21:22,23 "If men struggle with each other and strike a woman with child so that she gives birth prematurely, yet there is no injury, he shall surely be fined as the woman's husband may demand of him, and he shall pay as the judges decide. But if there is any further injury, then you shall appoint as a penalty life for life"
I'm not Hebrew scholar, but when I read this passage, it seems to very clearly place the value of an unborn's life at the same level as everyone else's. I don' t know that I remember someone using these verses in the abortion discussion, but it really stood out to me. Notice that it refers to a "woman with child"... Not a "woman in her third trimester", or "a woman in the process of giving birth", but a woman with child. When does a woman become "with child"? I suppose some would debater semantics, but it seems obvious that "with child" is a synonym for pregnant. And I'm pretty sure a woman is physiologically pregnant when a sperm breaks through the egg wall.
Whatever. I probably don't need to waste breath belaboring this point, I really believe that anyone who has spent even a couple of minutes thinking about this knows that life begins at conception. Furthermore, I believe they know that ending life is murder. All are born with a sin nature and are responsible for their sin. If murder is a sin (which is in today's reading as well), those that perpetuate, encourage, commit, and condone abortion are sinning and thus responsible for it.
Proving through scripture and science that unborn babies are alive shouldn't be given up on, but they're not going to get it until they have the Holy Spirit in them to tell them otherwise. Sinners will sin, it's just really sad and infuriating when it results in the death of innocents. Ryan gave a rousing sermon on this recently; I'll see if it's on our church's site and post a link to it in the comments if so.
Lord, help me to stand up in whatever capacity You give me for the lives of children. If it only be in water cooler talk, still give me boldness. Please watch over the little ones and help bring an end to the rampant murder that plagues my country.
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Ryan's sermon isn't on the site. I don't know if it was recorded, but if it was, I'll bug him to put it up.
Dave, I put the sermon on the website today. Good observation on this text. It is amazing to me that there are so many who would disagree that life begins at conception. I heard someone just the other day argue that life begins when rational thought is possible (when the two hemispheres of the brain are connected in a way that makes that possible). They argued this is a valid definition of "life" because we "pull the plug" (their words) on people who are brain dead. Yikes.
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