Is Human Life Sacred?

“Behold, children are a gift of the Lord,
The fruit of the womb is a reward.” Psalm 127:3

These recent headlines have moved me to write about the sanctity of life:

“France becomes first country in the world to codify the right to an abortion in its constitution (More) | First over-the-counter birth control pill to be available in US stores this month, comes after Food and Drug Administration's July approval (More)”

CVS and Walgreens are selling abortion pills.

mRNA vaccine mandates

My daughter teaches college level microbiology. When the college where she taught mandated the covid 19 vaccine, she claimed a religious exemption, because the mRNA vaccines were derived from a line of aborted fetus cells, as explained here.    

When aborted babies’ tissues and cells are used in research, it creates an incentive for additional profit for the abortion mills. Planned Parenthood, for example, has been caught red-handed illegally selling baby parts for research. They were exposed by David Daleiden’s “Center for Medical Progress”.

Aborted fetal tissue research has been a political football for years. Bush, Reagan, and Trump banned it, and Clinton and Biden lifted the ban.

Science.org reported   “The administration of President Joe Biden is reversing restrictions imposed by former President Donald Trump's on federal funding for medical research using human fetal tissue from elective abortions. A notice released today by the U.S. National Institutes of Health does away with both a ban on such studies by researchers within NIH and a layer of ethical review that had torpedoed funding applications from external researchers.”

Christianity must not tolerate abortion

You can’t believe in the inspiration and inerrancy of the bible and approve of abortion. If you believe the gospel and the divinity and Lordship and resurrection of Christ, then you know that life was created by God and therefore is sacred. If a young woman becomes pregnant and is unwilling or unable to raise the child, she can place the baby for adoption. There are families who will give the baby a loving home.

possible exceptions

mother’s life in jeopardy

There may be a bit of gray area in cases where the life of the mother is truly at stake, and a choice has to be made between the life of the baby and the life of the mother, perhaps that would be best left to the individual’s own conscience. Remember the biblical instruction in Romans 14:23, when we are faced with a decision that isn’t clearly spelled out as a scriptural command, we should listen to our conscience. If we have doubts whether we should do something, and then we go ahead and do it anyway, that is a form of sin.

rape

Some have also wondered about the case of rape. My opinion is that since it’s not the baby’s fault, the baby should be allowed to live.

incest

In the case of incest, some may consider this another gray area, because the health and well being of the baby may be compromised because of the laws of genetics. This is similar to cases where modern technology can reveal whether the baby in the womb has a debilitating genetic defect. Again, in my opinion, the baby should be allowed to live – it’s in God’s hands. Parents who have gone ahead and given birth to a baby with defects have had their faith tested, but they’ve testified to the blessings of caring for and loving a child with special needs. Remember James 1:2-4, that the testing of your faith produces a good result – endurance.

created by God; human life special and different from animals

When God created, He “saw that it was good.” Genesis 1:10,12,18, 21

But when He created mankind on day 6, He said that it was “very good”.

We are to be good stewards of all life – not destroying plants unnecessarily or wastefully; not killing animals except for food, but respecting all life as part of God’s creation.

But there’s a distinction between animals and humans. The creation of human life was the ultimate climax of God’s creation made in “the image of God”, unlike the animals.  

“God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.” Gen. 1:27

taking human life

The taking of human life is therefore much more serious than the killing of animals. The 6th commandment is “You shall not murder”. Self defense is allowed for; war is allowed for in some cases, and the death penalty is allowed for under certain circumstances. But there is no allowance for the taking of the life of a baby in the womb. In fact, the death penalty was called for if a miscarriage and dead baby resulted from a fight where a woman was struck. (see Exodus 21:22-24)

be fruitful and be blessed

Finally, it is good to remember the Lord’s command to be fruitful and multiply. This is a strong basis for marriage and the bearing of children and formation of the family unit, right here in the beginning of the bible.

“God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground.”

Then God said, “I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food. And to all the beasts of the earth and all the birds in the sky and all the creatures that move along the ground—everything that has the breath of life in it—I give every green plant for food.” And it was so. (Note: God later allowed for eating meat; not just plants. For example, see Gen.9:3 “God saw all that he had made, and it was very good. And there was evening, and there was morning—the sixth day.