Allies of Molech

Ezekiel 16:21

Introduction

Following the leak of the recent Supreme Court decision striking down Roe v. Wade I was intrigued at the responses from people who have stridently claimed that they are against abortion but have maintained that they see other more important matters to advocate for.

Some showed that they indeed could rejoice to see a step in the right direction on abortion while others quickly began to equivocate.

I saw pleas for us to remember that while some would be rejoicing at this decision others would be distraught and remember we should weep with those who weep.

I don’t think Paul meant that we should weep with the prophets of Baal on Mt. Carmel when their god failed.

Worse yet, I began to see pleas for a more nuanced position on abortion.

Most of this comes from the portion of the evangelical world that is obsessed with being accepted by a culture that increasingly rejects the very core of everything we believe.

But these pleas also came from some members of the Lord’s church and even from some gospel preachers across the country.

In addition to religious calls for nuance, there were scores of articles by all of the media outlets giving us examples of Christians who were pro-choice trying to convince us that we could indeed be Christian and pro-choice.

I want to spend some time giving consideration to these arguments and not leave anyone with the impression that

A) that we are unwilling to give a fair hearing or

B) that there are no answers to these objections.

Charge of Hypocrisy

“The majority of Christians support abortion rights” (Rom. 3:4).

This is only true if you use the broadest possible definition of Christian which is to say all people who even lightly identify as such.

Once you start accounting for actual devotion to that claim (attendance, Bible reading, actual engagement) the numbers aren’t even close.

Secondly, this is a matter of framing. They ask questions like, do you support exceptions for cases where the mother’s life is in danger and then if someone says yes, they get lumped in with the person who supports abortion up to the moment of birth which is a miniscule minority.

Even with all of that, they are coming up with the slimmest of majorities not even breaking 60%.

So, in short they are telling great big whoppers here but even if they were true, it wouldn’t change what the Bible actually says.

“Many Christians get abortions” (Rom. 2:24).

“What we profess and what we live don’t always add up”

Yeah, hypocrites are a thing.

Our culture has been proposing for years that the solution is to lower the standards down to our actual behavior. Then many continue to be shocked that our collective behavior always finds ways to fall even below those lower standards.

The solution of course is always to bring our behavior up to the standard not changing the standard.

“You’re pro-birth not pro-life” (2 Thess. 3:10).

Several logical fallacies going on here.

So this argument says that if you don’t have a good solution to the mistreatment of children then murder is a viable solution. The implications are staggering and are even accepted by some.

This argument assumes that the one making it has the solution to these problems and if you don’t agree with their policy decisions then you don’t want to help.

So for instance, their solutions looks largely like indiscriminately giving money to the very adults who are causing the harm to children.

If you don’t agree that this is a solution and push for legislation that is tougher on parents who abuse their children then you aren’t really pro-life.

No, I utterly deny that you have any clue as to how to help abused and impoverished children and the primary reason you are so clueless is that you believe philosophers of this world and bureaucrats are wiser than the word of God.

Few other organizations get so much heat for having a singular focus.

“This position was developed for political power” (Phil. 1:15-18).

I don’t buy this rewrite of history for a single moment.

“All of the sudden there was this pro-life movement that hadn’t been there before.”

Because all of the sudden there was this decision to legalize abortion across the nation that hadn’t been there before.

But let us grant every sinister motive they lay at the feet of those who are mixed up in political power. I don’t care one wit about the motives of anyone who seeks to abolish abortion. If they are doing it to amass political power, then they have their reward. I can be for something that terrible people are also for. And can even celebrate when those terrible people accomplish something that reduces the murder of babies.

Someone says, you know they only say they are against abortion to get your vote. Yes, well, pretty good strategy I must say.

“I wish so many abortions weren’t necessary”

Here is where they show their hypocrisy.

Why should there be fewer abortions if there is nothing morally wrong with abortion?

If it simply a morally neutral medical procedure then you shouldn’t worry about how many there are.

They have revealed that they know this is a matter of ends justifying means even though the means are sinful.

Appeal for Compassion

What about rape and incest (Ex. 20:13).

First of all, we talk about addressing the surrounding conditions, would you agree that we need to be harder on rapists and child molesters? My side of this argument isn’t the one promoting pedophilia as normal behavior.

Secondly, as Jesus answered when asked about His authority, I have a question for you. Will you agree that all abortion for convenience is wrong and should be abolished? If so, we can continue to debate this very small percentage of abortions. But if you won’t agree to that, then you are disingenuous and show that you aren’t interested in an honest conversation.

But let us assume that you are completely honest and these are truly the abortions you are concerned about. Is the solution to a heinous crime to take the life of an innocent? The worst part has already been commited and now you want to bring unspeakable guilt on the innocent victim of that crime by coaxing her into compounding the evil?

Again, I am for bringing the full weight of the law upon the actual guilty party. One commentator in addressing the possibility that you might have a woman in prison sentenced to death for murder and she is pregnant. What do you do? She said the decision would be easy for these people, kill the baby save the prisoner.

The poor and marginalized will be hardest hit (Lev. 19:15).

Yes, the poor suffer more by ignoring God’s wisdom in the short term.

The wealthy are able to pay the earthly costs of sin more easily than the poor.

This is a reality but if you follow God’s word, this isn’t even a conversation.

The language all assumes that pregnancy is just something that happens outside of any choice of the woman (or man for that matter).

This brings us to a major point about abortion that is often overlooked. They would have you believe that all of this revolves around tough decisions regarding rape, incest, or a threat to the mothers life. But abortion advocacy has ALWAYS been about sexual liberation. Sex without consequences is the primary motive here and always has been.

This is why they call it “reproductive justice”. It is about choosing when and how you have babies divorced from the creational and moral order of things.

But again, if women are forced to birth the babies created by their behavior then yes, the poor will indeed be harder hit by that reality.

The judgment will hit them all the same.

Women shouldn’t have to bear this burden alone (Deut. 22:28-29).

Let’s shake on that.

Where do I signup for that law?

Of course God has always said as much and sought to protect women from such abuse rather than seeking to make them complicit with it.

What about the life of the mother (2 Kgs. 6:28-30).

Again, could we agree to go ahead and ban all the other kinds of abortions?

Our goal is to preserve life.

A doctor doesn’t have your moral framework so be careful about taking their instincts as the final word here.

Meg Meeker tells a story of a woman who tried to give up her lungs (and her life) so that her son could live.

My appeal to anyone going through that would be to tell your doctor that your goal is to preserve all the life that it is possible to preserve.

The key is to remember that this is a life not just potential life. Make your decisions accordingly.

Appeal to Scripture

Life is defined as breath (Gen. 2:7).

Indeed there is that association and that is one major indicator of life today.

But is that the ONLY indicator of life. It is not contradictory for the Bible to point to a normal indicator of life but for there to be a unique exception when it comes to babies in the womb.

Repeatedly the Bible points to babies in the womb and refers to them already as persons who are responsive to the world around them.

A forced miscarriage is not considered murder (Ex. 21:22-25).

This is just a misreading of the text.

A literal translation couldn’t possibly lead to “miscarriage” here though that is a frequent choice of more liberal translations.

If we read it literally, you have to force the death of the child into Ex. 21:22.

Abortion is commanded in some instances (Num. 5:11-31).

This is a woman who is denying that she has done anything wrong.

It does not say she is pregnant (that would have been proof enough in many cases) (Num. 5:28).

But even if she were, God’s judgment and our taking that as permission to commit abortion is a chasm Evel Kenevel couldn’t jump across.

I am willing to concede however that abortion should absolutely be associated with the judgment of God if that is what they are getting at.

God gives us choice (Deut. 30:19).

Oh good grief.

He isn’t saying choose life or death for others, but for yourself.

And choosing life amounts to doing what God said and choosing death means disregarding His commands.

Conclusion

Many will say that you can’t use “religious” arguments to argue public policy. Says who? What standard do you want to use instead?

“You’re pushing your values on others” they’ll say. Well, first of all not nearly so violently as you’re pressing your views onto unborn children. But let us be clear, we are all living by someone’s values. I say let’s use God and you say let us live by the standards of Planned Parenthood. There is no neutral ground here.

They say if you do that you’ll end up making taking homosexual marriage away and maybe even go back to making divorce illegal with few exceptions. Yes. You’re catching on.

I don’t want to bring politics into our Bible studies but I absolutely want to bring our Bible studies into politics. If you don’t, then you don’t understand how much control God wants of your life.

Now, we can preach moral outrage at the murder of innocent babies all we want but if we are outside of Christ we will stand with them on the day of judgment.