Approaching Anniversary

The 43rd anniversary of the Roe v. Wade Supreme Court decision approaches on January 22, 2016 (not a lot of original material below; a big tip of the hat for ideas expressed by others).

“Thou shalt not kill”

The question is not “Does the Bible expressly forbid abortion?” but rather “Does the Bible treat the unborn as human persons?”

The Bible condemns murder (the taking of human life without justification).

• God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them. (Genesis 1:27)
• [Genesis 9:6; Exodus 23:7; Exodus 20:13, Deuteronomy 5:17; Proverbs 6:16-17; Matthew 5:21]

The Bible affirms the humanity of the unborn child.

• Use of the same word to describe unborn and born.
• Cf. Luke 1:41,44 with Luke 2:12,16. Gr. brephos is commonly used to describe infants and older children: Luke 18:15, Acts 7:19, 1 Peter 2:2.
• Esau and Jacob called children in the womb, “the children struggled together within her” [Rebekah’s womb] (Genesis 25:21-22; Romans 9:10-11)
• Cf. Job 3:3, at conception called a child: Francis Beckwith says, “This passage connects the individual born with the individual conceived.”
• Cf. also Job 31:15; Jeremiah 1:5; Psalm 22:10; Psalm 51:5; Psalm 139:13-16; Isaiah 49:1,5
• Purpose before birth: Judges 13:7; Galatians 1:15
• Children are a gift from God: Psalm 127:3-5, 113:9, Gen. 17:6, 33:5; See also Gen. 48:16

If the Bible establishes the humanity of the unborn child, then abortion cannot be morally permissible.

We have lost the awe of the belief in children as God’s precious gift. Rampant sexual immorality conspires against marriage and the family, where children are more likely to be wanted. “When life is disregarded in its beginning, it is also attacked at its end.” May we spend time on this anniversary in prayer.

* Last year I read a blog post that addressed ten myths about abortion. The first “myth” was “Abortion is dangerous.” That would be laughable were it not so serious a topic. Successful abortions result in the death of 100% of the children aborted. I’d say that is pretty dangerous.