Blog Abortion, the Bible and Guns

Some cherry-pick passages in order to claim the Bible allows for abortion. The question is, do passages such as Numbers 3:15 and Leviticus 27:6 really support abortion—the taking of a preborn baby’s life? Is a child of less than one month in the womb of less value?

Numbers 3:15 “Number the children of Levi after the house of their fathers, by their families: every male from a month old and upward shalt thou number them.” -KJV  

Leviticus 27:6 “And if it be from a month old even unto five years old, then thy estimation shall be of the male five shekels of silver, and for the female thy estimation shall be three shekels of silver. –KJV

Actually, one has to force a meaning on these passages to assume they refer to abortion. According to the WELS Center for Mission and Ministry, these passages refer to “…the amount of money a person would pay the priests in order to redeem, to buy back, an infant who had been dedicated to the Lord in a solemn vow (Leviticus 27:6) and the minimum age for the census of the Levites that Moses was going to undertake (Number 3:15).”

Another passage used is Exodus 21:22-25. 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. --KJV

Some Bible versions translate the passage as miscarriage and is used by the pro-abortion crowd. Other versions translate the phrase as premature birth. There is a word used for miscarrying, but the word here is not that word, but the word used refers to a live birth. Either way, when taken within the text and original word uses, this passage has nothing to do with abortion.

Even if the first translation is correct, the passage does not support abortion. This is about an accident. Abortion is a deliberate act. Because a penalty is attached, this shows the value of the child. In this and other passages, an accidental death engenders lesser consequences than a deliberate killing. This affirms not destroys the humanity of preborn children and human life itself. Further, many who seek to twist Scripture to prove abortion don’t even believe in the Bible as God’s Word. The sole intent is to harm not deal honestly with the issue.

The overall message of Scripture is about a Creator who loves and acknowledges and values His creation even in the womb. Scripture backs up the value of life even for the preborn. "Now the word of the Lord came to me, saying, 'Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you, and before you were born, I consecrated you; I appointed you a prophet to the nations.'" --Jeremiah 1:4-5

"The Lord called me from the womb, from the body of my mother he named my name."--Isaiah 49:1b

“For You formed my inward parts; You wove me in my mother’s womb. I will give thanks to You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; wonderful are Your works…. My frame was not hidden from You, when I was made in secret” --Psalm 139:13-15, NASB

In the New Testament, Jesus has bad things to say about those who harm His little ones. The Bible is not a book that promotes abortion. Instead, the Bible affirms life from a caring, deliberate Creator, and Jesus who came to heal and set free those in bondage, to the Savior who chose to give up his life to save His human creations, offering life in Him. Jesus is about life and love.

Abortion, on the other hand, is about torture and violence against the most innocent among us. Too many abortions, which is the deliberate killing of a preborn child, are done when that child could survive with medical care.

Planned Parenthood likes to abort in a way, when possible, to produce an intact child with a still-beating heart. These living babies are cut up, with no anesthesia, to sell for parts to be used for experimentation or for cell lines. There is big money in the sale of baby parts. Why? Because these babies are living and are fully human.

Abortion is a basic outcome of not believing in the preciousness of each human life. It discounts the value of life itself. This comes from pretending knowable truth doesn’t exist and there is no higher being who values life.

This affects the gun argument. Again, guns don’t kill, people do. It is a choice. When our young people are taught that life doesn’t matter, that it is ok to kill unborn babies, the sick, the elderly, why should they value life? What difference if society or they kill? Murder becomes simply another outlet. After all, those killed might legally have been killed before, and now in some states, even after birth.

The problem is not owning guns nor is it about abortion per se. It is what we feed our and our children’s minds and hearts. Why not instead, teach our children they are precious and special— because they are. Why not lift up a God who loves and cares for them, cares about life, and cares enough to be there for those who follow Him? Why not promote a culture that treats every person born or preborn, disabled or elderly with care and respect? Allow our culture a foundation of faith and the mental and physical health of the nation will rise. We’ll once more become a nation of life instead of death.

© 2022 Carolyn R Scheidies

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https://wels.net/faq/bible-passages-used-to-support-abortion/

https://abort73.com/abortion/exodus_2122_25/

https://www.desiringgod.org/articles/the-misuse-of-exodus-21-22-25-by-pro-choice-advocates

https://julieroys.com/survivor-of-botched-abortion-tells-congress-planned-parenthood-makes-sure-failures-like-me-dont-happen/

Politics Lost Generation

Where are the doctors to treat the ill,
Researchers to find the cures,
Scientists, inventors to solve problems galore,
Creative entrepreneurs?

So many questions unanswered,
And the minds which might have found
The answers to many a thorny problem
Lie forgotten in the ground.

A generation gone,
Sacrificed to selfishness and fear,
But in the holocaust of unborn children,
Have we made a sacrifice too dear?

Did we abort one who might have found,
The cure to many a disease?
Or maybe another Einstein, Madam Curie,
A Plato or Socrates?

In destroying a whole generation
Have we not lost humanity as well?
And, in choosing death brought closer still,
On earth a living hell?

As we choose active euthanasia,
Tomorrow who shall decide your fate,
When no longer can you speak for your life?
Your mother? The doctor? The state?

Today as we play executioner,
(Though given many a fancy name,)
By whatever term we take human life,
We diminish the compassion
of all who remain.

Let us halt this senseless destruction
Of a race bent on killing its weak,
Remember the love of He who died,
The helpless lost to seek.

Replace hate with compassion,
With love like He offers you and me,
To value life as did our Creator,
A love that sets us wholly free.

Thank you, Lord, for making each of us unique. Help me, help others recognize the value of each individual human life. Amen.

But Jesus said, “Let the little children come to me and do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of heaven.” —Mtthew 19:14

(C) 2016 Carolyn R Scheidies
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Blog What are You Worth & the Value of Life

What type of society do we have when we applaud individuals and groups that take or advocate the taking of the lives of those unable to defend themselves?

What type of culture applauds the woman who chooses to destroy her preborn child; applauds parents who choose death for their disabled infant or severely disabled child? What kind of people have we become to stand by while relatives and guardians of severely injured or elderly patients get court approval to withdraw from their "loved ones" the basic elements of nutrition and water, relegating these helpless individuals to slow, painful deaths by starvation and deprivation?

As we stand apathetically by while the innocent and helpless are systematically terminated, we herald the belief that not only are some lives worth more than others, but also that the worth of each individual is not inherent. The value of human life depends, then, on the valuation placed on us by a fickle society. Is the cost to keep one alive more than an arbitrary valuation placed upon that person by society? Is the cost of keeping them alive and comfortable more than they are worth?

If society places the valuation, what about you and I? Do we contribute enough to pay our dues to society? For how long? Are economic criteria the best, the only, deciding factor in the decision whether or not to allow a person to live?

As the innocent are sacrificed on the altar of selfishness and the greed of materialism and personal lifestyle, where is the loving, self-sacrifice of accommodating to changing circumstances of birth or illness? Where is love, compassion, the joy of giving? Where is growth through adversity? Where is the inherent worth of a soul?

This is not the time for apathy, but for action. It is the time to cry out against crimes against the most vulnerable among us through letters, votes, action and prayer. If your candidate doesn’t believe in the inherent worth of life, that person won’t value your life either. That belief will be revealed in values and votes.

It is time to once more rejoice in the worth and dignity of each human life, that of the preborn, the disabled, the elderly, mine--yours.

(c) 1994, 2020 Carolyn R. Scheidies

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