Monday,
July 17, 2023
You guided my conception and formed me in the womb. Job 10:10
You made all the delicate, inner parts of my body and knit me together in
my mother’s womb. Psalm 139:13
Just as you cannot understand the path of the wind or the mystery of a
tiny baby growing in its mother’s womb, so you cannot understand the
activity of God, who does all things.
Ecclesiastes 11:5
“I knew you before I formed you in your mother’s womb. Jeremiah 1:5
The recent decision of the Supreme Court of the United States’ to overturn
Roe v. Wade, and the ensuing public debate over abortion, once again stir the
division between left-wing and right-wing political factions. At the risk of further polarizing, I offer
something of a contribution, not from a
denominationally-mandated/politically-connected viewpoint…simply an interface
of God’s Word with commitment to truth-telling, meant for the hard decisions of
everyday life. We live in that kind of world; pragmatism confronts our surrender
to Holy Scripture, and we must respond.
The debate (ongoing in history, and greatly inflamed on January 2, 1973,
when Roe v. Wade – the decision to “legalize” abortion was passed)…this debate
has widened the chasm between left and right, politically, and largely ignored
the underlying divide that is the preceding cause of abortion, which could have
been avoided, to wit: We don’t
follow God’s Word…and we end up in this mess, blaming each other, with the
greatest harm being done to the unborn.
“There seems to be broad consensus that what exists within the womb is
alive. After all, it is growing and
developing and even has a detectable heartbeat by the sixth week of pregnancy.
Some would say that a fetus is simply part of a woman’s body. Having an abortion for some is the moral
equivalent of removing a tumor or having plastic surgery.
Against this view is the fact that a fetus has different DNA than its
mother. If the fetus were simply part of
the woman’s body, it would have the same identical DNA as the mother. But of course the fetus has both the mother’s
and father’s DNA, combined in a new and unique way, so it has a distinct life
from that of the mother….Ultrasound technology shows us that a fetus has a life
and existence of its own. When it comes
to the baby in the womb, the mother is dealing with a separate new life, which
takes the question into a different moral category.
As reported by Emma Green in The Atlantic, activist Ashley
McGuire recounts her own experience of pregnancy. ‘When you’re seeing a baby sucking its thumb
at 18 weeks, smiling, clapping,’ it becomes ‘harder to square the idea that
that 20-week-old, that unborn baby or fetus, is discardable.’”(GN)
That is some (not nearly all) of the context of the debate, which, if
conducted honestly, always includes three things: science, faith, and emotional response. What follows is a longer amalgam of the cause
of why this debate (in my view) should be ended, and can be ended:
“This is where our overly sexualized culture does women a disservice. Wpomen are often expected to engage in sexual
relations without any form of commitment by the man, yet women are the ones who
bear the consequences in terms of pregnacy.
This is fundamentally unjust. But
the answer is not to do away with the consequences by ending the
pregnancy. Rather the answer is to
return to God’s plan for how we experience our sexual relationships.
God designed sexual relationships to be experienced within the context of
marriage, which represents a commitment by the man to care and provide for his
wife and any offspring that might be conceived.
Without that commitment, women and children are left unprotected and not
provided for. An irresponsible man
simply expects the woman to have an abortion to eliminate the consequences of
his irresponsibility.
Biblical theology teaches that men and women should reserve sex until
marriage. This protects the woman from
being taken advantage of, and it prevents the vast majority of potential
abortions by reserving pregnacy and childbirth to the safety of marriage, where
bothe the woman and her child are provided for.
The CDC reports that 85 percent of abortions are obtained by unmarried
women.
This approach to sexuality is counter-cultural. Jesus and the apostles consistently invite us
to live by a different set of values and assumptions than our culture
does. Such an approach also avoids the
emotional pain, emptiness, and even the physical consequences of
promiscuity. It is the healthiest way to
live.” (GN)
The Call to Live the Life Which God Intends for our Blessing
“Biblically, life is a gift of God.
God creates life and expects us to be good stewards of the life we are
given. While the mother and father play
a crucial role in bringing new life into the world, ultimately, God is the one
who forms life in the womb (Psalm 139:13-16).
Children are a gift from God (Psalm 127:3).
His purpose for our life dates back before our birth (Jeremiah 1:5).
God loves and values unborn children.
The issues around abortion are painful ones to wrestle with, and there are
no easy answers. We can prayerfully consider
how God would want to use the challenging circumstances in which we find
ourselves for our good, the good of others, and his glory. We do not want to close the door on the
possibility of miraculously answered prayer.
At the same time, women with undesired pregnancies provide an opportunity
for the body of Christ to come around them with love and support that would
make that pregnancy manageable. We ought
to be the hands and feet of Jesus in serving women and their unborn children
with love and acceptance. Often, that
support needs to continue past the birth and through the baby’s childhood,
particularly for single mothers and women in poverty. The church’s pro-life ethic is not just
during pregnancy, but extends through all of life.” (GN)
For You Today
The debate and level of emotions run deeper and
much broader than these few pages of thoughts, primarily from the
faith-centered pro-life position. But
these few things seem to be the most important issues upon which Christians
cannot afford to abandon:
1. We have a mandate to protect life at any stage,
invitro, or ex….and that includes the mother, Christian believer, or not.
2. Part of protecting and caring is found in
listening…to simply trumpet pro-life platitudes won’t cut it for a single mom
at three in the morning, when she’s only had two hours of sleep, the bills are
unpaid, and her full-time job, with two other part-time things won’t even cover
childcare and rent.
For our final word
today, let’s listen to Albanian-born Mother Teresa as she accepted the 1979
Nobel Peace Prize for her work with children worldwide:
Abortion has become the greatest destroyer of
peace, because it destroys two lives, the life of the child and the conscience
of the mother.
P.S.: This
has come closer to a full-size sermon, rather than a five-minute devotional,
but the issue is too important. (I’ve
also not preached in the two weeks since I retired….so thanks for
listening. I’m tempted to ask if any
church needs a supply preacher next week…but I wouldn’t do that ).
I do eagerly encourage you to read the Good News
Article in its entirety…it is kind, well-presented, and a Scripture-based call
to the church to embrace God’s will for His body to be like Jesus who came that
we might have life, and that more abundantly.
You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road; have a
blessed day!
Go to VIDEO (read by
author)
Title Image:
via Pixabay.com Images without citation are in
public domain. Unless noted, Scripture
quoted from NLT©
