The Rights to Life and Liberty.

Introduction: Roe vs. Wade

Abortion has become a political lightning rod.

For the believer, our views are not to be based on the opinions of those trying to get elected; our beliefs must be based on what God has shown us.

This discussion begins with....

2-God’s Original Design for Human Life.

3-15

Genesis 1:26–31 NIV

Then God said, “Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.” So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them. God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground.” Then God said, “I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food. And to all the beasts of the earth and all the birds in the sky and all the creatures that move along the ground—everything that has the breath of life in it—I give every green plant for food.” And it was so. God saw all that he had made, and it was very good. And there was evening, and there was morning—the sixth day.

Genesis 2:15–17 NIV

The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it. And the Lord God commanded the man, “You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat from it you will certainly die.”

Genesis 2:21–24 NIV

So the Lord God caused the man to fall into a deep sleep; and while he was sleeping, he took one of the man’s ribs and then closed up the place with flesh. Then the Lord God made a woman from the rib he had taken out of the man, and he brought her to the man. The man said, “This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called ‘woman,’ for she was taken out of man.” That is why a man leaves his father and mother and is united to his wife, and they become one flesh.

16 - Principles of people made in God’s image.

Freedom, but with Boundaries.

Sexual Boundaries - A Man and A Woman in a committed Relationship who bears children so that the planet is filled with God’s image bearers to care for his creation in a God-Honoring Way.

We have here consenting relationships, but with commitment. This commitment becomes the key to raising children, whether planned or not.

Outside of this boundary, and when sin entered the world in Chapter 3, only then are all of the things we are talking about enter God’s world. Rape, Incest, Abortion.

But we do live in a world with all of these things. How do we as believers, along with all sin that steps out of this boundary engage these topics with Grace and Truth?

The debates about Abortion seem to revolve around Rights.

17-What does the Bible Say about the Right to Life?

Side Note on Rights:

Natural rights are rights which are "natural" in the sense of "not artificial, not man-made", as in rights deriving from human nature or from the edicts of a god. They are universal; that is, they apply to all people, and do not derive from the laws of any specific society. They exist necessarily, inhere in every individual, and can't be taken away. For example, it has been argued that humans have a natural right to life. These are sometimes called moral rights or inalienable rights.

Declaration of Independence - Right to Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness. The Question in this debate really is about the Unborn Child’s right to life, vs., the Womans Right to Liberty as it relates to choices around her Body.

Where does the Right to Life Come From?

In a video talk, author and speaker Daniel Darling asks “Is Pro-Life Just about Abortion?” He finds that pro-life includes the unborn, but that Christians must not view any people as standing in the way of our flourishing. We cannot call ourselves pro-life if we do nothing to protect all those who are vulnerable in our communities: refugees, immigrants, the elderly, the poor, those facing racial discrimination (https://lifewayvoices.com/culture-current-events/is-pro-life-just-about-being-anti-abortion/).

What about the Unborn?

18-21

Psalm 139:13–16 NIV

For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well. My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place, when I was woven together in the depths of the earth. Your eyes saw my unformed body; all the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.

22-The question about when does a human become a human? The Biblical response is perhaps even before conception - Human Life is the product of the mind and plans of God. If we try to figure out Scientifically when life begins, then we will miss the point from a Biblical standpoint. We don’t know specifically God’s timing, so humility is called for. - Before the Foundations of the Earth - Ephesians 1:4

Word of caution - This passage does not mean as some do, that every desire in my heart is then a part of God’s design - vs. 23-24 asks God to search the Psalmist to see if there any idol worship in him.

Every human born and unborn is both created in God’s image and therefore is worth dignity and the respect and the Right’s to life that God endowed them, and every human being is and will fall short of the Glory of God and will have issues, sin issues in their life.

The Commandment - That shall not murder

The Bible allows for some killing - protection, Just war.

Murder is the intentional or negligent killing of another human being not for the above reasons.

How does the Bible view unborn Babies in this light?

23 - 26

Exodus 21:22–25 NIV

“If people are fighting and 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.

27

Faithlife Study Bible Chapter 21

21:22–25 This passage addresses a potential scenario of injury to a bystander when others are fighting. In the scenario, the injured bystander is a pregnant woman who was hit when two men were fighting. The blow caused the woman to give birth prematurely. The wording of the case leaves a great deal of ambiguity over whether the penalties for causing injury relate to the health of the woman, the survival of the infant, or both. Later rabbinic debate on the implications of this scenario used the references to harm for both the death of the infant (see b. Baba Qamma 48b) or the death of the mother (see b. Sanhedrin 74a; 79a).

Both lives are important to God.

The Early Church believed the same thing.

Lightfoot’s Apostolic Fathers in English 2

2Thou shalt do no murder, thou shalt not commit adultery, thou shalt not corrupt boys, thou shalt not commit fornication, thou shalt not steal, thou shalt not deal in magic, thou shalt do no sorcery, thou shalt not murder a child by abortion nor kill them when born, thou shalt not covet thy neighbour’s goods,

Didache - Written around 100 AD

Lightfoot’s Apostolic Fathers in English 19

Thou shalt not doubt whether a thing shall be or not be. Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord in vain. Thou shalt love thy neighbour more than thine own soul. Thou shalt not murder a child by abortion, nor again shalt thou kill it when it is born

Epistle of Barnabas - Written anywhere between 70 ad - 135

Not the Bible, but shows that there is an early tradition in the church of being against abortion.

Conclusion: It is not God’s will that abortion be a thing. That we are called to Honor, Respect, and hold precious the lives of all people

So what does the Bible Say about the Women’s Right to Choose?

28-What Does the Bible Say about the Right to Choose?

Facebook Post: "Here’s the thing, guys. It doesn’t matter. It doesn’t matter when life begins. It doesn’t matter whether a fetus is a human being or not. That entire argument is a red herring, a distraction, a subjective and unwinnable argument that could not matter less. It doesn’t matter whether we’re talking about a fertilized egg, or a fetus, or a baby, or a five year old, or a Nobel Prize winning paediatric oncologist. NOBODY has the right to use your body, against your will, even to save their life, or the life of another person. That’s it. That’s the argument. You cannot be forced to donate blood, or marrow, or organs, even though thousands die every year, on waiting lists. They cannot even harvest your organs after your death without your explicit, written, pre-mortem permission. Denying women the right to abortion means we have less bodily autonomy than a corpse."

However, the right to bodily autonomy definitely has some anchors in Scripture.

Consider the Command not to steal. or even the injury to the woman in Exodus 21:22 spoken of earlier. God has placed into his Moral Law the idea that the things God has intrusted to you personally are not to be stolen, vandalized, abused, damaged, etc. I would suggest that there is nothing that you possess materially that is more vital to you, is your body. And God throughout this law has given instructions to Israel, when other people’s bodies are violated.

So, Yes the idea of Bodily Autonomy, I would suggest fits into the realm of the Right to Liberty.

This idea of autonomy is to set people free from constraint and coercion, so that they can live full lives. Initially this seems to fit well with Christianity, which talks of Jesus setting people free. But when New Testament writers talk of freedom, they are meaning something very different to saying that people should have the power to do as they please.

So from a Biblical standpoint The Right to Liberty, is a different nuance than a secular view of this Right.

The apostle James refers twice to 'the law that gives freedom'. (James 1:25, 2:25) At first this could seem self-contradictory. It is certainly at odds with the secular view of freedom, which tends to equate it with an absence of legal restraint. In John's gospel the Jews tell Jesus that they have no need to be set free, because they 'have never been slaves of anyone'. Yet Jesus responds by saying: 'I tell you the truth, everyone who sins is a slave to sin. Now a slave has no permanent place in the family, but a son belongs to it for ever. So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.' (John 8:34-35)

29-30

1 Corinthians 6:19–20 NIV

Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your bodies.

31 - Heidelbergh Q&A 1

Q. What is your only comfort in life and in death? A. That I am not my own,1 but belong—body and soul, in life and in death2—to my faithful Savior, Jesus Christ.3 He has fully paid for all my sins with his precious blood,4 and has set me free from the tyranny of the devil.5 He also watches over me in such a way6 that not a hair can fall from my head without the will of my Father in heaven;7 in fact, all things must work together for my salvation.8 Because I belong to him, Christ, by his Holy Spirit, assures me of eternal life9 and makes me wholeheartedly willing and ready from now on to live for him.1

Believers are called to view their bodily autonomy in a similar way that the Bible Teaches about Stewardship. The Stuff we Own is not really ours, All belongs to God, We are, however, intrusted with it to steward it for God’s Glory.

Rather than a sense of freedom to do whatever I want with my Body, New Testament freedom refers to being freed from the tyranny of sin and freedom to use our body and our choices to Glorify God. The New Testament writers make it clear that people have choices. They can serve their own ideas and strive to satisfy their own desires, or they can choose to serve God. The apostle Peter writes of having been granted freedom from sin, but voluntarily deciding to live as a servant of God. (1 Peter 2:16) On the night before his crucifixion, Jesus also prayed for a way out of the ordeal ahead, but then added, 'yet not what I will, but what you will'. (Mark 14:36) He showed how his own autonomy was tempered with obedience to God, and directed toward the service of other people.

There are numerous calls in the New Testament for the church to temper Christian freedom with responsibility to the community. Paul explicitly tells the Ephesians that they are to 'look not only to (their) own interests, but also to the interests of others', (Philippians 2:4) whilst the Galatians are told to 'serve one another in love'. (Galatians 5:13) In this context, we can see that believers are to seek autonomy that is not only limited by God's sovereignty, but also by concerns for the community and its common good.

Human beings were created by a relational God first and foremost for relationship with him, and our individuality is not defined by what we strive to achieve, but because God calls each one of us by name. As Gilbert Meilaender writes, 'We are most ourselves not when we seek to direct and control our destiny, but when we recognise and admit that our life is grounded in and sustained by God.' (25) Alongside this, we were also created for relationship with each other: as part of the Body of Christ, we are in community with all those who God has called by name. Carrying each other's burdens is an essential part of this relationship. (Galatians 6:2) The concept has its roots in the Old Testament, where one of God's intentions for Israel was to create an ideal society that would corporately bear witness to him. (Exodus 19:6)

The Biblical view of autonomy thus holds in tension the respect and dignity derived from being made in the image of God, with an awareness that this autonomy is only possible when it is sustained in relation to the Creator and our fellow human beings.

The What If’s - Ethical Dilemma - Only 1 % for Rape .5 for Incest - 12% physical problems with the Mother.

The Vast majority of responses do not deal with the ethical dilemma - They are due to socio-economic reasons. - IE are we giving women enough support as a society and a Church so that they may more freely Glorify God by means of honoring the life that they carry in a difficult time in their life.

Conclusion: Yes, God has entrusted us with Bodily Autonomy, but not as the world thinks of it, but that we are free to use our Bodies for His Glory.

How do we navigate these two seemingly competing rights???

32 - The Gospel’s Restoration of Human Life.

I think the Bible gives us a Both/And Approach.

Julia Herrington writes about what she learned through working at a pregnancy resource center and why we need to have real conversations about this polarizing issue. She writes, “Let’s get proactively involved in all the issues of life. We cannot be advocates for life and absent from the foster care system. We cannot advocate an abortion-free society and condemn unwed mothers. Let’s mobilize our churches to support young mothers and families. We must be bringers of life to the unborn and to the born. This is a critical conversation because we have misguidedly adopted a polemical framework for how we discuss abortion. Maybe it’s time to begin questioning all of the assumptions surrounding this issue that have been made since its conception: that it’s a women’s issue, that it’s necessarily political, or that apathy is an acceptable response. This matters because it’s all life. The man whose sexual formation is incomplete and ridden with cultural values which ultimately dishonor his sexual wholeness directly impacts the woman with the similar disadvantages. And they both directly impact the children born into tragedy as well as the children who do not ever get a chance. We cannot disregard this issue. We can no longer allow for the continued unquestioned oppression of women to persist. We need to reclaim healthy sexuality for ourselves, our children, our communities and our culture. And we must defend the weak, the defenseless; the children who might not be born” (Julia Herrington, “How I Changed My Mind about Abortion,” Christ and Pop Culture, June 1, 2013, https://christandpopculture.com/changed-mind-abortion/).

1. Since Scripture teaches us that all life is valuable, believers must evaluate what it means to value the lives of all people.

Diane Beld - “Pro-life includes honor dignity of all humans - mentally, physically, handicapped, elderly, children, all races, poor as well as rich, male & female, uneducated as well as educated, Young & Old, ugly & beautiful, silly & stern, kind & mean, happy & sad.”

Pro-Choice must include the realization that My Body belongs to God, and have been freed from the tyranny of Sin in Jesus Christ so I can freely steward my Body for his Glory.

On Both Accounts - we may fail. Ultimately Christianity is not moralism. We are not redeemed by how well we perform morally

Thanks be to God that he values our lives enough to give forgiveness and grace to each of us when we lose sight of human dignity! we must also recognize that God is a God of restoration—and we get to take part in that restoration.

It’s possible that someone in the room has had an abortion (or has influenced another person to have an abortion) or has failed in their support love and care of someone who finds themselves in what seems to be a no win pregnancy. Our to all those people is to love and care for them. There is healing Redemption in Jesus. The Bible is full of stories of people received second chances (Paul), or were supported by God when it seemed like people there were no options (Hagar and Ishmael).

As Believers we are called to live lives of Gratitude by operating in God’s vision of humanity.

Men - Using their bodily autonomy to glorify God

Women - Using their Bodily autonomy to glorify God.

Resources - Lakeshore Pregnancy Center, The Family Life Center of West MI, Alpha Grand Rapids

The Covenant Community - Supporting people to live God’s vision, but also picking people up and supporting them when they fall out of God’s design.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rights

https://skitguys.com/videos/psalm-139-you-made-me

https://skitguys.com/videos/life-is-sacred

https://skitguys.com/videos/god-is-pro-life

https://www.guttmacher.org/sites/default/files/pdfs/tables/370305/3711005t2.pdf

https://www.archives.gov/founding-docs/declaration-transcript

https://www.patheos.com/blogs/rogereolson/2013/08/why-i-do-not-believe-in-absolute-body-

https://christandpopculture.com/changed-mind-abortion/