by Lynn Copeland
God speaks very clearly in the Bible on the value of unborn children. God’s Word says that He personally made each one of us, and has a plan for each life:
"Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart" (Jeremiah 1:5).
"Even before I was born, God had chosen me to be His" (Galatians 1:15).
For You created my inmost being; You knit me together in my mother’s womb . . . Your eyes saw my unformed body. All the days ordained for me were written in Your book before one of them came to be" (Psalm 139:13, 16). "Your hands shaped me and made me . . . Did You not clothe me with skin and flesh and knit me together with bones and sinews? You gave me life" (Job 10:8–12).
"This is what the Lord says—He who made you, who formed you in the womb" (Isaiah 44:2).
"Did not He who made me in the womb make them? Did not the same One form us both within our mothers?" (Job 31:15).
Because man is made in God’s own image (Genesis 1:27), each life is of great value to God: "Children are a gift from God" (Psalm 127:3). He even calls our children His own: "You took your sons and daughters whom you bore to Me and sacrificed them...You slaughtered My children" (Ezekiel 16:20,21). The Bible says of our Creator, "In His hand is the life of every living thing and the breath of every human being" (Job 12:10). God, the giver of life, commands us not to take the life of an innocent person: "Do not shed innocent blood" (Jeremiah 7:6); "Cursed is the man who accepts a bribe to kill an innocent person" (Deuteronomy 27:25). "You shall not murder" (Exodus 20:13). Taking the life of the unborn is clearly murder—"He didn’t kill me in the womb, with my mother as my grave" (Jeremiah 20:17)— and God vowed to punish those who "ripped open the women with child" (Amos 1:13).
The unborn child was granted equal protection in the law; if he lost his life, the one who caused his death must lose his own life: "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 . . .But if there is serious injury, you are to take life for life" (Exodus 21:22,23). Life is a gift created by God, and is not to be taken away by abortion. God is "prochoice," but He tells us clearly the only acceptable choice to make: "I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Now choose life, so that you and your children may live" (Deuteronomy 30:19).
Sunday, July 01, 2007
Abortion
I usually don't talk about abortion, primarily because I didn't want to get into the "political" debates about it. But lately I am coming to realize that this is not about politics: This is about human lives.
There is a new website on my list for Sanctuary Ministries (http://sanctuaryministries.blogspot.com/), and I dearly hope that you will check it out. Like adultery, lying, stealing, and other sins that are damning to the soul, abortion is legalized murder of the most helpless of our society. It is the cause of our workers shortage here in America, it is the reason that fornication (incidentally, from a Latin word that was a euphemism for prostitution) is so rampant (because we are eliminating the consequences of foolish behavior), and, most importantly, it is a stench in the nostrils of the God who gives us every breath we take.
Take a look at this list of "abominations to the Lord" found in Proverbs 6:16-19:
1) A proud look (I have the RIGHT to do what I want with my own body)
2) A lying tongue (An infant's DNA is remarkably and unmistakably different from the mother's, and therefore is not part of her body)
3) Hands that shed innocent blood <--there is no more apt a description of abortion than that!
4) Feet that are swift in running to mischief (like the whores and whoremongers that procreate and then destroy)
5) A heart that devises wicked imaginations (like the many inventive ways they slaughter these innocents)
6) A false witness that speaks lies (Like the people who support abortion)
7) He who sows discord among the brethren (Like the people who tell women to have abortions behind their husbands' backs, who tell children to commit fornication and murder without the parents' knowledge).
There is nothing good about abortion. Nothing. Consider, if you will, the following four cases of hardship with pregnancy*:
1. A preacher and his wife are very, very poor. They already have 14 kids. Now she finds out she’s pregnant with the 15th. They’re living in tremendous poverty. Considering their poverty and the excessive world population, would you consider recommending she get an abortion?
2. The father is sick with sniffles, the mother has TB. Of their four children, the first is blind, the second has died, the third is deaf, the fourth has TB. She finds she’s pregnant again. Given this extreme situation, would you consider recommending abortion?
3. A white man raped a 13-year-old black girl and she’s now pregnant. If you were her parents, would you consider recommending abortion?
4. A teenage girl is pregnant. She’s not married. Her fiancé is not the father of the baby, and he’s upset. Would you recommend abortion?
Now for the bombshells:
"In the first case, you would have killed John Wesley, one of the great evangelists in the 19th century. In the second case, you would have killed Beethoven. In the third case, you would have killed Ethel Waters, the great black gospel singer. If you said yes to the fourth case, you would have declared the murder of Jesus Christ!
"God is the author of life, and He has given every single individual supreme value. Each life—whether inside or outside the womb—should therefore be valued by us. God knows the plans He has for each individual and has written in His book all the days ordained for us before one of them came to be. When we presume to know better than God who should be given life, we are putting ourselves in the place of God and are guilty of idolatry."
We can't put a price on the lives of the treasures that God has given us in children. Please heed God's Sixth Commandment: "Thou shalt not kill."
___________________________________________
*From Ray Comfort's Evidence Bible. For ordering information, go to www.livingwaters.com.
There is a new website on my list for Sanctuary Ministries (http://sanctuaryministries.blogspot.com/), and I dearly hope that you will check it out. Like adultery, lying, stealing, and other sins that are damning to the soul, abortion is legalized murder of the most helpless of our society. It is the cause of our workers shortage here in America, it is the reason that fornication (incidentally, from a Latin word that was a euphemism for prostitution) is so rampant (because we are eliminating the consequences of foolish behavior), and, most importantly, it is a stench in the nostrils of the God who gives us every breath we take.
Take a look at this list of "abominations to the Lord" found in Proverbs 6:16-19:
1) A proud look (I have the RIGHT to do what I want with my own body)
2) A lying tongue (An infant's DNA is remarkably and unmistakably different from the mother's, and therefore is not part of her body)
3) Hands that shed innocent blood <--there is no more apt a description of abortion than that!
4) Feet that are swift in running to mischief (like the whores and whoremongers that procreate and then destroy)
5) A heart that devises wicked imaginations (like the many inventive ways they slaughter these innocents)
6) A false witness that speaks lies (Like the people who support abortion)
7) He who sows discord among the brethren (Like the people who tell women to have abortions behind their husbands' backs, who tell children to commit fornication and murder without the parents' knowledge).
There is nothing good about abortion. Nothing. Consider, if you will, the following four cases of hardship with pregnancy*:
1. A preacher and his wife are very, very poor. They already have 14 kids. Now she finds out she’s pregnant with the 15th. They’re living in tremendous poverty. Considering their poverty and the excessive world population, would you consider recommending she get an abortion?
2. The father is sick with sniffles, the mother has TB. Of their four children, the first is blind, the second has died, the third is deaf, the fourth has TB. She finds she’s pregnant again. Given this extreme situation, would you consider recommending abortion?
3. A white man raped a 13-year-old black girl and she’s now pregnant. If you were her parents, would you consider recommending abortion?
4. A teenage girl is pregnant. She’s not married. Her fiancé is not the father of the baby, and he’s upset. Would you recommend abortion?
Now for the bombshells:
"In the first case, you would have killed John Wesley, one of the great evangelists in the 19th century. In the second case, you would have killed Beethoven. In the third case, you would have killed Ethel Waters, the great black gospel singer. If you said yes to the fourth case, you would have declared the murder of Jesus Christ!
"God is the author of life, and He has given every single individual supreme value. Each life—whether inside or outside the womb—should therefore be valued by us. God knows the plans He has for each individual and has written in His book all the days ordained for us before one of them came to be. When we presume to know better than God who should be given life, we are putting ourselves in the place of God and are guilty of idolatry."
We can't put a price on the lives of the treasures that God has given us in children. Please heed God's Sixth Commandment: "Thou shalt not kill."
___________________________________________
*From Ray Comfort's Evidence Bible. For ordering information, go to www.livingwaters.com.
What a Waste
There came unto him a woman having an alabaster box of very precious ointment, and poured it on his head, as he sat at meat. But when his disciples saw it, they had indignation, saying, To what purpose is this waste?
Matthew 26:7-8
Jesus sits with His disciples in the house of Simon the leper. They eat a meal while talking about spiritual truths. Suddenly, a woman interrupts their discussion.
Is this another sick person in need of healing? Or perhaps a mother of a demon-possessed child asking Jesus for deliverance? She must be here for some important reason if she's willing to interrupt their lunch.
All eyes open wide as the woman pours very precious ointment on Jesus' head. Christ tells the disciples later it was for His burial, but I don't think the woman realized this at the time. She poured the ointment on His head to worship Him, to show her love for Him.
Did those around the table join her in worship? No. They were too busy figuring out how much the ointment could have been sold for. "What a waste! We could have sold that ointment and given the money to the poor!" (See verse nine.)
Worship is a waste?
How sad it is when we get so focused on service that we ignore worship of God. Remember Martha? She was so busy serving that she forgot the one needful thing. Her sister, Mary, remembered and sat at Jesus' feet. (Luke 10:38–42)
Is giving to the poor important? Of course. But if we do this and neglect worship of God, we are forgetting why we serve in the first place. Meeting people's financial needs is only part of the puzzle. We should want to tell them about a God who loved us so much that He sent His Son to die for us.
If God gave us so much, how could worshiping Him ever be a waste? If worship were a waste, much of heaven would be wasted time!
"O come, let us worship and bow down: let us kneel before the Lord our maker" (Psalm 95:6).
(If this devotional has blessed you, please pass it on.)
From a fellow traveler just passing through,
Jason Mitchener
http://www.JasonMitchener.com
Jason's Music: http://www.soundclick.com/jasonmitchener
========================= ====================
Matthew 26:7-8
Jesus sits with His disciples in the house of Simon the leper. They eat a meal while talking about spiritual truths. Suddenly, a woman interrupts their discussion.
Is this another sick person in need of healing? Or perhaps a mother of a demon-possessed child asking Jesus for deliverance? She must be here for some important reason if she's willing to interrupt their lunch.
All eyes open wide as the woman pours very precious ointment on Jesus' head. Christ tells the disciples later it was for His burial, but I don't think the woman realized this at the time. She poured the ointment on His head to worship Him, to show her love for Him.
Did those around the table join her in worship? No. They were too busy figuring out how much the ointment could have been sold for. "What a waste! We could have sold that ointment and given the money to the poor!" (See verse nine.)
Worship is a waste?
How sad it is when we get so focused on service that we ignore worship of God. Remember Martha? She was so busy serving that she forgot the one needful thing. Her sister, Mary, remembered and sat at Jesus' feet. (Luke 10:38–42)
Is giving to the poor important? Of course. But if we do this and neglect worship of God, we are forgetting why we serve in the first place. Meeting people's financial needs is only part of the puzzle. We should want to tell them about a God who loved us so much that He sent His Son to die for us.
If God gave us so much, how could worshiping Him ever be a waste? If worship were a waste, much of heaven would be wasted time!
"O come, let us worship and bow down: let us kneel before the Lord our maker" (Psalm 95:6).
(If this devotional has blessed you, please pass it on.)
From a fellow traveler just passing through,
Jason Mitchener
http://www.JasonMitchener.com
Jason's Music: http://www.soundclick.com/jasonmitchener
========================= ====================
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
