The Christian’s Responsibility to Protect the Unborn

For far too long the Christian Church has sat on the sidelines watching the world sink deeper and deeper into depravity and progressively becoming more accepting of heinous acts of debauchery. Many Christians say or do nothing because quite frankly…is not that what the Bible declares will happen over time?

"But understand this, that in the last days there will come times of difficulty. For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, heartless, unappeasable, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not loving good, treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having the appearance of godliness, but denying its power." -  2 Timothy 3:1-5

As demonstrated by Paul’s statements to Timothy above, yes this will happen. Individuals will only become more and more rebellious, and sin will become more and more prevalent and accepted. However, we are still called to be the salt and life of the earth. Jesus states:

“You are the salt of the earth, but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled under people's feet. “You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.” - Matthew 5:13-16

In other words, if the church sits idly by and does nothing we render ourselves useless and guilty of ignoring the commands of God. We are told to shine the light of Christ boldly in the midst of the wickedly dark and sinful world. Today certain acts of debauchery (namely abortion and LGBTQism) are not only being conducted openly in the public square, but they are celebrated as though they are good and commendable acts. Furthermore, to speak out against such acts is readily seen as hate speech and will likely one day be considered a crime. But as Christians seeking to be light in the darkness, we must never forget who is King and whose Law we are to abide by. The prophet Isaiah declares:

"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! Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes, and shrewd in their own sight!" - Isaiah 5:20-21

The wicked will surely be judged, so we, in the love of Christ, ought to be exposing the works of the Kingdom of Darkness with the light of the gospel. We do this in hopes that many who are presently dead in their trespasses and slaves to their sin might receive life in Christ and repent of their wicked acts of rebellion. Jesus Christ came to restore that which had been lost and having done the work to restore it He commissioned us to herald the message of Christ crucified for the forgiveness of sins.

So with all of that being said, I would like to call all who by faith claim the name of Jesus Christ to action. Today, the law of the land (here in America) says it is legal and acceptable to murder innocent unborn children, but God's Law states otherwise! God’s Law declares that murder is sin! Exodus 20:13 states: “You shall not murder." And in regards to whether or not a fetus (which is Latin for “small child”) in a mother’s womb is a baby, Luke 1:44 declares that which is in the womb is a living human being and capable of displaying emotion. Furthermore, David declares:

"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 was none of them." - Psalm 139:13-16

When we say and do nothing to prevent the murderous act of abortion, which is daily taking place in America, we are guilty of choosing death. Deuteronomy 30:19 states:

“I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and curse. Therefore choose life, that you and your offspring may live”

We are called to fearlessly stand on the authority of the Word of God. Far too many professing believers in Christ (myself included) have not boldly stood up and taken the necessary steps to defend those who cannot stand up for themselves. Far too many are afraid of man and, at the same time, show no signs of fearing God. God is the only Judge we ought to fear. Jesus declares in Matthew 10:28:

“And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell.”

We, like Watchmen, are to call sinners out so that they might know and heed the warning of God to repent of their sins. We ought not to forget the words of God given to the prophet Ezekiel which state:

 “But if the watchman sees the sword coming and does not blow the trumpet, so that the people are not warned, and the sword comes and takes any one of them, that person is taken away in his iniquity, but his blood I will require at the watchman's hand.”  

While we are not responsible for the sins of mankind, we are, as Christ’s ambassadors, responsible for declaring the gospel. The apostle Paul states:
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“How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching?” - Romans 10:14

Make no mistake about it, we as Christians have a responsibility before God to declare the good news of Christ to those who are dead in their sins. Along with declaring the gospel to all people, there are other necessary steps that can and ought to be taken in order to protect the unborn. First, we can, and should be praying to the Sovereign and Triune God to end the heinous and deplorable act of abortion. Second, we ought to be doing our part to educate Americans of the facts. Babies in their mother’s wombs, at the moment of conception, are living human children and are no less deserving of life than we who have been birthed. Third, we ought to be developing, promoting, and voting on legislation which endeavors to protect unborn human life.

Regarding this last step, there have been several incremental attempts at reducing abortion, but we ought to fight for something that is far more substantial than small incremental changes. We ought to strive for nothing less than the full abolishment of abortion. However, at the same time, many lives are being taken even as you are reading these words, and thus we must take some course of action now. The best piece of legislation that I am aware of presently is what is known as the Heartbeat Bill. I have personally heard from Janet Porter, who spearheaded the drafting of this bill, and her love for Christ and children shows in her relentless pursuit to end abortion. The Heartbeat Bill has been introduced in 17 states and passed in Arkansas, North Dakota, Iowa, and Ohio. We as believers in Christ would do well to champion this bill in our respective states as well.

I have heard critiques of the Heartbeat Bill from some who wish to see abortion abolished, stating that it doesn’t go far enough. I would like to speak to those critics for a moment. First, you are correct, this bill does not prevent all abortions from occurring, however, it certainly is a giant step in the right direction. This bill prevents any abortion from taking place (even in the instances of rape and incest) once a fetal heartbeat is detected, which may happen as soon as five and a half weeks gestation.  It is incredibly rare for most women to know that they are pregnant prior to five weeks. So while this bill does not abolish abortion, it will greatly reduce them. Many pro-choice advocates are staunchly opposed to this piece of legislation as they believe it will ultimately eradicate abortion. While I too would love to see abortion become illegal at any stage, the Heartbeat Bill is surely a Christ-honoring advancement in a world which is shrouded in darkness and enslaved to sin.

For more information on the Heartbeat Bill please visit: http://www.f2a.org/