Various cultures find ways to make killing the innocent morally right, even a moral duty. The conclusion is what is important; the reasoning is irrelevant--only some path chosen to get there. Abortion is not merely permitted; it is made into a moral good. It is justified by the culture, the myths, the politics, and the ethics of a people. As Isaiah says,
Isaiah 5.20: ‘Woe
to those who call evil good
and good evil,
who put darkness for light
and light for darkness,
who put bitter for sweet
and sweet for bitter!’ (ESV)
Here are examples of cultures and
nations that have called evil concerning children ‘good’. Their views are captured as statements (not quotations):
Canaan: ‘Our
god, Molech, calls for child sacrifices.
Whatever your reason, pass your child through the fire to Molech. You have a religious reason and right to kill
your children.’
Rome: ‘The
father has the power of life and death over his slaves and his children. If he says to kill his newborn child, no law
stands in his way. Leave the child in
the hills to die.’
Some Amazonian Tribes: ‘Children born with defects, twins, or triplets are soulless
or cursed. It is right to bury them
alive, poison them, or leave them to die.
Kill such children.’
Bassa Komo
Tribe, Nigeria: ‘Some children, especially twins, are not human but evil
spirits. They will kill a parent (or
both) and are a danger to the community.
They must be killed.
Bolshevik
Russia: Laws against abortion are the hypocrisy of the ruling classes. There is no ethic apart from what the Party
dictates. Lenin allowed abortion; Stalin
forbade it, then allowed it. Do what the Party permits.’
Nazi Germany:
‘Eugenics teaches us that some races are better than others. No abortion for the master, Aryan race—unless
the child is deformed. Non-Aryan races are
encouraged to practice contraception or abortion.’
Communist China:
‘The community is more important than the individual. One family, one child. Kill the rest.’
Iceland: ‘Having
children with Downs Syndrome is wrong. We
proudly announce we are a nation without such children. Kill them before they are born.’
America: ‘Freedom is the primary virtue. Women must have the right to choose. It is good and right to kill unborn boys and girls if you so choose.’
We Christians, however, live by God’s Word. We firstly understand that we are highly valued for what we are, not simply for what we can do (viability, ability to choose, social value). We are created in His own image and likeness (Genesis 1.26-27; 5.1). Thus, shedding the blood of any person is the murder of one who is made in God's image (Genesis 9.6). God commands, ‘You shall not murder’ (Exodus 20.13). He has taught us to praise Him for His creative work in forming us in the womb, just as in His forming humanity from the earth, saying,
For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother's womb. I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well. My frame was not hidden from you, when I was being made in secret, intricately woven in the depths of the earth. Your eyes saw my unformed substance; in your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there were none of them (Psalm 139.13-16).
We understand that God knows us, as He did the prophet Jeremiah, 'before I formed you in the womb' (Jeremiah 1.5). God has plans for us before we are born, as Jeremiah says in this verse and Paul says in about his own life in Galatians 1.15. We understand from Elizabeth's and Mary's meeting that the unborn child can respond to the presence of God (Luke 1.41). Ever since the 2nd century, Christian authors have recorded the Church's opposition to abortion.
We do not live by the arguments of our cultures. It is that
simple. We will not take the life of the
innocent. We will not kill the unborn. Life is a gift from God. We will not call evil ‘good’.
Nor do we give our support to any who do such a thing or to those who approve of those who do (Romans 1.32). Our support of innocent life defines us.
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