On Jan 22, 2012, churches around America celebrated life and spoke out against abortion. The day is significant because just 39 years earlier the U.S. Supreme Court made one of the most shameful decisions in American history. By ruling in favor of “Jane Roe” (the alias of a woman in Texas who sought an abortion), they began America’s most heinous medical genocide.
Pastor and theologian R.C. Sproul makes this comment on that fateful date:
“…we do know with certainty what happened on January 22, 1973. On that day the Supreme Court handed down its decision in the case Roe v. Wade. The nine men determined that every state had the duty to give women unfettered access to abortion up until the birth of the child. It was a day whose infamy overshadows December 7, 1941 in the memory of the church in America. Since that time perhaps 50,000,000 babies have been murdered in the womb with the full protection of the state and the knowledge of the church.”
Many churches now take the 3rd Sunday of each New Year to mourn the moment that America turned its back on the unborn. So what should our church do so far away from the action of the abortion fight?
We first need to realize that when we left America we did not leave the problem behind. In fact, the same sin infests the Asian continent, just in different expressions. India and China are world leaders in abortions, killing more little girls each year than the total number of girls born in America each year. So let us see that our new land needs as much prayer as America in regard to the sanctity of life.
The second thing that we need to do as a church is to remember that abortion does not only affect unborn children. There are probably women in our church or reading this article who have had an abortion and feel guilt. There may be men who are reading this who regret guiding or funding an abortion in the past. We need to lovingly help people understand that God is gracious and merciful, offering full forgiveness to anyone who will throw themselves at His feet in repentance. There is comfort for them in the Gospel. If you are reading this and are dealing with shame or anger because you took part in an abortion, please seek God in His Word and then speak to a Pastor near you. If you still need encouragement that God is merciful and loving, then please watch this video.
Lastly, at least for the purpose of this article, we must plead with the Lord for opportunities to put our beautiful feet, fitted with the gospel, into the fight for the unborn. We must be willing to lift our voices both to God in prayer, but also in objection to the worldwide child holocaust.
So please join me in prayer this week that God would help America come to honor the image of God in each womb, and that God would mercifully purge the world of sin by overwhelming it with the Gospel.
Here are a few more resources to help you understand Sanctity of Life:
www.abort73.com
www.thepublicdiscourse.com/2012/01/4577
www.desiringgod.org/resource-library/sermons/by-occasion/sanctity-of-life-sunday
By Steve Houser
________________________________________________
Steve is the Youth Director at Songtan Central Baptist Church. He lives in Songtan, Korea with his wife and their toddler son. He seeks to passionately follow God and lead his family in the worship of God. Other things he enjoys when not spending time with his family are hanging out with the youth group, sports, writing, reading, and Christian Rap.
Good post Steve. One of the most compelling and passionate objections to our government’s policies upholding and promoting abortion as women’s health and reproductive freedom comes from Pastor John Piper. A short audio-visual excerpt can be found at http://www.desiringgod.org/blog/posts/no-mr-president-killing-is-killing-no-matter-what-we-call-it. If the Church would pray for God’s help, then they should realize that God has given them the blessing of having a government in which they have a voice, if they would only use it. A number of states have pro-life friendly laws. While they don’t stop the federal legal mandate allowing abortions, they seek other routes to avoid them. This includes mandatory counseling, a waiting period, and some even require expecting mothers to have seen a sonogram of their baby before they may elect to terminate the pregnancy. Sadly these protections, even as weak as they may be, are constantly under attack by liberal legislators who are backed by organizations that profit from state-funded abortion, like Planned Parenthood. Christians should pray, but they should also be active in writing and opposing legislators who would support attacks against such pro-life initiatives. Finally, as pro-choice is part of the platform of the Democratic party, I would call on all Christians who are democrats to be active and vocal in changing their party’s platform to favor pro-life protection for unborn babies. Even Roe v Wade can be overturned by constitutional amendment (though I would argue that abortion should already be unconstitutional in that it denies unborn people life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness).