I’d Like to re-post something I wrote a couple years ago; first because I’m reading Exodus chapter 1 which is all about abortion and second, because two Sundays ago was Right to Life Sunday. One thing I never want to be accused of is being vague about the truth, so here it is. God hates abortion. Abortion is murder. People who perform abortions are murderers and will be punished as such. I want to be more gentle with those who may have had abortions, since there may be someone reading this who has had an abortion. I feel that many are deceived into believing they are doing the best thing they can both for themselves and their children. They may be scared, hopeless, helpless, and / or alone. This is a shame and the responsibility for these mothers falls squarely on the church. I have nothing but love and compassion for anyone who has ever found them self facing this difficult decision. Never-the-less, there is forgiveness and healing in Jesus for all sin. My purpose in writing this is not to condemn anyone. that is God's prerogative. It do condemn the thinking of those who would argue for the utility of abortion.
Much of this info is shamelessly stolen from various sources.
Abortion statistics (CDC website)20% of abortions are acquired by married couples not single women.
80% of abortions are obtained by people >20yrs old not teenagers.
39% of abortions are obtained by non Caucasians even though they only make up ~20% of the population.
African American women are almost four times as likely as white women to have an abortion, and Hispanic women are 2.5 times as likely.
Over 60% of abortions are among women who have had one or more children
Abortion factsA baby’s heart begins to beat on the 21st day after conception.
Brain waves are detectable at 40 days (they may be there earlier but are not detectable).
20 weeks is considered the earliest a baby can live outside the mothers womb.
There are somewhere between 170-340 pregnancies due to rape in the US each year. This is much less than 1% of total abortions.
The abortion rate among women living below the federal poverty level ($9,570 for a single woman with no children) is more than four times that of women above 300% of the poverty level (44 vs. 10 abortions per 1,000 women).
37% percent of providers offer abortion at four weeks’ gestation, and 97% offer abortion at eight weeks. Thirty-three percent offer abortion at 20 weeks, after which the number of providers offering abortion services drops off sharply. Only 2% of all abortion providers provide abortions at 26 weeks’ gestation. Obviously even abortion doctors feel that after 26 weeks it’s too late.
When does life begin?Of course we all know when life begins but since we Americans like to parse the truth to justify our sin, I'll allow you to pretend for a moment that it possibly starts at some later point. In this case you must submit to the following argument:
A person can only be dead or alive there is no other state,
THEREFORE
If a person is not alive they are dead, AND
If a person is not dead then they are alive…correct?
The legal definition of death is the following in all 50 states:
Determination of Death Act (UDDA). It states that: "An individual who has sustained either
(1) irreversible cessation of circulatory and respiratory functions, or
(2) irreversible cessation of all functions of the entire brain, including the brain stem is dead.
A determination of death must be made in accordance with accepted medical standards."
This definition was approved by the American Medical Association in 1980 and by the American Bar Association in 1981. Today all fifty states and the District of Columbia follow the UDDA as a legal standard of death.
If this is the definition of death then by using our argument above the definition of life is:
The presence of both circulatory and brain function.
Using this definition a baby is alive by 40 days gestation (probably earlier)
40% of abortions occur after 9 weeks. This means that at least 50% of abortions occur after the baby is legally alive. Remember, I'm making a legal / medical argument since much of society has rejected the spiritual argument that life begins at conception.
The charter of the United States, the Declaration of Independence, is guiding here. "All men are created equal and endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights, among these are the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness."
The first right is "life," for without it, there are no other rights.
Abortion is a racism and sexism issue:Abortion is used worldwide as a method of sex selection.
Pro choice feminists oppose sex selection abortion because it often leads to the death of girls.
Sexism = an explicit or implicit belief of practice that quantitatively distinguishes one sex over another.
Racism – Margret Sanger the person who started Planned Parenthood was part of a project called the “Negro project” which supplied contraception to blacks in the name of eugenics.
• Eugenicists strongly espoused racial supremacy and “purity,” particularly of the “Aryan” race. Eugenicists hoped to purify the bloodlines and improve the race by encouraging the “fit” to reproduce and the “unfit” to restrict their reproduction. They sought to contain the “inferior” races through segregation, sterilization, birth control and abortion.
• Sanger embraced Malthusian Eugenics. Thomas Robert Malthus, a 19th-century cleric and professor of political economy, believed a population time bomb threatened the existence of the human race. He viewed social problems such as poverty, deprivation and hunger as evidence of this “population crisis.” His answer was to restrict population growth of certain groups of people. His theories of population growth and economic stability became the basis for national and international social policy.
• Despite the falsehoods of Malthus' overpopulation claims, Sanger nonetheless immersed herself in Malthusian Eugenics. Grant wrote she argued for birth control using the “scientifically verified” threat of poverty, sickness, racial tension and overpopulation as its background. Sanger's publication, The Birth Control Review (founded in 1917) regularly published pro-eugenic articles from eugenicists, such as Ernst Rudin. Although Sanger ceased editing The Birth Control Review in 1929, the ABCL continued to use it as a platform for eugenic ideas.
• Sanger built the work of the ABCL, and, ultimately, Planned Parenthood, on the ideas and resources of the eugenics movement. Grant reported that “virtually all of the organization's board members were eugenicists.” Eugenicists financed the early projects, from the opening of birth control clinics to the publishing of “revolutionary” literature. Eugenicists comprised the speakers at conferences, authors of literature and the providers of services “almost without exception.” And Planned Parenthood's international work was originally housed in the offices of the Eugenics Society. The two organizations were intertwined for years
• Planned Parenthood has gone to great lengths to repudiate the organization's eugenic origins. It adamantly denies Sanger was a eugenicist or racist, despite all the evidence to the contrary. Because Sanger stopped editing The Birth Control Review in 1929, the organization tries to disassociate her from the eugenic and racist-oriented articles published after that date. However, a summary of an address Sanger gave in 1932, which appeared in the Review that year, revealed her continuing bent toward eugenics.
• In “A Plan for Peace,” Sanger suggested Congress set up a special department to study population problems and appoint a “Parliament of Population.” One of the main objectives of the “Population Congress” would be “to raise the level and increase the general intelligence of population.” This would be accomplished by applying a “stern and rigid policy of sterilization and segregation [in addition to tightening immigration laws] to that grade of population whose progeny is already tainted, or whose inheritance is such that objectionable traits may be transmitted to offspring.”
Planned parenthood has aborted >12 million black babies.Exodus 1:8-22 And there arose a new king over Egypt, who did not know Joseph. And he said to his people, Behold, the people of the sons of Israel are many and mightier than we. Come, let us deal slyly with them, lest they multiply, and it will be when there comes a war, they join also to our enemies, and fight against us, and get out of the land. And they set taskmasters over them to afflict them with their burdens. And they built treasure cities for Pharaoh, Pithon and Raamses. But the more they afflicted them, the more they multiplied and grew. And they were grieved because of the sons of Israel. And the Egyptians made the sons of Israel serve with harshness. And they made their lives bitter with hard work in mortar and in bricks, and in all kinds of work in the field; all their work in which they made them do was with harshness. And the king of Egypt spoke to the Hebrew midwives, of which the name of the one was Shiphrah, and the name of the other Puah. And he said, When you midwife the Hebrew women, and look on the birth stools, if it is a son, then you shall kill him. But if it is a daughter, then she shall live. But the midwives feared God, and did not do as the king of Egypt commanded them, but saved alive the male children. And the king of Egypt called for the midwives and said to them, Why have you done this thing, and have saved the male children alive? And the midwives said to Pharaoh, Because the Hebrew women are not like the Egyptian women. For they are lively, and are delivered before the midwives come in to them. And God dealt well with the midwives. And the people multiplied and became very mighty. And it happened, because the midwives feared God, that He made them houses. And Pharaoh charged all his people, saying, Every son that is born you shall cast into the river, and every daughter you shall save alive.
• Pharaoh started with enslavement, second they treated them harshly but they still flourished. Next pharaoh instructed the midwives to kill all baby boys. Finally he instructed all Egyptians to kill any Hebrew baby boy.
• It obviously didn’t work because 600,000 Hebrew men left Egypt when the children of Israel were released.
• Pharaoh started with subtle infanticide. He only progressed to open infanticide later.
• Sexism displayed:…Pharaoh only demanded killing males. This is to keep the population from growing. His policy was also racist… it was directed at the Jews. This is going on today in India and China where only girls are killed.
• God rewarded the civil disobedience of the midwives. The midwives lied to the Pharaoh. The bible says God hates liars but it says he “dealt well” with the midwives and “made them houses” meaning he actually caused their own families to flourish and grow. This shows where abortion falls on Gods list of dislikes.
I’m not the type of person who advocates for the bombing of abortion clinics or other forms of violence since these actions are outrightly sinful and counterproductive; however I can’t help but feel that most Christians are far too silent on this issue. People feel that since it’s the law of the land we simply have to accept it and hope and pray that it will some day stop. We don’t speak out publicly for fear of scorn from those who vehemently support the cause. As a man I’m told that it’s none of my business what a woman does with her body. Still other Christians will shush you because they feel that strong words about abortion push people away from Christianity and cause people to be turned off from the gospel.
"Honorius, who inherited the empire of Europe, put a stop to the gladiatorial combats which had long been held at Rome. The occasion of his doing so arose from the following circumstance. A certain man of the name of Telemachus had embraced the ascetic life. He had set out from the East and for this reason had repaired to Rome. There, when the abominable spectacle was being exhibited, he went himself into the stadium, and stepping down into the arena, endeavoured to stop the men who were wielding their weapons against one another. The spectators of the slaughter were indignant, and inspired by the triad fury of the demon who delights in those bloody deeds, stoned the peacemaker to death.
When the admirable emperor was informed of this he numbered Telemachus in the number of victorious martyrs, and put an end to that impious spectacle."
Telemachus stepped onto the floor of the Roman Coliseum and cried to the people “In the name of Christ, forebear!” The gladiatorial games were an accepted part of Roman life and wildly popular among the population. For his defiance Telemachus was stoned to death by the crowd. But his death was the death knell for the gladiatorial fights. No gladiatorial fight was held in the Rome after that date.
I know that we’re here to be winsome and lead a life that will cause people to glorify God, but Jesus didn’t hesitate to overturn the moneychanger’s tables. He never shied away from pointing out the sin in people’s lives. I can’t help but believe that if we are going to be salt and light to the word that we, like Telemachus, have to step out before men and in the face of a horror many degrees more grizzly than that of the gladiatorial games cry “In the name of Christ, forebear!”
