Absorption

To briefly address a few points commonly raised about abortion, I just wanted to point out a few things. Let's be clear on terms first. Abortion is ending the life of a human being. Whether you want to call what's growing in the mother's womb a bunch of cells, fetus or a baby- the being has 100% human DNA. Having 100% human DNA would classify one to be a human being to me.

That is the biggest question regarding morality. If it's not really a human being, then the morality is akin to eating a fried chicken egg- since it wasn't fertilized, you're not killing a chicken to do so.

If it is a human being, then you're taking the life of someone else against their will, also known as murder.

   We should at least be honest enough to admit this much.

   I have heard a number of concerns raised in favour of abortion and one guiding principle I would say in response to them is that you reap what you sow. And we must all, men and women, be willing to take responsibility for our actions- and the government employs laws to help us do so in some cases.

   The best method to prevent many abortions would be to reserve sexual relations only for the bonds of holy matrimony- one man and one woman for life.

    (This is of course the original design of God and His command, as laid out in Genesis 2:24 before the fall of man and reiterated by Jesus in Matthew 19. As I am a Christian, I hold to that, but no- I don't expect any non-Christians to do so, though a number of other religions would hold to this too. America is not a theocracy and I don't wish it to be one and thus, I realize you can't force someone to maintain celibacy until marriage.) Nonetheless, the government can pass laws forbidding murder and it has done so (even though those laws are also based upon the Judeo-Christian heritage of faith influence in the US too. But most every country and people of most religious stripes or none accept this.)

  To address the Biblical claims mentioned, it cannot be stressed enough that The Bible, like any other book, must be read in context, which means considering the time and place it was written and to whom and recognizing the type of language used, etc. Of course, The Bible is unique in that it is spiritually discerned and thus the mind of natural man does not receive it, as 1 Corinthians 2:14 says. (Thus, it is necessary to be a follower of Christ and have the Holy Spirit inside opening our eyes and minds to the Scripturesto fully understand it.)

   2 Kings 15 speaks of some of the Kings of Israel. In reading through this book, one notices a pattern. Some Kings are described as having done what is good in the sight of The Lord. Some are described as having done what is evil in the sight of The Lord. It is true that 2 Kings 15:16 states that Menahem ripped open all the women who were pregnant in Tipshah. If we continue reading through verse 18, we see that The Bible says that Menahem did what was evil in the sight of The Lord. Thus, we cannot conclude from verse 16 that God condoned the death of pregnant women or their children, much less commanded it.

   Hosea 13:16 is part of a larger passage where God is bringing an indictment against Israel and Judah for sin. In verse 16, He says that Samaria shall bear her guilt because she has rebelled against her God. As punishment, the Samaritan people shall fall by the sword; their little ones shall be dashed in pieces, and their pregnant women ripped open.

It is important to note that God did not command anyone here to do these things- He said they will happen as punishment for sin. God is not wantonly allowing death and destruction to happen out of arbitrariness. He has a reason- it is punishment for sin. And as the only Righteous Judge of the earth, He has the power, position and authority to mete out that judgment as He sees fit. He is the Potter and we are the clay and He can do whatever He wants with His creation. And God is consistent to maintain His standards and the consequences He puts in place for when we break His laws. Deuteronomy 27-30 explains God's covenant with Israel quite clearly. God plainly told the people that they would be cursed if they disobeyed Him, some of those curses including the fruit of their wombs being cursed and that they would be destroyed and quickly perish. Exodus 20:5-6 also says that God punishes the children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generations but showing love to a thousand generations of those who love Him and keep His commandments. (Note how the outpouring of His love for obedience outlasts the length of His punishment by about 996 to 997 years.

(It's also important to note that many numbers in The Bible have figurative meanings and not all are meant to be taken literally.)

God always keeps His promises and covenants. Hosea 13:16 is evidence of this.

   Furthermore, other places in The Bible use this same phrase and clearly identify it as evil. (See 2 Kings 8:11-12 and Amos 1:13. In the verse in Amos, God says that He will punish the Ammonites for the evil practice of ripping open pregnant women.)

   (Here is a quick article about this phrase where both the verses mentioned in 2 Kings and Hosea are discussed.

https://claudemariottini.com/2014/06/19/ripping-open-pregnant-women/)

   Another worth mentioning is that as a Christian, I also believe those babies would also have gone to eternity with Lord Jesus in Heaven, as 2 Samuel 12 would seem to indicate. But woe to the one who sent them there by slaughtering them! Jesus said if anyone causes one of these little ones to stumble into sin, it'd be better for him to have a great millstone fastened around his neck and be drowned in the depth of the sea. (See Matthew 18:1-6) I think Jesus clearly loves children including babies.

He says in Jeremiah 1:5 that before He formed him (i.e. Jeremiah) in the womb, He knew him and set him apart before he was born. Note that it says specifically that God formed him, not his mother. And 1 Corinthians 6 says our bodies are temples of The Holy Spirit and we belong to The Lord (for all who have trusted Jesus as Saviour and Lord.) Romans 14:8 says whether we live or die, we belong to The Lord. Psalms 24:1 says the earth is The Lord's and everything in it! Thus- whether we believe in Him and follow Him or not- we all belong to God as part of His creation.

So if it's anyone's body in pregnancy, both the woman's body and the baby's body belong to The Lord and He has said that we shall not kill. (Exodus 20:13)

Isaiah 66:7-9 further confirm that it is The Lord who causes the baby to come forth in the womb. Isaiah 44:24 reiterates that The Lord is the One who forms us in the womb and Psalms 139 says the same thing.

   Proverbs 6 says that He hates the shedding of innocent blood. There are numerous other Bible verses that make clear that God abhors the shedding of innocent blood. In reading the totality of Scripture, I find impressed upon me how much God loves the helpless and weak victims and despises any violence against them.

   As I said, there are other passages that could be mentioned, but the main point here is that The Bible tells us how much God loves all people. He doesn't want any to perish but all to come to repentance. That's why Jesus died and rose- to pay for all our sins. If we believe that God raised Him from the dead and confess Jesus as Lord and Saviour, we will be saved! (Romans 10:9-13) And then when we follow Him in obedience, we become more and more like Him and come to see people as He does- people made in His image who are eternally loved whose lives we must protect and preserve rather than destroy them.

Love One Another

David and Jason Benham. Pol Pot. Kirk Cameron. Osama bin Laden. Phil Robertson. Sadamm Hussein. S. Truett Cathy. David Koresh. The Unabomber. Donald Sterling. President Barack Obama. President George W. Bush. (and all the others before them and after them, for that matter.) Lizzie Borden. Susan Smith. Jim Jones. John Wayne Gacy, Jr. Fred Phelps. Adolf Hitler. Me.

       This list of infamous names in both recent and past history could certainly go on much longer, but these will suffice for my point. What do they have in common? They have all been reviled by some at different points in time- and all for either things they said (or said they believe) or things they did. Whether they were right or wrong is really beside the point here. They’ve all certainly been wrong many times in their lives and perhaps right on some things at some points too. But they all have something else in common that is absolutely essential to remember.
         Every single one of them is a human being made in the image of God and they are loved by God immensely. God says they are infinitely important and I am commanded to treat them and consider them the same. Has not God loved us in this manner? “I have loved you with an everlasting love,” God says to us. (Jeremiah 31:3) Even when we are faithless, He is always faithful. (2 Timothy 2:13) And what does Jesus command us? “Love each other as I have loved you.” (John 15:12)
          Love each other as Jesus loved us? Jesus’ love for us led Him to the cross! Jesus’ love for us lived 33 years confined in flesh and blood as a man. Jesus’ love for us was willing to be misunderstood, rejected by His own family and hometown, betrayed by His own disciples and friends, and mocked and reviled by religious leaders of the Law. Jesus’ love for us was punished brutally, whipped, spat upon and affixed with a thorny crown- before having three nails driven through it. And praise God- Jesus’ love for us was strong enough to love us through all of it- and the power of God, Who is Love (1 John 4:8), raised Jesus from the dead! (Ephesians 1:17-23, Romans 8:11).
          And what did Jesus say while upon the cross? “Father, forgive them for they know not what they do.” (Luke 23:34). Wait- WHAT? No pleas for God The Father to smite them all, as He surely could have if He so chose? Does not vengeance belong to The Lord? (Romans 12:9) Yes, it does- and The One who holds vengeance in His hands chose not to hate those who hurt Him- but rather, reach out in love instead. “As a sheep before her shearers is silent, so He did not open His mouth.” (Isaiah 53:7b) He didn’t answer His tormentors in like kind- He didn’t say anything mean to them. But He forgave them. And He expects us to do the same with those who wrong us. (Just read the parable of the unmerciful servant in Matthew 18:21-35 for an incredible picture of this.) We must forgive others from the heart just as God The Father has forgiven us. We who have been shown mercy can do nothing but show mercy to others. God will judge them, as He will judge us all, in His time. Every wrong will be righted- in the right time.
            Jesus Christ Himself told us the greatest commandment in The Law. “Jesus replied, ‘Love The Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.” (Matthew 22:37-40). He gave us a very clear command in John 15:17- “Love one another”. (In fact, He said that a number of times throughout The Bible.) You can’t say you love God, Whom you haven’t seen, and hate your brother, whom you have seen. (1 John 4:19-21. Actually, just read the whole book- it talks about how we must love one another if we truly love God- otherwise, we’re liars! Seriously- it says it like a million times over- or at least it feels that way. Obviously, God knew He would have to drill it through my thick skull a number of times.)
            Now, what about standing for The Truth and contending for the faith? Yes, by all means- definitely keep doing that! (Jude 1:3) However, in doing that, we are not given the right to judge. In fact, Jesus tells us to “Judge not, lest ye be judged. In the same manner that ye judge others will ye be judged.” (See Matthew 7:1-2) (Now, there is a matter of judging within the church and that’s quite a different matter. See 1 Corinthians 5 for matters of church discipline. Jesus also directly spoke to this issue in Matthew 18:15-20.) And we certainly must heed the command to “rescue the perishing” (as Jude 1:22-23 talks about), but as we are endeavoring to share The Gospel of Jesus Christ with them that can snatch them from the fire and save them, we must do as Ephesians 4:15 says and “speak the Truth in Love.” The approach and motivation both make a huge difference not only in how the message is received, but also in God receiving glory from our actions.
           Out of all the names I listed, one thing that has really saddened me is the reactions I heard from people at the deaths of Mr. Osama bin Laden and Rev. Fred Phelps. As the saying goes, let’s not speak ill of the dead. (Which is actually quite Biblical- see James 4:11-12 “Do not speak evil against one another, brothers.” Pretty straight-forward there. And in Titus 3:1-2 “Speak evil of no one.” And a number of other verses-like Ephesians 4:31-32. And Colossians 3:8. And 1 Peter 2:1-2. And Proverbs 17:9.)
We must mourn for their deaths and pray for their families. (Romans 12:9-21). Mourn with those who mourn and rejoice with those who rejoice. Love reaches out to all.
Now this is very important to understand. In my desire to afford these gentlemen dignity and respect in their status as people made in the image of Almighty God and made a little lower than the angels (Psalms 8:5), I am by no means condoning their actions. I fully agree that hatred and murder are wrong. Of course they did some heinous crimes, as did all the others on the list above. However, we must remember that if we break the Law at any one point of it, we’re guilty of breaking all of it. (James 2:10). Thus, we’re all equally culpable and guilty before God. (Psalms 14:3, Psalms 53:3, Ecclesiastes 7:20, Romans 3:23) And we have no room to brag as we are saved by the grace of God alone. (Ephesians 2:8-10, 1 Corinthians 1:18-31).
           And though Paul claimed the title for himself, I often feel that I have wrested that title from his grasp, though it’s certainly not one of any pride, but shame- “Chief of sinners.” (1 Timothy 1:15-17) Wow- this whole tribe of people on earth are all sinners and they’ve elected me their chief! So I cannot claim to be any better than anyone else. On my own efforts, I am heading up the sinning committee. And while I am making sinning “history”, praise God that Jesus came to make sinning- history! ;-)
            As two of my favorite songs expound on this point so well, let’s remember that but for the grace of God, there go I. So I’m “starting with the man in the mirror- I’m asking him to change his ways.” (“Man in the Mirror”- by far, Michael Jackson’s best song ever!) And as a Sunday School classic says, “It’s me, it’s me, it’s me, oh Lord- standing in the need of prayer. It’s not my father, not my mother, not my brother, not my sister, but it’s me, oh Lord- standing in the need of prayer.” And as Jesus said, how about getting that telephone pole out of your eye first before trying to get that speck of dust out of your brother’s eye? (Matthew 7:3-6). So quit judging people over their sins, especially since we do the same things ourselves!!! (Romans 2:1-11).
            As Philippians 3:18-21 talks about, “I tell you again even with tears- many lives as enemies of the cross of Christ.” How many of us really muster tears for the lost? Paul was willing to forfeit his own salvation if it meant his countrymen could trade places and inherit Heaven instead! (see Romans 9:1-5). So, even if we regard such people who do such horrible sins (as we regard them, forgetting of course that we are equally horrible in our sins and that God sees it all as equally horrible- He has no ranking scale on sin as to how bad it is- it’s all equally wrong and vile to Him.- see 1 John 5:17)- even if we do regard such people as enemies, remember that we are also commanded to love our enemies and pray for those who mistreat us. (Luke  6:27-49 and Matthew 5:43-48).
           We also have the example of Jesus Christ Himself in Luke 9:46-56. First, John tries to stop a dude because he was casting out demons in Jesus’ Name but he wasn’t one of the JC crew. And Jesus said, “Yo! That’s cool- don’t stop him. Anyone who’s not dogging and dissing you is actually digging you.” (Okay, I paraphrased a little there. ;-)) But wait- what about those people in the Samaritan village that didn’t welcome Jesus and apparently didn’t believe in Him? Hey- James and John were on it! They were asking Jesus if they could send fire down from Heaven and destroy them! And as some manuscripts put it, Jesus rebuked them. “And He said, ‘You do not know what kind of spirit you are of, for the Son of Man did not come to destroy men’s lives, but to save them.’ “ Amen. (See also John 3:16-17).
            So what does it all come down to in the end? Love. It’s all about Love. “Speak and act as those who are going to be judged by the Law that gives freedom, because judgment without mercy will be shown to anyone who has not been merciful. Mercy triumphs over judgment!” (James 2:12-13- but just read the whole book. How can we have praise for God and cursing of our brothers coming out of the same mouth? It doesn’t work. The wisdom that comes from Heaven is peace-loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere. [James 3:17- seriously, read the whole book.])
           And don’t dare call a human being whom God has made in His image and loves with an everlasting love and died and rose for as anything less than that and don’t treat them any less- no matter what they’ve done. “Freely you have received, freely give.” (Matthew 10:8) Shower the people with the love that God has given to us freely. And don’t assume that anyone (alive) is ever beyond the reach of God’s amazing grace! Love and forgive truly from the heart. “By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you love one another.” (John 13:35) As another favorite Christian Sunday School song goes, “They will know we are Christians by our love.” And as Jesus told us, if we love Him, we’ll obey Him. (John 14:23)

 “May The Lord make your love increase and overflow for each other and for everyone else, just as ours does for you.” (1 Thessalonians 3:12)