By Ray Dunkelberg, MD,
PPL Board Member
MYTH: The Bible says nothing about abortion (so it must not be important).
FACT: The Bible is a treasury of soaring literature about the infinite value of human life. Genesis 1:27 says we are made in God’s image (Imago Dei) bestowing value and dignity.
Christianity lifted all of Western culture to its brightest and best based on the teaching of Imago Dei. The late Rev. Tim Keller taught in his sermon Nov. 30, 2008:
“If you don’t believe in the image of God, what are you going to ground human rights in? You’re going to ground it in capacities. If you can’t protect the unborn, you can’t protect the newly born, you can’t protect the mentally handicapped, you can’t protect old people. It’s a fact. It’s logical. If you go back to the beginning of the Christian church, here’s what you saw: they came into a Greco-Roman world that also grounded the idea of rights on capacities. … But Christians came along, and they believed in Imago Dei. And because they believed in the image of God, from the beginning, they were champions … first of all, they were totally against abortion, from the beginning. ... Because when you believe in the image of God, the circle of protected life expands. But if you don’t believe in the image of God, if you only believe in capacities or some other trumped-up approach as to why we believe in human rights, the circle will continually contract. It will get smaller and smaller, and fewer people will be protected. You see how incredibly crucial, important, the 'image of God' teaching is. ... What if we took the image of God seriously? First, regardless of what the law of the land says, we would know abortion, except to save the life of the mother, is a violation of the image of God.”
In the language of the ancients, Genesis 9:6 reiterates this truth:
“Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed;
for in the image of God has God made man.”
Since we are made in God’s image, we have value. If you take the life of another image bearer, you forfeit your own life. See also Exodus 21:22-25.
Lastly, Exodus 20:13, the sixth commandment, says do not kill (Hebrew- murder). Abortion is the taking of innocent human life. The most innocent, the most vulnerable. Both the Old and New Testaments speak of God knowing each of us before the creation of the world, knitting up each of us in our mother’s womb, having a purpose for our lives, pursuing us as individuals and sacrificing his Son for us because of his great love.
Some of the strongest words in the Bible, in terms of God’s judgment of human behavior, are for those humans/nations who sacrifice their children - a “despicable“ practice for which Scripture says God allowed the Israelites to destroy those nations practicing this. May we seek the Lord’s mercy and forgiveness for our nation, which forsakes its progeny, and pray to influence hearts for changing our culture to embrace life - created in God’s image.
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