Yesterday, I wrote about abortion, and why it is so wrong. Of course, it is wrong because to do it, one must kill another human being. But we do not have the right to kill another human being except under very limited circumstances. But it goes deeper than that. So I want to explain why it is so wrong, so maybe if you don't yet understand, you might. Note that I am not preaching, because I am in the same boat as everyone else. Paul says everyone has sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.
The reason it is wrong, and so much else is too, starts with the 1st Commandment. A Lutheran pastor once told me that the only sin is to violate the first commandment. This is usually stated as "I am the Lord your God. You shall have no other gods before Me." So people think if they are not worshiping at the feet of a graven image, they're good to go.
Not so fast. Jesus, who we learned was God Himself, said that the 1st and greatest commandment was to love God with all our hearts, and all our minds, and all our souls, and the second was like it, to love your neighbor as yourself. But what does that mean? Is that even possible?
Do any of us satisfy Jesus version of the 1st commandment? What does that require? First of all, it would mean trusting implicitly that God has your best interests at heart. Second, it would mean thinking about God every waking hour. And since we would love him, we would want to do whatever pleases him, whatever is his will for us. But what pleases God? That is answered also by Jesus, "love your neighbor as yourself."
In order to fulfill God's desire, one first must undersand his or her own place in the universe. One has been placed on earth as a special creature, not like the birds, or animals, or fish. You and I have been gifted with a soul. We have a dignity not enjoyed by the other creatures of the earth. Understanding who we are is key to loving our neighbor as ourselves. Loving yourself doesn't mean as a narcissist does. This is not romantic love, nor is it self centered. Indeed, it is the kind of love that sacrifices self for others, as Jesus demonstrated on the cross.
If we truly loved and trusted and feared God as we should, then we would automatically honor and respect our parents as those having authority over us. But we would also respect and correct our children as those over whom we have authority. We wouldn't steal because we would respect the property of others as our own. In short, if we loved, trusted, and feared God as we should, the other 9 commandments would be unnecessary.
Of course, if one love, feared and trusted God enough, no one would commit adultery because each person would realize that having sexual relations outside of marriage is using each other thus destroying the dignity of both. Therefor you wouldn't need to commit abortion, which is murder. The same goes for rape, for incest, for anyother reason for that matter.
So, where does that leave us. The good news is that Christ died on the cross for our sin, the failure of everyone to love, trust and fear God. We all think we know better, but we do not. The result is the Good News, the Gospel if you will, is that God, in his infinite compassion offers forgiveness. He offers this forgiveness through His church. The Catholic church in particular offers family planning and support for women who find themselves pregnant and think abortion is the only option. Contact the local diocese for help
My heart breaks for any woman who feels like the only choice she has is abortion of her unborn baby. The pro abortion people love to trot out the crap about incest and rape, as if that somehow makes is acceptable to murder the other 99.99% of babies that they kill.
ReplyDeleteAs a Christian, I do believe that self defense is one of the things that God does approve of, given that the actual need is present. And so, if a woman's life is in danger of being lost if she carries a child to term, it might be the proper thing to do, to take the life of the baby, to ensure that the mother lives.
In the case of that 10 year old girl who was pregnant a few months ago, and was used as a prop by the pro abortion forces, I could see where it might be proper to defend her life by performing an abortion, rather than risk both her life in the immediate time, and in the future, both her physical life, and her mental and emotional life. That is a very tough call, but thankfully not a call that really has to be made very often.
We all know that abortion was and is a divisive issue. But I think that if we could merely get pro abortion forces to admit that life begins at conception, which I believe that science agrees is the case, then the argument would be over. The Bible certainly recognizes life as being within the womb, from everything like John the Baptist jumping when Jesus was nearby in Mary's womb, to Jacob and Easu fighting within their mother, to God knowing us while still within the womb.
I am just sad that abortion has become synonymous with retroactive birth control. Seeing the millions of human beings murdered with no possibility of living, just imagine the amazing people whose lives were snuffed out, in the most barbaric of methods.
Myself, I could not listen to the tape of an abortion either. Not only would I be offended, but I don't know if my tears would ever stop, at the sorrow of what my nation has become.
Thankyou pigpen51 for your comments. I agree with you that self defense is indeed one of the limited circumstances when one may be justified in taking a life. As far as various reasons why an abortion may be acceptable, wiser people than I should debate these things. My point was that contrary to how the church is projected to the average person, the church is precisely where a woman contemplating abortion should turn for support, forgiveness, reconciliation, for indeed the dignity of her soul and that of her unborn child.
ReplyDeleteWade