One of the hot button topics of today’s age is abortion. Is the life in a woman’s womb human, or something less than? Does a woman’s right to choose trump that life’s right to live? Is abortion justified in the face of rape?
How is the Christian to answer?
Unfortunately, there is a lot of emotion in this debate. And unfortunately, the church doesn’t really teach apologetics in this area. Or any area for that matter. So Christians resort to cries of “murder” and other emotionally charged sallies that don’t get any positive results.
That’s unfortunate.
There really are two types of answers to these questions, depending on who is doing the questioning. The first type of answer is relatively short and sweet, and it is directed to Christians who ask about abortion. Christians shouldn’t have any problems with the answer because it is right out of the Bible.
The second type of answer is for the non-Christian. The answer is different because the non-Christian doesn’t accept the Word of God as his or her authority in life. It’s longer and messier, but still necessary.
For the Christian
The occasional Christian will lean towards pro-choice, so it is important to have Bible verses ready to lovingly direct them back to God’s opinion in the matter. His opinion is kind of important. Let’s get started:
Jeremiah 1:4-5, Now the word of the LORD came to me, saying, “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you; I appointed you a prophet to the nations.”
Isaiah 49:1. Listen to me, O coastlands, and give attention, you peoples from afar. The LORD called me from the womb, from the body of my mother he named my name…
Psalms 22:9-10, Yet you are he who took me from the womb; you made me trust you at my mother’s breasts. On you was I cast from my birth, and from my mother’s womb you have been my God.
Genesis 25:22-23, The children struggled together within her, and she said, “If it is thus, why is this happening to me?” So she went to inquire of the LORD. And the LORD said to her, “Two nations are in your womb, and two peoples from within you shall be divided; the one shall be stronger than the other, the older shall serve the younger.”
Galatians 1:15, But when he who had set me apart before I was born, and who called me by his grace.
Luke 1:40-41, where she entered Zechariah’s home and greeted Elizabeth. When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the baby leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit.
There are many others, but this should be good enough. If the Christian doubts how God views life in the womb after this, you really have to question how much this person values the Bible.
For the Non-Christian
Because I don’t want this post to be the equivalent of three or four pages, I’ll save the Christian’s answer for the non-Christian for my next post. But I’ll lay the groundwork here.
Amongst Christians, whoever has the most Biblical support should be the one swaying the other. Why? Follow the logic: if the Bible is the Word of God, then His words are always true. Therefore whatever position in a debate lines up with the Bible is true and correct. Therefore Christians should try to hold the most Biblically sound positions in a debate. Obviously “pro-life” is more Biblical in this case, so that should end the argument amongst Christians.
But you can’t do that with a non-Christian, because they reject the premise that the Bible is the inerrant Word of God. If you threw a verse at him, he would respond, “Okay, so what?” I would do the same if someone came at me with the Book of Mormon or Quran. I simply do not accept those books as the Word of God.
So after establishing what the Bible says on abortion, and why you accept the Bible as true, you have to go a different route. I’ll explore this route in my next post.
But before I do that, I also have to put 1 Corinthians 13:1-3 out there:
“If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal.
And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing.
If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing.”
I am as guilty as anyone else. Truth is a knife without love. It damages, razes, burns, pillages. But with love, it builds, encourages, convicts, and strengthens. Many people are suffering through the guilt of an abortion. Many people know people who are suffering through the guilt of having an abortion.
We are to step alongside them and try to UNDERSTAND them. Help them. Be there for them. Love them. Our wrongs are no better than theirs. We are all in the same boat; we are all sinners in need of a Savior.
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