Part 7: Today's Questions and Problems
There are many views about abortion. One is that the mother's body belongs to her alone and she can do with it as she pleases. If she wants an abortion, it is solely her decision and no medical or legal limitation should inhibit this decision. The father of the child, even if married to the woman, has, in this view, no say at all.
An opposite view is that abortion must be avoided at all costs because abortion ends the life of a living human being. The laws of most of the states of the United States permit abortion within the first trimester or about three months after conception.
Abortion advocates assert that the fetus is not human and, therefore, can be aborted at the whim of the mother. Most Christians, on the other hand, believe that the fetus is human at the instant of conception, that is, when the father's spermatozoa enters the ovum of the mother.
The Bible says in the book of Proverbs 6:17:
“There
are six things the Lord hates . . ..” Among
these are
“.
. .hands that shed innocent blood . . ..”
In the Bible shedding of blood is always interpreted as the taking of human life. If in the mind of God the fetus is alive when aborted, innocent blood is shed.
When does the fetus become a living human at conception, at the formation of blood, before the end of the third trimester or at birth? But the fertilized ovum needs only about seven days after conception for blood to form. Thus, if the time of blood formulation is God's criterion defining human life, an abortion early in the first trimester, literally becomes the shedding of innocent blood. The savagery of partial birth abortion occurs during delivery of the baby. Here there can be no doubt that the child is a living human. (Note that Leviticus, Chapter 17, Verse 11, in part, advises us that the life of a creature is in the blood. Thus, it would seem that those wanting or performing abortions, even after the seventh DAY, are in great risk of offending God.)
Christians wanting to please God will avoid abortion. The child should be carried to full term and, if unwanted, can be placed for adoption. Many Christian organizations work to place unwanted children with wanting families where they will be loved and raised properly. The child's mother might change her mind and decide to keep the baby when she feels the child's movement in her womb. Here great difficulty is often found if the mother is single and the child must be raised in a fatherless home.
In such homes there is often great emotional and physical drain on the mother to provide care and groceries for her family. This often leads to child abuse. Too, the children of single parent families often do not do as well as children from conventional families. They frequently fall short in school, do not react well with other children and are more likely to miss college. Missing a good education often results in low-paying careers. These children will also tend to have marginal and difficult marriages. Thus, the placing of the newborn child with an adoption agency is an act of loving sacrifice by the mother.
What if the mother feels that God's will is in consequential? Let us review the declining morals of our civilization. Since the 1960s we have seen drastic increases in crime, domestic violence, single-parent families, declining school test scores, etc. We have also seen the terrible decline in the perceived value of human life through abortion, suicide and assisted suicide. The trend is in the direction of cheapening human life, pre-born, newborn or mature.
Of greater importance to those of childbearing age today is a future possibility that their own lives will be terminated without their will or consent. In Holland and in the State of Oregon an older patient in hospital or nursing home does not know, as the physician bends over him, if the injection being given is for life or for death. It takes little imagination to view a near-future society where a patient old, or not so old, would be subject to legal homicide at the whim of his family. They might not want to be troubled with a sick or aging relative. Or they might want to profit from that patience's estate. Does this sound ridiculous? With the continuing moral decay in our nation, who can say? Every abortion-for-convenience contributes to the decline of our national moral standards by lowering the value of human life.
(Hitler's holocaust began with the legal execution of those of limited physical ability or intelligence. This evolved into the extermination of "undesirables" and the mass execution of male and female Jews of every age amounting to some 6-8 million lives. One source of abortion statistics is the Alan Guttmacher Institute which says that 28,511,160 legal abortions were performed from 1973 through 1992. This slaughter, then, makes the Holocaust appear as a minor historical blemish.)
Pregnancy is avoidable through sterilization or through abstinence. Sterilization is when the reproductive capability of one, or both, partners has been neutralized through surgery. Abstinence eliminates pregnancies and also prevents STDs (sexually transmitted diseases). Do not be fooled, so called "Safe Sex" neither prevents pregnancy or STD contraction.
An unmarried couple should avoid sexual intercourse because it is sinful. It can lead to pregnancy or the contraction of STDs. Unless one is married to his partner, such intimacy should be avoided. The Bible calls sex outside of marriage "fornication" or "sexual immorality." See, in the Bible, Galatians, Chapter 5, Verse 19:
The acts of the sinful nature are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery . . . those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.
Abstinence to avoid pregnancy is a wise decision for the unmarried couple because it is the right thing to do.
Consider that one who drinks, drives and kills becomes guilty of manslaughter or murder. Are not those who engage in sexual intercourse resulting in the need for an abortion, the death of an unborn infant, also guilty of manslaughter or of murder? Is there no difference between irresponsible driving and irresponsible sex?
One who drinks, drives and kills another on the road is guilty of manslaughter. Sexual immorality can also lead a woman to slaughter her unborn child. The unborn child is the most innocent and absolutely defenseless of all beings.