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Shedding Innocent Blood

Shedding Innocent Blood

“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness.” The Founding Fathers had a clear purpose in writing these influential words in a document that clearly declares a right to life and freedom. These words, written over two hundred years ago, became the very foundation of what the United States of America stands for. Yet in the past hundred years, millions of American citizens have been denied the rights and the truths encompassed in this statement. Regardless of political or religious beliefs everyone is entitled to life. However, Americans have lost focus and have in more recent years began to deny life to one of the most important age groups in society—babies. Crying out from the womb for a chance at life, America’s babies are subjected to horrific murder as the nation debates the civil rights issue of its citizens to have an abortion. In America Christians need to make adoption become more socially acceptable among the people by setting the example, as Christ did on earth, by offering to help in any way possible.

For some abortion is a touchy subject and others not so much. There are only two real positions one could take when looking at the issue of abortion. The positions often get labeled as pro-life or pro-choice. Pro-life people are against abortion. These people affirm that life is important and disagree with the idea and process of having an abortion. . Pro-choice people agree that anyone can choose whether or not to enter into the process of having an abortion. People who are pro-choice may value life as important but just believe the woman has the right to choose whether or not she wants to keep the baby she is going to have. There are three subtopics that exist within the issue of abortion. Some people believe that life starts at conception, so technically, abortion is murder, and those who believe it starts at birth, but think it is immoral and those who believe that it starts at birth and see abortion as an acceptable alternative. The latter of the three options speaks of the general belief of the pro-choice platform. These people argue about the rare cases of rape, incest, and so on.

Some pro-choice believers would argue that because the mother was raped the baby is going to be one the parent doesn’t want and therefore she has the personal liberty to have an abortion. Furthermore there are some who would argue they are pro-life however if the baby is going to harm the mother the mother then has the right to have an abortion. They continue their argument by saying the mother is then capable to have more children. Is that something Jesus would do? No, most definitely not. And as the facts begin to unfold pro-choice believers begin to crumble and skip over the important details of the facts.

When considering the case of Laci Peterson it is as important of a decision to everyone as the Roe v Wade case that was enacted in 1973. In Redwood City, California Scott Peterson was convicted of something so crucial to the pro-life movement it is essential that it is brought up. A judge formally sentenced Scott to die by a lethal injection after his conviction of double murder (Harriet). This is important for the pro-life cause because it proves that Scott Peterson did not kill just one person he killed two. Thus proving something even greater that the truth about when life begins in the Bible relates to modern day life.

“The Bible doesn’t say anything about abortion, how can you say it is a sin?” as you might be thinking. This is actually a question I have gotten quite a bit; abortion is not mentioned in the Bible, so how can I say it is a sin? The question is flawed because it is focused on the procedure rather than what abortion actually is. That is one of the fundamental reasons Christians ignore abortion, they look at it as a procedure. We must look past the procedure to the root of what abortion is. Abortion is the murdering of a human person. There are many ways to murder a human person and not all of them are mentioned in the Bible. Using this logic, you could argue that shooting someone with a gun is not mentioned in the Bible; so therefore it is not a sin. Shooting someone with a gun, like abortion, is simply the procedure used to murder that human person. We all know that murdering someone is a sin; “thou shalt not murder” is pretty cut and dry. Here are some characteristics and statistics of women having an abortion. Over half (56%) of all women having abortions between 15-44 are in their 20’s.

• Nearly eight in 10 U.S. women obtaining an abortion report a religious affiliation of which 43% are Protestant, 27% are Catholic, 8% are other religions
• 41% of women having abortions are white, 32% are black, and 20% are Hispanic.
(Statistics)

If other religions are not going to take responsibility for the right to life that makes all the more reason and responsibility Christians need to step up and make a difference. It is absolutely horrifying to think that these people claim to know Jesus as their personal Lord and Savior yet they would allow such a thing as this. It goes beyond the issue of republican or democrat, we have got to change the direction America is headed in. It is plain to see that it is not even an issue of race, but we tend to see from the statistics that, it is not just our lower income people that are having an abortion, the white community is leading the way in proceeding with abortions. To solve this problem we as Christians have to show people that we value life and are supportive of the fact that everyone needs to keep the baby they have. In doing so, we have to promote the idea of adoption if the couple or single mother is not capable of keeping the baby even if she would like to. We need to have an open heart just as Jesus would and be willing to help whomever it is in any way we can.

Scripture tells about the beginning of human life. The most popular verse pro-lifers use about God forming us in the womb comes from a Psalm written by David. Have you read Psalm 51:5? “Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, And in sin my mother conceived me. (NIV 918)” From the moment of conception you have sin. What does sin stain? It stains your soul, not your flesh. You have a soul at the moment of conception. Lets look at another passage that comes from Luke 1:39,

At that time Mary got ready and hurried to a town in the hill country of Judea, 40 where she entered Zechariah’s home and greeted Elizabeth. 41 When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the baby leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. 42 In a loud voice she exclaimed: “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the child you will bear! 43 But why am I so favored, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? 44 As soon as the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the baby in my womb leaped for joy. 45 Blessed is she who has believed that what the Lord has said to her will be accomplished (NIV 1652)!”

Elizabeth was pregnant with John the Baptist and was about 6 months along in her pregnancy. Mary was only a few days pregnant with Jesus when John the Baptist recognized the person-hood of Christ and leaped in the womb. It cannot be any clearer when life begins. So again it comes back to the core of the pro-life argument, person-hood. In reality almost all the tough questions people ask me will be brought back to this principle.

A child in the womb is a human person. Murdering a human person is wrong. Abortion is murdering a human person. Abortion is wrong. That was the long answer to the question. The short answer is simple; abortion is mentioned in the Bible, “thou shalt not murder”.

As Christians we have a mandate to end abortion, because we believe everyone is a child of God. Every abortion that happens in America is fueling sin, and it is all because of the shedding of innocent blood. In America, life needs to be defined as starting at conception and people need to come to the realization that life is important; everyone matters no matter the circumstance you were born into, and need to seek to end abortion clinics and replace them with adoption clinics. The Indianapolis Abortion Clinic claims “the vacuum aspiration abortion is one of the safest and simplest of medical procedures” (Abortion Information). This could not be further from the truth. John Lott in his book refutes a statement like this saying “… a thorough analysis of abortion and crime statistics leads to a contrary conclusion—that abortion, in fact, increases crime (Lott 118). This is a sad state of affairs because people claim that abortion is a safe alternative because a child “might” become a criminal. Let’s put an end to this nonsense by following the teachings of Christ.

For those who follow the teachings of Christ the only real choice is Pro-Life. A true Christian who does not embrace the worldly mindset would disagree with the whole notion of having an abortion altogether. As Dr. Seuss’s famous line goes “a person is a person no matter how small” (Horton Hears a Who). Everyone matters to God especially those who are in the fetus stage. It is important as Christians that we value life as God values life and promote it at all costs. The one great way to get involved if you are not a protest type person is to become adamant about the idea of adoption clinics. The answer to abortion in our nation is adoption. Just as the Underground Railroad was in the days of slavery, so will adoption be in our day. This is the hour to raise our voice for the voiceless and babies in their mother’s womb. This is the civil rights issue of our day, and adoption is the answer! There is a voice in the womb, a people who need to be protected.

In order to follow an important mandate everyone, including Christians, have an obligation to create the right to life once again. More importantly we have to define the right to life and declare that life starts at conception. Realizing that every abortion that takes place counts for murder, as followers of Christ we must stick to the original Ten Commandments and put an end to this civil rights issue. We have to make adoptions more socially acceptable and politically correct for Americans today. Babies’ need a voice and you need to do everything in your power to answer their silent cry. Leaving this, as an issue for tomorrow will only prolong the fact that babies in America will likely not receive a voice. Can you hear their cry for justice? If you have a heart you will hear their cry for mercy and justice and answer it with warm, loving, and embracing arms. By sticking to what the Bible says you can impact the physical and spiritual needs of this world. You can be the positive example and impact the heart of God. Jesus would do that. Jesus has done that. Now, it is your turn as a follower of Christ to walk in the footsteps of his example.

Works Cited
“Abortion Information.” Clinic for Women. 02 January 2008. Clinic for Women. 10 Mar 2008 .
Bound4Life team. “Statistics.” Bound4Life. 2008. International House of Prayer- Bound4Life. 10 Mar 2008 .
Horton Hears a Who. Dir. Jimmy Hayward. Perf. Jim Carrey, Steve Carell, Carol Burnett, Will Arnett. 2008. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0451079/. 25 Mar. 2008 .
Lott, John. Freedomnomics. 1st. Washington, DC: An Eagle Publishing Company, 2007.
Ryan, Harriet. “Judge sentences Scott Peterson to death for killing his wife and unborn son.” Court TV 116 March 2005 1. 09 March 2008 .
The Committee on Bible Translation. NIV The Message® Parallel Bible. 1st. Chicago, Illinois: Zondervan, 1978.