The Vital Imperative of Protecting Life

We live in such strange times. Everyone is so keen to protect children, to look after the wellbeing of children, and to ensure that they are not in any way abused or harmed. However, all this talk and concern seems to come to an abrupt end when we speak about children who are still in their mother’s womb.

Indeed, we talk an awful lot about rights today. And fair enough: human rights are certainly important. But many people seem to forget that without the right to life, all other rights are basically meaningless. The most fundamental, the most basic, the most important of all human rights is the right to life.

And that includes not just the right to be born, but the right to live right up until natural death. But increasingly the West has declared war on such essential rights, and abortion, euthanasia and even infanticide are now widespread, legal, and promoted as the morally and socially correct paths that we must take.

In Australia for example states such as Victoria and Queensland effectively allow open slather for abortion on demand, even throughout all nine months of the baby’s life. And more recently we have seen some American states such as New York and Virginia not only legalising abortion for the entire nine months, but allowing infanticide.

In some of these places the baby can actually be born and THEN a decision will be made about his or her fate. As Virginia Governor Ralph Northam so cold-bloodedly said while he actually defended this infanticide, “If a baby is born we will make it comfortable until the family makes a decision.”

Wow! This is certainly Brave New World stuff. As one meme making the rounds on the social media so rightly puts it: “When Jesus was a baby, Satan prompted the government to murder babies. New government… same old demons”. Yes exactly.

In America the Democrats have been leading the way in all this. In addition to the Democratic leaders highlighted just above, consider the recent State of the Union address in which President Trump slammed infanticide. Not one Democrat stood up or applauded this. They are not just the Party of Death, they are the Party of Demons.

But sadly all this horror is now becoming a daily reality for most of the Western world. All over the West we see ever more draconian laws being passed which makes the killing of the unborn ever more easy. And they seek to make moral justification for all this.

One world-renowned ethicist and philosopher who used to teach ethics in Australia – but now teaches in the US – Peter Singer, fully favours not just abortion and euthanasia, but has written passionately for the need to legalise infanticide as well. However he is a keen supporter of animal rights.

Those who speak of the “Culture of Death” are certainly correct to do so. Everywhere we see an elevation and promotion of death and killing, along with a reduced interest in life itself. Obviously totalitarian states such as the former Soviet Union and Communist China had a very low view of human life, killing many millions of their own citizens.

But today we find free, prosperous and democratic nations actually following suit. Sure, it is hidden behind a raft of euphemisms – autonomy, freedom, the right to choose, etc – but the numbers are just as staggering. Consider the actual figures: according to the World Health Organization there are 40-50 million abortions worldwide each year.

Yes you read that correctly. That boils down to around 125,000 abortions every day. Let’s look at just last year: in 2018 abortion was the leading cause of death worldwide, with some 42 million people killed. No other cause of death came close to this figure.

In fact, the second on the list, heart disease, came in at 18 million, while cancer was third on the list with 8 million. So the world’s number one killer is abortion, and the most unsafe place on the planet is the mother’s womb. What an utterly tragic reality.

These figures are absolutely shocking – indeed they are mind-numbing and soul-destroying. As has often been said, we can rightly judge a culture by how it treats its most vulnerable and defenceless. What do these numbers tell us about most cultures today?

As mentioned however, there are other forms of death on demand that we must contend with. It is because of this move away from life towards death that the prolife movement exists. We know how very valuable every life is, and we seek to see an Australia that cherishes, values and celebrates life instead of finding ways to destroy it.

And of course such concern for life is not limited to those who are religious. Not only are there numerous secular prolife groups out there, but all of humanity – religious or not – has a vital interest in seeing life affirmed, protected and upheld.

Yes, most cultures understand that not all killing is murder, and some forms of killing may be morally justifiable, such as self-defence, just wars, or even capital punishment. But even if we disagree on those three circumstances, one would hope that all civilised nations could see the glaring problems and gross injustice in killing millions of their own citizens.

In the overwhelming number of cases, there is no medical indication for an abortion. Careers, comfort and convenience are all good things, but they should never become excuses for taking the life of another person. We can do so much better.

We who champion life are working to see the current abortion culture become unthinkable. We want to stand up for those who cannot stand up for themselves. As Dietrich Bonhoeffer, the German Lutheran pastor killed by the Nazis once said, “Speak out for those who cannot speak. Who in the church today realises that this is the very least that the Bible requires of us?”

We have an obligation as a civilised nation to do all we can for the voiceless and the defenceless. Failure to do this means we have renounced any claims to being a compassionate and civilised people. As US Senator Marco Rubio once put it:

In this battle between the right to choose and the right to live, the only ones who can vote are the ones with the right to choose. The only ones who can participate in the political process are the ones with the right to choose. An unborn child can’t vote; an unborn child can’t speak. Actually, they can. You speak for them. That’s what you are. In this competition between two competing sets of rights, you are the voice of children that cannot speak for themselves.

Whether it is abortion, euthanasia, infanticide or various forms of eugenics, we will stand up for life and stand against death. We must affirm the personhood of everyone. We must learn from history that it is always evil to target entire classes of people, be they Blacks, or Jews, or some other group. As the famous children’s author Dr. Suess rightly said: “A person’s a person, no matter how small.”

Of all people, those who call themselves Christian must be at the forefront of defending human life and resisting the culture of death. Will the church of Jesus Christ stand condemned because of its despicable and cowardly silence on the abortion holocaust? Or will it rise up and speak out on the great moral issue of our day? The choice is ours. We must choose quickly, and we must choose wisely.

As Russell Moore of the Southern Baptist Convention said in 2015, “It’s time for the reborn to stand up for the unborn.” Wake up church!

[1281 words]

14 Replies to “The Vital Imperative of Protecting Life”

  1. Hi Bill,
    I heard South Australia is pushing for abortion laws with no qualifications and no upper gestational limits.
    It will not be long before the Greens or Labor follow the playbook of Governor Ralph Northam. They continue to ruin this country one step at a time.
    Thanks for this wake-up call. Let’s pray Christians unite and push back against such evil.
    Kyle

  2. Yeah! Don’t forget about King Edward here in WA.
    Late term abortion and the tens of survivors left to die.
    No coroners investigation from state and our parliament refusing to give public support.i.e sitting on their hands.
    Terry.

  3. Christian denominations seem to lose the plot when they are unable to agree on minor differences in their mode worship. We have minimal instructions to follow. If John 3:16 dosn’t ring a bell, what on earth are they looking for?? At this time we should be united in our utter disgust at what’a happening in those states mentioned. What will happen on election day. Will we bumble along & vote as per usual or will the people of those denominations get together as one & vote against abortions, school curriculum that promote PC & SSM. gender whatever. Do we wonder????

  4. Passionate and compassionate. Thanks, Bill. Those stats are overwhelming. Will the remnant stand up and change the direction of the masses?

    I hope so.

  5. Abortion on demand is the new holocaust.
    The right to choose trumps the right to life because of the belief that the unborn is not fully human.
    During the last holocaust, it was no different.
    Hitler believed he had the right to choose the death of the Jews and gypsies. Because he also thought they were not fully human.
    But the saddest part of the New York State abortion vote, was the celebration of the bills passing-there were pictures of politicians clapping and shouting of approval.
    Woe betide the supporters.
    Romans 1:32
    32 Though they are fully aware of God’s righteous decree that those who do such things deserve to die, they not only do them themselves but approve and applaud others who practice them.

  6. Thanks Bill for again writing about the worst evil our world has ever embraced. We all have blood on our hands because of our silence. I have only been involved in the pro life movement for 4 years — what an eye opener. Our silence on this evil is deafening.

    Louise
    “God’s Not Silent” prayer partner

  7. There is something very serious indeed in a society where a mother pays a man to murder her baby. A mother is supposed to be the ultimate protector of her baby. If an animal killed its own we would think it abhorrent. We have become less than that of an animal. Secular society is, in fact, so sick that its literally worse than those God destroyed.

    A Jewish scholar told me that the correct interpretation of Genesis 4:10 was it was Abel’s offspring that had cried out to God from the ground so it was not only Abel that Cain murdered but every generation Abel would have had! I’m not sure if that Jewish scholar had the correct interpretation but it is true that those babies that were murdered also had their offsprings lives stamped out.

    If anything positive can come out of this it will be that the church (Christians) put a stop to this murder of the innocent. The church brought slavery to an end through the work of the Holy Spirit on William Wilberforce. It’s a point I have made many times in class debates and with atheist online. I hope and pray that one of you men will go down in history for the abolishment of the murder of the innocent, so that my daughters, perhaps daughters -daughters, may brag of the great God we have working through great men that they would save the least in the eyes of the wicked.

    For those of you who have children especially girls, I would strongly suggest you watch together these short educational videos on the different methods the world murders its future. it’s in cartoon format so suitable for tomorrows Miss and Mr Wilberforce. Do not hide the truth from them since evil is just waiting to educate them in the ways of murder.

    https://www.abortionprocedures.com/

  8. Hi, Mr Miller,
    I’m off school this week as it’s spring half term break (in winter) so I took the opportunity to call into a charity shop where the lady puts to one side any books that came in that she thinks may interest me, so I have the opportunity to buy them before they go onto the shelves. A customer mentioned a book I ought to look out for that she read when my age, it was on child development. We got talking about abortion and she had this odd stance, it went like this, she was against abortion, but was against people standing outside the killing centres, not because it was offensive to the ladies using the murderous service, but because it was not something decent people talk about. I had to say to her do you think it would be right to just tiptoe past such places then? To my surprise she said yes, that took me back somewhat, the lady behind the counter who saves the books for me said innocently to her, would it have been right to tiptoe past the concentration camps in the 1940s? and the lights came on and at that moment she was converted. it’s strange how the obvious can be so close yet so far away at times, isn’t it?

    Yes, the Leviticus passage is shocking. I’m not sure if it was one of Mr M articles or if it was something I read in the rational Bible but it said they had drums to drowned out the screams of the children being sacrificed, man is wicked to his core isn’t he, yet can do great feats of compassion too.

  9. What I find incredibly sad is that some Christians will protest and chain themselves to gates to support the plight of children in detention, but don’t seem to have the same passion to stand in defence of unborn babies, our most vulnerable in society. I don’t get that!

  10. I keep thinking to myself that we’re potentially murdering the child who should have grown to be the one to cure cancer, or end hunger, or some other amazing feat.

    I hadn’t really thought about Sarah’s earlier comment about killing the potential future generations. It’s a mind boggling thought.

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