Back in the ’80s, the Wendy’s ® fast-food chain offered the anti-slogan, “Parts is parts” for their chicken sandwich. The slogan sent the message that all other chicken vendors used chicken parts indiscriminately in their processed chicken sandwiches, while Wendy’s ® only used the very best parts. One commercial had the customer questioning the content of the chicken and the attendant explaining that they used different parts of the chicken, and after all, “parts is parts.”[1]
Obviously, the parts do matter when ordering a chicken sandwich. One expects to get a tender chicken breast fillet in one’s chicken sandwich, and not an amalgamation of assorted chicken parts like the liver, gizzard, heart, skin, eyes, combs, intestines, etc. “Parts is parts,” but not all parts are suitable for consumption – at least, not in our minds.
Paul offered a similar idea in his first epistle to the Corinthians.[2] He compared the Church to our physical bodies. Our bodies are made up of large body parts that are readily observable – head, eyes, ears, nose, mouth, neck, shoulders, arms, hands, fingers, legs, feet, toes, etc. We also have literally trillions of microscopic parts beneath the skin that play major roles in keeping us alive – our cardio-vascular system, respiratory system, digestive system, endocrine system, neurological system, skeletal system, etc. All of these parts serve their own functions and are vital to our lives, even those that are not seen. Paul points out the obvious. We cannot exist as a hand alone, or a foot alone, or an eye alone, or an ear alone. We need all of our parts functioning harmoniously in union performing their individual roles as part of the whole body.
Apparently, from the tone of Paul’s letter, the Corinthians were having trouble in this department (and others as well). The Church functions as one body comprised of many members (parts). He sums this idea up like this, “Now ye are the body of Christ, and members in particular” (1 Corinthians 12:27). Each member of the body is “particular.” “Particular” translates the Greek word, meros, which means “one of the constituent parts of a whole.”[3]
Like the human body, the “Body of Christ,” the Church, has many members and each member serves a unique purpose in the body. We cannot all be preachers. We cannot all teach, or sing, or play musical instruments, but we all have a purpose. There are needed tasks in the church that seem “menial,” but serve a great need in the church – caring for children in the nursery, keeping the morning coffee going before services, greeting people as they come in the door, or just smiling and saying “Hi” to one another. Every member is important to the Body of Christ, and there is not one function that is more or less important than another. “Parts is NOT parts” The parts are all one in Christ, but we all serve our own unique, God-given purpose.
Reader, Jesus is coming soon. Are you prepared to meet Him? If you are not a member of His body, you will miss Him when He comes. Don’t do that! Please read my page on “Securing Eternal Life.”
The biggest problem I see with Christians today is that, when looking on the surface, there is no distinction between a believer and a non-believer, with the possible exception that the believer attends church on a semi-regular basis. Other than that, when observed from outside of the church walls, believers look and act pretty much like unbelievers. Believers and non-believers wear crosses around their necks. Believers are just as likely to consume alcoholic beverages at restaurants just like unbelievers. Female believers often dress just as immodestly as unbelieving women. Believers and unbelievers are equally fluent in foul language. Believers, like unbelievers, deface their bodies with hideous tattoos except that believers tattoo themselves with “Christian” messages and symbols.
Throughout Scripture, God makes it clear that He wants His people to be holy, i.e., set apart from the world, distinct from the world. Five times in Leviticus, God calls for His people to be holy, “for I the LORD am holy.”[1] Peter repeats the same exhortation in the New Testament: “Because it is written, Be ye holy; for I am holy (1 Peter 1:16), showing that God does not change in His expectation of His people. Be holy, sanctified, consecrated to God, and be separate and distinct from the world.
Paul writes a whole chapter to the church in Corinth providing a practical example of holy living.[2] In Corinth, pagans would offer meat sacrifices to their idols. The meat not burnt up in the holocaust was then sold in the temple market. There was nothing wrong with the meat; it was perfectly good to eat. However, some Christians would not dare to eat meat that had been sacrificed to idols, while others saw no harm in eating this meat. The latter rightly reasoned that idols were no gods, therefore meat sacrificed to them had no significance. Those who gave significance to the meat sacrificed to idols were offended by those who saw no problem with it.
In his argument, Paul agrees with those who think nothing of eating meat sacrificed to idols, but because of their maturity, he directs his argument to them. “Now as touching things offered unto idols, we know that we all have knowledge. Knowledge puffeth up, but charity edifieth” (1 Corinthians 8:1, emphasis mine). That “knowledge” says that idols are not really gods, therefore meat sacrificed to them is really insignificant. However, he warns that such “knowledge” can make us proud and as Christians, our “charity” (agapē) should cause us to seek to build up the weaker Christian. He goes on to point out that “… if any man think that he knoweth any thing, he knoweth nothing yet as he ought to know” (1 Corinthians 8:2, emphasis mine). Our understanding of God’s Word and our freedom in Christ can often cause us not to consider the frailty of a weaker brother or sister that has not reached our level of maturity. If we do not understand this, then we “know nothing as we yet ought to know.”
Paul goes on to explain that if the mature Christian does something that is not sinful, like eating meat sacrificed to idols in Paul’s example, and an immature Christian sees him do this act and perceives it as sinful, then the mature Christian causes the immature Christian to stumble in his faith. Rather than edify the weaker Christian, we have set a stumbling block before him. “And through thy knowledge shall the weak brother perish, for whom Christ died?” (1 Corinthians 8:11, emphasis mine). Do you want to be responsible for that? “Wherefore, if meat make my brother to offend, I will eat no flesh while the world standeth, lest I make my brother to offend” (1 Corinthians 8:13, emphasis mine).
Paul was talking about meat sacrificed to idols. We do not see a lot of that in our day and time, but there are other things we do that are “borderline” or “questionable,” which a non-believer or an immature Christian might consider “sinful.” God, as revealed through Paul, would have us give those things up rather than offend a weaker brother or sister or even an unbeliever. The freedom we have in Christ should never be an occasion for an immature believer to stumble.
Our lead verse says “Abstain from all appearance of evil” (1 Thessalonians 5:22). Before we act, we need to consider how those looking on might see and perceive our actions. Could our actions be taken the wrong way – as sinful? Then, out of our love for the lost and the weaker brother or sister, we should abstain from those actions.
Reader, Jesus is coming soon. Are you prepared to meet Him? If not, please read my page on “Securing Eternal Life.”
Notwithstanding the LORD turned not from the fierceness of his great wrath, wherewith his anger was kindled against Judah, because of all the provocations that Manasseh had provoked him withal. (2 Kings 23:26)
Unlike Israel, the ten tribes that composed the northern kingdom, Judah had a mixture of good and bad kings. The bad kings were those who led Judah into the practice of idolatry. King Manasseh[1] was arguably the worst king Judah ever had. Of him, Scripture records that “Manasseh seduced them to do more evil than did the nations whom the LORD destroyed before the children of Israel” (2 Kings 21:9). He “worshipped all the hosts of heaven”[2] (astrology). He built altars to pagan gods in the Temple and to “all the host of heaven.”[3] “And he made his son pass through the fire, and observed times, and used enchantments, and dealt with familiar spirits and wizards: he wrought much wickedness in the sight of the LORD, to provoke him to anger” (2 Kings 21:6). So …
Because Manasseh king of Judah hath done these abominations, and hath done wickedly above all that the Amorites did, which were before him, and hath made Judah also to sin with his idols: Therefore thus saith the LORD God of Israel, Behold, I am bringing such evil upon Jerusalem and Judah, that whosoever heareth of it, both his ears shall tingle. And I will stretch over Jerusalem the line of Samaria, and the plummet of the house of Ahab: and I will wipe Jerusalem as a man wipeth a dish, wiping it, and turning it upside down. And I will forsake the remnant of mine inheritance, and deliver them into the hand of their enemies; and they shall become a prey and a spoil to all their enemies; Because they have done that which was evil in my sight, and have provoked me to anger, since the day their fathers came forth out of Egypt, even unto this day. (2 Kings 21:11-15, emphasis mine)
Manasseh reigned for 55 years[4] and was succeeded by his son Amon.[5] Amon was 22 years old when he came to the throne and reigned for only two years. He was every bit as wicked as his father.[6] A coup arose against Amon, and his servants assassinated him and installed his eight-year-old son Josiah as king.
Josiah reigned for 31 years. Of him Scripture records, “And like unto him was there no king before him, that turned to the LORD with all his heart, and with all his soul, and with all his might, according to all the law of Moses; neither after him arose there any like him” (2 Kings 23:25, emphasis mine). Josiah undid all that his father and grandfather had done.[7] He destroyed all the altars to pagan gods and cleansed the Temple. He executed all the pagan priests and all those that practiced witchcraft. However, even with all the good Josiah did, God did not alter His plan to destroy Judah and Jerusalem. “Notwithstanding the LORD turned not from the fierceness of his great wrath, wherewith his anger was kindled against Judah, because of all the provocations that Manasseh had provoked him withal. And the LORD said, I will remove Judah also out of my sight, as I have removed Israel, and will cast off this city Jerusalem which I have chosen, and the house of which I said, My name shall be there” (2 Kings 23:26-27, emphasis mine).
The kings that followed Josiah were all wicked and continued to plunge Judah into the sin of idolatry, which included the practice of child sacrifice. As a result, Judah was conquered by the Babylonians. Jerusalem and the Temple were razed and a remanent of the people was taken captive to Babylon for 70 years.
When I read the history of Israel in the Bible, I cannot help but see our nation, the United States of America, falling into the same pattern. Israel, as a nation, has one great advantage over the USA. Before Israel became a nation, the first time, God made an irrevocable and unconditional, promise to Abraham that he would be the father of a great nation. “And the LORD said unto Abram, after that Lot was separated from him, Lift up now thine eyes, and look from the place where thou art northward, and southward, and eastward, and westward: For all the land which thou seest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed for ever” (Genesis 13:14-15, emphasis mine). “Forever” has no limit. Scripture records that Israel has done nothing to warrant God’s favor and the only reason they hold a favored place comes only from God’s faithfulness in that He will not withdraw the promise that He made to Abraham. That should give those who trust in Him assurance that He will keep His promise to us. “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life” (John 3:16, emphasis mine).
I know of no place where God has made a similar promise to the USA. However, America, from the landing of the Pilgrims on Plymouth Rock and the drafting of the Mayflower Compact, was founded on the Word of God. That fact is carved in stone on almost every national monument in Washington DC. However, for over 100 years our nation has slowly drifted from these Biblical principles. Then, over the last 50 years, the moral and spiritual decline has accelerated exponentially. We have cast God and His Word out of our schools and out of the public square. We kill our babies before they can experience life and even after they are born. We have redefined what it is to be male or female, and abominable sexual practices are celebrated and even encouraged. “Blessed is the nation whose God is the LORD; and the people whom he hath chosen for his own inheritance” (Psalm 33:12). However, America’s god is not the Lord, and we have not been chosen as His own inheritance like Israel. So, what right do we have to expect God to preserve our nation?
Like Israel, the USA, nationally, has fallen into idolatry – child sacrifice, sexual perversion, worship of the creation, etc. Like Judah, we had more than one good “king.” Donald J. Trump was the last one. I really do not care whether you like Trump or not, but he, like Josiah, overturned a lot of bad policies and made our nation prosperous during his short tenure as President. I will take his “mean tweets” over what we have now any day. The evil “left,” including the Demonrats and many Republicans, hates him because he threatened their wicked schemes. They hate him so much that they weaponized the FBI in order to destroy him and prevent him from running as President again. Why do they hate him so much? Because they prefer the darkness to the light, and they do not want their evil deeds exposed. They also hate anyone who supports Trump and have weaponized the IRS to go after his supporters (although they would never admit that). Recently, the House passed a bill to hire 87,000 IRS agents and arm them with 4600 guns and 5-million rounds of ammo.[8] Why does the IRS need armed agents?
I do not expect Trump to get reelected. If he does manage to survive this shameful sham of an investigation and run for President, I, for one, will vote for him. However, I expect that the Dems will steal the election again.
America does not have the promise of God that He will preserve this nation. I have no hope for the salvation of America from the abyss into which it is plunging. I often hear Christians quote 2 Chronicles 7:14 (out of context) and attempt apply it to the USA. However, the USA is not “God’s people.” Christians are. However, our citizenship is in heaven,[9] not here on earth.
God’s judgment is on our nation (and the world), and there is only one fix for this sick and troubled world. That is for the King of Kings and Lord of Lords to return and set up His kingdom here on earth. We see the “signs of the times” converging and falling into place. The time is getting short. America, and the world in general, is becoming a dark, dark place and our only hope is Jesus.
Come quickly, Lord Jesus!
Are you ready to meet Jesus? If not, please read my page on “Securing Eternal Life.”
For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the LORD. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts. (Isaiah 55:8-9)
Emotions are “an affective state of consciousness in which joy, sorrow, fear, hate, or the like, is experienced, as distinguished from cognitive and volitional states of consciousness; any of the feelings of joy, sorrow, fear, hate, love, etc.; any strong agitation of the feelings actuated by experiencing love, hate, fear, etc., and usually accompanied by certain physiological changes, as increased heartbeat or respiration, and often overt manifestation, as crying or shaking” [or shouting] (emphasis mine).[1]
“Emotions are reactions that human beings experience in response to events or situations. The type of emotion a person experiences is determined by the circumstance that triggers the emotion. For instance, a person experiences joy when they receive good news. A person experiences fear when they are threatened … In their book Discovering Psychology, authors Don Hockenbury and Sandra E. Hockenbury suggest that an emotion is a complex psychological state that involves three distinct components: a subjective experience, a physiological response, and a behavioral or expressive response.”[2]
Emotions are either good or bad depending on how they affect us. The “feeling” of “love” can lead to a bad decision in a mate. or it can inspire selfless acts toward others regardless of personal benefit. Anger over injustice can prompt action to right a wrong or it can drive someone toward violent vindication.
Emotions become problematic when they control our actions. I know and have known emotional people that direct their lives based on their “feelings.” They are irrational, i.e., they do not “think” about their actions – they just react based on what they feel. They do not consider the possible consequences of their actions. They do not think about how their actions may affect others. They just respond to the feeling. Does it make them happy? Does venting their anger and frustration bring relief?
There was a saying in the 60s and 70s: “If it feels good, do it.” That axiom still prevails in our society bringing our nation into such a state of confusion that anything one may say will offend someone about something, and nobody is happy.
Last week, the supreme court struck down Roe v. Wade. It was the right decision[3] based on our Constitution. It turned the abortion question back to the states where it belongs. It did not make abortion illegal. However, the decision angered many who protested (often violently) that it took away women’s rights. They argued that many “poor” women would lose access to “safe” abortions, and that they might have to resort to “back-alley” abortions or worse – do-it-yourself coat hanger abortions. Their arguments founded on pure emotion found no substance in reality. They were completely irrational. I heard no argument offered by them that gave a reasonable defense for their position – it was all emotion.
Sadly, even some Christians got sucked into the mindless arguments of the abortion defenders. One argument I heard from a “pro-lifer” defended abortion in the case of rape or incest. That is an emotional response stemming from a feeling of “compassion” for the victimized woman. (Only women can get pregnant. If that offends you, get over it!) “A 1996 study found a national rape-related pregnancy rate of 5% per rape among victims between the ages of 12 and 45.”[4] Setting aside the emotional aspect of this argument, the chances of pregnancy resulting from rape are low to begin with. Even in a healthy marital relationship, pregnancy resulting from sexual intercourse is not a given. Many married couples live years enjoying sexual intimacy without ever conceiving.
The Bible makes clear Who controls pregnancy. “Lo, children are an heritage of the LORD: and the fruit of the womb is his reward” (Psalm 127:3). Pregnancy resulting from rape can be viewed emotionally as a tragedy, but who will charge God with error? He created that life in the womb of the rape victim, and only He has the right to take away that life. The rape victim may not have had a say in the pregnancy (married couples have no say in theirs either), but that life was put there by God. God has denied children to many married couples. (Only He knows why.) Such couples would do anything to have a child they can raise, and the child of a rape victim may be an answer to their prayer. Then too, the rape victim may in time grow to love the child within her and choose to raise it on her own. However, for a Christian to argue that such a child should be aborted comes from the heart of a fallen, emotional human being, and not from the Word or the heart of God.
As Christians, what we see going on in the world should not come as a surprise. Consider the words of Paul:
This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come. For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, Without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, Traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God; Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away. (2 Timothy 3:1-5, emphasis mine)
Notice how so many of the characteristics listed are emotionally based. Note also the phrase, “having a form of godliness.” In context, Paul warns Timothy (and us) of the attitudes within the Church in the last days. Paul uses similar language in his letter to the church in Rome as he describes the moral decline of mankind. After listing the characteristics of the moral decline, in his final assessment he says, “Without understanding, covenantbreakers, without natural affection, implacable, unmerciful: Who knowing the judgment of God, that they which commit such things are worthy of death, not only do the same, but have pleasure in them that do them” (Romans 1:31-32, emphasis mine). Again, these characteristics describe those who direct their lives by their emotions. Sadly, there are “Christians” who guide their lives by what they feel or think regardless of what the Word of God says.
There are other issues where emotions come to play, but the Christian needs to check those emotions against the Word of God. His thoughts are far above our own, as our starting verse states. He is perfect in righteousness and holiness. We are unrighteous and fallen creatures. We need His guidance not that of our emotions.
The mess we see in our country (and the world) right now is a sign that Jesus is coming soon, and His reward is with Him. The signs of His appearing are increasing in intensity and frequency. Are you prepared to meet Him? If you do not know Jesus as your personal Lord and Savior, please read my page on “Securing Eternal Life.”
Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee; and before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee, and I ordained thee a prophet unto the nations. (Jeremiah 1:5)
Last Friday, June 24, 2022, the Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) overturned the almost 50-year-old ruling on Roe v. Wade.[1] Judges have debated through the years over whether the ruling was constitutional. Even liberal justices like Ruth Bader Ginsburg questioned the validity of the ruling. Justice Ginsburg felt “that Roe was a faulty decision. For Ginsburg, the landmark 1973 Supreme Court decision that affirmed a woman’s right to an abortion was too far-reaching and too sweeping, and it gave anti-abortion rights activists a very tangible target to rally against in the four decades since.”[2] Justice Ginsburg was pro-abortion, but she felt that Roe v. Wade went too far. She said, “A less encompassing Roe, one that merely struck down the extreme Texas law and went no further on that day, I believe and will summarize why, might have served to reduce rather than to fuel controversy.”[3]
Many judges agree that Roe v. Wade is bad law. Nothing in the Constitution grants a woman the “right” to have an abortion. Civics 101 informs us that any law not enumerated in the Constitution is given to the states. (It is interesting that the Constitution only lists three crimes: treason, piracy, and counterfeiting.)[4] So, in overturning Roe v. Wade, SCOTUS rightly returned the responsibility of legislation to the states where it belongs. The decision does not make abortion illegal, unfortunately. Many left-leaning states will allow abortions on demand even to the moment of birth. Many other states will allow for abortion under only the most extreme of cases. I doubt that any state will completely outlaw abortions under any circumstance. That is the way our federal representative system of government is supposed to work.
However, the left does not see it that way, and from the moment the decision was announced, baby killers (sorry, that’s what they are) started their loud protesting with threats of violence. Even before hearing the final decision, the baby killers launched their violent and destructive attacks on crisis pregnancy centers and churches. Sadly, many government leaders encouraged the behavior. In the almost 50 years of Roe v. Wade, pro-life activists have peacefully marched outside of Planned Parenthood clinics and quietly counseled young women going into those places. With a few exceptions by wackos acting on their own, pro-life activists have never caused property damage to Planned Parenthood clinics or attempted to do harm to those who worked there or visited there. The pro-abortionists behave in the opposite manner. They are violent, vicious, vociferous, and vulgar.
The overturning of Roe v. Wade by SCOTUS was the right decision. It would have been better if it had declared abortion illegal. However, that is not the function of SCOTUS. That function belongs to the legislative branch of our government.
Title 18 U.S. Code §1111 makes murder illegal in the United States. It reads in part, “Murder is the unlawful killing of a human being with malice aforethought … Whoever is guilty of murder in the first degree shall be punished by death or by imprisonment for life.”[5] Title 18 U.S. Code §1841 makes it illegal to kill an unborn child. It reads in part, “Whoever engages in conduct that violates any of the provisions of law listed in subsection (b) [subsection (b) references §1111 above among others] and thereby causes the death of, or bodily injury (as defined in section 1365) to, a child, who is in utero at the time the conduct takes place, is guilty of a separate offense under this section … (2) (C) If the person engaging in the conduct thereby intentionally kills or attempts to kill the unborn child, that person shall instead of being punished under subparagraph (A), be punished as provided under sections 1111, 1112, and 1113 of this title for intentionally killing or attempting to kill a human being.”[6] (emphasis mine)
I am no lawyer, but it appears to me that there are existing laws against killing an unborn child. These laws are codified federal statutes that supersede state laws. Why are they not being applied in regard to abortions? Well, the persistent argument claims that the child in the womb is not a person until a certain stage of development. The argument stems from the evolutionary concept of development. Although it has been debunked for decades, biology textbooks still show the development of a human embryo the same as any other fish, reptile, or mammal. My college biology textbook claims that “Human development is controlled by the same mechanisms that control the development of other animals (emphasis mine). In fact, our development strongly reflects our evolutionary heritage.”[7] The quote is found in the chapter titled “Animal Development” and the subtitle “How Do Humans Develop?” On Page 280 of the same book, one finds the embryological stages of a lemur, a pig and a human all looking remarkably similar. The message: humans are just another form of animal.
Since that is the case according to evolutionary thought, when does that human embryo become a human person? One study admits that “The fields of biology, medicine, and embryology have described the developmental milestones of humans throughout gestation in great detail. It is less clear as to when humans are recognized as people, persons, or beings with rights that are protected by legislation. The practice of law is irrevocably intertwined with that of ethical conduct; and the time at which a human life is considered a person has implications that extend to health care, legislation on abortion, and autonomy of individuals.”[8] The bottom line is that they do not know based on their understanding of “personhood” and evolution. So, the left continues to push the boundaries. At first it was six weeks, then 12 weeks (3 months), then six months, then up to the moment of birth, and now some suggest a baby may be murdered after it is born upon the mother’s wishes.
God has something to say about that, although the baby killers reject God, much less anything God has to say. (That is the main problem with our society.) First of all, from the very beginning, God gave life to all living things. However, into man, He breathed His breath of life.[9] In this, He made a distinction between mankind and animals. Since God is the one who gives life, only He has the right to take life. Throughout Scripture, God makes it clear that He is the One who blesses parents with children. Some examples are Abraham’s wife Sarah, Isaac’s wife Rebekah, Jacob’s beloved Rachel, the wife of Manoah (Samson’s mother), Hanna the mother of Samuel, and others. In each case, God makes clear that He controls the birthing process. One may argue that these represent special cases while other women were bearing children left and right at the same time. However, the point God makes is that He controls it all.
Very early on in Scripture, God establishes the sanctity of life. Immediately after the Global Flood, God called for capital punishment for taking a human life. “And surely your blood of your lives will I require; at the hand of every beast will I require it, and at the hand of man; at the hand of every man’s brother will I require the life of man. Whoso sheddeth man’s blood, by man shall his blood be shed: for in the image of God made he man” (Genesis 9:5-6, emphasis mine). Not even animals are exempt from the taking of human life. God makes the reason clear: because man is made in the image of God.
That image is not acquired at some unknown point in the process of gestation. It is there from conception. Hear the Word of the Lord to Jeremiah: “Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee; and before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee, and I ordained thee a prophet unto the nations” (Jeremiah 1:5, emphasis mine). God had a purpose for Jeremiah and He has a purpose for every person He creates. There is personhood even before conception. David, the psalmist, describes the intimacy of God’s involvement in the process of gestation.
For thou hast possessed my reins: thou hast covered me in my mother’s womb.
I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: marvellous are thy works; and that my soul knoweth right well.
My substance was not hid from thee, when I was made in secret, and curiously wrought in the lowest parts of the earth.
Thine eyes did see my substance, yet being unperfect; and in thy book all my members were written, which in continuance were fashioned, when as yet there was none of them. (Psalm 139:13-16)
The word “unperfect” in the last verse is not an error, nor does it mean “imperfect” as though there is some flaw. Unperfect means to be “incomplete” – the gestation in the womb is still processing and not yet complete.
So, from God’s perspective, the child in the womb is a person from conception. Thus, abortion at any point in the pregnancy is the taking of a human life and that is murder. We saw that in the federal law above – Title 18 U.S. Code §184. But before our legislators codified that into federal law, God had already called it murder. The Sixth Command says, “Thou Shalt not [murder]” (Exodus 20:13). In the next chapter, the law extends to children in utero. “If men strive, and hurt a woman with child, so that her fruit depart from her, and yet no mischief follow [i.e., it was accidental]: he shall be surely punished, according as the woman’s husband will lay upon him; and he shall pay as the judges determine. And if any mischief follow [i.e., the hurt to the woman was intentional], then thou shalt give life for life” (Exodus 21:22-23, emphasis mine). Killing an unborn child carries the death penalty.
Of course, the baby killers claim that it is the woman’s choice what she does with her own body. I agree. She can choose not to have sex with a man that can potentially get her pregnant. (That is the sin of fornication, by the way.) She has the choice to take contraceptive measures to avoid pregnancy. However, once she becomes pregnant, the baby in her womb IS NOT HER BODY and no longer HER CHOICE. She does not have any rights over that body. In fact, the baby in the womb is in control of the pregnancy (by God’s design).[10] And if she chooses to abort the baby, she has chosen to commit murder.
SCOTUS may have made the right decision in overturning Roe v. Wade, but abortion is still allowed (although arguably illegally) in America. It would be better if abortion were banned altogether by applying the written law – Title 18 U.S. Code §1841. Anyone guilty of abortion is guilty of murder.
The mess we see in our country (and the world) right now is a sign that Jesus is coming soon, and His reward is with Him. The signs of His appearing are increasing in intensity and frequency. Are you prepared to meet Him? If you do not know Jesus as your personal Lord and Savior, please read my page on “Securing Eternal Life.”
Ernie's Musings 