Choose Life
by Dr. Kameel Majdali
Teach all Nations
Recently I received a friendly Facebook message
from my niece, who
lives in the United States. A 24 year old
millennial, she is an
intelligent thinker, thoroughly postmodern, and
has a soft, sweet, and
compassionate side. She loves US presidential
candidate Bernie Sanders
- she ‘feels the Bern.’ Though she had been
exposed to the gospel, she
chose to embrace an alternative lifestyle. She
knows and respects that
I am an ordained Christian minister with a
conservative, high-view of
Scripture.
Imagine my surprise when she asked me the
following question:
“What is your view on abortion, and why do you
feel that way? Your
professional and personal qualms with the issue
would be appreciated.
Please feel free to get as deep as you would like.
The more
information the better. Thank you uncle.” So, as
a blogger, I decided
to share my answer to my niece with the world.
What would you say to your niece if she asked
you about abortion?
Here is what I said to mine:
Terminology: First, let’s define terms.
Abortion means the
deliberate termination of a pregnancy.
Miscarriages are actually
called ‘spontaneous abortions,’ meaning they come
from nature at any
time, usually in the early weeks or months of a
pregnancy.
‘Therapeutic abortion’ is caused by direct human
intervention,
normally by a medical professional. It is the
latter type to which I
will address.
Why abortion was outlawed in the past: If the
foetus in the womb
is truly a human-person from conception, then
abortion is clearly
murder. This was the consensus for centuries and
the laws treated it
as a criminal offense. The Judeo-Christian
heritage of the western
world, and the Ten Commandments as the foundation
of the legal system,
made it so. The sixth of the ten commandments
clearly states ‘Thou
shalt not murder’ (Exodus 20:13).
Even so, abortions have happened throughout
history, despite the
physical risks and the legal and Scriptural
prohibitions. Why did
things change? We have had 200 years of The
Enlightenment, where human
reason became king. Then we had the advent of
liberal theology, higher
criticism that has a lower view of Scripture, and
the rise of
evolution. Add to this a cultural civil war that
has lasted over half
a century. In this war we’ve had a sexual
revolution, the feminist
movement, and postmodernism with its ‘truth is
relative’ and
‘tolerance is a must.’
Roe vs. Wade 1973: The watershed happened on
January 22, 1973. On
this date, the United States Supreme Court handed
down its landmark
decision called ‘Roe vs. Wade,’ which gave
American woman a
constitutional right to have an abortion.
Thirty-one states had their
abortion laws overturned in an instant. Though
‘Roe’ was considered a
‘compromise’ and not a ‘blank cheque’ for abortion
on demand, the fact
is that over 55 million abortions have been
performed in the US since
1973. That is about as many people who perished in
World War II.
Roe vs. Wade cited the Fourteenth Amendment to
the US Constitution
(ratified in 1865, just after the Civil War),
which guarantees
Americans the right to ‘life, liberty, and
property.’ Then the court
applied ‘substantive due process’ to the 14th
Amendment, and somehow
created a ‘woman’s right to privacy,’ though this
is not explicitly
mentioned in the Constitution. Thus, the amendment
that was meant to
protect life was now used as justification to
terminate the life of a
future American citizen. As one person put it, the
US Supreme Court
created a constitutional right to privacy ‘out of
thin air.’
Abortion Justified: If you can successfully
deny that the foetus
is a ‘person’ and worthy of legal protection, or
at least, be
ambiguous about its personhood, then abortion goes
from being ‘murder’
to merely a ‘constitutional right’ and ‘medical
procedure.’
Today’s Scene: Apparently, many millennials
are more pro-life than
their baby-boomer parents. The annual rate of
abortion in the United
States is declining (e.g. from 1.6 million to 1.2)
and clinics are
closing across the country. Being an abortion
doctor can be hazardous
to your health: a string of high-profile
assassinations of
abortionists have clearly encouraged some to close
their doors
(pro-lifers condemn these assassinations; of
course, the ‘right to
life’ extends to abortion doctors, too). Even
Norma McCorvey, the
‘Jane Roe’ in Roe vs. Wade, apparently defected
from the ‘pro-choice’
camp to ‘pro-life.’ The 2015 revelation from
surreptitious videos that
Planned Parenthood medical staff were selling
aborted baby body parts
(clearly an illegal act) keeps this divisive issue
on the ‘front
page.’
One high-profile retired US politician, with
universal name
recognition and who says he is a evangelical
Christian, claimed to
search the Scriptures on this issue. His
conclusion: The Bible does
not say when the human spirit enters the body.
Once the spirit enters
the foetus, it is a person, he reasons. Needless
to say, this
politician is ‘pro-choice.’
Is the Bible really silent on the personhood
of the foetus? My
position: as a born-again Christian and ordained
minister, I take an
predictably pro-life position. I have no other
choice: my
understanding of Scripture compels me.
• God spoke to the prophet Jeremiah: Before I
formed you in the
womb, I knew you’ - Jeremiah 1:5.
• Psalm 139:13-16: there are some incredible
statements in this
passage. Apparently, the detailed mapping of our
very being (perhaps
right down to the molecular level) was written in
God’s book, even
before we were conceived.
• Ephesians 2:10: God knew us from before the
foundation of the
world (eternity past) and ordained us for good
works.
• Matthew 10:30: The hairs of our head are
numbered.
• Matthew 19:14: Jesus commanded that the
little children be
brought to Him and no one was to forbid them. They
are what constitute
the kingdom of heaven.
• Genesis 1:27: This affirms that humankind
is made in the image
of God.
• Genesis 9:6 says simply: Whoever shed man’s
blood, by man his
blood shall be shed; for in the image of God He
made man.
Could it be any clearer? With such meticulous
care, there is no
question that in God’s mind the foetus is a
person, even before they
are in the womb. Therefore, deliberately
terminating that pregnancy is
destroying a life.
Don Feder says speaks of abortion as part of a
larger culture of
death. When it was legalized in 1973, prophetic
voices warned that
euthanasia would be next. People scoffed at them
and said it would
never happen - yet, it is happening before our
eyes. The most
vulnerable people - the very young and very old -
are being targeted
for destruction, often for economic or expedient
reasons.
Simple, true justice means we should do our
best to defend those
who cannot defend themselves. This includes the
very young and very
old.
Are we a better country because of Roe versus
Wade? Does 55
million abortions improve our quality of life,
instill compassion for
the needy, or improve our ability to care? Does it
help strengthen the
family? If a child cannot be safe in its mother’s
womb, is there any
safe place on this planet? I am unashamedly
pro-life and, where
possible, and to the best of my ability, I would
encourage and support
any courageous woman to refuse abortion and carry
the child to term.
Dear niece, thank you for allowing me to
answer your question on
abortion. I conclude with a simple challenge given
by God to all of
us. It is found in Deuteronomy 30:19: “I call
heaven and earth as
witnesses today against you, that I have set
before you life and
death, blessing and cursing; therefore choose
life, that both you and
your descendants may live...”
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