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Abortion And The Question of God
The defining characteristic of the modern secular age is the same characteristic that asserted itself at the very beginning of the world. After Eve had listened to the cunning lies of Satan, she found the forbidden fruit desirable because it would make her wise (Gen 3:6). Yes, the fruit appealed to her sense of taste and was fascinating to look upon. However, it was the knowledge it promised to impart that closed the deal. Other trees in the garden that were beautiful to look upon and wonderful to taste, but this tree offered her the divine prerogative of determining good and evil for herself. Eating from this tree meant independence.
When man cuts himself off from God by rejecting Him as the one who defines truth, morality and beauty, he must then appeal to the next highest court, which is man himself. If God isn’t the measure of what is right and wrong, then I am or you are. But this raises a problem. Since the god called “you” and the god called “me” often disagree, the result is a power struggle where might makes right. Thus, there is no court of appeal in heaven for the weak. Man is god and the powerful man or woman is god-almighty the arbiter of truth, the inventor or right, the definer of what is fair and good. When this world view takes root it yields death. As God warned, the day you eat of it, you will surely die.
The evidence of this is laid out before us. In the twentieth century man explicitly rejected Heaven’s rule and secularism became the dominant political and cultural force. It should come as no surprise that the result was the bloodiest century in the history of the world with its Stalin and Hitler and Mussolini and Mao. In each of these instances the issue was simple. Those who had the power, felt uninhibited in rooting out any and all who stood in their way. To the secular mind there can be no appeal to God’s will, no appeal to the fact that those they slaughter bear the image of God. In spite of the evidence, the secular minded man still fails to see that every attempt of man to dethrone the loving and wise God of Heaven necessarily results in the enthronement of cruel and foolish men. Man cannot live without God. So don’t buy the lie of Satan, in the day you eat of it, you will surely die.
The implication of this for abortion is staggering. Before making the connection, let's be sure we feel the weight of what is happening. Since the Roe v. Wade decision in 1973 made it legal to take the lives of an unborn baby for any reason, there have been over 45 million abortions. One baby aborted every 26 seconds, 151 every hour, 3,629 every day. Over 60% of those having abortions reported that the reason for their abortion was either economic or “does not want a child at this time”
Here's the link between abortion and the secular world that began in the Garden of Eden. It’s the word “want.” “I do not want the child at this time.” With these words we are near the heart of the issue. At this time in American history, that is one of the most powerful sentences a person can speak: “I do not want a child at this time.” It's powerful, because in a world without God, a mother’s “want” has become the will of a god We have endowed her will with the right and the power to create human personhood. When God is no longer the creator of human personhood, endowing it with dignity and rights in His own image, we take that role for ourselves.
That sentence should make us tremble, because it shows that in a world without God, the will of the strong creates (or nullifies) the personhood of the weak. In other words, in our laws we have now made room for some killing to be justified not on the basis of the rights or crimes of the one killed, but decisively on the basis of the will, the desire, of a stronger person. The decisive criterion of personhood and non-personhood, what is right and wrong, what is legal and what is illegal, is the will of the strong. Might makes right. Might makes personhood. Might makes legal. This is the ultimate statement of tyranny. It is the essence of the original insurrection against God, and the consequences are devastating.
God’s remedy for this situation was the birth of a Child - Jesus Christ (Gen 3:15). This is why Paul said in Gal 4 :4, “When the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of a woman, born under the law.” Born of a woman because he had promised that the offspring of the woman would crush the head of the serpent. That is what Jesus did when he came. Our task is to receive the forgiveness He gives and to never again fall for the lie that we can be as God.
