13Then some children were brought to Him so that He might lay His hands on them and pray; and the disciples rebuked them.
14But Jesus said, “Let the children alone, and do not hinder them from coming to Me; for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.”
(Matthew 19:13–14, NASB)

Yesterday was Friday, June 24, 2022. The Supreme Court of the United States of America made history when they ruled on the Dobbs case, overturning the 1973 ruling from Roe v. Wade that erroneously established abortion as a federally protected right. Even Ruth Bader Ginsburg recognized the court made a mistake in 1973 by basing their ruling on premises that couldn't withstand further Supreme Court scrutiny. It took nearly fifty years for the court to recognize and correct its mistake. You cannot find the word abortion or the right to an abortion anywhere in the document we call the United States Constitution. Therefore, it falls under the X Amendment putting it squarely on the states to decide, not the federal government.

"Jesus & the Children (Window)" by @markheybo is licensed under CC BY 2.0.

If your position on abortion is such that you hold it is "just a mass of cells" and not a child in the mother's womb, I have nothing further to say to you. You can hate-read if you want, but you lack the intellectual honesty and logical capability to make cogent arguments.

We can still be friends, but I will refrain from discussing important matters with you. Your judgment is damaged too much for me to spend my time trying to sort through. I've done that with people who carry this opinion in my youth. My time was wasted. They aren't interested in discussing evidence, facts, and logical positions. They are interested in yelling at me, calling me names, and trying to shut me up in case someone who can reason well hears what I have to say.

For everyone else who is still reading, I'll summarize what I'm trying to accomplish in this treatise.

As a Christian, I believe we should know and understand what we believe, our principles, if you will. Because we call ourselves Christians, followers of Christ, we should be able to anchor what we believe in God's Word. I believe abortion is wrong, that it is killing a child. I do not believe God is happy about that when it occurs. I'm going to lay out a logical progression from the Old Testament through the New Testament to today for why abortion is wrong. I'm also going to try and give the reader concrete things he or she can do given the landscape of American society as it is today. There's simply no sense in delving into the minutia of why we believe something if there aren't also practical steps associated with it to help the reader regardless of their position.

I do not claim any particular authority for what I will say here other than this. What follows is what I believe. It is what I have found in my search of the scripture. It is what the Holy Spirit has given me, and it is my opinion. It is also how I intend to guide my life. If someone takes what I've written and incorporates it into their life, great, but I'm not saying everyone must do it this way or believe it. This is one Christian's biblical view of Abortion.

The First Commandment

The Israelites are a new nation. A people set apart. God has spent forty years leading them through the wilderness. He gave them a land across the Jordan river to call their own. He helped them drive out the wicked people who lived there and established His covenant with them.

1Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying,
2 "Speak to the sons of Israel and say to them, 'I am the Lord your God.
3'You shall not do what is done in the land of Egypt where you lived, nor are you to do what is done in the land of Canaan where I am bringing you; you shall not walk in their statutes.
4'You are to perform My judgments and keep My statutes, to live in accord with them; I am the Lord your God.
5'So you shall keep My statutes and My judgments, by which a man may live if he does them; I am the Lord.
(Leviticus 18:1–5, NASB)

God explains that His people define themselves by the fact that they keep His rules. These rules are distinct from how any other people in creation live. It is what sets His people apart, and they are to be set apart. The people of God are not to be melded into, amalgamated with, or blended to be indistinguishable from the people of the world. The Children of God are to be unique, a peculiar people.

7This precious value, then, is for you who believe. But for those who disbelieve, "The stone which the builders rejected, This became the very corner stone,"
8and, "A stone of stumbling and a rock of offense";for they stumble because they are disobedient to the word, and to this doom they were also appointed.
9 But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God's own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light;
10for you once were not a people, but now you are the people of God; you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.
(1 Peter 2:7–10, NASB)

Christians are not to look, sound, act, or be like the people they are surrounded by. We are to be set apart, unique, peculiar, an oddity. It makes us remarkable to other people; the way we live by His judgments and statutes.

Why is this? Because God freed His people from Egypt. We are free because He bargained for and obtained our release. God could have just decided it was so, and it would be so because He made everything so He can do that. But He created free will and gave human beings the right to choose their path. In the Old Testament, God secured the freedom of His people, and it was so. To set them apart, He gave them the first rule; He is the one and only God they should have, and no other.

1Then God spoke all these words, saying,
2 "I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.
3 "You shall have no other gods before Me.
4 "You shall not make for yourself an idol, or any likeness of what is in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the water under the earth.
5 "You shall not worship them or serve them; for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, on the third and the fourth generations of those who hate Me,
6but showing lovingkindness to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments.
(Exodus 20:1–6, NASB)

No idols, images, or likenesses of anything known are to be held in greater regard than God Himself. Prioritizing things in our lives ahead of the things God sets out for us makes them more important than He is. We set those things up as Idols. In turn, we set ourselves up for a life that is not as fruitful, productive, and happy as it could have been. It is the way creation has been ordered, whether we agree with or like it.

God set His people apart. God gave these people distinct rules to follow. God told them that he would take care of those who followed His rules and deal harshly with people who chose to ignore His ways. This simply is how things are.

The Gods of the Old Testament

I'm not going to dig into all the gods running around in the Old Testament times. I'm going to focus on one: Molech. There are several spellings of this name: Molech, Moloch, and Molek are the most common. In Egypt, a wide variety of gods were kept for all sorts of things. The purpose for having a pantheon of gods versus one god allowed a power structure in the priest class to center around various events, seasons, and festivals. Each deity had his or her own rights and ceremonies.

In the land of Canaan, Molech was a major deity. For the Israelites, the main idol for Molech was at a location called Tophet in the Valley of Hinnom. In this location, the worshipers would bring their children and "pass them through the fire," which is generally understood to mean sacrificing their children to Molech by burning them alive.

Josiah was the 16th king of Judah. During his reign, the worship of false gods became rampant in the kingdom, but at that time, they had lost all copies of the Old Testament, and the Jews fell away from God. Josiah began a building campaign to refurbish the temple of the Lord. Hilkiah, the high priest, discovered a copy of the Law of God during this refurbishment. He read it and at once realized what he had found. When a messenger from Josiah arrived, Hilkiah took the book to the king straight away and read it to him. As soon as Josiah heard what the book contained, he became both sad and angry, realizing how lost he and his people had become. Immediately Josiah set about reforming the kingdom to move away from the wicked ways and return to the ways of God. You can read about this in 2 Kings 23 to 24, but I want to focus on the following passage talking specifically about what Josiah did in Topheth as it relates to the worship of Molech.

10He also defiled Topheth, which is in the valley of the son of Hinnom, that no man might make his son or his daughter pass through the fire for Molech.
11And he did away with the horses which the kings of Judah had given to the sun, at the entrance of the house of the Lord, by the chamber of Nathan-melech the official, which was in the precincts; and he burned the chariots of the sun with fire.
12And the altars which were on the roof, the upper chamber of Ahaz, which the kings of Judah had made, and the altars which Manasseh had made in the two courts of the house of the Lord, the king broke down; and he smashed them there, and threw their dust into the brook Kidron.
13And the high places which were before Jerusalem, which were on the right of the mount of destruction which Solomon the king of Israel had built for Ashtoreth the abomination of the Sidonians, and for Chemosh the abomination of Moab, and for Milcom the abomination of the sons of Ammon, the king defiled.
14And he broke in pieces the sacred pillars and cut down the Asherim and filled their places with human bones.
15 Furthermore, the altar that was at Bethel and the high place which Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who made Israel sin, had made, even that altar and the high place he broke down. Then he demolished its stones, ground them to dust, and burned the Asherah.
(2 Kings 23:10–15, NASB)

The prophet Jeremiah speaks about these events as well. He doesn't have anything good to say, which is to say that God doesn't have anything good to say about the situation. Jeremiah, as a prophet, is merely relating what God tells him to tell people.

35 "And they built the high places of Baal that are in the valley of Ben-hinnom to cause their sons and their daughters to pass through the fire to Molech, which I had not commanded them nor had it entered My mind that they should do this abomination, to cause Judah to sin.
36 "Now therefore thus says the Lord God of Israel concerning this city of which you say, 'It is given into the hand of the king of Babylon by sword, by famine, and by pestilence.'
(Jeremiah 32:35–36, NASB)

God has set Levitical law against the practice of worshiping another god. God has set out the first commandment that His people shall have no other gods. The children of God are to be unique, following His rules and doing things His way instead of how everyone else does things. Concerning Molech specifically, God has very specific rules which, according to scripture, center around His displeasure with the practice of sacrificing children.

1Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying,
2 "You shall also say to the sons of Israel, 'Any man from the sons of Israel or from the aliens sojourning in Israel, who gives any of his offspring to Molech, shall surely be put to death; the people of the land shall stone him with stones.
3'I will also set My face against that man and will cut him off from among his people, because he has given some of his offspring to Molech, so as to defile My sanctuary and to profane My holy name.
4'If the people of the land, however, should ever disregard that man when he gives any of his offspring to Molech, so as not to put him to death,
5then I Myself will set My face against that man and against his family; and I will cut off from among their people both him and all those who play the harlot after him, by playing the harlot after Molech.
6 'As for the person who turns to mediums and to spiritists, to play the harlot after them, I will also set My face against that person and will cut him off from among his people.
7'You shall consecrate yourselves therefore and be holy, for I am the Lord your God.
8'And you shall keep My statutes and practice them; I am the Lord who sanctifies you.
(Leviticus 20:1–8, NASB)

An important point in this last passage is in verse four. The statement "should ever disregard that man when he gives any of his offspring to Molech" is important. It means if someone turns a blind eye to the people sacrificing their children to Molech, the Israelites should put them to death. Verse four means permitting and allowing people to sacrifice their children to Molech is just as bad as burning the children alive. Worshiping Molech, turning a blind eye to that worship, and ignoring God's statutes and judgments have consequences.

21'Neither shall you give any of your offspring to offer them to Molech, nor shall you profane the name of your God; I am the Lord.
22'You shall not lie with a male as one lies with a female; it is an abomination.
23'Also you shall not have intercourse with any animal to be defiled with it, nor shall any woman stand before an animal to mate with it; it is a perversion.
24 'Do not defile yourselves by any of these things; for by all these the nations which I am casting out before you have become defiled.
25'For the land has become defiled, therefore I have visited its punishment upon it, so the land has spewed out its inhabitants.
26'But as for you, you are to keep My statutes and My judgments, and shall not do any of these abominations, neither the native, nor the alien who sojourns among you
27(for the men of the land who have been before you have done all these abominations, and the land has become defiled);
28so that the land may not spew you out, should you defile it, as it has spewed out the nation which has been before you.
29'For whoever does any of these abominations, those persons who do so shall be cut off from among their people.
30'Thus you are to keep My charge, that you do not practice any of the abominable customs which have been practiced before you, so as not to defile yourselves with them; I am the Lord your God.'"
(Leviticus 18:21–30, NASB)

Our Current Situation

The 2 Kings 22-2 Kings 23 situation is very much like ours today. We are descending into or at the bottom of a falling away from God as a people. Memberships in churches worldwide are generally falling year over year. Denominations are finding it harder and harder to make ends meet. Secular social media is rampant with anti-God content. In many cases, social media platforms have algorithms and systems set up to downgrade posts of a religious nature. While we haven't forgotten who God is by virtue of losing His word as they did in the days of Josiah, we have millions of people who actively hate God, undermine His beliefs, and ridicule those who try to follow His ways.

However, we can draw hope from the days of Josiah. When the king realized he was living in error, he corrected himself immediately. Not only that, the king corrected everything within his power. He didn't stand by and permit ungodly behavior. He actively worked against it in everything that was in his authority, and it was counted as a blessing for he and his people. We are no different. We can find favor with God in the thing we discover ourselves in error as long as we take action to correct our behavior.

God does not give us the option of accepting these ungodly behaviors as implying "just another way" of being. They are not His ways. We are neither to do them nor turn a blind eye to them. Things against God are not a co-equal way of doing things. They are wrong. There is a right and a wrong in the world, and we have been given a way to discern that. To ignore this reality of how creation was made is to invite God's wrath in all that we do and are. We cannot simply turn a blind eye to these things. We must stand against them and speak the truth that they are wrong, against God, and unacceptable.

What are the people of God to do?

We are called to be a different people, a peculiar people. We are to do things differently from the way the people of the world do things. This is not to punish us but to lead us down a path that is better than the one followed by those who do not wish to keep His ways. Does that make us better than other people? No, but it gives us a guide to living a better life in God's eyes.

We are called to avoid the things the world worships, the idols, graven images, and the high places they set up. We have a different way of living. We have a different set of values to adhere to because God asked us to do this. God sent His Son to free us from the bondage of sin and the death that sin carries with it, just like God sent Moses to Pharaoh to obtain the release of the Hebrew slaves. When Jesus sacrificed Himself on the cross as the spotless lamb, the final sin offering for everyone in history, God once again purchased the right to ask us to follow His ways. If we want the benefits of being His children, we should be willing to do things His way. It isn't a works-based theology. It isn't earning God's favor or blessings. It is saying thank you to Him for what He has done on our behalf though we did not deserve it. He did it because He wanted to do it.

This next passage is long, but it is important. Stephen was the first martyr of the newly formed Christian church. Very much then as now, Stephen faced a Greek populace rife with prideful people steeped deeply in their wisdom. The Greeks and later Romans put great stock in their own thought. Stephen had to contend with people who eschewed the wisdom of God over the things they thought they knew because they studied the science of the day. Their approach and attitudes of the day were not much different then than those who oppose Christianity today. We can look back those two thousand years and see the advances science has made from then to now and realize just how much they didn't know, but they thought they knew it all, just like people do today.

Stephen offers us the same warning today as he offered the people of his day. We can choose to follow God and His ways, or we can choose to follow the World's ways. You cannot blend the two. You cannot have a foot in both camps. You cannot procrastinate the decision until it no longer matters because that is a decision, and it decides the World is more important than God.

43'You also took along the tabernacle of Moloch and the star of the god Rompha, the images which you made to worship them. I also will remove you beyond Babylon.'
44 "Our fathers had the tabernacle of testimony in the wilderness, just as He who spoke to Moses directed him to make it according to the pattern which he had seen.
45 "And having received it in their turn, our fathers brought it in with Joshua upon dispossessing the nations whom God drove out before our fathers, until the time of David.
46 "And David found favor in God's sight, and asked that he might find a dwelling place for the God of Jacob.
47 "But it was Solomon who built a house for Him.
48 "However, the Most High does not dwell in houses made by human hands; as the prophet says:
49'Heaven is My throne, And earth is the footstool of My feet; What kind of house will you build for Me?' says the Lord; 'Or what place is there for My repose?
50 'Was it not My hand which made all these things?'
51 "You men who are stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears are always resisting the Holy Spirit; you are doing just as your fathers did.
52 "Which one of the prophets did your fathers not persecute? And they killed those who had previously announced the coming of the Righteous One, whose betrayers and murderers you have now become;
53you who received the law as ordained by angels, and yet did not keep it."
54Now when they heard this, they were cut to the quick, and they began gnashing their teeth at him.
55But being full of the Holy Spirit, he gazed intently into heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God;
56and he said, "Behold, I see the heavens opened up and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God."
57But they cried out with a loud voice, and covered their ears, and they rushed upon him with one impulse.
58And when they had driven him out of the city, they began stoning him, and the witnesses laid aside their robes at the feet of a young man named Saul.
59And they went on stoning Stephen as he called upon the Lord and said, "Lord Jesus, receive my spirit!"
60And falling on his knees, he cried out with a loud voice, "Lord, do not hold this sin against them!" And having said this, he fell asleep.
(Acts 7:43–60, NASB)

Actual Steps We Can Take Now

Decide that there is a clear declaration of right and wrong and that God made it.

6Seek the Lord while He may be found; Call upon Him while He is near.
7 Let the wicked forsake his way, And the unrighteous man his thoughts; And let him return to the Lord, And He will have compassion on him; And to our God, For He will abundantly pardon.
8 "For My thoughts are not your thoughts, Neither are your ways My ways," declares the Lord.
9 "For as the heavens are higher than the earth, So are My ways higher than your ways, And My thoughts than your thoughts.
(Isaiah 55:6–9, NASB)

Decide to follow, build up, and encourage only those things declared by God to be good.

16And behold, one came to Him and said, "Teacher, what good thing shall I do that I may obtain eternal life?"
17And He said to him, "Why are you asking Me about what is good? There is only One who is good; but if you wish to enter into life, keep the commandments."
18He *said to Him, "Which ones?" And Jesus said, "You shall not commit murder; You shall not commit adultery; You shall not steal; You shall not bear false witness;
19Honor your father and mother; and You shall love your neighbor as yourself."
20The young man *said to Him, "All these things I have kept; what am I still lacking?"
21Jesus said to him, "If you wish to be complete, go and sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you shall have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me."
22But when the young man heard this statement, he went away grieved; for he was one who owned much property.
23 And Jesus said to His disciples, "Truly I say to you, it is hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven.
24 "And again I say to you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God."
25And when the disciples heard this, they were very astonished and said, "Then who can be saved?"
26And looking upon them Jesus said to them, "With men this is impossible, but with God all things are possible."
27Then Peter answered and said to Him, "Behold, we have left everything and followed You; what then will there be for us?"
28And Jesus said to them, "Truly I say to you, that you who have followed Me, in the regeneration when the Son of Man will sit on His glorious throne, you also shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.
29 "And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or farms for My name's sake, shall receive many times as much, and shall inherit eternal life.
30 "But many who are first will be last; and the last, first.
(Matthew 19:16–30, NASB)

Decide not to be afraid of what the World thinks as you evaluate, list, and implement changes in your life to align more closely with God's ways.

1For the choir director; on a stringed instrument. A Psalm of David. Hear my cry, O God; Give heed to my prayer.
2 From the end of the earth I call to Thee, when my heart is faint; Lead me to the rock that is higher than I.
3 For Thou hast been a refuge for me, A tower of strength against the enemy.
4 Let me dwell in Thy tent forever; Let me take refuge in the shelter of Thy wings. Selah.
5 For Thou hast heard my vows, O God; Thou hast given me the inheritance of those who fear Thy name.
6 Thou wilt prolong the king's life; His years will be as many generations.
7 He will abide before God forever; Appoint lovingkindness and truth, that they may preserve him.
8 So I will sing praise to Thy name forever, That I may pay my vows day by day.
(Psalm 61:1–8, NASB)

Decide this day whom you will follow.

14 "Now, therefore, fear the Lord and serve Him in sincerity and truth; and put away the gods which your fathers served beyond the River and in Egypt, and serve the Lord.
15 "And if it is disagreeable in your sight to serve the Lord, choose for yourselves today whom you will serve: whether the gods which your fathers served which were beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you are living; but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord."
(Joshua 24:14–15, NASB)

Adult Bible Study Material - The Cavalier's Pen

A Biblical Case Against Abortion