Abortion
Abortion is a hot topic that has divided the church for many years now and
has been a big point with politicians as well. We like to judge a politician's
ethics by what their stand on this issue is. And politicians cater to voters and
tell them exactly what they think we want to hear.
We label ourselves as pro-choice or pro-life and neither side seems to make
any headway. We have extremist "pro-life" people taking the lives of doctors
performing abortions. What purpose does this serve? How can anyone say that I am
pro-life and still willingly take the life of another human being? It seems to
be the ultimate flaunt of hypocrisy.
The beginning of this debate starts when life truly begins. If life doesn't
start until birth, the debate for pro-life holds little water. Looking to the
most popular scripture surrounding this controversy, Psalm 139, sheds an
interesting perspective on things. Verse 13 says, "For you created my inmost
being you knit me together in my mother's womb."
We see from this verse that God's hand is at work from conception. God is
creating a life within the womb. He doesn't breathe life into an infant when he
or she leaves the womb. God has had His hand at work from conception. Looking
further on at verse sixteen we see how God saw us before we were born. "…your
eyes saw my unformed body. All the days ordained for me were written in your
book before one of them came to be." Not only is God at work in forming us, he
has our days planned for us before any of them came to be.
All this Bible stuff is fine and dandy, you may be saying, but what if a
friend or I don't believe in the Bible? Where does "pro-choice" fall short? It
falls short in the very concept of it. Pro-choice, it is a woman's right to
choose to have a child. While I cannot argue that it is up to a family to choose
when and if they wish to have a child, and I have nothing to say against family
planning, abortion doesn't fit into this idea.
Abortion allows for people to not take responsibility for their actions and
is a fire insurance rather than an actual plan of any sort. Of course there is
such a thing as family planning. It involves using birth control. Abortion
shouldn't be an alternative "if something happens." One should plan ahead and
realize that pregnancy can and will happen if a person isn't using any form of
birth control.
We need to take responsibility for our actions and realize that if we make a
mistake such as getting pregnant, we must live with the consequences of our
actions. There is no easy way out, as abortion makes it appear. There are still
serious consequences of abortion. Nevertheless, it is taught as an easy solution
to one's problems.
People may argue the case of the parents in their late 30's or early 40's
with two or three children that are in their teens and soon to be moving away.
What should be done if they become pregnant? What of the couple in their mid
twenties that has three kids and happens to get pregnant once again? The answer
still comes back to responsibility. People do not get pregnant unless they do
something to get pregnant. Both couples if they did not wish to have any more
children could very easily have done something to prevent having any more
children.
What of the teenager that is out having promiscuous sex? Once again, the idea
comes back to responsibility. Birth control is readily available to teenagers
now, not that I condone promiscuous sex in any way. The only way to be 100% sure
that you won't get pregnant is to abstain from sex.
Birth control doesn't work 100% of the time. While success rates are
incredibly high, it isn't always used properly, decreasing the effectiveness
drastically. If you don't wish to get pregnant however, and are sexually active,
there is still little chance that you will, if you use birth control
effectively. This goes for promiscuous teens as well as adults that are planning
a family.
The last argument that has to be made involves rape or if a mother's life is
in danger. This is a particularly touchy topic and divides people that are
pro-life as well. I won't attempt to give any easy answers. I will offer though
that the Bible doesn't apply differently to victims of rape or if a mother is in
danger than it does to other people. There is still a child within the womb that
God is forming. Nothing happens that God doesn't allow to happen. Romans 8:28
offers further insight. "And we know that God works for the good of those who
love him, who have been called according to his purpose." I can't explain why
God lets some things happens, but he does, and he has a purpose behind it all.
These people need to seek God for guidance. He is in control after all.
Every day in the United States 5,000 unborn die at the hands of an abortion
doctor; 5,000 souls that never had a chance to live. Most die under the idea of
a woman's right to choose- a cover up for a lack of responsibility. We need to
take responsibility for our actions. We need to pray for those who face
decisions such as these that they would look to God for guidance and not to
earthly wisdom. And we need to pray that the church would take a united stand
against legalized murder. If we stand divided against the devil, we will surely
fall. In Christ's own words, "A house divided against itself cannot stand."
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