January 15, 2007

Sanctity of Human Life Sunday

This Sunday is Sanctity of Life Sunday in our church. It is a day set aside to lament over the millions of babies whose lives have been prematurely cut off in our land over the last decades. It is a day to be reminded of the biblical arguments against abortion. It is a day to make fresh resolves to rescue the unborn of our city, our state, our country, and the nations from the cruel fate of abortion.

So let me give you one biblical argument for protecting the unborn, then move to some encouragements to resolve to take part in the rescue of these children and their oftentimes confused and devastated parents…

Why should we cry out against abortion? You know all the biblical arguments concerning the beginning of life (see Psalm 139) and the sanctity of life (see Genesis 2 and Genesis 9). These are the most important passages on Sanctity of Human Life Sunday. But what about the gospel argument for protecting the unborn? One of the atrocities of abortion is that we cut children off without ever having given them the opportunity to hear of and come to know Jesus! Isn’t this contrary to the spirit of Jesus words in Mark 10.14 “Permit the children to come to Me and do not hinder them”? We cannot bring children to Jesus if we do not fight for their lives from the moment of conception. So “permit the children to come” to Jesus by joining in the rescue of the unborn! And how can you join in?

Pray on behalf of the unborn.
Pray that…

*God might cause young women world-wide to find and accept abortion alternatives
*God would reverse ‘one-child policies’ like those in China which lead to many abortions
*God might prevent the passage of further pro-choice laws in our land
*Unwed mothers might find hope and healing from their parents and churches rather than heavy-handed condemnation…and be encouraged to confess their sin and find forgiveness in Christ, rather than hiding it through abortion

Consider adoption.
Adoption provides a hopeful alternative to parents who are considering abortion. What a wonderful way to be a part of the solution…adopt a baby for Jesus!

Use your right to vote wisely.
For the glory of God, do not let abortion be a secondary issue when you vote.

Support PregnancyCare of Cincinnati (or your local Christian Crisis Pregnancy Center).
Maybe your church gives money to the local pregnancy care center. But they need volunteers and individual financial partners, too! Every dollar spent and hour volunteered may redound to the glory of God by preserving a precious life!

Be Pro-Life in your home.
Lovingly do what you must to ensure that your children and grandchildren never consider having an abortion. Teach them to value human life…so that “the generation to come might know [the Lord Jesus], even the children yet to be born” (Psalm 78.6)!

3 comments:

Andrew said...

With regard to the politics: What if I know that a certain politician is pro-choice (or at least not staunchly pro-life), but at the same time I know that his political position is not one that will allow him to do anything about abortion but is one that will allow him to address the sanctity of human life vis a vis the war in Iraq? That is, a run-of-the-mill Congressman is not going to be able to overturn Roe v. Wade--and realistically, Congress can never do anything about that; it will be up to the courts and then the states--but he can vote in ways that affect the war. (That, of course, if you don't take into account a President who thinks he can do whatever he wants without Congress' approval...another issue altogether.) Can I vote for this politician in good conscience? What do you think?

Kurt Strassner said...

Andrew,

I am not sure what you can do in good conscience since I am not your conscience (although I might like to be as it relates to choosing a grad school!).

I digress...

For MY conscience, I would say a couple of things...

1. Congress may not overturn Roe v. Wade, but they HAVE been instrumental in not letting Roe v. Wade turn into an even greater abortion free-for-all than we already have. So...an individual US congressman/senator can be very, very important.

2. The war in Iraq is not a sanctity of human life issue as much as it is a just-war issue. If we agree that the war is unjust, then it becomes a sanctity of human life issue. Obviously, many people are at that point.

3. The number of babies aborted in the U.S. far, far outnumbers the total number of lives lost in the Iraqi (or almost any modern) war. Go to http://abort73.com and watch the intro video to see the stats.

This doesn't mean we do not care about/speak out about/vote conscientiously about the Iraqi war. It does mean, however, that, if we are dividing the voting question as our current political landscape virtually forces us to do, we have to do some weighing of which is more atrocious (the war or abortion?).

Kurt Strassner said...

PS. I am flattered that, at 6:01 in the morning, you would be interested enough to read the blog!