The Beginning of Life
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Right to life
Right to life
Today is National Sanctity of Human Life Day and while I do not like to use this platform for political discourse, I need to qualify this morning, by making it clear that the sanctity-of-human-life is not a political issue. I will concede, that abortion has been co-oped by a political party as a significant plank in their platform. It should be noted that while over three-quarters of Republicans oppose abortion so do over a quarter of Democrats and 40-percent of independents.
Abortion, and by extension the sanctity-of-life in is not a political issue, although I do believe it is an issue that may inform our politics.
I will be frank with you from outset, I am absolutely 100% opposed to abortion in every circumstance. I come to this conclusion from the evidence presented by science but more importantly from the record and clarity of scripture on the subject.
Let’s Pray
Women are Victims
Women are Victims
I tell you that first, to tell you that those who oppose abortion must not fall into the trap of hating or dehumanizing those who have had an abortion or support abortion. The reality is that most people who support abortion do so under the false understanding that they are only destroying a clump of cells.
While I have no power or authority to excuse their actions, the women who have abortions are often, themselves victims. Many have fallen victim to false information and the politicalization of the subject. The reality presents itself when we look at the numbers:
79% of women who ended their pregnancies say that they
A Study in Finland showed a 650% increase in the rate of death from suicide in women who have had an abortion than those who had carried to term.
In the US that number was lower, but still women were 3.1x more likely to die from suicide than women who carried to term.
The PTSD that associates with abortion often has a delayed onset, occuring 3-5 years after an abortion has taken place.
Science Vs. Philosophy
Science Vs. Philosophy
Science is clear, Philosophy is not. What I mean is this: If you asked an embryologist when life begins you would get a different answer than if you asked many politicians.
Statements compiled by Princeton university include the following:
"Development of the embryo begins at Stage 1 when a sperm fertilizes an oocyte and together they form a zygote." -Life Before Birth
From the book Essentials of Human Embryology "Human development begins after the union of male and female gametes or germ cells during a process known as fertilization (conception). "Fertilization is a sequence of events that begins with the contact of a sperm (spermatozoon) with a secondary oocyte (ovum) and ends with the fusion of their pronuclei(the haploid nuclei of the sperm and ovum) and the mingling of their chromosomes to form a new cell. This fertilized ovum, known as a zygote, is a large diploid cell that is the beginning, or primordium, of a human being." - Essentials in Human Embryology
Nostrand’s Scientific Encyclopedia defining the term embryo states: Embryo: The developing individual between the union of the germ cells and the completion of the organs which characterize its body when it becomes a separate organism.... At the moment the sperm cell of the human male meets the ovum of the female and the union results in a fertilized ovum (zygote), a new life has begun.... The term embryo covers the several stages of early development from conception to the ninth or tenth week of life." -Nostrand’s Scientific Encyclopedia
It’s Business
It’s Business
In recent years there has been a push to perform screenings of Baby’s in the womb for genetic defects. The push is for mothers to have the option to abort their babies if their is a problem. The New York Times just this month published an article with this statement as the headline:
Some of the tests look for missing snippets of chromosomes. For every 15 times they find a problem, they are wrong 85 times.
So why do the continue with the screenings? Well, it’s a big business. Screenings are a big business and abortion is a big business, in fact abortion brings in $831 million dollars a year.
The California Family Council states
The Abortion Industry is Pro-Cash. Not Pro-Choice
The report statements like this from former abortion worker Sam Griggs
“If we tried to discuss alternatives, we would get in trouble with the doctor because then the health center would threaten to send their business elsewhere. All we did was find out how far along they were, tell them when they were going to be finished, get their money, do the abortion, and send them home.” - Sam Griggs
Biblical Record
Biblical Record
This isn’t a subject for which the Bible is unclear. If we are going to submit to the authority of God’s word, then we find the that the Bible has several things to say on the subject human life before birth.
Jeremiah 1:5 tells us
5 Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee; and before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee, and I ordained thee a prophet unto the nations.
Psalm 139:13-16 says
13 For thou hast possessed my reins: Thou hast covered me in my mother’s womb. 14 I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: Marvellous are thy works; And that my soul knoweth right well. 15 My substance was not hid from thee, When I was made in secret, And curiously wrought in the lowest parts of the earth. 16 Thine eyes did see my substance, yet being unperfect; And in thy book all my members were written, Which in continuance were fashioned, when as yet there was none of them.
Exodus 21:22-25 speaks gravely of the value of human life within the womb
22 If men strive, and hurt a woman with child, so that her fruit depart from her, and yet no mischief follow: he shall be surely punished, according as the woman’s husband will lay upon him; and he shall pay as the judges determine. 23 And if any mischief follow, then thou shalt give life for life, 24 Eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, 25 Burning for burning, wound for wound, stripe for stripe.
This may be difficult to understand in the King James Version, but what it is saying is this: If there is an altercation and a pregnant woman gets hit which causes her to deliver, and the baby is OK, then the one who hit the woman must pay a fine. But, If the baby dies however or has some birth defect what do we read the punishment should be? Life for Life and so forth.
The same death penalty that is prescribed for harming a born human is the same penalty that is prescribed for harming a baby in the womb.
And the seriousness of this offense is great enough that justice as prescribed by God is death.
Consistency
Consistency
Christians must be concerned about being consistent in our worldview. What I mean to says is that we can’t have two understandings that are in conflict, or we should realize that there is something wrong in our understanding. Today is National Sanctity of Life Sunday. The sanctity of life in general is a Christian value, and you will find that biblically the preservation of innocent life is always given precedent when there is a conflict that may involve sin.
Priority of Life
Priority of Life
There is a biblical principle that the Jewish leaders call Pikuach nefesh. Translated to mean “Watching over the soul”. It is the law that the preservation of human life overrides just about any other religious rule.
This comes from reading Leviticus 18:5 & Ezekiel 20:11. Leviticus 18:5 says
5 Ye shall therefore keep my statutes, and my judgments: which if a man do, he shall live in them: I am the Lord.
and Ezekiel 20:11
11 And I gave them my statutes, and shewed them my judgments, which if a man do, he shall even live in them.
What does this say? In Leviticus and Ezekiel you hold to God’s statutes and judgments, you shall do what? Live in them. According to the Talmud it is implied that in obeying the laws of God you will live by them, not die by them.
Objection
Objection
The objection that many abortion proponents have is that the Christian world-view is inconsistent. They ask, how is it that many Christians can support the death penalty yet be opposed to abortion.
Proverbs 6:16-19 speaks of things God hates. We don’t often think of God as a person who hates but here is what Proverbs says
16 These six things doth the Lord hate: Yea, seven are an abomination unto him: 17 A proud look, a lying tongue, And hands that shed innocent blood, 18 An heart that deviseth wicked imaginations, Feet that be swift in running to mischief, 19 A false witness that speaketh lies, And he that soweth discord among brethren.
It is hands that shed innocent blood that God hates. The justice of God is that those who commit murder, who take an innocent are to be put to death. And what is a baby if not an innocent life.
In fact look what we read in Deuteronomy 27:25
25 Cursed be he that taketh reward to slay an innocent person. And all the people shall say, Amen.
And, how else would you define someone who performs and abortion, but as someone who takes a reward to lay an innocent person.
I will point out that my position on the death penalty may seem inconsistent. I personally believe that it is just for criminals who have committed some crimes to be put to death. Crimes like murder and rape.
There is a latin motto originating from the 3rd century BC. Dum Spiro Spero. While I breathe, I hope. Really, the thought goes back further. In Ecclesiastes 9:4
4 For to him that is joined to all the living there is hope: for a living dog is better than a dead lion.
When we put a criminal to death, who is an unrepentant sinner, then we are delivering him to hell. And then the devil wins that soul. Not in that he some how has possession of it, but in that he was able to see another soul who is the image of God destroyed due to the sin he introduced to the world.
But while there is life there is hope. While there is life, there is the chance that the criminal will surrender their life to God and that despite the things that they have done, the crimes that they have commited, that soul will be testament of glory to God.
And I know that there is a high cost associated with keeping a criminal guilty of a capitol offence alive, but any time mercy is extended it is expended at the cost of the one extending the mercy. Even the cross should teach us that. And so still should the lives of Moses and David and the Apostle Paul, who themselves were guilty of murder, yet spared.
Grey Area?
Grey Area?
There is a grey area, which is no grey area that needs to be addressed. It is an area where even many pro-life supporters are ignorant and an area that has impacted our family greatly.
Our Struggle
Our Struggle
Before we had Audrey we weren't sure we would be able to have anymore children. It was only with the help of doctors that she's here today. We joke around our house that she was worth every penny, because frankly it was pretty expensive for us to have her.
One of the options that was presented to us, and one of the options that the doctor seemed baffled that we rejected is that of In Vitro Fertilization or IVF. There have been a number of high profile cases of Christian women who have had IVF and ended up carrying a small litter of children to terms rather than just one baby. The reason for this is that and IVF they take eggs from the mother and inseminate them and then place them back in the mother hoping that they will take. Because of cost and the time it takes to do this, they typically place multiple fertilized eggs and the mother hoping that at least one will take. When multiple take the recommendation is for the mother to and I quote “reduce”. Reducing is nothing more than aborting the additional babies. So what ends up happening is a family ends up with multiple viable babies as a result of the procedure and decides to keep them all. That's how we ended up with Nadya Sulmen, who was nicknamed Octomom for giving birth to octuplets.
As a result of this procedure, 1.7 million embryos created for IVF have been thrown away, another 840,000 remain frozen, while only 7% lead to pregnancy.
If I believe that life begins at conception, and I hold a consistent worldview, these numbers should not just be alarming but tragic.
Why So Passionate?
Why So Passionate?
To make by biases clear. I am a single issue voter.
Abortion rates have dropped somewhat. In 1980 it is estimated that there were over 1.5 million abortions performed a year, in the United States alone. The number averaged about 1.2 million through the early 2000’s and now is right around 800-900 thousand.
To put that in perspective, 11 million people were killed during the holocaust. 6 million Jews and 5 million non-jews. Since Roe v. Wade there have been an estimated 62 million abortions performed in the United States alone.
I explained to an old friend who supports abortion my position and I asked him this question:
If someone truly believes that life begins at conception and they believe that 62 million babies have been murdered on American soil, and continue to be murdered at a rate of almost 900,000 per year. What kind of monster would they be to not see that as the single most important issue of our time.
If you believe that life begins at conception, then this isn’t a political issue. This isn’t something that can be negotiated. And this isn’t a choice. This is nothing short of infanticide. And it is an outrage.
Let’s Pray