Humbled and convicted today. My heart is broken, and that's a good thing. I'm convicted for how little of the time my heart is broken. It's good to feel the weight of the depravity all around us because that is what moves us to action and what is at stake is life and death, now and for eternity.
The Holy Spirit wouldn't let me sleep restfully last night after our small group, where we began a new series called "Making Abortion Unthinkable". Now I honestly want nothing to do with over-politicized issues and agendas but my heart is revived to the reality that this is not primarily a political issue but an issue about God, his beautiful creation, and our depravity as humans. I've long been sympathetic to the issue of abortion - a supporter of unborn children and men and women in difficult circumstances who are desperate. I've served as a volunteer and intern at two different pregnancy support centers. But the Lord has awakened my heart in a new way. We MUST speak on behalf of these little ones. We MUST hold out loving truth and compassionate care for men and women who have been deceived by the Father of lies, our enemy Satan. I can not sit by and not act - I can not be okay with leaving these precious people without a voice. As I look at my sweet Caleb today and the beautiful ultrasound of him only 6 weeks after he was conceived, I am moved to speak.
Oh God, awaken us! Let my conviction move me to action - Your action, not my own! Show me and Your church how You want us to respond! Give us your compassion for people, your holy anger at evil and your sacrificial spirit that is willing to pour out our lives as you did for men and women hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. It is overwhelming to say the least when we consider the sheer number of precious lives affected - babies whose lives are cut short and men and women who can never undo this decision once it's done. My heart is grieving today for all of them. But God, in His unending grace, is mighty to save. When sin abounds, grace abounds all the more. If you have had an abortion, my heart aches for you and your loss - run to the Father for forgiveness and healing! He died to cover all of our sin, thank you Jesus! And for all of us, may God show us His way, not our own, to fight this battle that is not against flesh and blood but against our Enemy the Devil.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Rebecca, I appreciate your passion for life. In order to make the killing of unborn children unthinkable, I believe we need to start following Christ and teaching His Word instead of our own. We need to define life as Scripture does and not simply use whatever definition of life our parents or pastors taught us to judge those around us with. Judging according to our own logic only makes the hearts of those we oppose harder. We need to start judging with God's Word; I believe that is our only chance at softening hearts.
ReplyDeleteAccording to God's Word, not all abortions kill children. Correct me if I'm wrong, but the Bible says we are formed *in the womb*. That means our lives are formed well after the fertilization of the egg. "Life starts at conception," has become almost a central tenant of evangelical Christianity, but the fertilized egg does not even get into the mother's womb until a few days after fertilization. Merely preventing the egg from getting to the womb is technically an "abortion," but no life was formed yet. Indeed, the egg may even have to be in the womb for weeks before life is formed there... no one knows for sure when it happens. I believe if we were honest about that, more pro-choice advocates would be honst with themselves about what they're doing to children later in pregnancy.
It is plainly obvious to many (if not most) that life has not started yet at the point of fertilization. The presence of unique DNA is not the definition of life given in Scripture and is not even the definition that common sense leads most people to believe. DNA is a building block of life, but it is not a living human being. The human being is formed in the womb. A human form with a heart and it's own blood forms in the womb at around 6-8 weeks, if an egg implants correctly. The Scriptures also say, "the life of every creature is in it's blood," by the way, furthering my Biblical case.
So making all abortion illegal just doesn't make any sense at all to most people, especially abortions that merely prevent the implantation of the egg into the womb. We might as well make condoms illegal under the same logic. After all, at the moment just before fertilization, all of the same DNA and chemicals required for that new, unique life are there, together, in one place. It is all just present in two cells instead of in one cell. Indeed that is why many Catholic Christians tried so hard to make condoms and other contraception illegal in this country way back in the day... they essentially believe contraception to be the ending of a life. They have no more biblical support than evangelical Christians who believe early abortion pills end life.
I believe sincerely that if modern, pro-life Christians would stop judging people according to their own logic and instead judge according to God's Word, and if Christians would be respectful and gentle toward those they oppose, admitting some uncertainty instead of only and always accusing them of killing kids (even when there isn't even a clearly formed child yet), then we could end the killing of the *actual* unborn children (or at least dramatically stop much of it). For when pro-lifers take stances that have no Biblical foundation and no foundation in common sense and then accuse people of being killers for disagreeing with them, the only make hearts harder. Instead we should be seeking to soften hearts with grace and respect. We should be willing to compromise, to admit we don't know everything. That does not go un-noticed by the opposition; it opens them up to discussion and softents their hearts. And with a softer heart, they may even think twice about the abortions that *do* affect children in the womb.
I believe this so strongly that I honestly blame both sides, the un-bending "pro-life" side and the hardened "pro-choice" side, for the killing of the unborn that is no doubt happening much too often in this country.
PS - Congrats on Caleb! I pray for a healthy and uncomplicated pregnancy. Peace.
ReplyDeleteJason,
ReplyDeleteAppreciate you being willing to join the conversation and add your thoughts. However, I would have to disagree very strongly with the conclusions that you have drawn.
The Bible very clearly condemns the murder of human beings, at all phases of life, even those that are unborn. God commanded Moses on the Mt. Sinai, saying "Thou shalt not murder." He talks about in Proverbs that He "hates the shedding of innocent blood," and in Isaiah He says, "I will not hear your prayer because your hands are covered in blood." Who could be more innocent among us than a child in the womb? Exodus goes on to explain that if a woman with child is hurt, that the person must pay a penalty for injuring the woman and/or the child. And while the Bible does say in Psalm 139 that God "formed my inward parts; You wove me in my Mother's womb...", this in no way means that those children that have not "implanted into the uterus are not a part of the "womb." The Bible is not a science book; it is correct in the science that it describes, but when the "womb" is referred to in scripture, it is not specifically addressing the uterus only, but the inward contents of a female and all that is necessary to form and sustain life. So, this would include the vagina, the ovaries, the fallopian tubes, and yes, the uterus which would house the placenta and the baby for most of the pregancy. While God would certainly understand the anatomical features of the woman (seeing how He made her!), it is likely that the inspired writer of the Psalms had very little detailed knowledge of the female anatomy. Thus, trying to make a differtiation between the uterus and the ovaries is really a fallacious argument and unfounded.
To add to this point, Psalm 139 goes on to say that God "skillfully wrought us in the depths of the earth." Based on your argument, would you therefore say that God forms us down in the core of the earth? I think you can see that that makes no sense and that the Psalmist is using poetic language.
ReplyDeleteIn addition to the above scriptures, in Jeremiah 1:5 God tells us that "before I formed you in the womb, I knew you." God knows us and considers us a human being, a life, even before we are a fertilized egg! Based on these scriptures, we could make the argument that God considers us life, at least in His mind, before the sperm even penetrates the egg! So, I would say to you that, based on the scriptures that I have given you above, that as Christians and followers of the Bible, we should absolutely err on the side of caution and respect all life, even the earliest stages of life, which would be the simple fertilized egg. God sees it as life, and we should as well.
And this argument that life begins at conception is not merely a Christian argument or some evangelical dogma that was formed by the church. It is not plainly obvious that life does not begin at conception. It's quite the opposite actually. It is plainly obvious to 99% of the entire scientific community that life begins the moment a sperm fertilizes the egg. The entire DNA sequence is there, all of the chromosomes are there, and the womb is a very blood rich environment (..."life is in the blood...", with the mother's blood present to supply the fertilized egg with oxygen, blood, nutrients, etc. to survive. Here's a couple of quotes from well-respected doctors and scientists about this subject:
ReplyDeleteDr. Hymie Gordon (Mayo Clinic): “By all criteria of modern molecular biology, life is present from the moment of conception.”
Dr. Micheline Matthews-Roth (Harvard University Medical School): “It is scientifically correct to say that an individual human life begins at conception.”
Dr. Alfred Bongioanni (University of Pennsylvania): “I have learned from my earliest medical education that human life begins at the time of conception.”
Dr. Jerome LeJeune, “the Father of Modern Genetics” (University of Descartes, Paris): “To accept the fact that after fertilization has taken place a new human has come into being is no longer a matter of taste or opinion . . . it is plain experimental evidence.”
And for further research on this subject, if you like, please click here: http://www.str.org/blog/when-does-life-begin-2 The author explains here that "the debate over when human life begins has never been about the biological facts. It has been about the value we ascribe to human beings at the dawn of their lives. When we debate questions of abortion, assisted reproductive technologies, human embryonic stem cell research and human cloning, we are not really disagreeing about whether human embryos are human beings. The scientific evidence is simply too overwhelming for there to be any real debate on this point. What is at issue in these debates is the question of whether we ought to respect and defend human beings in the earliest stages of their lives. In other words, the question is not about scientific facts; it is about the nature of human dignity and the equality of human beings...."
ReplyDeleteAnd so, as you can see, we know when life begins. From the moment of conception. And all life must be protected. From God's point of view most certainly. And as Christians, we should be holding up God's point of view. All human beings are created in His image, including the unborn, and are just as deserving of life as you and I are at the stage of a mature adult. This includes a fertilized egg.
And, as a side issue, the use of condoms is in no way the same thing as the destruction of a fertilized egg. Sperm, by itself, or the egg, by itself, is unable to produce a viable human being. It is the God-designed fusion of these cells, coming together as one, that creates life. So, to hinder sperm from reaching an egg and implanting is not to destroy a life. It is to prevent life from beginning. Destroying a fertilized egg is taking the life of an unborn child once it has begun. Not even the same ballpark discussion.
I find it interesting that you discuss that Christians shouldn't be judging others according to our own logic and should be using God's Word instead. But, then you go on to use your own logic to pass judgment on those Christians you say shouldn't be judging. Do you see the self-contradiction there? You see, it's ok to pass judgment. Jesus told us to pass judgment righteously, not hypocritically. Christians that say that murder is wrong, at all stages of life, are using God's Word to make that argument, and are passing correct and righteous judgment. And, hopefully, they are also speaking to the mother and father of that child about the forgiveness that lies in our Saviour, Jesus Christ, at the same time. We should warn of the consequences of murder, stand up for that life in the womb, and share the hope of Jesus Christ that we have if we will repent of our sins and turn to Him.
One last question for you: I went to your website and found some of the things that you have written very interesting. Tell me about your conversion story and how you came to know Jesus Christ? What do you consider to be the Gospel message of Jesus and His main purpose for coming to earth?
Zack
Thank you Jason and Zack, for reading and for your comments. Jason, I would challenge you to reconsider your position based on scripture as Zack has stated above. I have to say that I agree wholeheartedly with Zack's response, and it was so thorough I really don't have much I could add to that. I'm grateful for an opportunity to dialogue about such an important issue, and pray that God's Spirit will do His work in all of our hearts. He alone is the Author of Life and He knows us before we are born. As God called Jeremiah to ministry he said, "Before I formed you in the womb I knew you; before you were born I set you apart..." (Jeremiah 1:5). By His grace, may we be faithful to the truth of His Word.
ReplyDeleteIn His love,
Rebecca