Articles
The Value of Life
With the recent bill passed in New York state that legalizes abortion up to mere minutes before what might have otherwise been a natural full-term birth (AB 6221), and the bill brought before the Virginia House of Delegates (HB 2491) that would have also allowed a baby to be aborted right before it emerged from the womb in a natural birth process, it is becoming evident that much, if not all, of the arguments for abortion over the last 46+ years being all about "women's health" were just subterfuge, deception, and outright lies. The real value of innocent lives that many now have was exposed, too, when Virginia Governor Ralph Northam answered a question on air [radio station WTOP] about a hypothetical situation where a baby scheduled for abortion was born in spite of the attempt, and survived outside the womb; in response to the question, Governor Northam replied, "a discussion would ensue between the physicians and the mother" about what to do [leaving the possibility of killing it].
This is not an article about politics; this is an article about the value of life, or the perceived lack of value of life that now exists within current society. Politicians are now making this an issue because some constituents have asked them to do so. This goes back to society, as a whole. This is about what we, as a country, now believe to be acceptable and legal. This is about what we believe we have 'the right' to do in order to not be inconvenienced, pursue happiness, and live however we want to live — without consequences, of course.
The stark contrast between true Christians [not the ones just professing to be ones] and this world and its ungodly society of pleasure-seeking individuals has never been more clear. At least it should be abundantly clear. Believers in God and disciples of Jesus Christ should value life at any point in a human being's existence, and we should mourn over the death of any and all. To rejoice such as was seen by the New York politicians who supported the previously-mentioned bill should cause us to shudder in utter repulsion at such a lack of concern for innocent lives, all for the sake of convenience and supposed 'rights.'
As disciples, we should not be caught up in society's downward spiral that continues to devalue life, but we should champion life, defend it, and do all we can to demonstrate and teach that God values life and that all men should likewise value it. We have obviously failed miserably in convincing society that life is precious, for we have had now 46 years of 'legalized' abortion in this country, and now, it seems, some are not content with what few restrictions remain, and are pushing to see just how far they can go in legalizing the purposeful and premeditated deaths of innocent human beings in the name of "rights" and "women's health." It's time we started making God's will known a lot more prominently on the matter, for attempts to curb it or ban it through legal means has obviously not worked. It is what we should have been doing all along.
God's View Of The Value of Human Life. In a passage familiar to many of us (Prov. 6:16), the wise writer tells us there are “six things the Lord hates, yes, seven are an abomination to Him”; included within that list: “Hands that shed innocent blood.” To better understand why, we go back to the point right after the floods had subsided and Noah and his family emerged from the ark. It was then that God told Noah, “Surely for your lifeblood I will demand a reckoning; from the hand of every beast I will require it, and from the hand of man. From the hand of every man’s brother I will require the life of man.
“Whoever sheds man’s blood, by man his blood shall be shed; for in the image of God He made man” (Gen. 9:5, 6).
This condemnation of murder was codified in the Old Law, for within the Ten Commandments, God said to His people, “You shall not murder” (Exod. 20:13). Later, it would be stated that transgression of that commandment should bring consequences, saying, “He who strikes a man so that he dies shall surely be put to death” (Exod. 21:12). There were exceptions for accidental or non-premeditated deaths (Exod. 21:13), but murder had no excuse and no offering could be made for the act to escape the death penalty.
And while we are mentioning God-given penalties of death, as specified under the Old Law, let us not confuse these directives to exact the death penalty with the act of murder. Capital punishment, rightly carried out, is not murder. Governments are set in place by God as His “minister to you for good. But if you do evil, be afraid; for he does not bear the sword in vain; for he is God’s minister, an avenger to execute wrath on him who practices evil” (Rom. 13:4). That “sword” is the means of Divinely-approved judgment for the ones who practice evil, not an arbitrary means of suppressing the citizenry or a certain class of society. The prohibition God specified was murder, not putting individuals to death through legal or civil means.
But that should cause us to see the great wrongs for which God demanded the death penalty. This is not a case of God arbitrarily demanding death, but a matter of teaching us how God views these evil acts! If He demanded death for something, shouldn't we learn its repulsiveness to God, rather than complain about God's injustice or capriciousness?
God Does Not Rejoice Over the Death of Even The Evil Ones. While I must point out the Divine approval of the death penalty for evil-doing, I must also point out that this is not something to rejoice about. When individuals today are put to death rightly [by government authorities, for criminal convictions that are unquestioned], this is not something we should celebrate! When I see celebrations outside prison facilities where someone has been executed, I cringe mightily, for I know God is not rejoicing.
With all the times God sent messengers to Israel to try to get them to repent and turn back to Him, and with all the cases of individuals turning away from God and pursuing the sins of this world, we should know by His efforts to restore them that God is seeking their salvation. Messengers were sent to exhort them to repent, but some would not. How did God feel about it when they refused? Let's let God tell us: He first asks, “Do I have any pleasure at all that the wicked should die…and not that he should turn from his ways and live?” (Ezek. 18:23); He would state it plainly later, saying, “I have no pleasure in the death of one who dies” (Ezek. 18:32), and, “I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and live” (Ezek. 33:11).
With this in mind, how does God feel about the deaths of literally millions of innocent ones? When the wise writer said God hated “Hands that shed innocent blood,” I don't think we get the real depth of what is being said there! God, who is love (1 John 4:8), hates the one who takes the life of an innocent one! Will we persist in trying to convince ourselves it is merely a "choice"? For the mother's good?
What it is is a selfish, heartless act for which many will give account. — Steven Harper
