Bible Is Indisputably Clear On The Sanctity Of Human Life
I am one of those “literalist brothers” who so amaze Methodist Pastor Homer Todd (Guest column, Feb. 5) with our insistence that the Bible not only speaks to the issue of abortion, but that the Bible ought to be taken seriously as the Word of God.
While I apologize for the intemperate attacks of some of my fellow conservatives, Pastor Todd has badly misrepresented what the Bible has to say about human life and, probably more importantly, has grossly misunderstood the conservative approach to biblical interpretation. My purpose is to present the conservative position clearly, without straw men or personal attack. There will never be progress on this issue until we at least comprehend one another’s position.
Conservative Christian scholars believe that the Bible is a coherent record of God’s revelation of Himself to man. Jesus, the son of God, took the Bible seriously as the word of God.
“Literal-grammatical-historical interpretation” is the method used by conservatives to understand the Bible in the same way Jesus understood it. Figures of speech and symbols are usually not difficult to notice and understand according to the cultural and literary traditions of the era. There is a world of difference between scientific literal interpretation and the wooden-headed literalism which Pastor Todd attacks.
The departure from the common sense approach to the Bible is at the root of most of disagreements in the church today, not least over the issue of abortion. Modern mainline Protestants have been schooled in the settled truths of 19th-century skepticism. They have left the roots of Calvin, Luther and Wesley - men who, lest we forget, taught the literal authority of the word of God.
The abortion issue must be approached as part of the development of a biblical understanding of life. The careful student will ask what the Bible has to say about human life, about the beginning of life and about the termination of life.
The Bible is clear that all life comes from God. In the creation account (even if one takes it as a poetic narrative), mankind is clearly given pride of place. Among the Ten Commandments is the well known line, thou shalt not commit murder. Human life is sacred.
That mankind was created in the age of God is also clear. Sin terribly marred this image and made fulfillment of Man’s designed purpose of glorifying God impossible. One of the first symptoms of sin in the universe was a murder - when Cain killed Abel. Mankind’s path is marked by bloodshed from that time. The evidence of history demonstrates that this problem has not been mitigated by the infinite government social programs aimed at it.
During most of her history, Israel was devoted to a variety of pagan gods, many of whom demanded human sacrifice. Molech, an Ammonite god, was worshiped by throwing infants, alive, into a fire, or into an iron pan suspended over a fire. None of the prophets was vague about condemning this practice. The concept of therapeutic abortion was foreign to the ancient world. Miscarriage could be induced in a variety of ways, and no doubt this evil was as widespread in antiquity as at other times. The Bible never condones such practices.
At several points in Old Testament history, modern feminists would probably have encouraged abortion. Judah’s incestuous encounter with Tamar, for example; or David’s adultery with Bathsheba. Had abortion then been safe, legal and rare, those babies would not have been born - and, of course, the Messianic line would have been broken.
In the New Testament world, Roman paganism held human life in low esteem. That unwanted children should be exposed to the elements to kill them is not news. This was murder, pure and simple, not “postpartum abortion.” That the apostles did not comment on the practice does not suggest approval. They did not comment on slavery, Roman tyranny, gladiatorial games and a host of other social evils.
The Bible and modern biology are not in disagreement on the beginning of life. The joining of a sperm and egg form a living zygote. The Bible is not the least bit vague about God’s forming of the human being in the womb. Any mother will testify to the reality of the life within her. That we celebrate birthdays rather than conception days simply begs the question. Clearly, a birthday assumes a conception some nine months previously.
The New Testament (Romans 5, for example) is quite clear that the sin nature is passed genetically to all who are in the race of Adam. (Theologians call this idea aducianism. It dates to Augustine.) The interrelationship of the biological and the spiritual could not be more clear.
The Bible is clear about the value of human life. The Bible is clear about the beginning of life. The Bible is clear about the evil of taking innocent life.
Abortion is a massive human catastrophe, the result of the arrogant elevation of pleasure and convenience above the lives of millions of tiny human beings.
Surely, every human being with common sense and an ounce of human decency ought to stand against this hideous evil.
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