ABORTION
INTRO:
1. The abortion-on-demand sentiment in our country should send fear throughout our        land – cf. Lam. 1:12
2. Abortion, though it is legal, will never be moral; killing the innocent before or after           death is murder.
    a.  Since U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Roe vs. Wade (Jan. 23, 1973) to legalize                   abortion, literally hundreds of thousands have been performed (in 1974, 900,000          abortions were performed in the U.S.)
    b. Though “abortion” cannot be found in the Bible, principles of truth can be found                that clearly condemn it –  cf. Gal. 5:21 – “such like”

I.  WHEN DOES LIFE BEGIN AND DEATH OCCUR?
    A. These are the two questions that must be considered to shine light on the                      abortion issue. To answer one is to answer the other.
        1. Death – James 2:26:  “the body apart from the spirit is dead”
        2. Life – obviously from Jas. 2:26, when the spirit and body unite

    B. Man is created in the image of God – Gen. 1:26-27
        1. Not a physical likeness because God is not flesh & blood – Jn. 4:24
        2. Our likeness to God is our eternal spirits which He gives us –  Zech. 12:1; Eccl.                12:7
        3. God is the Father of our spirits – Heb. 12:9

    C. Because of man’s uniqueness, we must always hold to the sanctity of human life –            Gen. 9:6

II. DOES THE UNBORN HAVE THE SPIRIT OF LIFE?
    A.  If it can be shown from the scriptures that the unborn possesses that spirit God             gives it, recognized as alive & a human being, then the axe would be laid at the              root of the abortion issue.

    B. Consider these scriptures:
        1. Exodus 21:22-24 – God’s law to protect a mother and unborn child
            a.  The distinction made here is NOT between harming the inborn or harming                       the mother,  BUT rather between causing either of them harm.
            b.  If harm causing death to mother or unborn occurred, the penalty would be “                     life for life”   BOTH equal in value.
        2. Job 3:11-19 – Job’s misery in life:
            a. Here we see the unborn has a “ghost” (spirit) – v 11
            b. Also, when the unborn die, their spirit’s destination is the same as “kings and                   counselors….the great  and small” (v 14-15, 19) – No distinction between                           unborn and living.
        3. Luke 1:41-44 – John the Baptist in his mother’s womb
            a. “babe” (Greek, brephos) – same would used in next chapter to describe the                        "babe” in a manger – 2:12, 16
            b. “joy” – Holy Spirit ascribes the motive of the unborn here

CONCLUSION:  God hates “hands that shed innocent blood” – Prov. 6:16-17

                                                                             -  Dan Richardson