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     The Bible & Abortion

    What Are You Doing About the American Holocaust?
    (What the Bible Says About Abortion)
    By
    Joe Morecraft, III

    A holocaust is a massive and gruesome destruction of human life. The first great holocaust on record is Pharaoh's slaughter of infants recorded in Exodus 1:15. The New Testament holocaust is the slaughter of infants under Herod, Matthew 2:16. Modern holocausts have taken place under Hitler Stalin, and Mao. It is estimated that 150 million people have died in this century due to Communistic totalitarianism. We are also going through a new holocaust in the United States.

    In the past ten years, the U.S. Supreme Court has made two landmark decisions which have increased the massive and gruesome destruction of human life in America. In 1973, in the Roe vs. Wade decision, the Supreme Court created, out of nothing, a woman's right to abortion on demand for her own happiness. According to that decision, unborn babies are not 'persons,' therefore not under the protection of the law. The court sovereignly and irresponsibly declared that "when life begins" is not the issue. Justice Byron White called this decision "an exercise of raw judicial power."

    In 1983, the Supreme Court rendered a decision concerning restrictions on abortion clinics in Ohio, Missouri, and Virginia. Dissenting Justices were Sandra O'Connor, William Rehnquist and Byron White. This decision struck down state restrictions on abortions as unconstitutional. Faye Wattleton, president of Planned Parenthood Federation of America, as quote in The Washington Times, June 16, 1983, said concerning this decision: "We commend the court for its steadfast commitment to defending the rights of each of us, and for its compassionate consideration of fundamental human needs." Let's look at the "compassion" of the Supreme Court. When we do, we will find that the "compassion of the wicked is cruel," to quote the book of Proverbs. In that 1983 decision, the Court struck down state laws that required that:

    • "Abortions performed after the first three months of pregnancy be performed in full-care hospitals.

    • "All minors get the consent of a parent or of a juvenile court before having an abortion.

    • "A doctor read a specific description of the fetus and the abortion procedure to a woman desiring an abortion.

    • "Doctors wait 24 hours after a woman signs a consent form before conducting an abortion.

    • "Fetal remains be disposed of in a humane and sanitary manner." (quoted from The Washington Times, June 16, 1983, page 12A)

    Between those two decisions, 22 million unborn babies have been legally murdered in the United States. These babies have not ability or 'right' to protect themselves and have few people trying to defend them. This is our modern American holocaust-the issue of the 1980s. over 4000 babies are legally murdered per day in our nation! This one issue will surely bring God's swift and decisive judgment on us unless we repent, for God has said: "The Lord hates...hands that shed innocent blood..." - Prov. 6:16f.

    In The Atlanta Journal, June 18, 1981, an article appeared with this heading: "Defective Twin Fetus Killed by MDs." It reported that: "Doctors punctured the heart of a defective five-month-old fetus and left it to wither away in the womb beside its normal twin because, the doctors said, the mother decided she 'could not face the burden of caring for an abnormal child.'" It went on to say that: "The doctors said that 'out of an abundance of caution' they obtained an opinion from a New York state court acknowledging their right to perform the operation. 'We wanted to confirm from the court that the parents had the right to do this on behalf of the normal fetus,' Kereny said." But what of the rights of and compassion for the fetus with Down's syndrome? "The compassion of the wicked is cruel!" Moreover, it appears that the doctors involved considered the state court the bestower of rights, the lord and giver of life. The Supreme Court giveth and the Supreme Court taketh away, blessed be the name of the Supreme Court!

    The Newsletter of the Georgia Right to Life Committee, May, 1983, carried the following headlines: "14 'Live Births' in 3 Years at Midtown Hospital." The article pointed out that "according to statistics on file at the Georgia State Department of Human Resources a total of 14 live births occurred at Atlanta's Midtown Hospital over a three-year period from 1980-1982. -Certificates of death for the 14 aborted babies indicate both the approximate interval between the onset of the abortion process and the death of the child, as well as the length of time the child lived. -The maximum time period an aborted baby sustained life outside the womb in the three-year study of Midtown was 13 hours and five minutes. According to the death certificate, dated April of 1981, the immediate cause of death was 'pulmonary insufficiency, therapeutic abortion.'" "The compassion of the wicked is cruel!"

    Statistics in A.L.L. About Issues, newsletter of the American life Lobby, June 1983, showed that abortions outnumber live births in 14 U.S. cities.

    CITY ABORTIONS BIRTHS
    Atlanta, GA 31,030 24,255
    Atlantic City, NJ 2,720 2,535
    Charlotte, NC 7,600 6,417
    Columbia, SC 11,210 5,764
    Gainesville, FL 2,510 2,067
    Harrisburg, PA 7,300 5,572
    Madison, WI 5,270 4,186
    Miami, FL 18,880 18,524
    Raleigh, NC 6,390 3,698
    Reno, NV 3,050 2,398
    Richmond, VA 9,610 7,674
    San Francisco/Oakland, CA 47,600 41,619
    Seattle/Everett, WA 19,830 19,649
    Washington, DC 43,450 40,598
    "The compassion of the wicked is cruel!"


    How far are we to evaluate these grisly facts? For Christians, the real question is: What does God say about abortion in the Bible? Consider carefully the following Biblical information.

    What the Bible says About Abortion

    "For he who has set the limits to our life has at the same time entrusted to us its care: He has provided means and helps to preserve it: He has also made us able to foresee dangers; that they may not overwhelm us unaware, he has offered precautions and remedies. Now it is very clear to us what our duty is: Thus if the Lord has committed to us the protection of our life, our duty is to protect it: if He offers helps, to use them: if He forewarns us of danger, not to plunge headlong: if He makes remedies available, not to neglect them." (John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion, I, 17, 4.)

    This pro-life view of John Calvin, as representative of Biblical Christianity, is rooted in the fact that God is the Creator of all human life and the Recreator of life in Christ, John 17:2. God made man and woman in His own image, Genesis 1:27, to reflect His character and glory. Jesus Christ came to restore that image which had been marred by sin, Ephesians 4:24; Colossians 3:10. This gives all human life sanctity, in other words, a sacred inviolability defined by God's Word. Therefore, human life, in all its phases, must be treated with dignity and respect. "Thou shall not kill" means, positively, that we are to preserve, enhance, and protect the lives of others. Because God made man in His own image, He gives to human life His own special protection. He interprets assaults on human life as audacious assaults on Himself. Genesis 9:6-7 brings this out clearly: "Whoever sheds man's blood, by man, his blood shall be shed, For in the image of God he made man. And as for you, be fruitful and multiply; Populate the earth abundantly and multiply in it."

    And Jesus Himself said unto Saul of Tarsus en route to Damascus to arrest Christians, "Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?" (Acts 9:4). In other words, human life is so sacred to God, that if a man takes another life unlawfully, that man would have to forfeit his own.

    The question of the hour is this: Is the unborn child covered by God's special protection? Is the unborn child a human person in God's image?

    The Bible is clear in its answers to these crucial questions. It leaves no doubt the continuity of personhood which includes the unborn child. In other words, the Bible teaches that at conception (more accurately, at fertilization), the unborn child is a human person in the image of God, and, therefore, under is special protection. This point is made in a variety of convincing ways: (1) The express statement on the beginning of human life, Job 3:3; (2) The continuity of personhood from conception through adulthood, Psalm 51:5; (3) The continuity of sinfulness from conception through adulthood, Psalm 51:5; (4) The continuity of human experiences from conception through adulthood, Luke 1:41, 44; 1:15; (5) The nature of conception as a gracious act of God, I Samuel 1:19, etc.; (6) The case law governing abortion, Exodus 21:22-25. Each of these points will be considered.

    1. The Bible Identifies the Beginning of Human Life as Conception

    God defines man (Hebrew, "adam") as "the image of God," Genesis 1:26, thereby exalting him as the crown of creation, Psalm 8:5f. This first individual man is named "Adam," and from the side of this man (Hebrew, "iysh" in 2:23), God took a rib to create an individual woman, named Eve, Genesis 2:23. Having been given the divine gift and mandate of procreativity, Genesis 1:28, "Adam knew his wife, Eve, and she conceived and gave birth to Cain," (Genesis 4:1. Notice two things about this confession. First, Eve confessed that conception and birth result from the sovereign activity of God in human sexuality. Second, this child is to be viewed as "man," in other words, as divine image-bearer from birth.

    The Bible, however, goes back even beyond birth and identified the unborn child as God's image-bearer from conception. In Job 3:3 we find Job saying, "Let the day perish on which I was to be born, and the night which said, 'A man (Hebrew - geber) is conceived." Simply noting Job's depression, let us go on and point out that Job considered his humanness to have begun the very night in which he was conceived. The Hebrew word for 'man' or 'boy' (NASV) in this verse is not the more general word for man as 'iysh' or 'adam', but the more specific and distinct words, 'geber'. Laird Harris writes that "this word specifically relates to a male at the height of his powers. As such it depicts humanity at its most competent and capable level. (Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament, Vol. 1, Moody Press, Chicago, 1980, pages 148-9.)

    This word, 'geber,' distinctly denotes the full humanness of man in his exalted position as the crown of creation, Psa. 34:8; 37:23, and the image of God, ('Adam', 'iysh,' and 'geber' are used interchangeably for 'man,' the divine image-bearer, Psa. 37:23, 37; 32:2). In Job 3:3, where Job refers to himself at his conception, he considers himself to be fully human, fully bearing God's image. This latter point is obvious also from the fact that a form of the word 'geber' is used several times in reference to God as one of his perfections, Job 12:13; Prov. 8:14; Isa. 9:6. Hence, the Creator's character is reflected, 'image,' in man, his creature, from conception onward.

    2. The Bible Identifies a Continuity of Personhood from Conception through Adulthood.

    Psalm 139:13-16 is central to any discussion of abortion. "For Thou didst form my inward parts; Thou didst weave me in my mother's womb. I will give thanks to Thee, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; wonderful are Thy works, and my soul knows it very well. My frame was not hidden from Thee, when I was made in secret, and skillfully wrought in the depths of the earth. Thine eyes have seen my unformed substance. And in Thy book they were all written, the days that were ordained for me, when as yet there was not one of them."

    Notice two emphases in this passage. First, all life, including pre-natal life, is viewed as a gift from God. ("Unformed substance" in Hebrew is "golem," which is literally translated, "embryo" or "fetus.") Second, David continually emphasizes the continuity of his personhood from his embryonic existence to his adult experience. In 139:13, he says "Thou didst form me in my mother's womb." In 139:15, he adds, "My frame is not hidden from Thee, when I was made in secret." David could speak of himself as "I" outside the womb or inside the womb, pointing us to the fact that he existed as a fully personal human being even in his embryonic state.

    3. The Bible Identifies a Continuity of Sinfulness from Conception through Adulthood.

    In Psalm 51:5 we read: "Surely I have been a sinner from birth, sinful from the time my mother conceived me." (NIV) Besides emphasizing again the continuity of David's personhood from conception, David also points out that he has been a sinner, not only since his birth, but since his conception. He was conceived a sinner, having inherited a sinful nature from his parents on back to Adam, Rom. 5:12f. Now the point is this: only human beings sin! Only those created in the image of God transgress their Maker's will. Only those created in knowledge, righteousness, holiness and for dominion are capable of sinning. Hence being a sinner from conception, David is saying that he was a human being in the image of God from conception, in need of God's mercy.

    4. The Bible Identifies a Continuity of Human Experiences from Conception through Adulthood.

    Although we often attribute human emotions and experiences to animals out of sentimental attachment to them, there are some joys and experiences that are unique to human beings. The rich blessing of "the filling of the Holy Spirit," Eph. 5:18, is one of the highest spiritual blessings that a regenerate image-bearer can experience. And the joy that a regenerate person experiences caused by the power of the gospel of Jesus Christ is also a uniquely human blessing, Lk. 2:10.

    The New Testament teaches that unborn children are capable of experiencing these two very blessings while still in the womb. In Luke 1:15, we find the angel prophesying to Zacharias concerning the birth of his son, John the Baptist. He announces that, "he will be great in the sight of the Lord,...and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit, while yet in his mother's womb." Later in Luke 1:44, the unborn John, at the announcement of the conception of the Messiah, is said to have experienced "joy" -- "For, behold when the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the baby leaped in my womb for you." In other words, being capable of being "filled with the Spirit" and experiencing "joy," while yet unborn, confirms that John was not only fully human in the womb, but also regenerate in the womb.

    5. The Bible Describes Conception as a Gracious Gift and Work of God.

    In the Bible conception and birth are never viewed as mere human happenings. The Bible emphasizes the sovereign activity of God in conception and birth. Apart from this sovereign intervention of God, conception does not take place. Conception must be viewed, in the light of the Bible, as a blessed gift from God himself.

    It is written that in the pregnancy of Sarah, "the Lord did for Sarah as He had promised," Gen. 21:1f. In Genesis 30:1f we hear Jacob rebuking Rachel for her complaint against him for her childlessness: "Am I in the place of God, who has withheld from you fruit of the womb?" In I Samuel 1:19, we find Hannah conceiving because "the Lord remembered her." Job confesses that God "made" him in the womb, 31:15; and that "the Spirit of God has made me, and the breath of the Almighty gives me life," 33:4. It is for these reasons that the Psalms declare that "it is He who made us, and not we ourselves," Psa. 100:3; and that "children are a gift of the Lord; the fruit of the womb is a reward," 127:3.

    In the light of these verses, we can only conclude that "it would be a willful act of defiance against the Creator intentionally to kill an unborn child whose conception is so intimately a divine as well as a human act." --from the Report of the Ad Interim Committee on Abortion in the Minutes of the Sixth General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in America, 1978.

    6. The Case-Law Governing Abortion, Exodus 21:22-25.

    "If men who are fighting hit a pregnant woman and she gives birth prematurely, but there is no serious injury, the offender must be fined whatever the woman's husband demands and the court allows. But if there is serious injury, you are to take life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, burn for burn, wound for wound, bruise for bruise."

    This passage does not teach that the unborn child is of less value than a child after birth, as the report on abortion by the Presbyterian Church in the United States (1973) inaccurately maintains. The following exposition of this pivotal passage is taken from the report on abortion by the Presbyterian Church in America (1978): "The term, yeled, in verse 22, never refers elsewhere to a child lacking recognizable human form, or to one incapable of existing outside the womb. The possibility of such a usage here, as the interpretation in question requires, is still further reduced by the fact that if the writer had wanted to speak of an undeveloped embryo or fetus there may have been other terminology available to him. There was the term, golem, Psa. 129:16, which means 'embryo, fetus.' But in cases of the death of an unborn child, Scripture regularly designates him, not by yeled, not even by golem, but by nefel, Job 3:16; Psa. 58:8; Ecc. 6:3, meaning 'One untimely born.' The use of yeled in verse 22, therefore, indicates that the child in view is not the product of a miscarriage, as the interpretation in question supposes; at least this is the most natural interpretation in the absence of decisive considerations to the contrary.

    "Further, the verb, yatza, in verse 22 ('go out,' translated 'depart' in the KJV), does not in itself suggest the death of the child in question, and is ordinarily used to describe normal births, Gen. 25:26; 38:28f; Job 3:11; 10:18; Jer. 1:5; 20:18. With the possible exception of Numbers 12:12, which almost certainly refers to a stillborn, it never refers to a miscarriage. The Old Testament term normally used for miscarriage and spontaneous abortion, both in humans and in animals, is not yatza, but shokol, Exod. 23:26; Hos. 9;14; Gen. 31:38; Job 2:10; II Kings 2:19f; Mal. 3:11. The most natural interpretation of the phrase weyatz'u yeladheyha, therefore, will find in it not an induced miscarriage, not the death of an unborn child, but an induced premature birth, wherein the child is born alive, but ahead of the anticipated time.

    "We should also note that the term, ason, 'harm,' found in both verse 22 and verse 23 is indefinite in its reference. The expression, lah, 'to her,' which would restrict the harm to the woman in distinction from the child, is missing. Thus the most natural interpretation would regard the 'harm' as pertaining either to the woman or to the child. Verse 22, therefore, describes a situation where neither mother or child is 'harmed,' i.e., where the mother is uninjured and the child is born alive. Verse 23 describes a situation where some harm is done--either to mother or to child or both.... An induced miscarriage could hardly be described as a situation where there is 'no harm.' Verse 22, therefore, describes not an induced miscarriage, but an induced premature birth.

    "In this light translations using the word 'miscarriage' or its equivalent are both inaccurate and misleading. the intent of this passage appears in the following paraphrase: 'And if men fight together and hurt a pregnant woman so that her child is born prematurely, yet neither mother or child is harmed, he shall be surely fined, according as the woman's husband shall lay upon him; and he shall pay as the judges determine. But if either mother or child is harmed, then thou shall give life for life, eye for eye...'"

    Conclusion

    The view that "abortion is not a desirable solution although it may be at times a necessary option," (Report on Abortion of the Presbyterian Church in the United States, 1973), is in flat contradiction to the word of God. to hold that view or to recommend abortion for socio-economic or psychological reasons is flagrantly to disregard the command of God protecting human life, because of the sanctity he gives it-- "Thou shall not commit murder."

    "The word of God affirms throughout the continuity of personhood both before and after birth. Abortion, the intentional killing of an unborn child, is to destroy that continuity. Abortion would terminate the life of an individual, a bearer of God's image who is being divinely formed and prepared for a God-given role in the world."--Report on Abortion, Presbyterian Church in America, 1978.

    According to the Bible, abortion is murder. And murder is a capital crime!

    God's hatred for abortionists is clear in that he says he "hates...hands that shed innocent blood...," Prov. 6:16, 17. "The Lord says this, 'For three sins of Ammon, even for four, I will not turn back my wrath. Because he ripped open the pregnant women of Gilead in order to extend his borders, I will set fire to the walls of Rabbab...,'" Amos 1:13f. This is strong language. But we must feel God's contempt for abortion. We must recognize fully its heinousness and criminality. What then must our response be to this modern holocaust--this slaughter of the unborn?

    Some of the things we can do to oppose abortion are:

    1. Realize the urgency of the situation--each year over one and one-half million unborn babies are aborted. Over 5000 every day.

    2. Realize that God's judgment rests on a nation that allows or condones murder, unless it truly repents. Numbers 35:33 warns: "So shall you not pollute the land and no expiation can be made for the land for the blood that is shed on it except by the blood of him who shed it."

    3. Communicate to elected officials and legislators that God has his moral standards that we must honor, and that one of those standards condemns abortion.

    4. Educate and organize your Christian friends to stand unashamedly for the sanctity of human life in their own communities and before their state legislators.

    5. Establish and get involved with a local chapter of the Christian Action Council, 422 C. Street NE, Washington, D.C. 20002.

    6. Keep yourself informed by subscribing to one of several good pro-life newsletters, such as Action Line (Christian Action Council), A.L.L. (American Life Lobby), etc.

    7. Involve yourself in crisis pregnancy ministries in your local church, ministering to women with unwanted pregnancies.

    8. Check with local Christian adoption agencies for the possibility of adopting an otherwise unwanted infant.

    9. Consider taking unwed pregnant women into your home.

    10. Teach your children about marital sexuality, the sanctity of human life, and the joy and beauty of pre-marital chastity.

    11. Check with your Ob-Gyn and find out if he does abortions. If he does, drop him, and encourage other Christians to do the same.

    12. Have funerals for children who die before birth.

    13. Beware of the March of Dimes' involvement in the modern holocaust. For documentation write: Director of the U.S. Coalition for Life, P.O. Box 315, Export, PA 15632; or call 412-327-8878 or -7379.

    14. Identify the Planned Parenthood Federation as an accomplice in this holocaust. Write to the American Life Lobby, P.O. Box 490, Stafford, VA for details. Read George Grant's expose of Planned Parenthood in his book Grand Illusions: The Legacy of Planned Parenthood, 1988, Wolgemuth & Hyatt Publishers, Brentwood, Tennessee.

    15. Write letters to editors of newspapers and elected officials about the holocaust. Push for pro-life legislation in your state legislature. Send petitions to your representatives.

    16. Get involved in a sidewalk counseling program. For information write or call Chalcedon Presbyterian Church, P.O. Box 888022, Dunwoody, GA 30356, or call 404-396-0965.

    17. Leave denominations which are either pro-abortion, or which are not actively pro-life.

    18. Pray Psalm 58 against abortionists.

    19. Find out where political candidates stand on the issue of abortion.

    20. Evangelize!! Evangelize!! Evangelize!!

    Pro-Life Bibliography

    1. Report of the Ad Interim Committee on Abortion adopted by the Sixth General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in America, 1978, 342 Rockbridge Road, Lilburn, GA 30247

    2. Brown, Harold O.J., Death Before Birth, Nashville, TN, Thomas Nelson, Inc., 1977.

    3. Bajema, C.E., Abortion and the Meaning of Personhood, Grand Rapids, Baker Book House, 1974.

    4. Ganz, Richard, ed., Thou Shalt Not Kill, New Rochelle, N.Y., Arlington House Publishers, 1978.

    5. Hilgers, T.W. and D.J. Horan, Abortion and Social Justice, New York, Sheed & Ward, 1972.

    6. Horan, D.J. and David Mall, Death, Dying, and Euthanasia, Washington, D.C., University Pub. of America, 1977.

    7. Koop, C. Everett, The Right to Live, The Right to Die, Wheaton, Ill., Tyndale House, 1976.

    8. Nathanson, Bernard, Aborting America, Garden City, Ill., Tyndale House, 1976.

    9. Noonan, J.T., A Private Choice, New York, The Free Press, 1979.

    10. Schaeffer, F.A. and C.E. Koop, Whatever Happened to the Human Race?, Old Tappan, N.J., Fleming H. Revell, 1979.

    11. Hilgers, T.W., D.J. Horan and David Mall, New Perspectives on Human Abortion, Aletheia Books, University Pub. of America, Frederick, MD, 1981.

    12. For documentation that the early church condemned abortion, see: The Epistle of Barnabus, XX; the Didache, ii, Vii, XI; Athena Goras', Plea for Christians, XXV; Tertullian's Apology, IX; Abortion and the Early Church by R.J. Rushdoony.

    13. Christian Action Council Resource Material, 422 C Street, NE, Washington, D.C. 20002.

    14. Ramsey, Paul, Studies in Law and Medicine on in Vitro Fertilization, Americans United for Life, Inc., Chicago, Illinois, Testimony before the Ethics Advisory Board, Department of HEW.

    15. Lejeune, Jerome, M.D., Matthews-Roth, Micheline M., M.D., Gordon, Hymie, M.D., Ratner, Herbert, M.D., Studies in Law and Medicine: The Beginning of Human Life, Testimony before the Subcommittee on Separation of Powers of the U.S. Senate Committee on the Judiciary, Americans United for Life, Inc., Chicago, Illinois.

    16. Trueman, Patrick A., Studies in Law and Medicine: Abortion and American Foreign Policy, Americans United for Life, Inc. presented to the Congress for the Family of the Americas.

    17. Rosenblum, Victor G., Studies in Law and Medicine, Abortion, Personhood and The Fourteenth Amendment, Americans United for Life, Inc., Chicago, Illinois, presented before the Subcommittee on Separation of Powers.

    18. Garton, Jean Staker, Who Broke the Baby?, Minneapolis: Bethany House Publishers, 1979.

    19. Davis, John Jefferson, Abortion and the Christian: What Every Believer Should Know, Phillipsburg, N.J.: Presbyterian & Reformed Publishing Company, 1984.

    20. Shettles, Landrum, M.D. and David Rorvik, Rites of Life: The Scientific Evidence for Life Before Birth, Grand Rapids: Zondervan Publishing House, 1983.

    21. Young, Curt, The Least of These: What Everyone Should Know about Abortion, Chicago: Moody Press, 1984.



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