[Editor’s note: I am aware women who have had an abortion and men who supported (even coerced) them into taking that action may read this article. God loves you and there is forgiveness in the name of Jesus. Please forgive any words you may find hurtful.-JS]
The word “life” is more fully a part of America’s Declaration of Independence now that Roe v Wade has been overturned. That should add a little extra meaning to everyone’s Fourth of July celebration. Liberty and the pursuit of happiness just aren’t the same if you never live to experience them.
I purposefully waited a week or so before commenting on the Supreme Court’s 5-4 decision to make abortion a state-by-state issue. Part of my reluctance grew out of a desire to separate the politics surrounding this issue, from the elements addressed directly in Scripture (no easy task). Sex and life are certainly central to God’s plan for his people. Let’s see what God’s word says about them.
Life In Its Rightful Place: It has been strange to watch opponents of the court’s decision say things like, “Women will die.” because of this decision. My immediate thought is, “But 800,000 children will live…every year.”
The practice of abortion on demand has always been about taking life. No matter what other arguments are made, abortion as a method of birth control has always been a matter of taking life in lieu of giving birth. We, as a country, have always known abortion was life-taking. At the time of the original ruling, author and presidential advisor Ben Wattenburg saw America’s true feelings toward abortion and printed a bumper sticker that read, “It’s murder and I’m for it1.” Americans knew it was taking a life. We convinced ourselves it was okay. It was out of sight and out of mind. But a new generation of ultrasound images placed reality in front of our eyes.
God addresses life-taking in the fourth chapter of Genesis. Cain kills Abel and the Lord immediately condemns murder. God says Abel’s, “blood is crying to me from the ground.”-Genesis 4:10. When Noah left the ark after the flood, the Lord established his eternal will regarding life. A man’s life is in his blood and life-taking is a sin punishable by society, “Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed, for God made man in his own image.”-Genesis 9:6. We all must give an account to God for any life we take. The Bible even refers to causing the loss of an unborn child as a crime requiring, “life for life”-Exodus 21:22-23. The Lord gives life. It is not for man to take away.
Sex In Its Rightful Place: How does a ruling on abortion affect our attitude about sex? Before birth control and abortion were easily available, sexual relations carried weightier potential consequences. The question of, “Do I engage in sexual relations with someone to whom I am not married?” did not solely relate to a moment of passion People had to have a level of respect for the results their actions would have.
Sexual immorality is a sin. Abortion rulings and birth control do not change that fact. However, birth control and abortion on demand allowed Americans to live as if they could, “get away with it.” The price of that sexual freedom was the death of nearly 50-million unborn children.
Long before science provided supposedly guilt and consequence-free sex, God provided men and women with sex that is undefiled and the results are a blessing! God wants men and women to enter marriage as virgins. Under the umbrella of the marriage covenant, sexual relations are a blessed gift from God. Married couples learn to live, communicate, work, and love each other free from STD’s, guilt, and the emotional presence of outside, intimate partners.
Sin violates the very nature of God. The Lord breathed life into man. It is not my place to change the days allotted to a someone by God. Taking life is something for which we must give account. A child’s life is precious in the sight of God before and after they are born. The sexual union which produces life. is reserved for a man and woman joined together by God. Killing unjustly is sin. Sex relations among the unmarried is sin. Both are to be treated with respect because they are from God. That is sex and life in their rightful place.
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