not worthy to be lived. Ninety percent of expectant parents who receive a prenatal diagnosis of down syndrome will abort their baby. Ninety percent. I have an uncle who has down syndrome, and I can guarantee you that not only is his life worthy to be lived, I bet that he has lived a lot more that any of us ever dreamed of living. A life not worthy to be lived? C’mon. Tell that to Uncle Kenny. I once saw a picture of a little kid saying “God don’t make no junk!” But sadly, not everyone gets a chance to live like Uncle Kenny has, to prove that their not simply junk to be done away with. Many never even get the opportunity to prove the world wrong.

Worldwide, 55 million unborn children are killed every year. Around the world, every day 150,685 children are killed by abortion; every hour, 6278; and every minute, 105. Those are the reported cases.

In our own country. 1,600,000 babies are aborted in these United States every year. Per day, that’s 4,383; per hour, that’s 183; per minute, there are 3. 3 a minute. Imagine that at the beginning of our service, every minute 3 of you would disappear…that’s staggering. And although our state of Mississippi ranks as one of the lowest total abortions in America, it is still an issue that haunts our state as well as our nation.

As we cover this issue this morning, I understand that many of you already have your mind made up. And you are sitting there saying, “He’s not getting to me today.” Well, let me at least try. Listen objectively and let’s look at this issue from a biblical perspective. And as we did last week, I want us to speak the truth in love, by telling the truth about abortion but at the same time reminding that there is forgiveness in Jesus Christ and hope is His grace. And then I want us to look at what the Christian response should be, not only toward the abortion issue itself, but also toward those women who either are considering an abortion or have already done so.

As a Christian, the issue of abortion is not one we can simply pretend that doesn’t affect us. It’s an issue we can’t remain neutral about. You can’t say that you oppose abortion yet still be pro-choice. Yet that’s the cop out many try to use. We try not to get involved on one side or another so we say that I myself wouldn‘t do it, but I‘m not going to force my opinion on anyone else. A politician from my home state of Kentucky a while back was asked by his pastor what his view on abortion was. The politician said that he himself was against it but he wasn’t going to force his view on everybody else and deny a woman her choice. The pastor then asked, “Do you take that same stand on drugs? You personally don’t take them but why should you prevent anybody else. It‘s there choice, right?” The man acknowledged his inconsistency on the subject. But most Christians are like this man…we don‘t want to get involved. We don’t agree with it but we don’t want to take a stand on it either. We don‘t want to make a decision on the topic so we say: Why should I care about what a woman does with her baby? I personally wouldn’t do it, but who am I to judge? Why should I get involved in this? Why should I be concerned?