GRANT COUNTY CHURCH OF CHRIST

15 INTERESTING THOUGHTS ABOUT ABORTION

1. Existing fetal homicide laws make a man guilty of manslaughter if he kills 
    the baby in a mother's womb (except in the case of abortion).
2. Fetal surgery is performed on babies in the womb to save them while
     another child the same age is being legally destroyed.
3. Babies can sometimes survive on their own at 23 or 24 weeks, but abortion 
       is legal beyond this limit.
4. Living on its own is not the criterion of human personhood, as we know from the use  of respirators and dialysis.
5. Size is irrelevant to human personhood, as we know from the difference between a one-week-old and a six-year-old.
6. Developed reasoning powers are not the criterion of personhood, as we know from the capacities of three-month-old babies.
7. Infants in the womb are human beings scientifically by virtue of their genetic make up.
8. Ultrasound has given a stunning window on the womb that shows the unborn at eight weeks sucking his thumb, recoiling from pricking, responding to sound. All the organs are present, the brain is functioning, the heart is pumping, the liver is making blood cells, the kidneys are cleaning fluids, and there is a fingerprint. Virtually all abortions happen later than this date.
9. Justice dictates that when two legitimate rights conflict, the limitation of rights that does the least harm is the most just. Bearing a child for adoption does less harm than killing him.
10. Justice dictates that when either of two people must be inconvenienced or hurt to alleviate their united predicament, the one who bore the greater responsibility for the predicament should bear more of the inconvenience or hurt to alleviate it.
11. Justice dictates that a person may not coerce harm on another person by threatening voluntary harm on themselves.
12. The outcast and the disadvantaged and exploited are to be cared for in a special way, especially those with no voice of their own.
13. What is happening in the womb is the unique person-nurturing work of God, who alone has the right to give and take life.
14. There are countless clinics that offer life and hope to both mother and child (and father and parents), with care of every kind lovingly provided by people who will meet every need they can.
15. Jesus Christ can forgive all sins, and will give all who trusts him the help they need to do everything that life requires.


 "A PERSON IS A PERSON NO MATTER HOW SMALL"
Jerry W. Carmichael

One of the greatest joys of my almost 7 years of being a grandparent has been Friday nights when the grandchildren come to our house for popcorn and a movie. One of the movies recently was "Horton Hears A Who". Most will recognize this as a classic by Dr. Seuss. I read it when I was a child and the premise has fascinated me ever since.
Horton is an elephant who finds a small white speck on a clover flower. He listens closely and hears someone yelling from the speck. As the story unfolds, he learns that an entire society of tiny people called the "Whos" lives on the speck. They have no idea that there is a huge world outside their own tiny one. Horton sets out on a journey to put the speck in a safe place where it will not be threatened with destruction.
Along the journey he is ridiculed, imprisoned and even threatened with death for trying to protect the speck, yet he continues on his journey. The one phrase that he utters over and over as justification for his perseverance is: "A person is a person, no matter how small." In hearing this phrase again on the recent movie night, I could not help but relate it to the 36 year battle against legalized abortion in which we have been involved in the United States. 
The phrase uttered by Horton the Elephant is precisely what the Bible teaches about human life. "A person is a person no matter how small!" In  Jeremiah 1:5 we read, "Before I formed you in the womb I knew you; before I sanctified you; I ordained you a prophet.
Again in Psalms 139:13-16 We see: "For You formed my inward parts; You covered me in my mother's womb.  I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Marvelous are Your works, And that my soul knows very well. My frame was not hidden from You, When I was made in secret, And skillfully wrought in the lowest parts of the earth.  Your eyes saw my substance, being yet unformed. And in Your book they all were written, The days fashioned for me, When as yet there were none of them". In the Old Testament the Hebrew word "yeled" is used for both the unborn and young children.
In the New Testament in Luke 1:41-44; 2:12- The word "brephos" was used to describe babies from "unborn, to newborn, up to the age of a toddler." This word was used to refer to John the



Baptist before he was born (Lk.1:41-44) and the same word was used to refer to Jesus after His  birth (Lk.2:12). So we must conclude that from conception forward the fetus is a human being with an eternal soul. God makes no distinction, in His word, between an unborn child and one who has already been born, they are referred to interchangeably .
GOD ELEVATES HUMAN LIFE TO A PLAIN ABOVE OTHER LIFE: Life is a gift from God (Acts 17:25) "He gives to all life, breath and all things." God alone has the right to take a man's life (Gen.50:15-19) "...Am I in the place of God?"   Humans are the only life form said to be made in the "image of God (Gen.1:26)." The penalty for killing an innocent neighbor was death (Gen.9:6). No such penalty was enacted for the killing of an animal. Our society has mistakenly elevated animal life to an equal level to humans. Humans have dominion over the animals to kill them for food (Gen.1:28; 9:2,3). "But whoever sheds man's blood, by man shall his blood be shed, for in the image of God He made man "(Gen.9:6).
GOD HATES THE SHEDDING OF INNOCENT BLOOD:
Among the seven things that are an abomination to God is "Hands that shed innocent blood" (Prov.6:17). God's word still teaches, "You shall not do murder" (Rom.13:9-10). This command is summed up in "Love your neighbor as yourself". If you love him as yourself you won't murder him. Exodus 21:22-25 gives the penalty if fighting men hit a pregnant woman. If the mother or baby died, the offender was to be put to death. This shows very eloquently how valuable God considers both the mother and her unborn baby.
FORGIVENESS AND HEALING ARE PART OF THE EQUATION:
For one who has had an abortion, repent and the blood of Christ will cleanse even this sin. Live a Christian life and don't repeat the same mistakes over and over again.  Let us ever pray that America someday sees the simple truth that "A person is a person no matter how small." And let us strive to offer the same protection for the tiny, unborn humans as we would for those who living outside the womb!