Introduction

It is hard to believe that it will be 31 years as of January 22, since the infamous U.S. Supreme Court Decision commonly know as Roe v. Wade, opened the gruesome door to legally murder unborn (and partially born) babies. Justice Harry Blackmun wrote in his majority opinion that we simply don’t know when life begins, so he wouldn’t belabor the point.

We have learned a lot about the preborn child since 1973. Today we can look at three-dimensional images, photographs, and video of the living baby in the womb! Indeed, preborn children are "fearfully and wonderfully made" by God!

Do You Know -- At 18 days after conception, a baby has a heartbeat?

Do You Know -- At 6 weeks following conception, the babies brain waves can be measured?

Did You Know -- At 8 weeks after conception, the stomach, liver, and kidneys of the baby are functioning, and fingerprints have formed? At 9 weeks, the unborn child can feel pain?

Do You Know -- That 700,000 abortions are performed each year in America after 9 weeks into the pregnancy?

Do You Know -- The overwhelming majority of all abortions, (95%), are done as a means of birth control. (Why? Selfishness & lovers of pleasure - 2 Timothy 3:2 & 4)

Do You Know -- Only 1% of all abortions are performed because of rape or incest; 1% because of fetal abnormalities; 3% due to the mother's health problems.

Do You Know -- For every two babies born another baby dies in an abortion.

Let me put abortion holocaust in perspective for you –

On the average for 30 years…

1.5 million babies are aborted each year
That's 28,000 babies every week;
That's 4,000 babies every day;
That's 1 baby every 20 seconds;
That's More Than 45 Million Babies!

In this message, I want to put life and abortion in Biblical perspective for you. I will do this by posing some questions and then answering them from the Bible.

• Who Made Us & Give Us Life?

"And said, Naked came I out of my mother's womb, and naked shall I return thither: the LORD gave, and the LORD hath taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD." Job 1:21

It is important that you understand the context of Job’s statement. It would be right to declare that the statement was made on the darkest day of Job’s life. Here’s why…

o The Sabeans stole all of his Oxen and Asses and killed all but one of the workers overseeing them.

o A fire from God (perhaps a lightning storm) fell from heaven and killed all his sheep and the shepherds keeping them, except for one who reported the incident to Job

o Three bands of Chaldeans raided Job’s heard of camels and took them all, killing all those watching the heard, except one who came and told Job what had happened.

o Jobs children were all gathered at their oldest brother house for a banquet. A "great wind" perhaps a tornado, came and knocked down the house they were in and killed them all. Only one, which I believe to be a servant escaped and brought Job the sad news.

It is in this context Job makes the statement recorded in verse 21. God made us and is the giver of life! Only He should take a life,

Let’s turn to another passage in Job -- Job 10:8-12 "Thine hands have made me and fashioned me together round about; yet thou dost destroy me. 9 Remember, I beseech thee, that thou hast made me as the clay; and wilt thou bring me into dust again? 10 Hast thou not poured me out as milk, and curdled me like cheese? 11 Thou hast clothed me with skin and flesh, and hast fenced me with bones and sinews. 12 Thou hast granted me life and favour, and thy visitation hath preserved my spirit."

There are many more passages that show that God made us and is the life giver Let’s look at two more.

Isaiah 44:24 "Thus saith the LORD, thy redeemer, and he that formed thee from the womb, I am the LORD that maketh all things; that stretcheth forth the heavens alone; that spreadeth abroad the earth by myself."

Psalms 100:3 "Know ye that the LORD he is God: it is he that hath made us, and not we ourselves; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture."

• Why Should We Value Life?

We are the special creation of God! Turn to Genesis 1:27 "So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them." Man was created in the image of God. This is reaffirmed in Genesis 5:1 "This is the book of the generations of Adam. In the day that God created man, in the likeness of God made he him;"

Man has intellectual powers higher than the rest of God’s earthly creation. Man has an immortal soul which none of the rest of God’s creation has. God has endowed man with dominion, power, and authority over the creatures. Psalms 8:4-8 "What is man, that thou art mindful of him? and the son of man, that thou visitest him? 5 For thou hast made him a little lower than the angels, and hast crowned him with glory and honour. 6 Thou madest him to have dominion over the works of thy hands; thou hast put all things under his feet: 7 All sheep and oxen, yea, and the beasts of the field; 8 The fowl of the air, and the fish of the sea, and whatsoever passeth through the paths of the seas."

Though we were created in the image of God, that image is marred because we have sinned. However, God still loves man above all of the creatures he has created! This is demonstrated because He sent His Son, Jesus Christ, to die for our sins. 1 John 4:10 "Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins." We should value human life because God value’s human life..

• Is God Concerned About The Unborn?

The answer is YES! It is apparent from various passages in the Bible that God does not look at the unborn as a worthless "blob of tissue." This is obvious when you read Psalms 139:13-16 "For thou hast possessed my reins: thou hast covered me in my mother's womb. 14 I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: marvellous are thy works; and that my soul knoweth right well. 15 My substance was not hid from thee, when I was made in secret, and curiously wrought in the lowest parts of the earth. 16 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."

In fact, God knows all men before their conception and He separates some for His special service during pregnancy. He did this with Isaiah and Jeremiah. Turn to Jeremiah 1:5 "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." (see Isaiah 49:1). John the Baptist was filled with the Holy Ghost while he was in his mother’s womb (Luke 1:41). Unborn children are precious to the Lord. He cares about them. This is further proved when we answer the next question.

• Is Abortion And Infanticide Permissible? Is It A Matter of A Woman’s Choice?

Exodus 20:13 "Thou shalt not kill." The Hebrew word translated kill literally means "murder." However, some have claimed since you cannot see the preborn child, abortion does not count. That just is not true. Here is why -- Exodus 21:22-25 "If men strive, and hurt a woman with child, so that her fruit depart from her, and yet no mischief follow: he shall be surely punished, according as the woman's husband will lay upon him; and he shall pay as the judges determine. 23 And if any mischief follow, then thou shalt give life for life, 24 Eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, 25 Burning for burning, wound for wound, stripe for stripe."

• Should a child conceived as a result of rape or incest be aborted?