Thursday, July 16, 2015

A Profound Sadness

I feel a profound sadness right now. I see Christians losing their minds. I see culture, and even Christians, calling what God calls evil, "good". I see Christians trying to argue that abortion is “an option”, and saying that calling it murder is just “your interpretation.”

Let me set the record straight. Calling abortion murder is not an interpretation; it’s a pretty accurate description of what happens. A life is ended. What else do you call that? A procedure? Its nothing less than a monstrous evil.

John Calvin, the Swiss theologian, commenting on Exodus 21:22-25, observed "The fetus, though enclosed in the womb of its mother, is already a human being (homo), and it is almost a monstrous crime to rob it of life which it has not yet begun to enjoy. If it seems horrible to kill a man in his own house than in a field, because a man’s house is his place of most secure refuge, it ought surely to be deemed more atrocious to destroy a fetus in the womb before it has come to light."

Some will try to say, "look, the bible says nothing on this". That's a lie. The bible has a great deal to say when it comes to the unborn. It says that God knits us together. He creates our “inmost being”, and knits us together in our mother's womb. (Psalm 139:13). It tells us that he knows us before he forms us in the womb (Jeremiah 1:5 ). It says, “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, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, burn for burn, wound for wound, bruise for bruise. (Exodus 21:22-25). In other words, if there’s no harm, pay a fine for bad behavior. If you kill the baby you die, because you took a life. More than that, it says, let the little children come to me (Mark 10:14). Come to me. Not let the little children come to the abortuary. If we are to let the little children come to Jesus, let’s all agree that they have to make it out of the womb to do so. Above all, it says, “you shall not commit murder (Exodus 20:6).

It does not leave open the door for murder. I know this is not a popular opinion in our culture, but the bible says, no to abortion. It’s not up for debate. It’s not up for discussion; it’s not, my interpretation. The bible doesn’t leave you the option. It says, you shall not murder.

And if you say, how do we know when life begins. Stop. Just stop. Stop and consider how old Jesus was when he and john met in utero. 1 week? 2 weeks? Max three weeks. It may have been days. The angel shows up to Mary, and tells her, "You’re going to carry the son of God". She takes off and goes to visit Elizabeth. How long does it take to walk from Galilee to Judea? What’s the timeline on that? It’s not long. Don’t say, we don’t know. When the egg and the sperm meet, under normal circumstances, unless something goes tragically wrong, you’re going to have a child. You’re going to have a human being made in God’s image and likeness. Don’t you dare murder that child. That child deserves your protection. It deserves to be treasured and loved. It doesn’t deserve your saying, “it’s a choice”. Adoption is a choice. Parenting is a choice. Murder is not a choice. It’s an abomination. These children deserve our care.

The early Christians knew this. That’s why they would trawl the Tiber looking for babies to pull out. They knew that the practice of throwing them in the river was evil. They knew that exposing children was wicked. Because of that, they would find them, and raise them as their own, which is no small thing. They made it a point to care for those that the culture threw away. They adopted them and raised them. They taught them to love God and live for him. They did this because they knew that they were made in God’s image, and to be treasured.

You know what abortion is? It’s child sacrifice. It’s saying, “I’m not ready. I didn’t plan this. it doesn’t fit my lifestyle. It will ruin my plans for the future. It will make me drop out of school, or upend something... therefore I will kill it”. What is that other than just feeding your children to the god of money and success? “My life won’t have the standard of success I wanted. I won’t have the lifestyle I wanted. Therefore I will murder my child”. What is that? It’s nothing more than money worship. We should protect the least of these, not murder them.

Let me tell you about a child who would have made a great candidate for abortion. His name is baby J. He’s my sister’s son. His mom and her husband where on the rocks. It looked like they were going to get a divorce. One last sympathy screw because it’s easier to do this than not. The marriage was toxic; she was on her way out. And then she got pregnant. What to do? She’s looking at single motherhood as a real option. A baby could stall her career. It would be hard. He’s become one of the main joys of her life. Think carefully. Would you advise her to murder this child now? The marriage isn’t good by any means. It’s better, not good. Would you advise this? That’s what you’re talking about.

I don’t even want to go into the sale of body parts. That’s whole different issue. Planned Parenthood has descended to the level of the Nazi’s. They sipped beer and wine while dealing with the Jewish problem. Planned Parenthood looked awfully similar this week.  Eisenhower made the Germans go look at the concentration camps to see what they allowed in their backyard. Maybe we should do the same. I don’t know.

But I do know this. If you are a Christian and you have called this a choice. You need to repent. Repent right now. Get in your bible, read it. Read it again. Read it again. Look at the ethic it holds up. Don’t pick, choose, and twist the scriptures to fit your whim, or the whim of the culture, see the pattern. See that it says, "We are made in God’s image". People to be treasured. People to be protected. See that it says, God you shall not murder. Repent of being silent.

If you have had an abortion, repent. There is no sin that is unforgivable. David murdered Uriah. he was forgiven. There is not sin that is unforgivable. Whoever you are. Wherever you are, look at abortion, and repent.

And then fight it. It’s an evil stalking our land. Fight against it.