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When Does Life Begin?May 22, 2002by Bob Sperlazzo - Informed Christian Digest Question: If you knew a woman who was pregnant, who already had eight kids, three of whom were deaf, two blind, one mentally retarded – and she had syphilis, would you recommend that she have an abortion? If you said yes, congratulations! You just killed Beethoven! The question of human life’s beginning is an important and fundamental question, because it affects the basis for our response to abortion, infanticide and even stem cell research. Does life begin at the moment of conception, or at the first heartbeat, or at the first evidence of brain activity, or at birth, or even later as some have suggested? God’s Opinion? Obviously, none of us has all the answers to everything, but we can go to the Word of God and find answers on this topic. What does God think about abortion and the related matters? One passage of Scripture that stands out to me as we consider this is Psalm 139:13-16:
It’s interesting to note that the psalmist is seeing things from God’s point of view as he writes. He clearly implies that God’s hand is involved in the whole process, being "fearfully and wonderfully made," and that God saw his "unformed body" (i.e., the very earliest stages before the body even had a form). If God gives this kind of worth to what is often referred to as a "fetus," how can we not do the same? And the last line is remarkable – that all of his days were written in God’s book before they ever began. This should cause us to think twice about taking a life at any stage of development, after conception (the moment a sperm enters an egg and the spirit and soul of the child is born), because that would be to violate God’s "written" plan for that person. (For a second witness, compare these verses with Jeremiah 1:5.) Taking a Life One of the reasons that I am against abortion and infanticide is the fact a choice is being made to kill a living human being, created in the image of God. And throughout Scripture, we are prohibited from killing another person. Of course, groups such as Planned Parenthood and NARAL (National Abortion Rights Action League) have redefined the terms to imply that a baby is not really a person until they pass through the birth canal (or come out in some other way). But that’s really a wash, because it’s the same person moments (or months) before the trip through the birth canal as it is after. The only thing that changes is its age and residence. Jesus said, "Take heed that ye despise not one of these little ones; for I say unto you, that in heaven their angels do always behold the face of My Father which is in heaven.... Even so it is not the will of your Father which is in heaven, that one of these little ones should perish." (Matthew 18:10 & 14) "Reproductive Rights" It has been said that "a woman should have the right not to be required by law to bear children when they choose not to." However, the fact is that there is no law anywhere that requires any woman to conceive and bear a child. I am not opposed to a woman’s right to reproductive choice. But I am opposed to anyone’s right to randomly choose the death of any other person – legal or not – after the choice to reproduce has been made! The freedom to reproduce begins before the act of conceiving and bearing a child. It doesn’t suddenly appear after she gets pregnant, as if the right and responsibility to control her body didn’t really exist before she helped to create the other person involved. Reproducing is one thing; terminating that newly reproduced child is another. A Medical Procedure? The act of birthing a baby’s fully-developed body and puncturing the back of the baby’s head to suction out their brains, immediately killing the child (a common procedure known as Partial Birth Abortion), is clearly an abomination to God. How can this even be defined as a "medical procedure?" There is no connection between this appalling routine and the supposed protection of the "health" of a woman. It’s a farce. If the head of her unborn child is painfully punctured, vacuumed out and crushed, while the baby’s little arms and legs flutter around in the air, how can that ever protect the mother’s health? Please, tell me! Many medical experts have testified before congressional committees that it is never necessary to kill a baby that is almost entirely delivered to somehow "preserve the life or health of the mother." The mother will be birthing the same child either way – one way alive, and the other way dead. So where’s the choice? In fact, deliberately creating a breech delivery, and then performing a craniotomy (crushing the scull for easier removal), actually endangers the mother’s health more. And, it is appalling that any dignified public official would stand in support of such a grisly and abominable procedure in the name of the law. To do so would clearly mark such an official as an extremist in their political views. The American people should never stand for this Nazi-like type of bloody holocaust experimentation. Yet, it appears that most are content to live with it. God have mercy on us! Protect the Defenseless It’s also been commonly repeated that "the decision to bear children is a personal and private one, and not a matter for government regulation or policy." Yes, thankfully, we still live in a nation where we have the privilege to choose to bear our children by our own will (unlike other nations presently that utilize extreme population control measures to deny this decision to their people). But, our government needs never to intervene if individual citizens will govern themselves (Romans 13:3-5). The government should merely act as a minimal "safety net" in such cases to protect the innocent and defenseless wherever their lives are threatened. It’s a cop-out to stand by in denial while literally millions of lives are being eradicated. At the same time, we often hear from the very same people is that government should be involved in this "personal and private matter" by paying for the entire procedure. So, which way will they have it? Many in Congress have stated that they have no business overseeing the actions of the medical community regarding abortion or other life-related issues. They say we must allow doctors to somehow regulate themselves, in spite of the obvious monetary conflict of interest. Is it really the women that they care about? We grow increasingly concerned. No human agency can be trusted to regulate themselves without a check and balance system, as we all well know. That’s why the American people elected the Congress, to provide an oversight of the laws of the land – not to let it get out of control under lack of restraint. The horrible medical experiments of Nazi doctors during World War II is a prime example of "medical procedure" gone unchecked, and we should never think that we Americans are above such atrocities. The Law? Many say that terminating a life is OK, because Roe v. Wade is now "the law of the land." However, this is not at all relevant to the matter if we’re really trying to see things from God’s perspective, and not man’s. The fact is, throughout history, man has created many corrupt laws and declared many perverse things that were totally contrary to the will of God. That’s one of the reasons Jesus had to come and die! And to state that we must now support any and every decision of men, simply because it has been written into man’s law, is to place man’s law above God’s law. No! Rather, we must seek to learn from God what His heart is on a matter, and sometimes, "We must obey God rather than men," as Peter the apostle said (Acts 5:29). There once was a law in America that condoned the slavery of black people, who were considered "non-persons." That law had to be abolished. So must any law that implies "non-personhood" to a woman’s unborn child. Frankly, there is no law that requires abortion – at least, in America, that is. Our former president used to say that he wanted to ensure that abortion was safe and rare. Forget the "rare" part; we’ve already surpassed the death toll of all U.S. wars combined. And frankly, there are no "safe" abortions – they always end in at least one death (and sometimes two when the mother dies, as too often happens). It’s so easy to disregard the health and civil rights of the children involved in such procedures, not to mention their exploited mothers. Freedom to Choose Good Yes, it’s true that God gives us freedom of choice between good and evil, but in the end, we are each accountable for those choices that we make – whether our lawmakers (mere men) approve of them or not. God is not a Republican or Democrat or a member of any other party that we might formulate. God is God, and it’s our privilege and responsibility to discover Him and His heart and desires in all things. We must discern every political candidate as they measure up according to God’s standards (as best as we understand them according to His Word), and then continue to pray for them. Let’s not blindly accept everything that’s said by every candidate or incumbent, as they quite often do not hear the voice of God on matters. Instead, let’s look for common ground with Biblical concepts as we hear the Holy Spirit’s leading regarding the candidates and/or their party’s platform (e.g., abortion, infanticide, euthanasia, civil rights, homosexuality, the poor, government control/abuse, etc.). Subtle Racism Please carefully think about this: The primary effect of the current law on abortion-related issues has been to allow what turns out to be mostly poor women and minorities to abort their offspring before birth. We are talking about a subtle form of racism – the annihilation of the poor and of people of color by a modern liberal mindset that claims to work on their behalf, while killing their offspring. It is a well-documented fact that Charles Darwin was a racist (from his writings), yet he has had a profound effect on our modern-day thinking. Darwin’s evolutionary concepts of "the survival of the fittest" very quickly evolved into "subjugation of the weak," and the final outcome of such is the present "might makes right" mentality. And in their to "help the poor and the minorities in their plight in society," many lawmakers have unwittingly bought into this systematic and sinister aberration, and are helping the elite to exterminate entire races and classes of people – the very people they claim they are trying to help. Such are the doctrines of extermination of Margaret Sangar, a avowed racist and the founder of Planned Parenthood. Conclusion When all the smoke clears, and all the excuses are exposed, there are good and sound reasons for recognizing the worth of every child’s life from the instant he or she is created after conception. And, God’s opinions on these matters are preeminent above all the laws and lawmakers of our time on earth. As we have each been given the gift of life, and the chance to live and glorify God, so also should we extend that gift and opportunity to every other created being. It is immoral to deny them as much, and a perversion of God’s intent that the womb should be a place where life is nurtured, not annihilated. We may need help at times, all throughout the process, but in the end there is never any reason for an individual to terminate the life of another person. |
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