Application of Matthew 18:10 to Abortion
See that you don’t look down on one of these little ones; for I tell you that their angels in heaven always behold the face of my Father in heaven.
We see from Jesus' words above that we are not to "look down on" (i.e., "think against," "despise," or "disdain") the little ones. But we must recognize that there is a multi-million dollar industry in America that is built on despising the little ones: the abortion industry.
The total number of deaths due to legal abortions in America stands somewhere above 45 million at this time. And, yet, it’s hard to be certain of the exact number, because so-called “Womens Surgical Centers” often mask the reporting of abortions by including the procedure under otherwise anonymous gynecological treatment. Nor does that 45 million deaths include all those children aborted by misnamed contraceptive devices, which do not prevent conception, but rather generate a spontaneous miscarriage whenever there is a conception.
As John Piper has observed, “In the United States today, you can be fined $5000 and imprisoned for up to a year for breaking an eagle’s egg, you can be imprisoned and fined for stealing a sea turtle egg, and yet our babies are being killed daily with little outcry.” Surely we, as a nation, have been guilty of despising the little ones.
But think of a woman who is fearful of a pregnancy that she thinks she has no resources to manage, a woman who is irritated and frustrated by the way this new life has overturned her own – how can such a woman turn away from her own fears or her own self-centeredness and embrace, instead of despise, the little one in her womb? A woman in such a “crisis pregnancy” situation must have a gospel witness and she must see the example of Christians who can model self-sacrificial family living for her and offer her the support that she will absolutely need. Jesus said we are to be the light of the world; so we must seek for ways to be light in this dark, to keep from turning our backs on the little ones.
[Many of the thoughts and phrases above are from the sermon "Abortion: Where From Here?" by William Mouser.]
We see from Jesus' words above that we are not to "look down on" (i.e., "think against," "despise," or "disdain") the little ones. But we must recognize that there is a multi-million dollar industry in America that is built on despising the little ones: the abortion industry.
The total number of deaths due to legal abortions in America stands somewhere above 45 million at this time. And, yet, it’s hard to be certain of the exact number, because so-called “Womens Surgical Centers” often mask the reporting of abortions by including the procedure under otherwise anonymous gynecological treatment. Nor does that 45 million deaths include all those children aborted by misnamed contraceptive devices, which do not prevent conception, but rather generate a spontaneous miscarriage whenever there is a conception.
As John Piper has observed, “In the United States today, you can be fined $5000 and imprisoned for up to a year for breaking an eagle’s egg, you can be imprisoned and fined for stealing a sea turtle egg, and yet our babies are being killed daily with little outcry.” Surely we, as a nation, have been guilty of despising the little ones.
But think of a woman who is fearful of a pregnancy that she thinks she has no resources to manage, a woman who is irritated and frustrated by the way this new life has overturned her own – how can such a woman turn away from her own fears or her own self-centeredness and embrace, instead of despise, the little one in her womb? A woman in such a “crisis pregnancy” situation must have a gospel witness and she must see the example of Christians who can model self-sacrificial family living for her and offer her the support that she will absolutely need. Jesus said we are to be the light of the world; so we must seek for ways to be light in this dark, to keep from turning our backs on the little ones.
[Many of the thoughts and phrases above are from the sermon "Abortion: Where From Here?" by William Mouser.]
Labels: Christian worldview
posted by Andrew Lindsey | 10:00 PM
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