–– Paul Schlehlein
The audio version of this article is available here: YouTube, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify.
Abortion marches on in Africa, as technology has made infanticide easier than ever before.
But the groundswell of so-called “women’s health medicine” is not the only pusher of abortion. The church has largely been silent on child murder and silence means consent. When is the last time you saw a march in Africa in defence of unborn murdered children? Are stories like secret forced abortions more common in Africa than well-reasoned articles in opposition to it? Is it surprising that Africa’s most famous modern bishop—Desmond Tutu—was pro-abortion? Are Christians able to spot poor arguments for abortion, even when they are coming from the church?
Recently, the following tweet came out from a well-known influencer on social media: “The Bible never says abortion is sin. Period.”
The author doesn’t write for CNN, espouse atheism, or find employment at Planned Parenthood or Marie Stopes. He’s a pastor and graduate of two conservative Christian institutions in the United States. Over the years this man has sprinted leftward, allying with the homosexual community—whom he calls “courageous”—and saying bye-bye to his former tribe of “Bible believing, fundamentalist Baptists.”
Elsewhere, the author has lamented the strict Christian home in which he was raised, where he was never encouraged to ask questions or think on his own. Not until years later did he find enlightenment, discovering that the Bible never really condemns sins like sodomy and abortion as he had previously thought.
Warning
Before addressing the argument above, a warning to parents. You must prepare your children for these false claims, as such reasoning will strike them hard and fast once they leave the nest, if not long before. By the author’s own account, critical thinking was not a discipline his parents taught him. The results are tragic.
Critical thinking is Christian, a skill the Scriptures encourage believers to perform. First Peter 3:15 says, “Always being prepared to make a defence to anyone who asks you for a reason.” Luke commended the “noble” Bereans who examined the Scriptures to test if what the apostles said was true (Ac. 17:11).
In the early stages of child development, teachers should pump their students with facts. Isaac Newton discovered gravity, God created whales on the 5th day, 1+1=2, Jesus was born of a virgin, and so forth. In time, youth will start asking: “Why?” This question didn’t start in liberal universities; it began in the Bible. “Why” is a Christian idea, a word found nearly two thousand times in Scripture and first asked by God himself. “Cain, why are you angry” (Gn. 4:6)?
Humans have been asking why-questions ever since, with Christians usually responding with intelligent answers. The Egyptian Pharaoh asked why the Hebrew midwives didn’t slaughter the Jewish infants (Ex. 1:19). The king’s servants asked Mordecai why he wouldn’t bow down to Haman (Est. 3:3). The Jewish owners asked the disciples, “Why are you untying the colt” (Lk. 19:33). They were ready with an answer because Jesus had prepared them. They said: “The Lord has need of it.”
Answer
Back to the issue. Is the abortion argument above valid? No. But why? The answer is that the Bible does say abortion is sinful in Exodus 20:13: “You shall not murder.”
“Ah, but that is just my point,” he says. “The verse never specifically speaks of abortion.” Neither does it speak specifically of assassination, but this doesn’t make political execution permissible.
Suppose I use a similar argument. “The Bible never says hi-jacking airplanes is sin. Period.” Or, “The Bible never says looking at porn on my iPhone is sin. Period.” Or, “The Bible never says sex trafficking girls to Nigerian cartels is sin. Period.” Such reasoning is delusional, nothing more than crafty defences to justify murder and theft.
As Christians, we must apply general principles to specific cases. Sex trafficking and hi-jacking airplanes are sinful because they break the 8th commandment: “You shall not steal.” Pornography breaks the 7th commandment of adultery (Ex. 20:14; Mt. 5:28).
Abortion kills an innocent life, the definition of murder. In Scripture, the foetus is considered a person, which is why the man in Exodus 21 who strikes and kills the baby in the mother’s womb is given the death penalty, a law that, ironically, many pro-choice countries still follow today. The Bible says life is knitted together in the mother’s womb (Ps. 139:13) and uses words like “he” and “baby” (not it) to describe the unborn child (Lk. 1:15; 44).
In sum, the answer to the tweet is as simple as this moral syllogism:
All murder is sinful.
All abortion is murder.
Therefore, all abortion is sinful.
May the Lord give us families and churches that are able to think biblically and logically through the wide terrain of false teaching in our day.