For fifty years Christians have, with waxing and waning fervor, fought to see unborn children protected from parents and doctors that would take their lives. During that time we have seen sixty million babies’ lives snuffed out, on purpose, within the law, in public. It is a living horror. From a practical standpoint it is also a profound frustration. We have tried myriad strategies. At first we thought learned articles, on ethics, biology, genetics would turn the tide. It did nothing.
We tried blocking access to the killing centers with our own bodies, and it didn’t help. A few men took the law into their own hands. We tried creating lobbying groups which in turn adopted the incremental approach. This not only didn’t help us but gave us the bizarre circumstance where Christians not only voted for pro-aborts with exceptions, but called them pro-life. Every Republican candidate between Reagan and Trump publicly affirmed his commitment to protecting the legal “right” to kill babies conceived by rape or incest.
We’ve tried service, opening hundreds of crisis pregnancy centers around the country. There we taught abstinence, until that kept the clientele away. We gave away food, clothing, furniture, pregnancy tests and that brought them in, time after time. We then gave them a window in the womb, thinking ultrasounds would change their minds. It doesn’t work.
I’m very much in favor of political action. It is the state’s responsibility to protect the lives of the innocent. I’m very much in favor of prophetic calls from the church to decry the blood on our hands. I’m very much in favor of service to the needy. No woman is more a widow than the one being pressured to kill her baby by the man who should be protecting them both, no child more an orphan than the one whose parents pay to have it murdered.
All of these “strategies,” however, amount to negotiating with terrorists. They treat abortion not as the wanton murder of our most fragile citizens, but as a political issue. Nothing will change until those who know what abortion is start treating it like it is. It is something every politician should be willing to lose his seat over, every Christian willing to lose his neighbor over, every doctor willing to lose his license over, every pastor willing to lose his pulpit over.
In short, the first thing we need to do is move toward treating the horror as what it is, a horror. Preach the gospel to ourselves, and pray to the God of heaven because we’ve found ourselves living in a nation of not just baby killers, but killers of our own babies. Preach the gospel to the gathered saints and pray to our Redeemer because we’ve found ourselves in a land where we Christians are part and parcel of the horror, one sixth of the killers, while the rest if only because we treat it as normal. Preach the gospel to and pray for those beguiled by Moloch. Preach in our congregations, our common spaces, and outside the doors of their temples. Preach that Jesus knows our wickedness, and yet died for all who would turn to Him.
Is it enough? No, only the One we preach is enough.
RC, do you believe that every aborted baby is in the presence of God? It seems that those who believe that, would also believe that more souls will inhabit heaven than hell. Yet, I hear those who would say that God will save every child that dies before the “age of accountability,” also say that, “the road is narrow that leads to life.” I’m not sure if every child that dies in infancy belongs to God, but I understand passion for believing that. But if election truly belongs to God, what makes the difference between them and us? If every aborted soul enters heaven, then for some of us, Job was right for wishing his mother never conceived him.
Here’s a response I wrote some time ago:
Ask RC: Do all those who die in the womb go to heaven?
I don’t know. The Bible doesn’t say. It is certainly possible that they do. It is also possible that they don’t. It is, in turn, possible that some go to heaven when they die and some do not. Christians have, over the years dealt with this heart-wrenching question a number of different ways.
Some suggest that such children have no need to be saved from the wrath of God because they do not stand guilty before Him. While most of these would agree that even the youngest are tainted by sin (see Psalm 51:5), a few go so far as to suggest that the very young are without sin. Both positions suggest that the Bible leaves room for what they call the “age of accountability,” an unknown time (some suggest age 13 on the basis of the practice of bar mitzvah, when a Jewish boy becomes a man) when children do become responsible before God for their sin. The closest supportive text here is II Samuel 12:21-23.
Some suggest that the children of believers are welcomed to heaven, and leave open the question of the end of the children of unbelievers. The best text in defense of this position is I Corinthians 7:14, where the children of at least one believing parent are said to be “holy.”
Still others take the position that the elect among those dying in the womb go to heaven, and leave open the question of whether or not all or only some such children are elect. Finally, some take a mildly agnostic position, suggesting that “the God of heaven and earth will do rightly.”
I, though I agree that all and only the elect will enter into heaven, and that the judge of all the earth will do rightly, embrace none of these positions. In the end I believe that the texts cited do not warrant the conclusions drawn from them. Thus my bold response- I don’t know. What I am persuaded of is this. All humans, from conception, are sinners and stand guilty before a holy God. Their only hope is the work of Christ applied to them. That work is applied always and only through faith, and that only the faith of the one saved. Babies in heaven are there not by virtue of their age, nor their election, nor their parents. They are there by virtue of Christ, applied to them by their Spirit-given faith.
But can unborn babies believe? Not by themselves, just like you and me. It takes a supernatural work of the Holy Spirit to make that happen. Do we have reason to believe that He sometimes makes that happen? II Samuel 12:21-23 suggests He might. I Corinthians 7:14 suggests He might. Add to that John leaping in the womb at the presence of Christ (Luke 1:41) and we have reason to hope.
This could, of course, include all children dying in the womb. It could include none of them. Either way the Judge of all the earth would have done rightly. This is, clearly enough, an emotional issue. Our emotions, however, should not lead us to add to the Bible, nor to muddy the precious saving waters of the work of Christ given to us by faith. Our hope for them is the same as our hope for anyone. We are all sinners, and all without hope save for the work of Christ. But praise be to His name, He came into this world to save sinners.
According to the Bible. When a mother has an abortion, there are at least two that are guilty of murder, the doctor and the mother, and whoever else takes part. What is the punishment for murder? Death. Maybe we should treat it as such. And preach against it as such.
Sixty million babies’ lives have been snuffed out, on purpose. That means there are about 120 million murderers (doctors and mothers) walking among us that still need to be punished for the crimes they committed.
King Manasseh shed much blood, so much so, that he filled Jerusalem from one end to the other with innocent blood. The blood of 60 million souls has been shed in the USA, not just in one city, but from end to end, and north to south.
Judah was God’s nation, His people, but those sins and others provoked God’s wrath, to the point He destroyed Judah, and for 70 years, most remained captive in Babylon. The USA was filled with God’s people for many years, but we have come to the same point as Judah, and probably much worse. I think the wrath of God has waxed hot, and we have begun to feel it, just look at the White House and those who rule over us. They have great hatred for Christians. There is great evil going on today, that would not have been possible even ten years ago.
With all due respect sir, many of the 120 million murderers that you speak of are being punished every day for their sins. Many were told for years, that what was inside of them was nothing more than undeveloped tissue, and in ignorance, they acted upon that lie. There are probably millions of women in our churches who suffer in silence because of this sin. Having to carry the burden alone because of the stigma that comes along with this sin in the church. We must be that city of refuge for them. This is not a sin that Christ cannot forgive. Therefore, if we want our Father to forgive us, we must forgive our sisters who have fallen into this sin.
Guilt is not a punishment for murder. It may be, many suffer in silence, and they should feel guilty, for they are. But there is no need for them to suffer any more. All of them could stop their suffering today, this very hour! They don’t have to carry that burden alone anymore! If they come with real repentance, Christ can take away that guilt and pain, and forgive their sins.
Living with that guilt is sin itself. It’s the sin of unbelief! Not believing Jesus will forgive and forget. They need to be led to Christ, and lay their burdens down at the cross.
Of course, we should forgive others. But that is not the issue here. That does not deal with the crime committed by others. It was their crime and their sin that they must bring to the Savior. Forgiving them, does not change the fact, only they can make things right with Christ, and no one else.
I agree that abortion is murder, but until our laws are changed, the punishment cannot be death. That’s just not realistic. Guilt may not be the proper punishment for the sin of abortion, but it’s one that many women will have to live with for the rest of their lives. They destroyed the gift that God gave. The gift made in his image and theirs. Yes, there’s forgiveness in Christ. Thank God for that! But is there forgiveness in the church? Yes we need to stand up against this evil, but we need to do so with compassion for the ones who have fallen into this sin. To say the penalty for the murder of abortion is death (an eye for an eye), that’s like ripping the wound wide open for them again.