This is not an easy issue to address. Before starting to address this topic, I want to say that my heart goes out to all mothers and fathers who may be forced to consider abortion because of medical reasons—i.e. the mother’s life is at stake, the baby’s life is at stake (retarded or severely deformed), or both. You are facing a tough decision, one that must be made between you and your God. Pray for guidance. He always guides us when we ask Him to do so.
Now, is abortion allowed in the Bible. I would like to address this topic by asking several questions, and finding the answers in the Scriptures, which are the guide to my life.
1. Is life important?
Isa 44:24
“This is what the LORD says–your Redeemer, who formed you in the womb: I am the LORD, who has made all things, who alone stretched out the heavens, who spread out the earth by my hand”
Isa 64:8
“Yet, O LORD, you are our Father. We are the clay, you are the potter; we are all the work of your hand.”
If God is our creator, we must be important to him. Nothing that God does is without importance. Life is important to God, so important that: John 3:16-17
“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.
He wants us to live eternally!
2. Who is the creator of the unborn?
Job 31:15
“Did not he who made me in the womb make them? Did not the same one form us both within our mothers?”
Job 10:8-12
“Your hands shaped me and made me. Will you now turn and destroy me? Remember that you molded me like clay. Will you now turn me to dust again? Did you not pour me out like milk and curdle me like cheese, clothe me with skin and flesh and knit me together with bones and sinews? You gave me life and showed me kindness, and in your providence watched over my spirit.”
God created us with a purpose. He is the source of all life.
3. Are the unborn important to God?
Isa 49:1
“Listen to me, you islands; hear this, you distant nations: Before I was born the LORD called me; from my birth he has made mention of my name.”
Jer 1:5
“Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nation”
Gal 1:15
“But when he who had set me apart before I was born, and had called me through his grace”
The Bible says that we are important to God before we are even conceived!
4. Who is in charge of life and death?
1 Sam 2:6-7
“The LORD brings death and makes alive; he brings down to the grave and raises up.”
Ex 20:1, 13
“And God spoke all these words: “You shall not murder.””
5. Can man take the life of the unborn, even accidentally?
Ex 21:22-25
“If men who are fighting hit a pregnant woman and she gives birth prematurely but there is no serious injury, the offender must be fined whatever the woman’s husband demands and the court allows. But if there is serious injury, you are to take life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, burn for burn, wound for wound, bruise for bruise.”
Amos 1:13
“This is what the LORD says: ‘For three sins of Ammon, even for four, I will not turn back [my wrath]. Because he ripped open the pregnant women of Gilead in order to extend his borders”
Matt 18:14
“In the same way your Father in heaven is not willing that any of these little ones should be lost.”
Matt 18:10
“See that you do not look down on one of these little ones. For I tell you that their angels in heaven always see the face of my Father in heaven.”
6. What about the deformed or the retarded?
Ex 4:11-12
“The LORD said to him, “Who gave man his mouth? Who makes him deaf or mute? Who gives him sight or makes him blind? Is it not I, the LORD?”
Isa 45:9-10
“Woe to him who quarrels with his Maker, to him who is but a potsherd among the potsherds on the ground. Does the clay say to the potter, `What are you making?’ Does your work say, `He has no hands’? Woe to him who says to his father, `What have you begotten?’ Or to his mother, `What have you brought to birth?’”
Rom 9:20-22
“But who are you, O man, to talk back to God? “Shall what is formed say to him who formed it, `Why did you make me like this?'” Does not the potter have the right to make out of the same lump of clay some pottery for noble purposes and some for common use?”
7. In the Bible, what are the unborn considered to be?
Ps 127:3
“Behold, children are a gift of the LORD; The fruit of the womb is a reward.”
8. Will God forget any of His little ones?
Isa 49:15
“Can a mother forget the baby at her breast and have no compassion on the child she has borne? Though she may forget, I will not forget you!”
9. Will God forgive those who sin?
1 John 1:9
“If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.”
Isa 43:25
“I, even I, am he who blots out your transgressions, for my own sake, and remembers your sins no more.”
10. What happens with aborted foetuses?
1 Thess 4:13-18
“Brothers, we do not want you to be ignorant about those who fall asleep, or to grieve like the rest of men, who have no hope. We believe that Jesus died and rose again and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him. According to the Lord’s own word, we tell you that we who are still alive, who are left till the coming of the Lord, will certainly not precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever. Therefore encourage each other with these words.”
1 Cor 15:51-52
“We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed- 52in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed.”
The Bible does not really say much about what will happen with aborted babies. We can assume based on these texts that aborted babies await the same wonderful promise as all those who die in our Lord. At Jesus’ coming they will rise up and be with their Maker forever. Will you be there for them?
Please take this blessed assurance to heart. Jesus came to die for you! He is willing to forgive you right now. But you have a part to play in this. Just like the crucified criminal cried out to Jesus: Luke 23:42 “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” You need to cry out to Him, and accept Him in your life. It is not too late now. This may be your last chance.
Rob Chaffart
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Hello,
The Bible say Thou shall not murder. (Exodus 20:13) Abortion is the same as murder and even worse it’s killing an innocent defenseless life. Thank You,
Kathy Clepper
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This topic is raising it’s ugly head more and more these days. Many who feel they should be against it on Christian principle are not sure why they should be. They base their opposition on the commandment `Thou shall not kill’. In many cases it is a matter of debate just when in the life of an unborn child it is regarded as `alive’. Law makers have generally settled on anything after 20 weeks. Many think it is when the baby is born and takes its first breath. Still more contend that we should count it as alive when it reaches the stage of development at which it can survive if born.
However, with modern medical techniques some very premature births are now successful. Does the Bible give us any guidelines? Surgical abortion seems to be a new thing that didn’t exist in the times the Bible was written. Because of limited medical knowledge and no synthetic drugs any attempt would probably have been fatal anyway. First let us agree on the commandment not to kill. Some are even confused about this.
Exodus 20:13-AV Thou shalt not kill.
AV Thou shalt not kill. (Or better, `Thou shalt not commit murder’)
The sense of this commandment refers to unlawful killing. There are plenty of examples of men of God doing lawful killing. The civil laws of our country are quite consistent with the Bible on this commandment.
In our society we may not commit murder but lawful killing is permitted in the course of one’s duty as a soldier or police officer or in self defence.
This is one of the Ten Commandments, the immutable law of God. The only law given to mankind that was written by the finger of God himself which can never be changed and which, according to Jesus will stand until Heaven and earth pass away.
Matthew 5:18-AV For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one title shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled.
The question therefore is whether abortion can be termed `murder’. We come back to the question of when is a foetus a living child? If we could produce evidence to apply this commandment to include the unborn, the matter would be clear. If we could establish that God counts unborn children as being among the dead that are in his care, would that help?
Job 3:1-AV After this opened Job his mouth, and cursed his day.
Job 3:2-AV And Job spake, and said,
Job 3:3-AV Let the day perish wherein I was born, and the night [in which] it was said, There is a man child conceived.
Job 3:4-AV Let that day be darkness; let not God regard it from above, neither let the light shine upon it.
Job 3:5-AV Let darkness and the shadow of death stain it; let a cloud dwell upon it; let the blackness of the day terrify it.
Job 3:6-AV As [for] that night, let darkness seize upon it; let it not be joined unto the days of the year, let it not come into the number of the months.
Job 3:7-AV Lo, let that night be solitary, let no joyful voice come therein.
Job 3:8-AV Let them curse it that curse the day, who are ready to raise up their mourning.
Job 3:9-AV Let the stars of the twilight thereof be dark; let it look for light, but [have] none; neither let it see the dawning of the day:
Job 3:10-AV Because it shut not up the doors of my [mother’s] womb, nor hid sorrow from mine eyes.
Job 3:11-AV Why died I not from the womb? [why] did I [not] give up the ghost when I came out of the belly?
Job 3:12-AV Why did the knees prevent me? Or why the breasts that I should suck?
Job 3:13-AV For now should I have lain still and been quiet, I should have slept: then had I been at rest,
Job 3:14-AV With kings and counsellors of the earth, which built desolate places for themselves;
Job 3:15-AV Or with princes that had gold, who filled their houses with silver:
Job 3:16-AV Or as an hidden untimely birth I had not been; as infants [which] never saw light.
Job 3:17-AV There the wicked cease [from] troubling; and there the weary be at rest.
Job 3:18-AV [There] the prisoners rest together; they hear not the voice of the oppressor.
Job 3:19-AV The small and great are there; and the servant [is] free from his master.
Job had been afflicted with the loss of his family and with boils all over his body to test his loyalty to God. Satan thought that if he put enough pressure on Job he could cause him to depart from God. In this passage Job is lamenting the night he was conceived and the day he was born. In verse 3 is an indication that there was knowledge in heaven of the moment of conception. He expresses the desire that he was stillborn – verse 11 – or that he was miscarried – verse 16.
He says that had either of these possibilities occurred he would have been at rest with the rest of the dead, at peace, knowing nothing – verses 13,14,15,17,18,19.
From this we can conclude that babies who miscarry or are born dead are counted among the dead and therefore can expect resurrection in due course. Since abortion is simply induced miscarriage it follows that aborted babies are resting in God’s care and will figure in the resurrection. It appears too that Job counts his life from the moment of conception. Since a miscarriage can occur any time after conception it follows that the spirit of the child exists from the moment of conception, and that if miscarriage, abortion or stillbirth occur, then the spirit of the child rests with God along with the rest of the dead of earth.
Jeremiah begins with another reference to conception. Jeremiah 1:5-AV Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee; and before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee, [and] I ordained thee a prophet unto the nations.
Two points are evident from this passage. (1) God is of the opinion that HE formed the baby. Whilst the parents had a necessary part to play, it was God’s decision and action that caused the conception and the creation of life. (2) God had a plan for Jeremiah. God nurtured that baby in the womb from the moment of conception and had plans to develop that child into a prophet unto the nations.
I expect God would have taken it hard if Jeremiah’s mother had taken it upon herself to have her baby aborted. Just as He formed Jeremiah, so He has formed each and every one of us. He also has plans for each and every one of us. Some of those plans will be scuttled by us when for whatever reason we decide to reject God and embark on a life of sin. If that happens then God will reject us and we will not be among the `saved of earth’.
Mothers who abort their pregnancies and those who assist them are killing a baby that God has chosen to create, regards as alive, has entrusted to their care, and will one day resurrect. They are also spoiling God’s plans for those children.
They are removing from those children the ability to exercise their right to decide whether to follow God’s plan for them or to not follow it. It is therefore quite clear to me that any action to terminate a pregnancy, from the time of conception, without a mitigating circumstance, is murder, and will be regarded as such by God. If this is not enough, consider the following;
Exodus 21:22-AV If men strive, and hurt a woman with child, so that her fruit depart [from her], and yet no mischief follow: he shall be surely punished, according as the woman’s husband will lay upon him; and he shall pay as the judges [determine].
Exodus 21:23-AV And if [any] mischief follow, then thou shalt give life for life.
In this scenario the abortion appears to be accidental as a result of a fight between men. The party at fault was to be punished at the discretion of the woman’s husband unless the woman subsequently died in which case the party at fault was to be put to death. This is the only direct reference to abortion that I can find.
However in applying Bible guidelines to modern circumstances one has to consider the principle involved. It is clear from this passage that even accidental abortion was a serious matter, how much more serious should we regard deliberate intervention?
Having said all this, it is clear to me and to every other serious Bible student I have spoken to that God considers a person’s motives for committing an act more than the act itself. Just as our civil law makes exceptions so too does God.
In the Bible very few of these exceptions are actually spelt out. We are supposed to apply the principle being conveyed rather than the letter of the law. In doing this we are to have regard to our own conscience on the matter in question. As a general guideline I find that if one considers one’s motives to ensure they are not selfish and that the act being contemplated is for the benefit of others, then it is probable that our conscience will be clear and that God will not regard the act as a sin.
In the case of abortion, I would not be prepared to condemn if a decision was made on medical advice to preserve the life of the mother. Especially where other children who need their mother are involved. If it was known, as it now can be, that the baby would be severely retarded or deformed what would you do? No doubt you will be able to think of other circumstances where you would make an exception.
It is a matter between yourself and God and it is your responsibility to study Scriptural guidelines, to pray for guidance, to satisfy yourself that God will regard your motives as honourable, and to accept responsibility before God for your actions. It is a decision that only you can make. As many of life’s decisions are. In making these decisions the Christian can have confidence in the Holy Spirit to lead him or her to the right choice.
1John 2:27-AV But the anointing which ye have received of him abideth in you, and ye need not that any man teach you: but as the same anointing teacheth you of all things, and is truth, and is no lie, and even as it hath taught you, ye shall abide in him.
Proverbs 3:6-AV In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.
As an example I can tell you of my own experience. We have 5 children and they all were carried with considerable difficulty. My wife was offered a legal abortion for the last three on the grounds the pregnancy was placing her health at serious risk. In each case one or another method of contraception had failed to work. We made the decision together that we would give the baby every chance and leave the matter with God. If she died, she died. As it turned out we have them all, and we still have each other. We have been greatly blessed. It is probable however that had we decided the other way we may have felt less comfortable with the decision and changed our minds. The Holy Spirit has ways of bringing one to the right choice.
Anyone contemplating an abortion simply for convenience or because the pregnancy is unwanted, (even `though the sex was nice), Is treading on dangerous ground.
So if the babies are considered as being `asleep’ with God, will they be saved? What if the mother is one of the wicked? I believe the answer to be found in the following;
Ezekiel 18:20-AV The soul that sinneth, it shall die. The son shall not bear the iniquity of the father, neither shall the father bear the iniquity of the son: the righteousness of the righteous shall be upon him, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon him.
That looks pretty straightforward. God holds us each responsible for our own sin. Since children are innocent until they are old enough to understand right from wrong, all babies in God’s safekeeping will be saved. When are they old enough? God and the child will know.
Deuteronomy 1:39-AV Moreover your little ones, which ye said should be a prey, and your children, which in that day had no knowledge between good and evil, they shall go in thither, and unto them will I give it, and they shall possess it.
The reference to the children having no knowledge between good and evil is the relevant bit in the quotation.
There is a perception that the state of the parent’s faith has an influence on how God considers children and it comes from the following – perhaps you have heard this one?
1Corinthians 7:14-AV For the unbelieving husband is sanctified by the wife, and the unbelieving wife is sanctified by the husband: else were your children unclean; but now are they holy.
To draw such a conclusion from this verse would place it in direct conflict with the verse above, and the Bible is consistent and does not contradict itself. My understanding, supported by commentators I have read, is that Paul is referring to the laws and customs of the times that considered a child as illegitimate unless at least one of the parents was a believer, and the marriage held together. The application was local and has no bearing on how God regards children.
In conclusion I will summarize. I believe that God regards abortion as killing and this is supported by the evidence that miscarried and stillborn children sleep with the rest of the dead – they are counted.
It follows that aborted children will be among the saved of earth since they are innocent of any wrongdoing. Whilst we are not told, I expect with God’s consistency and fairness, that when the living are translated following the resurrection, any unborn and young children among the wicked will also be `beamed up’. God does tidy work and it would not be like Him to leave any innocents behind.
It is comforting to know that aborted babies will be catered for but that does not mean that we should `save’ our children by aborting them. It is clearly the taking of a life and as such is not to be done lightly. There may be exceptional circumstances where an individual will have a clear conscience and feel right with God about the termination but selfish motives of abortion on demand for convenience sake would not be among them.
May God bless your understanding on this most controversial matter.
Lance Wearmouth
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We all know of the biblical saying, I knew you before you were in your mother’s womb. Therefore, obviously our Lord know of each human He has seen fit to give life to and as we all, hopefully, now, each of us is a very cherished being to Him with a purpose He has given to us. Abortion is a complex issue but those who are believers, know that each and every single human being is a part of the whole and has something to give, in some way, to the human race and, importantly, to praise our Creator.
Someone once wrote in a local newspaper where I lived, that wouldn’t the child who was abused and born to a poor family, want to never be born than go through that? My response was: I am a person who was born to a mentally ill mother and father, they were poor and they did abuse me (I was taken from them numerous times as a little one and put in an orphanage and foster homes). BUT, I am thankful that my mother could not choose the option, at that time, to abort us because I am very blessed to know Jesus and that He has a plan for my life. Also, at that time were were working in the ministry we founded that brought so many to the Lord by our programs where we offered food, shelter, counseling, etc. to the homeless and poor.
This statement that follows is said with humility: how many people would NOT have come to our Lord had I not been born? It’s exactly like the movie, It’s a Wonderful Life — do you realize how many people would be different, how their lives and others would change, if you had not been a part of it?
Every friend I have that has confided in me that she has had an abortion has told me how very much she regrets it. I tell them that the Lord knows they are sorry and that their child will meet them one day in Heaven and will forgive them, as He has. Abortion is a complex and horrid thing but the bottom line is that if we believe what I have just said, then we all know that God has a plan for us and our unborn babies.
Laura
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You asked our opinions on abortion. That sure is an interesting question. If we would follow the Bible from a to z, it says “Thou shall not kill”. However, in spite of this rule, human beings have done horrible deeds.
I believe that the abortion can be useful tool when the situation calls it. For example, if baby would be seriously handicapped or otherwise in very poor condition or if someone gets raped and does not want to keep the baby. Though, there are many parents who are looking for children, and adoption would be an ideal issue.
Abortion will cause a lot of emotional pain, and will be a tough call for anyone to face. Abortion should never be a birth control device nor a backdoor. We should always honour the life, and use other birth control devices.
Sami