God Values Human Life Series

On National Sanctity of Life Day in 2002, President George W. Bush made “A Proclamation.” Based on our country’s Declaration of Independence, he declared that Sanctity of Life is the belief “that every human being is endowed by our Creator with certain ‘unalienable rights’.”(1) He said that the forefathers of our country “recognized that an essential human dignity is attached to all persons by virtue of their very existence and not just to the strong, the independent, or the healthy. That value should apply to every [person], including the elderly and the unprotected, the weak and the infirm, and even to the unwanted.”(2)

Our nation has strayed from God as its center, and in doing so it has become insensitive to the leading of the Spirit and has lost its value of human life. Many people have apparently become numb to violence, killing, and murder because of desensitization by television and media. However, the greatest contributor to our lack of value for human life is the problem of our own self-centeredness; as rearing a child is often deemed too inconvenient.

Life is something that is valued by our God for He created life, and it is especially valued by God’s Son, Jesus Christ, for Jesus gave His own life as a sacrifice on the cross that we might live. All human life is valuable to the Lord, no matter what age a person may be, no matter what social class you are from, no matter what skin color you may have, and no matter what gender you are. You are valuable to God.

President Bush said that we should “pursue a civil society that will . . . embrace its essential moral duties, including defending the elderly, strengthening the weak, protecting the defenseless, feeding the hungry, and caring for children - born and unborn . . . [and] we should peacefully commit ourselves to seeking a society that values life - from its very beginnings to its natural end. [And he emphasized]: Unborn children should be welcomed in life and protected in law.”(3)

President Bush emphasized protecting unborn children because this is the greatest area in which we see human life being devalued. This morning we are going to focus on the value of the unborn child to God, and we are going to look at how abortion is a very serious offense committed before the Lord. It is my hope that we will gain a greater appreciation for human life and that we will be stirred to take a stand for unborn children.

Putting the Number of Casualties in Perspective

On September 11, 2001 over 3500 lives were extinguished. They were future leaders of this nation, doctors who could have saved many, scientist who may have found a cure for cancer, evangelist who may have lead thousands to the Lord. Yes on September 11, 2001, terrorists killed over 3500 people and it is an event that will forever be etched in our minds. Did you know, however, that on September 12, 2001 that 4000 lives were extinguished, and again on September 13th and 14th and 15th. Every single day in America there are over 4000 unborn babies whose lives have been taken in what is called pro-choice. 4000 each day, 28,000 each week, 112,000 each month and 1,460,000 each year.(4)

This country has seen its share of casualties, but the number of deaths that have resulted from abortion is appalling. Listen closely as I read the number of casualties that have occurred in all of our country’s wars, and as I compare them to the deaths that have been a result of abortion. There were 25,324 American casualties in the Revolutionary War; 498,332 during the Civil War; 407,316 during WW II; 54,246 during the Korean War; 56,655 during the Vietnam War; 293 during the Gulf War;(5) and nearly 7000 in the War on Terror. The “War on the Unborn” has left an estimated 31,000,000 casualties since abortion was legalized in 1973 - six times the number of casualties in all the wars combined.(6)

It is evident that our country has lost its value on human life, especially the life of a child. A wise person once said, “It seems that all of the people who favor abortion have already been born.”

The Lord Despises the Killing of Children

God’s Word tells us in Exodus 21:22, “If men fight, and hurt a woman with child, so that she gives birth prematurely, yet no harm follows, he shall surely be punished accordingly as the woman’s husband imposes on him; and he shall pay as the judges determine. But if any harm follows, then you shall give life for life.”

The Lord makes it very clear that the killing of an unborn child is a serious crime punishable by death. If someone caused a premature birth and the baby lived, he would be punished according to the husband and the courts, and likely his life would be spared; but if the baby was born prematurely and died then the man who caused the death would be executed. People today are still punished for killing a baby. “If a woman is harmed and loses the baby prematurely, the man can be sent to prison for manslaughter. However, a woman has the law to back her up if she decides to abort the baby.”(7)