On Abortion

On Abortion

The Psalmist writes,

“For you created my inmost being; 

you knit me together in my mother’s womb.

                                                           Psalm 139:13

The other day I listened to my little granddaughter Faith’s heartbeat. It was on a microchip inside a stuffed elephant belonging to my grandson Faith’s two year old big brother. The reason Faith’s heartbeat is in the elephant is because it was recorded during an ultrasound. You see Faith is still in my daughter in laws womb.
Hearing Faith’s heartbeat reminded me of the words from Psalm 139 that states,

“For you created my inmost being; 

you knit me together in my mother’s womb.

I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; 

                                                                  Psalm 139:13,14a

As I have said in previous blogs this portion of psalms tells us that God knew us from the inception of our lives. In our mothers womb. God knows why we are the way we are. He knows our DNA.
From this portion of scripture I also realize that we are alive in our mothers womb. We are a person in the same way we are outside the womb. Thus my belief abortion is wrong.
That being said I do believe a woman has the right to decide what she does with her own body.
At the same time a woman is also given a special responsibility by God to protect the child that is growing in her womb in the same way she would protect a child outside the womb.
There is almost no need for an unwanted pregnancy other than one caused by rape. Even then there is nothing wrong with bringing the pregnancy to full term and if the mother wishes having the child adopted. Allowing some good coming out of a traumatic experience. That good being a life that has unlimited potential.
That being said I believe the African proverb 

“It takes a village to raise a child”. 

     Which to my way of thinking means everyone especially our elected officials have an obligation to help both the child and his or her mother.
Governments can help by making birth control freely available.
One statistic I found, a US study, in 2012  of more than 9,000 women found that when women got no-cost birth control, the number of unplanned pregnancies and abortions fell by between 62 and 78 percent.
Abstinence-only approaches, do not work.
I think especially if one claims to be a Christian a follower of Christ Jesus. We should bring our children up with our moral values of no sex before marriage. Which in a perfect world should be enough to ensure unwanted pregnancies. However we do not live in a perfect world.  There are children even in Christian homes that will engage in sexual behaviour.
That’s why I believe even in a Christian home we have a moral responsibility to speak openly with our children about sex. To tell our children that we would rather them abstain but if they do not, various forms of contraception are available.
Additionally we should not heap condemnation on our children, or for that matter anyone, for having sex or for that matter getting pregnant outside of marriage. All sins are forgivable.
We need to remember the words of James the half brother of Jesus who said,

“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.

At the same time we need to remember the words of Jesus who said,

“Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy.” 

                                                                              Matthew 5:7.

Which brings me to the picture at the top of this blog called “Memorial for Unborn Children”, by Martin Hudacek a sculpture from Slovakia. It depicts the anguish that some women can feel after having an abortion and the healing God can bring.
It to me illustrates that Christians should be there for any woman who has gone through with an abortion.
We should be there showing the Love of God remembering the words of Jesus who said,

Do not judge, or you too will be judged.  

For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, 

and with the measure you use, 

it will be measured to you.” 

                               Matthew 7:1,2 

Please think about it.

Jesus for all

Jesus for All

“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.  
Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.  
For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” 
                                               Matthew 11:28-30.
I believe that every one needs to come into a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. Sadly I think way to many people calling themselves Christians both in the media and out are turning people away from Christ.
I see this particularly in North America pastors and evangelist using their so called freedom of speech to jump all over and condemn those they disagree with.
Many point to homosexuals and bash them as if they have some special sin. They protest outside of abortion clinics and heap condemnation on those who work there and those who go into them. This should not be so.
Jesus who is the Son of God and has the right to judge, never once said to the secular authorities of Rome that they were sinners.
Paul standing before the learned men of Athens in a city filled with pagan Gods and practising things that would have been very abhorrent to him never pointed to what the Athenians were doing and calling them a bunch of sinners.
If he did the wouldn’t have listened to him.
Paul in his letter to the Corinthians said,
“What business is it of mine to judge those outside the church? Are you not to judge those inside?  
God will judge those outside. “Expel the wicked man from among you.” 
                                                                                           1 Corinthians 5:12,13.
It is not our business to judge those outside the church. It is our job as Christians to win souls for Christ.
In order to do that we need to be reaching out to the world with the Love of Christ. This is not to say we must give up our moral values.
Paul when speaking to the Athenians never gave up his beliefs. Paul simply presented the love of Christ to non-believing Athenians.
What he said should be an example to us as to how we witness to people. This is what he said,
“While Paul was waiting for them in Athens, he was greatly distressed to see that the city was full of idols.  
So he reasoned in the synagogue with the Jews and the God-fearing Greeks, as well as in the marketplace day by day with those who happened to be there.  
A group of Epicurean and Stoic philosophers began to dispute with him. Some of them asked, “What is this babbler trying to say?” Others remarked, “He seems to be advocating foreign gods.” They said this because Paul was preaching the good news about Jesus and the resurrection.  
Then they took him and brought him to a meeting of the Areopagus, where they said to him, “May we know what this new teaching is that you are presenting?  
You are bringing some strange ideas to our ears, and we want to know what they mean.”  
(All the Athenians and the foreigners who lived there spent their time doing nothing but talking about and listening to the latest ideas.) 
Paul then stood up in the meeting of the Areopagus and said: “Men of Athens! I see that in every way you are very religious.  
For as I walked around and looked carefully at your objects of worship, I even found an altar with this inscription: TO AN UNKNOWN GOD. Now what you worship as something unknown I am going to proclaim to you. 
“The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by hands.  
And he is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything, because he himself gives all men life and breath and everything else.  
From one man he made every nation of men, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he determined the times set for them and the exact places where they should live.  
God did this so that men would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from each one of us.  
‘For in him we live and move and have our being.’ As some of your own poets have said, ‘We are his offspring.’ 
“Therefore since we are God’s offspring, we should not think that the divine being is like gold or silver or stone—an image made by man’s design and skill.  
In the past God overlooked such ignorance, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent.  
For he has set a day when he will judge the world with justice by the man he has appointed. He has given proof of this to all men by raising him from the dead.” 
When they heard about the resurrection of the dead, some of them sneered, but others said, “We want to hear you again on this subject.”  
At that, Paul left the Council.  
A few men became followers of Paul and believed. Among them was Dionysius, a member of the Areopagus, also a woman named Damaris, and a number of others.”
                                                                                             Acts 17:16-32 (NIV) 
Paul won some to Christ. And others even wanted to hear more. This is how it should be for Christians.
If you disagree with someone’s lifestyle that is your choice in a free and democratic society.
If you disagree with Abortion the place to protest is not in front of an abortion clinic it’s in front of the houses of parliament or congress that pass the laws.
We should be showing the love of God to those whom we disagree with. We need to be reaching out to those of any lifestyle irrespective of who they are, and truly showing God’s love.
We should not be judging anyone or putting something in their way that would turn them from God.
I believe the words of Paul to the Corinthians when he wrote,
“What business is it of mine to judge those outside the church? Are you not to judge those inside?  
God will judge those outside. “Expel the wicked man from among you.” 
                                                                   1 Corinthians 5:12,13.
Think about it.