Personal Thing?

 

As a bunch of people were doing some yard work for a single Mom one Spring, a woman came by seeking to persuade us all to vote for her candidate for a local office. When asked about the politician’s stance on abortion, she proudly responded that she had a very decided stance that abortion should be “legal, safe, and rare.”

When confronted with the truth that no abortion is ever “safe” for the baby she was dumbfounded, as if she had never considered the safety of the baby.

Apparently, in political speak, “legal, safe, and rare” is seen as a conservative stance. However, as someone else pointed out to me, any stance on abortion that ends with, “and then you can kill the baby,” is not a biblical one. Conservative and biblical are often far apart.

A much more appropriate approach is the one seen in the picture above. Even “legal” (by man’s law) abortions always ends with “One Dead, One Wounded.” In a biblical understanding the “wounded” one is also guilty of the murder of her own child. She is faced with the wound of knowing that she has killed her own child and the guilt of it before God.

Many women who have aborted testify that this wound is difficult to live with. Others deny there is a wound.

The most important thing for us to consider is what God’s Law says about the baby in the womb. One of the most telling is a passage we rarely hear about; Exodus 21:22-25, “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, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, burn for burn, wound for wound, stripe for stripe.”(Emphasis mine).

God requires life for life if the pregnant woman’s child is killed because two people fought and she was hurt as a bystander! How much more should this be considered as the law if the killing of the baby is deliberate?

Most of us, if we have not had an abortion or, as a man, have not supported a woman in getting one, think we are fine before God. Our personal piety is intact and we do not need to concern ourselves with abortion. (I know this because for a long time it was my own stance.)

But, God deals with us on more than a personal level. He judges nations. We are responsible for more than our own personal piety. We are to expose evil (Ephesians 5:11), to confront sinners (James 5:20), and to cry out for the Lord to deliver us from evil (Matthew 6:13). Instead, we think of our own devotional times and our more personal actions and think that the Lord is satisfied.

Consider these verses:

• They served their idols, Which became a snare to them. They even sacrificed their sons And their daughters to demons, And shed innocent blood, The blood of their sons and daughters, Whom they sacrificed to the idols of Canaan; And the land was polluted with blood. Psalm 106:36-38

 

• So you shall not pollute the land where you are; for blood defiles the land, and no atonement can be made for the land, for the blood that is shed on it, except by the blood of him who shed it. Numbers 35:33

God brought serious judgment on His people because of the shedding of innocent blood. How much more innocent can you be than a baby is in the womb?

Will we speak out against this evil in our land (and many others)?

Will we talk about it with our families? Can you be too young to hear that the God of the universe hates the shedding of innocent blood?

Is this a discussion you would have with your neighbor who thinks it is good that babies can be aborted?  Is it too hard to speak honestly about what the Lord says about an issue that deserves the judgment of God?

What about in the church? Are we willing to question why many churches preach once a year about “laws” that allow for the killing of  61,000,000 babies in our nation?

Rather than just being so concerned about our personal piety, will we step up and speak out for those who cannot speak for themselves?