Just what will it take to get Christians to wake up to one of the greatest moral evils of our age, and finally do something about it? I refer of course to abortion and the slaughter of the innocents. There are some 45-50 million unborn babies killed every year, but most Christians don’t seem to give a rip.
We need to arouse ourselves from our stupor and make a stand for the unborn. We all have a role to play in this. I am trying to do my bit to raise awareness, stand for life, and encourage others to get involved. This will be my 284th article on abortion, and in a few months I hope to have a book out on this vital topic.
Some would claim that abortion is not a gospel issue. I of course disagree – big time. It most certainly is. The sanctity of life is at the very heart of the God with whom we have to do. How can we claim to represent our loving God yet not stand for life and resist those who would slaughter so many millions of innocent lives?
I often think about how I might get believers to wake up to their important calling in this area. It occurred to me recently that the parable that Jesus gave us about the Good Samaritan would clearly fit in here. I am sure others may well have made this linkage, but none come to mind just at the moment.
So here is my take on it. The word of God is of course inspired and authoritative, so I intend no disrespect here, but this modern adaptation involving the abortion issue may not be amiss. It is a slight paraphrase which I think is fitting and appropriate.
The Parable of the Good Samaritan is found in only one of the four gospels. You can find it in Luke 10:25-37. Here is my modern version of this great teaching by Jesus:
On one occasion an expert in the law stood up to test Jesus. “Teacher,” he asked, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?”
“What is written in the Law?” he replied. “How do you read it?”
He answered, “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind’; and, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’”
“You have answered correctly,” Jesus replied. “Do this and you will live.”
But he wanted to justify himself, so he asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?”
In reply Jesus said: “A man was going down from Sydney to Melbourne, when he passed by an abortion mill. There he saw innocent babies being led to their destruction, leaving them dead. A priest happened to be going down the same road, and when he saw the mill, he passed by on the other side. So too, a Levite, when he came to the place and saw the poor babies, passed by on the other side. But a Samaritan, as he traveled, came where the babies were; and when he saw them, he took pity on them. He went to them and did all he could to rescue them. Then he put them in his own car, brought him to an inn and took care of them. The next day he took out a thousand dollars and gave it to the innkeeper. ‘Look after them,’ he said, ‘and when I return, I will reimburse you for any extra expense you may have.’
“Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to those who fell into the hands of the abortionists?”
The expert in the law replied, “The one who had mercy on them.”
Jesus told him, “Go and do likewise.”
My analogy is of course poor, and many of you would undoubtedly do a much better job of retelling this story. But I think you get the message. Jesus would strongly commend those who take care of those in such great distress – in this case the hapless unborn being taken to their slaughter.
And he would strongly condemn those who refused to get involved, who refused to care, who refused to even acknowledge the problem. I am absolutely sure that Jesus would have this broken heart for the slaughter of the unborn, and would have the same concern for all the religious leaders who do nothing about this – who care nothing about this.
He would rebuke these cold and heartless big cheeses in the religious world, while praising to the max those who actually had concern, who acted, who sought to save those being taken to their slaughter. He would embody what we read about in Proverbs 24:11: “Rescue those being led away to death; hold back those staggering toward slaughter.”
He would fully concur with Proverbs 31:8: “Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves, for the rights of all who are destitute.” And Psalm 82:2: “Defend the cause of the weak and fatherless; maintain the rights of the poor and oppressed.”
That would be his heart on this matter, and it should be our heart on this matter. Let me conclude with a few quotes from a few religious leaders who do care and are speaking out. R.C. Sproul has spoken often on abortion. Here are four of his thoughts on this:
“I pray God for a multitude of Wilberforces who will relentlessly speak against this monstrous evil, until such a day that our nation will wake up.”
“I’ve studied theology for over fifty years and there are things about God I don’t know – he’s incomprehensible. But if I know anything about God – I don’t just think, I know, beyond a shadow of a doubt – it’s that he hates abortion, and he will judge nations that support it; that there are churches that support it; there are people in this room who support it. I don’t think they thought about it for five minutes. How could they? We may be that wicked, but we’re not that stupid.” -R C Sproul
“It is time for churches that see the evil of abortion to stand up and be counted – no matter the risk or the cost. When the church is silent in the midst of a holocaust, she ceases to be a real church. Wherever human dignity is under attack, it is the duty of the church and of the Christian to rise up in protest against it.”
“The organized church – more than any other institution apart from the Supreme Court – has neglected its duty to inform the public conscience [about abortion]. If the church says that abortion is a horrific injustice, but acts as if it’s no big deal, what is the world going to conclude?”
Francis Schaeffer had similar thoughts: “There should be a sign in front of every abortion clinic that reads: ‘Open by permission of the church’.”
Yes exactly. The killing fields of the abortion mills are continuing apace because most believers do not care about it, and are doing nothing about it. Jesus replied to the religious leader with these words: “Do this and you will live.” He made it perfectly clear what our responsibilities are:
“Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of the robbers [abortionists]?”
The expert in the law replied, “The one who had mercy on him.”
Jesus told him, “Go and do likewise.”
Your comments are very stirring, Bill. And I couldn’t agree more that ripping unborn babies out of their mother’s womb, or pulling them out and leaving them to die after a botched abortion, must be one of the greatest moral evils of our time.
Christians of all people should be in anguish every day and praying to God “what can I do” to stop this barbarism in some way. There is certainly a deep spiritual problem when all of this is not even on the church’s radar; moreover, the professing believer’s radar.
Following Proverbs 24:11, “Rescue those being led away to death; hold back those staggering toward slaughter” is a warning in verse 12:
“If you say, ‘But we knew nothing about this,’
does not he who weighs the heart perceive it?
Does not he who guards your life know it?
Will he not repay everyone according to what they have done?”
Bill,
I think moral cowardice is the prime sin of our age and abortion certainly sorts the sheep from the goats.
With a few honourable exceptions, politicians run a mile from abortion because they fear a feminist backlash, not understanding that most women don’t actually subscribe to radical feminism.
Christian churches and schools should ensure these videos are shown to their youth groups to uphold Christian teaching about the sanctity of life, but I doubt they will.
Very sad.
Hi Bill, the church is not asleep on this issue, they have taken a back seat. The reason why, because there are so many church members are guilty of this sin and pastors know it. If they speak out to loudly, they think they will hurt and lose their members and support of their local assembly. Pastors are guilty, with their daughters, women in the church are guilty, men in the church are guilty, they are hiding, Bill.
So it was in Israel, so is it in the church. Nobody wants to hear the truth! Judgment first must begin at the house of God.
The church must confess her sins, He is faithful and just.
Often non Christians speak out about abortion publicly while Christians are silent and hide behind the “not judging” screen.
…The test of the morality of a society is what it does for its children.
~Dietrich Bonhoeffer
“…the moral test of government is how that government treats those who are in the dawn of life, the children; those who are in the twilight of life, the elderly; those who are in the shadows of life; the sick, the needy and the handicapped. ” ~ Last Speech of Hubert H. Humphrey
“A nation’s greatness is measured by how it treats its weakest members.” ~ Mahatma Ghandi
“Any society, any nation, is judged on the basis of how it treats its weakest members — the last, the least, the littlest.”
~Cardinal Roger Mahony, In a 1998 letter, Creating a Culture of Life
The greatness of America is in how it treats its weakest members: the elderly, the infirm, the handicapped, the underprivileged, the unborn. ~Bill Federer
“A society will be judged on the basis of how it treats its weakest members and among the most vulnerable are surely the unborn and the dying,”
~Pope John Paul II
Bill. A little good Samaritan story . A friend of mine told me of her cousin (who lives in a country not far from Australia)
She waits alone each day outside an abortion clinic with a bucket.
Each day she collects the little ones and gives them a Christian burial… just so they wont be feed to the pigs.
Yes we here in Australia like to think we are better but we are not.
For it is said that ” those who have been given more will have more to answer .” ( We so called Christians are supposed to know better)
We all carry the guilt of this murderous crime by association…
through our Government laws and legislation,
through our courts,
through our health professionals and advisers .
through our education system …
we have our extremely deadly bias and supportive (main stream) media….
We all pay taxation thus guilty by funding many services…
But ultimately we are guilty by our silence…
We do not wish to condemn any suffering soul and nor do I wish to now.
But we the Nation of Australia indeed stand condemned.
For if we do advocate for ones who cannot speak. Who will?
Thing is we have gotten to the point that we are so far along deaths road, that for us to stop would require an admission of guilt and that is unlikely to happen for we are proud …the Nazis had the same problem…
What’s stopped them?
Seems that the same may be required for us.
to stop us.
Good article Bill and good comments folks.
I have often pondered this question, what should we do now, because I also believe and have spoken out in public and private forums on the greatest holocaust of our age.
I think one thing we can do is financially support Christian based pregnancy centers for all women, whether married or not (that is another source of sadness too), so that we can help them to recognize that abortion brings even more pain and suffering to their baby, themselves, and others in their lives, than the lies in their mind when they think about keeping their baby.
This deals with the issue around what to do when people, in this instance pregnant mums, freely choose to sin. In reading through the OT, there seems to be countless examples of all manner of people sinning in all manner of ways, but God not stopping them. Instead He warns them.
I find it hard to live with God’s sovereignty on this particular topic, even though He has given people the ability to make moral choices.
As I read your articles on the Planned Parenthood scandal, I think of one of the leaders of the counter rallies put on to oppose the annual March for the Babies rally in Melbourne. He’s a loathsome man who coldly describes abortion as a “medical procedure.”
I fully concur with your stance and comments on abortion, but the church has a huge hypocrisy issue to overcome. How can we stand against abortion on the grounds of the value of every human life when we openly promote and engage in the production of surplus human embryos, many of which will only be destroyed, through IVF?
Hi Bill, This morning I read the folllowing scripture
Genesis 4:10He said, “What have you done? The voice of your brother’s blood is crying to Me from the ground. 11″Now you are cursed from the ground, which has opened its mouth to receive your brother’s blood from your hand.…
It made me think of these little babies who never had a voice to cry out with but God still hears them. He hears their blood crying out to him. Atleast thats what I get from this scripture.
And with that murder comes a curse. Only in Christ can that curse be broken so I pray that these women will come to Christ as its only in him that healing can come. Whether they admit to it or not every woman who has killed their baby regrets it to some degree and has died inside when their baby died.
Personally, on top of speaking out and writing out, I chose to eat organic, and boycott all food additives, vaccines and medications since the vast majority are derived from the aborted foetal tissue cell lines.
Thanks Bill for an excellent article. If I may be allowed to reply to Antonia’s comment, there is a Christian ministry that does exactly what she recommends. Choices of Life delivers pro-life presentations in schools by invitation, no matter what type of school it is. There are two programs, one aimed at junior school students (Years 5 & 6) and the other at senior school students (Years 10-12). Of course, invitations from churches or other groups are also welcome, whether youth groups, men’s groups, ladies groups, seniors groups etc. See http://www.choicesoflife.com.au for more information. And apologies for the advertising!
I found the following write up on an abortion website. I was looking at the website to see if I can go to one, maybe stand outside and see if I can talk to the women before they go in. Tell them there is another way, there are options besides abortion and there are churches and people who are willing to help. Anyways this is what it said
“Around half of all unplanned pregnancies in Australia end in a termination, and almost one in three Australian women will choose abortion in their lifetime.”
“In 2009, approximately 15000 abortions occurred in Queensland, according to Medicare item rebates. Abortion is the most common gynecological procedure in Australia, and when performed in medical clinics, abortion is a very safe procedure with an estimated complication rate of less than 2%.”
These statistics make me sick to my stomach. Keep up the good work Bill of letting people know of the wickedness that is happening all around us. Keep praying for these women and pray that God protects them and protects these unborn babies.
Hi Ella, the same Medicare item numbers are used to denote procedures which are not terminations, including miscarriage, fetal death, or other gynaecological conditions – which some experts say could account for up to half of all these procedures.
In other words, some of the abortion statistics are miscarriages.
Ella, you quoted:
“In 2009, approximately 15000 abortions occurred in Queensland, according to Medicare item rebates. Abortion is the most common gynecological procedure in Australia, and when performed in medical clinics, abortion is a very safe procedure with an estimated complication rate of less than 2%.”
15000, compared to how many births? Wouldn’t birth be a more common gynecological procedure?
I often think about how I might get believers to wake up to their important calling in this area. It occurred to me recently that the parable that Jesus gave us about the Good Samaritan would clearly fit in here. I am sure others may well have made this linkage, but none come to mind just at the moment.
Your comments are very stirring, Bill. And I couldn’t agree more that ripping unborn babies out of their mother’s womb, or pulling them out and leaving them to die after a botched abortion, must be one of the greatest moral evils of our time.
Christians of all people should be in anguish every day and praying to God “what can I do” to stop this barbarism in some way. There is certainly a deep spiritual problem when all of this is not even on the church’s radar; moreover, the professing believer’s radar.
Following Proverbs 24:11, “Rescue those being led away to death; hold back those staggering toward slaughter” is a warning in verse 12:
“If you say, ‘But we knew nothing about this,’
does not he who weighs the heart perceive it?
Does not he who guards your life know it?
Will he not repay everyone according to what they have done?”
Bill,
I think moral cowardice is the prime sin of our age and abortion certainly sorts the sheep from the goats.
With a few honourable exceptions, politicians run a mile from abortion because they fear a feminist backlash, not understanding that most women don’t actually subscribe to radical feminism.
Christian churches and schools should ensure these videos are shown to their youth groups to uphold Christian teaching about the sanctity of life, but I doubt they will.
Very sad.
Hi Bill, the church is not asleep on this issue, they have taken a back seat. The reason why, because there are so many church members are guilty of this sin and pastors know it. If they speak out to loudly, they think they will hurt and lose their members and support of their local assembly. Pastors are guilty, with their daughters, women in the church are guilty, men in the church are guilty, they are hiding, Bill.
So it was in Israel, so is it in the church. Nobody wants to hear the truth! Judgment first must begin at the house of God.
The church must confess her sins, He is faithful and just.
Often non Christians speak out about abortion publicly while Christians are silent and hide behind the “not judging” screen.
…The test of the morality of a society is what it does for its children.
~Dietrich Bonhoeffer
“…the moral test of government is how that government treats those who are in the dawn of life, the children; those who are in the twilight of life, the elderly; those who are in the shadows of life; the sick, the needy and the handicapped. ” ~ Last Speech of Hubert H. Humphrey
“A nation’s greatness is measured by how it treats its weakest members.” ~ Mahatma Ghandi
“Any society, any nation, is judged on the basis of how it treats its weakest members — the last, the least, the littlest.”
~Cardinal Roger Mahony, In a 1998 letter, Creating a Culture of Life
The greatness of America is in how it treats its weakest members: the elderly, the infirm, the handicapped, the underprivileged, the unborn. ~Bill Federer
“A society will be judged on the basis of how it treats its weakest members and among the most vulnerable are surely the unborn and the dying,”
~Pope John Paul II
Bill. A little good Samaritan story . A friend of mine told me of her cousin (who lives in a country not far from Australia)
She waits alone each day outside an abortion clinic with a bucket.
Each day she collects the little ones and gives them a Christian burial… just so they wont be feed to the pigs.
Yes we here in Australia like to think we are better but we are not.
For it is said that ” those who have been given more will have more to answer .” ( We so called Christians are supposed to know better)
We all carry the guilt of this murderous crime by association…
through our Government laws and legislation,
through our courts,
through our health professionals and advisers .
through our education system …
we have our extremely deadly bias and supportive (main stream) media….
We all pay taxation thus guilty by funding many services…
But ultimately we are guilty by our silence…
We do not wish to condemn any suffering soul and nor do I wish to now.
But we the Nation of Australia indeed stand condemned.
For if we do advocate for ones who cannot speak. Who will?
Thing is we have gotten to the point that we are so far along deaths road, that for us to stop would require an admission of guilt and that is unlikely to happen for we are proud …the Nazis had the same problem…
What’s stopped them?
Seems that the same may be required for us.
to stop us.
Good article Bill and good comments folks.
I have often pondered this question, what should we do now, because I also believe and have spoken out in public and private forums on the greatest holocaust of our age.
I think one thing we can do is financially support Christian based pregnancy centers for all women, whether married or not (that is another source of sadness too), so that we can help them to recognize that abortion brings even more pain and suffering to their baby, themselves, and others in their lives, than the lies in their mind when they think about keeping their baby.
This deals with the issue around what to do when people, in this instance pregnant mums, freely choose to sin. In reading through the OT, there seems to be countless examples of all manner of people sinning in all manner of ways, but God not stopping them. Instead He warns them.
I find it hard to live with God’s sovereignty on this particular topic, even though He has given people the ability to make moral choices.
As I read your articles on the Planned Parenthood scandal, I think of one of the leaders of the counter rallies put on to oppose the annual March for the Babies rally in Melbourne. He’s a loathsome man who coldly describes abortion as a “medical procedure.”
I fully concur with your stance and comments on abortion, but the church has a huge hypocrisy issue to overcome. How can we stand against abortion on the grounds of the value of every human life when we openly promote and engage in the production of surplus human embryos, many of which will only be destroyed, through IVF?
Hi Bill, This morning I read the folllowing scripture
Genesis 4:10He said, “What have you done? The voice of your brother’s blood is crying to Me from the ground. 11″Now you are cursed from the ground, which has opened its mouth to receive your brother’s blood from your hand.…
It made me think of these little babies who never had a voice to cry out with but God still hears them. He hears their blood crying out to him. Atleast thats what I get from this scripture.
And with that murder comes a curse. Only in Christ can that curse be broken so I pray that these women will come to Christ as its only in him that healing can come. Whether they admit to it or not every woman who has killed their baby regrets it to some degree and has died inside when their baby died.
Personally, on top of speaking out and writing out, I chose to eat organic, and boycott all food additives, vaccines and medications since the vast majority are derived from the aborted foetal tissue cell lines.
The below article is worth a read.
http://www.naturalnews.com/049367_aborted_babies_flavor_chemicals_food_corporations.html
Thanks Bill for an excellent article. If I may be allowed to reply to Antonia’s comment, there is a Christian ministry that does exactly what she recommends. Choices of Life delivers pro-life presentations in schools by invitation, no matter what type of school it is. There are two programs, one aimed at junior school students (Years 5 & 6) and the other at senior school students (Years 10-12). Of course, invitations from churches or other groups are also welcome, whether youth groups, men’s groups, ladies groups, seniors groups etc. See http://www.choicesoflife.com.au for more information. And apologies for the advertising!
I found the following write up on an abortion website. I was looking at the website to see if I can go to one, maybe stand outside and see if I can talk to the women before they go in. Tell them there is another way, there are options besides abortion and there are churches and people who are willing to help. Anyways this is what it said
“Around half of all unplanned pregnancies in Australia end in a termination, and almost one in three Australian women will choose abortion in their lifetime.”
“In 2009, approximately 15000 abortions occurred in Queensland, according to Medicare item rebates. Abortion is the most common gynecological procedure in Australia, and when performed in medical clinics, abortion is a very safe procedure with an estimated complication rate of less than 2%.”
These statistics make me sick to my stomach. Keep up the good work Bill of letting people know of the wickedness that is happening all around us. Keep praying for these women and pray that God protects them and protects these unborn babies.
Hi Ella, the same Medicare item numbers are used to denote procedures which are not terminations, including miscarriage, fetal death, or other gynaecological conditions – which some experts say could account for up to half of all these procedures.
In other words, some of the abortion statistics are miscarriages.
Ella, you quoted:
15000, compared to how many births? Wouldn’t birth be a more common gynecological procedure?