Steve W. Reeves
I am unashamedly and wholeheartedly “pro-life.” I hold this view not because of political
partisanship
but because I believe it is the will of God revealed in the Bible. Since Roe
vs.
Wade there have been approximately 1,600,000 babies aborted every year in the
United States. That's 4,383 per day. We have aborted more babies than the total
number of American soldiers killed in the Revolutionary War, the Civil War,
WWI, WWII, Korea, Vietnam, Iraq and Afghanistan combined.
How
can anyone who values life not be alarmed by these startling facts? Keep in
mind that we are talking about more than statistics and numbers. We are talking
about individuals who never had the opportunity to experience life on this side
of birth. Everyone who respects the message of the Bible should choose life.
EVERY LIFE IS IMPORTANT TO GOD.
Throughout
the book of Psalms God’s role in creating and sustaining life is a consistent
theme. In Psalm 22:9-10, the psalmist says, “Yet You are He who brought me
forth from the womb. You made me trust when upon my mother’s breasts. Upon You
I was cast from birth. You have been my God from my mother’s womb.” In Psalm 127:3 we read, “Behold, children are
a gift of the Lord, the fruit of the womb is a reward.” Psalm 139:13-14 states,
“For You formed my inward parts; You wove me in my mother’s womb. I
will give thanks to You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are
Your works, and my soul knows it very well.” In these and many other verses in
the Psalms, the creative power of God is praised both for the beauty of nature
and the importance of life.
Under
the Law of Moses if a pregnant woman was hit as two men struggled and the
baby
died, the penalty was death (Exodus 21:22-25). Occasionally someone will ask
why the Old Testament contains vivid accounts of bloody battles in which adults
and children were slain. The answer is that these people, and those who would
have descended from them, lived in blood-thirsty cultures where life was
trivialized. Some of them even engaged in infant sacrifice to their pagan gods.
Sadly,
our culture has devalued life and become desensitized to the violent act of
abortion. Six hundred years before the coming of Christ, Isaiah said, “Woe to those
who call evil good, and good evil; Who substitute darkness for light and light
for darkness; Who substitute bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter (Isaiah 5:20). Is this not the attitude of
many people today?
Have
we become spiritually blind to the degree that we do not recognize the terrible
tragedy that is occurring? We use euphemistic terms such as “terminating a
pregnancy” that mask the tragedy of the situation. The greatest impetus for abortion
in the United States is called Planned Parenthood. This organization operates
under a seemingly benign name but was actually founded on the principle of
using abortion as a means of birth control.
Abortion
advocates do not refer to the baby in its mother’s womb as a child. They often
use the term “fetus” without realizing that “fetus” is a Latin word meaning “baby child.” Many people refer to a “fetus”
as if it were simply a blob of material that can be carelessly discarded rather
than a “baby child” being woven together by the design of God.
The
late Nelson Mandela, former president of South Africa, said, "There can be
no
keener
revelation of a society's soul than the way in which it treats its
children."
Every
human being should be shocked and saddened that in many countries, including
the United States, there are stricter laws protecting endangered species, such
as the Northern Spotted Owl or the egg of a Bald Eagle, than there are
protecting a baby in the womb of its mother.
EVERY LIFE IS A PLAN OF GOD.
In
Jeremiah 1:5 God spoke to Jeremiah: “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you,
and before you were born I consecrated you; I have appointed you a prophet to
the nations.” Who is the “I” in this passage? Is it not God? What did God say
He had done? Had He not known Jeremiah and appointed him as a prophet before
his birth? God had a plan for Jeremiah’s life before he was born.
In Judges 13:5 God told Manoah and his wife of
the impending birth of Samson and how he would be used to deliver Israel from
the Philistines. Similarly, God told Zachariah and Elizabeth that they would
become the parents of one who would prepare the way for the Christ. When
Elizabeth, the mother of John the Baptist, was carrying him in her womb she was
visited by Mary, the mother of Jesus. When Mary came near, Luke says the baby “leaped
in his mother’s womb.” In this passage, Luke used the same Greek word,
“blephos,” to refer to an unborn baby as he did in Luke 18:15 when he described
those who were bringing their babies to Jesus.
When the Word became flesh He was formed within
the womb of the young virgin named Mary. By today’s standards Mary would have
been a candidate for an abortion. She
was young, unmarried and poor. Aren’t you thankful she heeded the instructions
of Gabriel and gave birth to the baby named “Jesus?”
Every
life has the potential to accomplish good. A young, unmarried woman once gave
birth to a baby boy in Arkansas. Although the country was in the midst of the
great depression and the baby’s father had nothing to do with them, the young
woman chose to keep the baby and with the help of her mother began to raise him.
When he was still a youth the mother was killed in a train accident, leaving him
to be raised by his impoverished grandmother. The boy worked in cotton fields
and strawberry patches to help with expenses. He went on to high school and
became an outstanding athlete. After a tour of duty in the United States Army, he
enrolled In Harding College. Though he was not a Christian he was influenced by
teachers and students and was soon baptized into Christ. In a short time he
began preaching and over the next fifty years, he preached in over 1,700 Gospel
meetings. It is estimated that 40,000 to 50,000 people responded to the Gospel
preached by Jimmy Allen. More than 10,000 were baptized. We shudder to think
how many people would have been lost for eternity if a young, single mother had
not made the difficult choice to bring her baby into the world.
With
over 55 million abortions in the past forty-four years, we must wonder how many
lives have been lost that could have made a huge difference in the world.
Perhaps someone who would have discovered a cure for cancer? Perhaps someone who
would have grown up to be a president? An old proverb says, “Any fool can count
the number of seeds in an apple but only God can count the number of apples in
a seed.”
EVERY LIFE IS A PRODUCT OF
CHOICES AND CONSEQUENCES.
None
of us are here by “immaculate conception.” Our conception, pre-natal development
and birth were the result of a plan designed by God when He created male and
female (Genesis 1:27). God’s plan gave man the ability to make choices. In
Genesis 2 we read how He created Adam and placed him in the garden with a
variety of choices. There were many different trees from which to eat but there
was also one that was to be strictly avoided. The consequence of touching or
eating the fruit of that tree was clearly stated, “for in the day that you eat
from it you will surely die” (Genesis 2:17). The man and his wife made a deadly
choice. The consequence is stated by Paul in Romans 5:12. “Therefore, just as
through one man sin entered into the world, and death through sin, and so death spread
to all men, because all sinned.”
Though
you are free to choose you are not free to choose the consequences of your choice. You may choose to jump out of
an airplane without a parachute. Once you have made that choice you cannot
choose the consequences. The sexually immoral choices being made by many today
have resulted in the rapidly increasing rate of pregnancies among unwed women
as well as an alarming increase in sexually transmitted diseases. The large
number of abortions is a direct result of such choices. According to Planned
Parenthood’s own statistics, over 75% of abortions are performed because the
mother, father, or both do not want a baby interfering with their lives. In
other words, they do not want to live with the consequences of their action.
EVERY LIFE IS AN OPPORTUNITY
TO DEMONSTRATE LOVE.
Every
life provides us with an opportunity to demonstrate love and concern. A young
couple was told their unborn baby had a chromosomal disorder and would likely
be still-born. Her doctors advised her to have an abortion. She refused and
later gave birth to a little baby girl they named “Bailey.” This precious child
was born blind and deaf. The doctors cautioned her parents that she would not survive
long. In spite of the incredible odds, Bailey
astounded them all. She became a favorite among her family and friends who
loved to hold her and feel her “snuggle” against them. Ladies in the church
nursery longed for opportunities to care for her. For three years she provided
people with the opportunity to demonstrate unconditional love. Today her
picture continues to hang on the wall outside the church nursery. It is a
reminder that every person, even those born with difficulties, provides us with
an opportunity to demonstrate love.
In
Matthew 7:12 Jesus said, “In everything, therefore, treat people the same way
you want them to treat you.” Should this not apply to the lives of innocent,
precious babies within their mother’s wombs?
As
Moses spoke his final words to Israel before his death, he said in Deuteronomy 30:19-20: “I call heaven and earth to witness against
you today that I have set before you
life and death, the blessing and the curse. So choose life in order that you
may live, you and your descendants, 20 by loving the Lord your God,
by obeying His voice, and by holding fast to Him; for this is your life and the
length of your days, that you may live in the land which the Lord swore to your
fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to give them.”
You and I face similar choices between obedience, and disobedience; blessing and cursing; life and death. My hope is
