Ask the Pastor

By Pastor Scott Denham of Harvest Fellowship, Shambaugh, IA
Clarinda Herald Journal Publication Date : 01/16/2008

On Abortion

"Is abortion morally wrong? Why or why not?"

Apart from war, judicial decree, or self-defense, it is morally wrong to take the life of another human being (Gen 9:6). Very low percentages of abortions are medically necessary to protect the life of the mother and may be permissible under very narrow circumstances. In virtually every case, however, abortion is used to terminate a merely inconvenient pregnancy. It is used to allow people to avoid taking personal responsibility for their actions.

Abortion is wrong because God made mankind in his image and gave us incalculable value above all other created things (Gen 1:26, Psa 8:4-6). Since conception produces a viable living ovum, and because God is actively at work in the womb (Psalm 139:13), and because life is so valuable, then to interrupt these processes is to end human life. Abortion, then, is murder.

Say what you want, but if you bring God into the equation, abortion is a grievous offense. If you do not believe in God—then to you—man is just so much tissue, DNA, and evolutionary progress. It is little wonder that the more God is removed from the conscience, the more respect for life diminishes. But if there IS a God—and there is—and if you want to do what is right before a loving, holy, and just God, then you must respect life—all human life.

Women who have abortions bear personal responsibility for their actions, and yet, at the same time, they are victims. Even more responsibility rests with the fathers who often pressure the women to have an abortion, with the families that do not want to be shamed by a daughter's pregnancy, and with lawmakers who promote death by decree (Psa 94:20-21).

What makes abortion most reprehensible is that the womb, designed by God to be a place of safety for the weakest and the smallest among us, becomes hostile territory—a battleground, in which the combined death stats of all the world’s wars are eclipsed.

January 22nd of this year commemorates the 34th year of legal abortion in our country, set in motion by the infamous, Roe. v. Wade. Estimates are that 1.5 million babies are aborted annually. Hard to believe that there are those who will celebrate this anniversary, while the rest of us mourn before the Lord, crying out for God to forgive the sin of our land and to be merciful to us as a nation.

If you support abortion at any level—from activism, to counsel, to the ballot box—I plead with you, by the mercies of God, to repent. "If you will humble yourself and pray and seek God's face and turn from your wicked ways, then He will hear from heaven and will forgive your sin and will heal our land" (Paraphrase of 2 Chr 7:14).

--Pastor Scott (www.askpastorscott.com)