Sanctity Of Human Life- Abortion

HoHum:

Talking about the church past couple of weeks. Start back next week. 4 purposes of church:

Evangelize- Luke 19:10: For the Son of Man came to seek and to save what was lost.

Edify- 1 Thessalonians 5:11: encourage one another and build each other up

Minister to those in need- Matthew 25:40: The King will reply, ‘I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.

Be the conscience of the community- 2 Corinthians 4:2: we have renounced secret and shameful ways; we do not use deception, nor do we distort the word of God. On the contrary, by setting forth the truth plainly we commend ourselves to every man’s conscience in the sight of God.

Many times churches do not want to be considered controversial. Steer away from issues that might be unpopular. However, we must not distort the word of God and we must stand up for what is right. Was Jesus Christ controversial? Shouldn’t we be like Jesus? We should not be obnoxious but we must renounce shameful ways.

In our Declaration of Independence every person is guaranteed certain unalienable rights. These being Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness. On January 22, 1973 the United States Supreme Court took away these rights from a specific group of people: the unborn. Roe vs. Wade has made it possible for the unthinkable to occur. Today, 1/3 of all pregnancies are terminated. Every 20 seconds an unborn baby is aborted. If we add up the total number of Americans that have died in all our wars combined and multiply that number by 10 we have roughly how many babies have been murdered. Over 50 million babies since 1973.

People try to say that unborn children are sub human and not really alive. When discussing abortion they use the scientific term “fetus” because it’s less disturbing if we don’t consider the procedure as murdering a human. Fetus means “little one” in Latin. Little what? Person!

Thesis: Let’s talk about what the Bible says about abortion, reasons for making abortion legal in this country, and what we can do about this.

For instances:

What the Bible says about abortion

The term abortion is not used in the Bible. However, the Bible does discuss life before the womb and in the womb.

1. Isaiah 49:1: Before I was born the LORD called me; from my birth he has made mention of my name.

2. Jeremiah 1:5: “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations.”

Psalm 139:13-16: 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; your works are wonderful, I know that full well. My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place. When I was woven together in the depths of the earth, your eyes saw my unformed body.

Luke 1:41, 44: When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the baby leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. “As soon as the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the baby in my womb leaped for joy.”

The OT does mention issues surrounding a pregnant woman. Exodus 21:22: If men who are fighting hit a pregnant woman and she gives birth prematurely but there is no serious injury, the offender must be fined whatever the woman’s husband demands and the court allows. But if there is serious injury, you are to take life for life

Why is the NT silent? Abortion wasn’t the problem in that day because it wasn’t readily available; infanticide was the major killer of babies in the NT world. The NT condemns murder in several passages. Jesus himself said that the kingdom of heaven belongs to little children. History tells us that in many cases Christian couples would take these babies into their homes and raise them. James 1:27: Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.

Some say that the church should stay away from divisive issues like abortion and homosexuality and just be like the early Church- stay out of politics. I wonder what early Church they are talking about. The early Church was outspokenly pro life. In the second chapter of the Didache, a Christian book written in the second century, said this: “Thou shall not murder a child by abortion nor kill them when born.” Athenagoras, also in the second century, wrote this: “We say that women that use drugs to bring abortion commit murder and will have to give an account to God for the abortion.”