Eric
V. Snow Sermonette notes 5-12-01
What is one of the most common surgical
procedures performed in America today?
Roughly 1.5 to 1.3 million of these are done each year. What is arguably the leading social political
issue debated in this country over the past generation? Why should this matter to Christians? We’re faced with the reality that, in a
given year (c. 1996), approximately 23 out of 1000 women will have one of these
done for her. Ever since the U.S.
Supreme Court legalized abortion on demand with the Roe v. Wade decision in
1973, Christians in America that our laws have legalized the killing of unborn
babies.
But
why do we believe abortion is murder?
Do we know why we believe what we believe? Could we give any specific reasons for why we believe it is wrong
if it had to debate it with a “pro-Choice” person? Or could we unmaneuvered?
S.P.S. Today we’re going to examine a few of the
Biblical and logical reasons why abortion is murder.
Does
God recognize us as persons before birth?
Or is a developing baby a mere wad of cells whose removal has no more
significance than removing a fingernail or a piece of hair?
Luke
1:30-31, 35-36, 39-41
Jesus’
status before birth. John the Baptist
moved within Elizabeth at six months.
Jeremiah
1:5
Consecrated
before birth.
Logical
problems:
Analogy
to signs of death: no brain waves, no
heart beat.
In
a developing human embryo, the heart begins to beat 18-24 days after
conception, and its brain waves can be detected 40-43 days later. Barest minimum of when could be called
“living.”
One
anti-abortion doctor took advantage of this:
He skillfully persuaded pregnant women not to get abortions by letting
them listen to their baby’s heartbeat through his stethoscope.
A
fetus can feel pain. At eight weeks, it
drinks fluid from its mother’s amniotic sack.
It will drink more when it’s made sweet, and far less when made bitter. When a needle is put into this sack, it
moves away from it immediately.
Doctors
H.B. Valman and J.F. Pearson stated in the British Medical Journal (Jan. 26,
1980) that a fetus hears quite well by mid-pregnancy. It needs to be heavily sedated through the mother “before
(performing) intrauterine manipulations such as transfusions. The changes in heart rate and increase in
movement suggest that these stimuli are painful for the fetus.”
Law
of cause and effect’s basis explains why abortion wrong. What a thing DOES based on what it IS. Acorn becomes an oak tree, not an alligator
or a daffodil. Dropping feather vs.
bowling ball analogy. Intrinsically,
the fertilized egg in a woman’s womb WILL become a baby nine months later
unless something intervenes. DNA in a
fertilized egg different from mother’s hand, kidney, brain, etc. (Half from father, you see). It’s destiny is to become separate from the
mother from day one, unlike any other body part.
Proving
this, one mother in a Buffalo, NY case was declared brain-dead one week before
she delivered a two-pound baby girl by Caesarean section. These “cell masses” had intrinsically
different potentials.
The
intrinsic essence or nature of a fertilized egg is inevitably to become a
separate, conscious individual outside the mother’s womb, barring miscarriage
or artificial intervention (i.e., abortion).
Not
theoretical discussion: Covering up sin
motive. It’s best to discuss the
“unthinkable” in order to make sure it stays that way. In Lansing church over period of roughly 12
years, I knew of 4 cases of pregnant brides who went to the altar, one case of
an out-of-wedlock birth in which the parents later got married, 2 such births
in Flint. Don’t think “It Can’t Happen
Here.” Far better to confess such a sin
to parents (or whomever) than to cover it up by abortion.
Discussed
here so the Unthinkable remains Unthinkable.
So
now, what is America’s worst national sin over the past 225 years? The treatment of Indians or blacks as slaves
will come to mind. But I submit it’s
abortion on demand, done all around us every day. The Eastern liberal establishment conceitedly thinks that we are
so enlightened in the early 21st century that we couldn’t possibly
be committing a collective crime as bad or worse. We shall find out otherwise.
So
now let’s turn to Ex. 20:13
God
thundered at ancient Israel, “You shall not murder.” He thunders at modern Israel, the United State of America, the
same commandment today. Abortion is
murder, regardless of what the U.S. Supreme Court, Hollywood movie stars and
producers, or the Eastern Liberal Establishment say otherwise.