Abortion
So I was considering the topic of abortion. When I talk about abortion with almost anyone they have an opinion. Even people who are absolutely afraid to talk about doctrine or politics have an opinion about abortion. For me personally I view elective abortion of human fetuses as the same act as murder.
Murder is sin. In the OT much like many many other crimes murder was an often capitol offense. Its also important to keep in mind that not all killing is murder from the biblical perspective. Its also important to keep in mind that we are not under Old testament Law. We are under the law of the Holy Spirit.
This fact doesn't excuse us from having to come up with a sustainable opinion concerning the issue. It also becomes foolish to tell people that your opinion comes from being sure in your heart. That is meaningless to almost everyone. If you want me to feel warm inside you can tell me what your sure of in your heart. But if you want someone to care what you think or to believe what you believe its disrespectful to demand that others think what you think because you have faith that something is true. That's not to say anything is wrong with having a revelation from God. By all means if God reveals to you ways to have a greater understanding of whatever it is that you believe you should believe it and share the revelation. If you just believe something because a pastor said it or you heard it or you think it and you cant support it - don't disrespect people and God by telling us that you “know that you know” because its in your heart. That is a cop out and a waste of time and breath.
So a variety of things are true. One of them is that babies don't happen in the womb by magic or from some unknown cause. People have sex and women get pregnant. Its one of those things that we have become sure of. No birth control method other than absolute abstinence has proven effective. As most people are unwilling to go down the abstinence route(including most Christians) then it becomes a reality that people are going to get pregnant.
Another truth is that babies tend to be very very inconvenient. Also if your in a sub culture that publicly frowns on premarital sex and premarital child bearing then its also quite humiliating. The time to think about this is before you decide to have sex. Its also quite important to recognize that women view their bodies as their own and not as public property that can be ruled by arbitrary laws.
This is an issue that can be looked at from any age and viewpoint however. One would notice that little children have very few rights and very few responsibilities. For women who have birthed a child and have a 5 month old it seems obvious that they are not allowed to kill the child no matter how obviously the child is inconvenient and bad for the mothers life, liberty, or pursuit of happiness. However 8-9 months before that in the second trimester people become a lot more gray over whether they think its OK to kill the same baby - if said child might prove inconvenient for the mother.
In the end this becomes an issue of human rights. The rights of the child seem quite overlooked in our current society. If your an atheist its not really much of an issue because there are no moral responsibilities. However if you believe in God you realize that God knew a variety of fetus's in the womb. Jeremiah, John the Baptist, and Jesus come easily to mind. But in a greater sense God knew us all from the womb. If you are a believer in God and the bible you should have some easy choices to make regarding your opinion on this issue. My hope for you would be that you would explore the issue in great detail and know why you believe what you believe though.
In a greater sense its also important to remember that murder is a sin like any other. People can be forgiven by God. And they should never feel judgment from believers. They should be lovingly encouraged to come into a relationship with God. Not berated for having a different opinion or belief. It seems far fetched that anyone of any religion is going to gather in converts by being mean, rude, demeaning, judgmental, and heavy handed with any group of people with any set of beliefs. With that being the case it seems very very counter productive if you are a believer in Jesus to be rude, demanding, demeaning or otherwise emotionally or spiritually destructive in anyone's life no matter what their view on abortion.
Doctors are not going to hell because they have committed abortions. They are going to hell for lack of Jesus. You are not going to heaven because you don't believe in abortion. If your going to heaven its because of your relationship with Jesus and that Jesus covered your sins with his blood. Your sin is not less sin than their sin. You found Jesus and that is the only difference. If your reading this and have not found Jesus - then the important thing to take away from this is that Jesus loves you. Jesus provided an escape from your sin. He provided not only heaven for your post death enjoyment but he provided the Holy Spirit and a transformation of your life for now.
Almost everyone questions life and God. It never hurts to pray that God would reveal himself if he is there. Pick up a bible and turn to the book of John which is toward the back and read about Jesus. Contact some friendly and knowledgeable Christians and ask them questions if you know any.
An interesting after thought I had concerning abortion is this - most pro life people think that the solution to abortion is just to ban it. If you are a christian - this is pointless. Banning abortion will not get any new people in heaven. No new people get saved because you march outside of clinics. No new people find the life changing transformation that Jesus offers through your picketing. No one that I have ever heard of got saved because a christian accused them of murdering babies. I have never heard of a successful discipleship program that occurred from Christians judging people.
The only solution to high national rates of abortion is evangelism. And not just giving out tracts or videos. I am talking about sharing with everyone you know that Jesus has transformed your life. And we need to be ready to share what that means. We need to be ready and willing to share that we are sinners and that Jesus saved us. And if you claim to be a christian because of your beliefs and you have not had any transformation you need to rethink your beliefs and get in a relationship with God. Your beliefs and thoughts and opinions will not save you - only a transforming relationship with God will save you.
Another poignant thought to consider is this: The same people that demand that we ban abortion nationally also are anti services to poor people. You will note when looking at statistics that most women who get an abortion are poor, single women. They typically do not have a lot of education or a lot of opportunities.
How do you think she is going to afford this little miracle? How many screaming pro lifers are willing to raise the babies of all the women who cant afford to raise children? Are you willing to pay higher taxes so that the government can provide greater services to this population? Or are you just shoving your opinion down everyone's throat and you don't care how they take care of the babies? And again - how many are going to get saved from this loving ministry?
Murder is sin. In the OT much like many many other crimes murder was an often capitol offense. Its also important to keep in mind that not all killing is murder from the biblical perspective. Its also important to keep in mind that we are not under Old testament Law. We are under the law of the Holy Spirit.
This fact doesn't excuse us from having to come up with a sustainable opinion concerning the issue. It also becomes foolish to tell people that your opinion comes from being sure in your heart. That is meaningless to almost everyone. If you want me to feel warm inside you can tell me what your sure of in your heart. But if you want someone to care what you think or to believe what you believe its disrespectful to demand that others think what you think because you have faith that something is true. That's not to say anything is wrong with having a revelation from God. By all means if God reveals to you ways to have a greater understanding of whatever it is that you believe you should believe it and share the revelation. If you just believe something because a pastor said it or you heard it or you think it and you cant support it - don't disrespect people and God by telling us that you “know that you know” because its in your heart. That is a cop out and a waste of time and breath.
So a variety of things are true. One of them is that babies don't happen in the womb by magic or from some unknown cause. People have sex and women get pregnant. Its one of those things that we have become sure of. No birth control method other than absolute abstinence has proven effective. As most people are unwilling to go down the abstinence route(including most Christians) then it becomes a reality that people are going to get pregnant.
Another truth is that babies tend to be very very inconvenient. Also if your in a sub culture that publicly frowns on premarital sex and premarital child bearing then its also quite humiliating. The time to think about this is before you decide to have sex. Its also quite important to recognize that women view their bodies as their own and not as public property that can be ruled by arbitrary laws.
This is an issue that can be looked at from any age and viewpoint however. One would notice that little children have very few rights and very few responsibilities. For women who have birthed a child and have a 5 month old it seems obvious that they are not allowed to kill the child no matter how obviously the child is inconvenient and bad for the mothers life, liberty, or pursuit of happiness. However 8-9 months before that in the second trimester people become a lot more gray over whether they think its OK to kill the same baby - if said child might prove inconvenient for the mother.
In the end this becomes an issue of human rights. The rights of the child seem quite overlooked in our current society. If your an atheist its not really much of an issue because there are no moral responsibilities. However if you believe in God you realize that God knew a variety of fetus's in the womb. Jeremiah, John the Baptist, and Jesus come easily to mind. But in a greater sense God knew us all from the womb. If you are a believer in God and the bible you should have some easy choices to make regarding your opinion on this issue. My hope for you would be that you would explore the issue in great detail and know why you believe what you believe though.
In a greater sense its also important to remember that murder is a sin like any other. People can be forgiven by God. And they should never feel judgment from believers. They should be lovingly encouraged to come into a relationship with God. Not berated for having a different opinion or belief. It seems far fetched that anyone of any religion is going to gather in converts by being mean, rude, demeaning, judgmental, and heavy handed with any group of people with any set of beliefs. With that being the case it seems very very counter productive if you are a believer in Jesus to be rude, demanding, demeaning or otherwise emotionally or spiritually destructive in anyone's life no matter what their view on abortion.
Doctors are not going to hell because they have committed abortions. They are going to hell for lack of Jesus. You are not going to heaven because you don't believe in abortion. If your going to heaven its because of your relationship with Jesus and that Jesus covered your sins with his blood. Your sin is not less sin than their sin. You found Jesus and that is the only difference. If your reading this and have not found Jesus - then the important thing to take away from this is that Jesus loves you. Jesus provided an escape from your sin. He provided not only heaven for your post death enjoyment but he provided the Holy Spirit and a transformation of your life for now.
Almost everyone questions life and God. It never hurts to pray that God would reveal himself if he is there. Pick up a bible and turn to the book of John which is toward the back and read about Jesus. Contact some friendly and knowledgeable Christians and ask them questions if you know any.
An interesting after thought I had concerning abortion is this - most pro life people think that the solution to abortion is just to ban it. If you are a christian - this is pointless. Banning abortion will not get any new people in heaven. No new people get saved because you march outside of clinics. No new people find the life changing transformation that Jesus offers through your picketing. No one that I have ever heard of got saved because a christian accused them of murdering babies. I have never heard of a successful discipleship program that occurred from Christians judging people.
The only solution to high national rates of abortion is evangelism. And not just giving out tracts or videos. I am talking about sharing with everyone you know that Jesus has transformed your life. And we need to be ready to share what that means. We need to be ready and willing to share that we are sinners and that Jesus saved us. And if you claim to be a christian because of your beliefs and you have not had any transformation you need to rethink your beliefs and get in a relationship with God. Your beliefs and thoughts and opinions will not save you - only a transforming relationship with God will save you.
Another poignant thought to consider is this: The same people that demand that we ban abortion nationally also are anti services to poor people. You will note when looking at statistics that most women who get an abortion are poor, single women. They typically do not have a lot of education or a lot of opportunities.
How do you think she is going to afford this little miracle? How many screaming pro lifers are willing to raise the babies of all the women who cant afford to raise children? Are you willing to pay higher taxes so that the government can provide greater services to this population? Or are you just shoving your opinion down everyone's throat and you don't care how they take care of the babies? And again - how many are going to get saved from this loving ministry?