How Should Christians Define
“Pro-Life” and “Pro-Choice” Part Two
As follow-up
to my previous post on this topic, my logic in reaching the aforementioned
summary statements follows.
RE: PRO-LIFE
When God
created the fish, fowl, animals, and creeping things, He gave them life
(Genesis 1:20-25), but their flesh was not the same as that flesh He gave to
man (1 Corinthians 15:39). Further, only
man was made in the “image” of God (an eternal spirit – (Genesis 1: 26-27;
Ecclesiastes 12:7; 1 Thessalonians 5:23) … and in the “likeness” of God (having
a soul, containing a mind, will and emotions).
Most importantly, the Scripture identifies the specific time when “man
became a living soul.” It was when “the LORD God breathed into (man’s) nostrils
the breath of life” (Genesis 2:7}. The
breath infused by God is what brought life to man. The initiation of “life” in
these fleshly bodies takes place when the first breath is received after
leaving the mother’s womb.
Further
evidence of the spiritual nature of our existence is also found in the Bible
scriptures. On the other end of the
“life” spectrum for the human body, the death of our Lord Jesus on Calvary’s
Cross gives the example of what happens when we transition from these physical
bodies. Scripture shows that he breathed
out and released / dismissed His eternal Spirit (Matthew 27:50; John 19:30).
Even
excluding the “life” found in plant life, it is clear that human life is not to
be measured by the simple joining of an ovum and a sperm cell; or the existence
of a heartbeat; or some other arbitrary number of weeks of gestation chosen by
man. Those metrics were generated by man, and in reality can be applied to many
other animal species. As Christians, we
should not follow the disparate definitions of life generated by various men.
The Bible description is the only one given by our Creator God, and should be
the only basis for our guidance.
RE:
PRO-CHOICE
The story of
God’s love for man is often remembered in the Bible scripture from the verse in
John 3:16: “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.” This verse captures the essence
of why God did not create man to be a robot or automaton who would slavishly
obey commands. God created man in love,
so much so that He gave man dominion over the entire earth and all its
creatures (Genesis 1: 26-28).
Freedom of
choice was given to the first man Adam, when God gave him instructions to not
eat of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, or there would be severe
consequences. (Genesis 2: 16-17). Most
Christians understand that this same freedom of choice has been given to each
of us as descendants of Adam. It is the key to our eternal destiny.
Throughout
man’s history, some have sought to dominate others through wars, slavery, etc.,
to deny them the freedom to choose their own destiny. [Even the history of the United States
confirms this search for personal freedom of choice in virtually all aspects of
our lives.]
The
Scripture confirms that God has not withdrawn His love for man, no matter how
much He might disapprove of some, or even many, of our actions. Even as we all have sinned in various areas
of our lives (Romans 3:23}, God has provided the way for us to be
redeemed. He alone knows the hearts of
women and men (Romans 8:27). He has not
delegated that responsibility to others. That is why He is and should remain
the ultimate determinant of when and how a woman should be able to exercise her
freedom to choose what happens to and inside her body. Based on the
questionable debate about “life” addressed above, there is no rationale for
denying a woman this freedom.
Dr. W A Robinson
