A Defiled Land

The Scourge of Abortion

August 5, 2001

2^nd Chronicles 33:1-9

v Introduction

I remember when I was a new Christian reading these verses, I was horrified by the concept of a people sacrificing their children in pagan worship. I couldn’t imagine a people who could do such a thing. Today, it is not hard to imagine because we, as a nation, are promoting and protecting the murder of our children. Making matters worse, the Church is generally ill-equipped to proclaim the truth because we are timid and afraid (sometimes of losing tax deductions).

v Application

¨ Sentiment versus Principle - 2 Corinthians 10:3-6

Over the years, I have seen a number of debates between those who are “pro-choice” and those who are “pro-life” and I have been amazed that those who were representing life sympathetically, did so with rather shallow arguments. If the opposition, those in favor of abortion, had been a little sharper, they could have obviated any of their opponent’s objections simply by pointing out the inconsistent manner in which they held their position. It ought not to be this way for those to whom God has illuminated His Word. Instead of “going into a battle” with nominal arguments, we should be well-equipped because the Scriptures are anything but silent on this issue.

Sentiment is a very good motivator because it can be used to rapidly get people involved in some cause or give money to some need. However, sentiment is a very poor long-term motivator. Although through sentiment you might be able to get people to march in a rally or go passing out information door to door, typically such involvement, if solely based on sentiment or emotion, will not sustain such activity. In order for there to be sustained, effective activity, we must be motivated by principles as revealed in the word of God. We must think and refute Biblically in submission to Christ.

¨ The sanctity of life versus the dignity of man - Genesis 9:6

A very common plank in the platform of the pro-life activists is a claim that abortion is wrong because “life” is sanctified. Obviously this position gets one in to trouble whenever the topic of capital punishment arises; and it almost always does. The truth of the matter is that life is not sanctified simply because it is life. In fact, we are in this whole mess because of our need for sanctification—not because we already have it!

The reason why we must not murder is because God has commanded us not to. One of the reasons why He has commanded us not to, is because humans were created in His image. When someone is murdered, it is received as an attack upon the image of God. Therefore, we are not sanctified simply because we are alive as though life were a thing to be worshipped by itself. Instead, man has dignity and honor because He is created (unlike all the animals) uniquely in the image of God. He has placed His image upon us whether we acknowledge that image or not.

¨ Abortion violates the Law of God - Exodus 20:13; Exodus 21:22-25

As we mentioned earlier, the topic of capital punishment frequently comes up in these discussions about abortion. Part of the key to understanding this aspect of the discussion is the difference between murdering and killing. In the Decalogue, we are instructed not to murder and just a few verses later, Moses is given instruction on when to kill. Therefore, there is an unlawful putting to death and there is a lawful putting to death. We can thus determine that murder may be defined as putting to death unlawfully and that killing is putting to death lawfully. This becomes an extremely important issue when we are speaking of being “pro-life” even when the law of God requires the civil magistrate to lawfully remove the life of a criminal. Therefore it would be more consistent to say that we are “pro-law of God” rather than “pro-life”.

In the civil tort example in Exodus, notice that the two men fighting strike a pregnant woman and then there is a question as to whether harm had been inflicted. Certainly the harm here is referring to both the mother and the unborn child. If the concern was only for the well-being of the mother, then the fact of her pregnancy would be at best superfluous. But notice that if there is harm to the mother or baby, the same standard for assessing punishments, called the Talion (eye for eye, bruise for bruise, life for life…) is applied for harm to the mother or the baby as it is in any other tort case. The unborn child is given the same degree of civil protection as the other citizens.

¨ Abortion violates the miraculous works of God - Psalm 139:13-16

It is interesting to note how the Scriptures speak of God’s creating a new child. The Lord forms each of the limbs and organs and grants life to a new human. The work He performs is truly miraculous and yet commonplace. When God creates He also foreordains all of the days of that person as He is sovereign over all of His creation. God should be glorified and worshipped when He chooses to create a new life. All of our scientific advances and global resources could not even come close to creating such a wonder.

But in our society we refuse to honor God and His creation. We use terms like viability and embryo to avoid calling it a developing human. But a newborn baby and an embryo need exactly the same thing to ensure they become a full grown adult—food, time and protection. If these things are provided, God in His ordinary providence will bring a baby to adulthood.

¨ Difficult Cases

Difficult cases make bad laws. If we understand the principles involved in the Biblical understanding of abortion, answers to the difficult cases are very clear. If we don’t strive to know the principles of God, we are left with situational ethics. Although traumatic, the fact that rape and incest occurs does not provide license to murder the child.

For example, in the case of a rape and resultant pregnancy, there are three people involved—the man, the woman and the child. Only one is guilty of committing a crime—the man. The other two are innocent. Why would the crimes of the guilty be the basis for allowing one of the innocent to murder the other innocent? The rationale is the genuine trauma that would result from carrying this child to birth. But the likelihood of that trauma does not constitute permission in God’s eyes for murder.

¨ Modern Excuses

When we are not equipped with the Word of God, situational ethics gets us into trouble. A modern example is that of stem cell research. The whole idea came from the process of in vitro fertilization where many embryonic humans are created in the process. The unwanted humans are typically destroyed or used for other couples (unfortunately not very frequently) or used for research. Because there is no outcry from us about them being discarded now we find that technology has passed us by in the fact that they have found something profoundly good through destroying the embryonic humans. But regardless of the good, there is a deeper good that must be observed—obeying the law of God and He has declared that we must not end the life of a human without due process.

¨ Abortion brings down the wrath of God - Psalm 106:36-39; Numbers 35:31-34

The problems of abortion have impact upon more than just those who participate in abortions - the entire land is defiled. Even if Roe Vs. Wade were to be overturned today, our land would remain defiled. This verse says that the only way the stain can be removed would be to shed the blood of the abortionists, mothers, fathers and legislators. We do not have a political problem, we have a Spiritual problem. Simply passing a new law overturning the prior ones would not cleanse our country. The blood of the innocent is on our hands and God requires that innocent blood be vindicated by the shedding of guilty blood. Thankfully, God has provided a much better solution by shedding the blood of His own Son. We do not form a militia and start bombing abortion clinics because one crime does not undo another crime. Rather, we must turn to our only hope—the work that God has done on the cross.

¨ The Gospel: Our Only Hope - 2 Chronicles 33:10-20

Just as Manasseh learned, the only answer is to turn to the Lord and plead for mercy. Thankfully, God has entrusted us with the Gospel so that we may declare hope to the desperate. But we will have no desperate unless we declare the law of God and make known the truth of the Scriptures. To do so, we must first be equipped and then abandon, as our central arguments, the tools of sentiment and emotion and stand firm on the principles God has given us.

We really only have two alternatives—we can do nothing and wait for the wrath of God to be brought down upon the world or we can by faith declare the Gospel to the mothers, fathers, doctors and activists who act according to their nature. There are many people who carry around the guilt and shame of abortion and many who don’t. The answer for all of them is repentance and belief in the Lord Jesus Christ. Hopefully God might allow us, in His mercy, to learn the lesson like the people of Israel did, but may He also grant us faithfulness until He returns.