Sermon Tone Analysis

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

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

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

27

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.

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

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

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.