January is Sanctity of Life Month. I want to talk about that a little bit. This is an issue that is close to my heart, not just as a Christian, but as someone who could have been aborted under NewYork’s new law. I was born at 26 weeks gestation and I was a triplet, which lowers birth weight, so I was probably the equivalent of a 24 week or less single pregnancy. States other than just NewYork allow a baby to be aborted at 24 weeks. That just isn’t right. I want to tell you why I say that, in hopes of changing the minds of some women who may be thinking about having an abortion. I also want to talk to you if you are a mother who has already had an abortion.
The debate concerning sanctity of life used to mostly revolve around the debate concerning when life begins. That doesn’t seem to be the case so much any more but, still, I want to talk about it a little from this prospective.
I personally believe that life begins at conception.
Jeremiah 1
5 “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you; Before you were born I sanctified you;I ordained you a prophet to the nations.”
To put this in context, This was part of God calling Jeremiah to be a profit. You and I may not be profits but Jeremiah was conceived and born in the same way that we were and all of us have things God has called us to do. If God knew Jeremiah before he was born then God knew us before we were born. In order to know someone, don’t they have to be alive? Doesn’t that sound like life begins at conception?
This debate concerning when life begins has often revolved around when the baby could survive outside the mother. One problem with this way of defining life is that when the baby can survive outside the mother keeps changing. So, does that mean that the definition of life keeps changing? Call me simple but it seems to me that something as fundamental as the definition of life would be a constant.
A normal full term pregnancy is 40 weeks. 100 years ago, if a baby was born before 35 or 36 weeks, they had a severely decreased chance of survival and if they were born before about 32 weeks, they just pretty much weren’t going to survive. So, back then, would you say that a fetus at less than 32 weeks gestation wasn’t yet alive? A lot of advances have been made in neonatal medicine in the last 100 years. In 1977, I was born at 26 weeks. I weighed 2 pounds and 3 ounces and lost down to 1 pound 15 ounces. It was thought that I basically had no chance of survival But here I am. Clearly, I am alive. Between 100 years ago and 40 years ago, did the definition of life change? I don’t think it did. Now, babies born at 26 weeks have an excellent chance of survival and they can even occasionally save a baby as early as 22 weeks. Has the definition of the beginning of life changed again? I don’t think so.
Now, with the passing of the new law in NewYork, allowing full term abortions, we have stopped worrying about the debate concerning when life begins. I know that some will point out that the new law says that an abortion can be done after 24 weeks only if the mother’s life is at risk. First, even if the mother’s life is at risk, I don’t believe that abortion is justified. If abortion is murder then it is murder, regardless of the circumstances, as unfortunate as those circumstances may be. It is murder or it isn’t. You can’t have it both ways. Second, the law actually says that the abortion can be done if the mother’s life is at risk or if her health is at risk. It is my understanding that her health being at risk can legally be very broadly interpreted to include mental well being, which can encompass almost anything, quite possibly including the mother not feeling that she can handle the responsibility of taking care of the baby. Concerning the debate about when life begins, you can’t seriously argue that a full term healthy baby isn’t alive just because it happens to be still inside its mother. So, we no longer even bother to ask the question “is it really alive yet”. We just ask “when can we get away with killing it”. And this decision was jubilantly celebrated by many. To me, that is truly and deeply disturbing.
If you are a woman contemplating abortion, I am begging you, please don’t. It is God who creates all life and He is completely sovran. The timing of your pregnancy may not have been your first choice and, honestly, it may not have been God’s first choice either but, being completely sovereign, He did have to allow it for it to happen and it is He who actually gave your baby life. That little life growing inside you may be inside your body but its life is not yours, it is God’s, and only He has the right to take it.
Now, I want to talk to the women who have already had abortions and there are a lot of you. About 1 out of every 4 women in the United States has had an abortion. If you are one of those, listen to me. You may feel guilty about what you did. I have heard the testimonies of many women who feel that way and there are psychological studies which say that, even when they don’t openly talk about it, most women who have had abortions carry deep shame and guilt for the rest of their life. You do not have to carry that guilt around with you forever. Your life is precious to God too and carrying that guilt is the last thing He would want.
I’m going to talk about the plan of salvation here. In doing so, I am not at all implying that a woman having had an abortion means that she is not a Christian. Sometimes, even for Christians, the plan of salvation needs repeating, as A reminder that salvation is not something we can earn and so we don’t need to feel subdued by past sin. I’m going to say a few other things too so please don’t tune me out.
How are we saved? Can we be good enough? Romans 3:10 says that no one is righteous and Romans 3:23 says that all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. So no, we cannot be good enough because we all sin.
What do we deserve because of that sin? Read Romans 6:23. The first part says “the wages of sin is death”. What are “wages”? They are what we get for doing something, like getting paid for doing a job. So, what we should get for our sin is death. In this case, what does “death” mean? It means eternal spiritual separation from God. After physical death, it also means going to Hell. So, for our sin, we deserve to be eternally separated from God and forever burn in Hell.
If you have had an abortion, you have caused the physical death of another human being. I don’t deny that. But we have all done bad things, sometimes worse than we would like to think about. I struggled with the call to Christian ministry for years before surrendering to it. In so doing, I delayed the work that God had for me to do and, as a result of that, I may have indirectly caused some people’s spiritual death, which I just described. Contrary to what popular culture would have us believe, Hell is a very real place and my stubbornness may have helped to send some people there. I don’t like to think about that and, when I do, it makes me shutter. To me, my sin is worse than yours, and yet, the guilt about that doesn’t way me down and keep me from running the race that God has put before me. Why not?
What does the next part of Romans 6:23 say? It says “but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord”. How did Jesus pay for this gift of eternal life? 2 Corinthians 5:21 says that Christ never sinned but he took our sins on himself and Romans 5:8 says that He died as punishment for those sins. So, the son of God paid for the most precious gift that we could ever receive with his own blood. Once we have received this gift, every single sin that I have committed and you have committed is covered by that blood and so God no longer sees it. I’m talking about every single sin, including my refusing to listen to God’s calling, your abortion, and every other sinful thing we have done. Rest in that and take comfort from it. But, remember, that’s only if you have received His precious gift.
In order to prepare to receive this gift, we have to repent, which means to turn from our sins. This doesn’t mean that we have to be perfect. We cannot be perfect, we cannot meet God’s standard of righteousness (see Romans 3:10 and 3:23, as noted above) and this is still true, even after salvation. However, the importance of repentance to God is a theme that runs throughout scripture in both the Old and New Testament (Mark 1:15, Luke 13:3, Acts 2:38, Acts 3:19, Psalms 32:5, Psalms 41:4, Psalms 69:5, just to name a few). Even Christians still struggle with sin but we must see our sin for what it is, an abomination before a completely holy God. We must truly be remorseful to God and always strive to turn from sin. We must also realize that the only way that we can be reconciled with God is through the sacrifice that Jesus made on our behalf.
So, how do we get this most precious of all gifts? Read John 3:16.
For God so loved the world
that he gave his only begotten Son (Jesus)
that whoever believes in him (whoever means absolutely everyone)
should not perish, but have everlasting life (not die spiritually and be separated from God)
To get this gift from Jesus, you have to ask him to save you. Romans 10:13 says that “whoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved”.
You have to pray and ask Jesus to save you and that goes something like this: Jesus, I know that I am a sinner and that I deserve to be separated from God for eternity. I know that I don’t deserve forgiveness but you died to save me from my sins. I repent of my sins and I want you to come into my heart and save me. I give my life to you and submit to you as my master.
We should be baptized after we are saved (Matthew 28:19). Baptism symbolizes his death, burial, and resurrection. This tells the world what we have done.
Did you pray the prayer above or something similar? If you did and you were sincere then your name is now written in the Lamb’s Book of Life and when God looks at you, He does not see your sin but the righteousness of Jesus. If you have never prayed that prayer, if you do not have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ, then I urge you to give this your full attention. Nothing is more important. In John 14:6, Jesus said “I am the way, the truth, and the life: no one comes to the Father, except by me”. Do you know him?
