A friend of mine on facebook who goes by the handle Feathin, asked me to respond to an article on abortion found HERE. I am not going to rebut each scripture in the article because, frankly, people who proof-text the Bible are not looking to learn from the book, they are looking to have people tell them they are right. While I will quote single verses here, I encourage you to read the scripture both before and after what I quote for added meaning (and any time you see people quoting single verses). I am quoting just the one verse in-line to save space.
Proof-texting is the Christian habit of pulling single verses or even parts of verses out of the Bible to support a single idea or concept. The flaw in this is it misses the context of those spoken words by discounting the value of the verses both before and after the chosen words, which pulls the chosen verse into focus. This is the same lament people have when sound bites are edited by not including key sentences before and after the sound bite to make the speaker look bad.
This is in effect in the article quoted because the author of the article ignores the idea that God has a plan. The author has pulled specific verses out of the Bible and pointed to the verbatim text to say , “see, see, I’m right” ignoring the WHOLE of scripture that speaks to the contrary of the idea being discussed.
In Genesis 1:27 we find that all people are “…created in his own image…”, the image of God. This gives us a unique and divine origin. However, we go on to see in Genesis 25:22 where the children of Isaac and Rebekah “…the children struggled together within her…’. Additionally, we read in Jeremiah 1:5 that God knows us before he forms us in the womb. The Jeremiah verse alone gives most Christians enough justification that before we were even formed in the womb we were an individual person, unique and valued in God’s eyes, if no one else’s. I can proof-text almost any concept you like and find you verses where that make the Bible appear to support almost anything if you are willing to discount the totality of scripture for the one point. The fact that the author declares the Jeremiah scripture irrelevant does not make it so. The author does this because it is inconvenient that this scripture indicates you are you before you are a ‘mass of nonviable tissue’, and s/he has no answer for that.
However, if we pursue the author’s point of ‘living being’ then it depends on the definition of what a living being is? Ultimately, this definition depends on what value is assigned to the entity and when.
Modern medicine has advanced to such a degree that we can help man more mothers reach a successful complete pregnancy than at any time in the past. Today, we know that when the stick turns blue you are most likely going to bring a child into the world given the natural course of things. I’m not willing to enter into a discussion here about one-off cases or the 2% etc, etc. Most of the time a child is born, which is why we throw BABY showers and not ‘nonviable tissue mass’ parties. We know what will happen if things are left to their natural course; a child will be born. To argue otherwise is intellectually dishonest and I’m not going to entertain that discussion.
The author closes their article by using the fallacy argument that, ‘if abortion was such a grievous sin Jesus would have mentioned it.’ This presumes to know the mind of God Himself and is a terrible presumption. It also presumes to judge others as the author admonishes us not to do just one paragraph before. I fully agree with the author that we should not judge others because we don’t know what circumstances they are in etc. However, that does not stop me from still declaring I believe abortion is wrong and I would advise anyone regardless of circumstance to not have one. I won’t stop them from making what I consider a bad decision because God gave us free will and didn’t stop Adam and Eve from making the first bad decision so I will not presume to take that free will from anyone else. I will, however, advocate for them to not make that bad decision any time I am asked about it.
Finally, in Jeremiah 29:11 we have God Himself, through his prophet Jeremiah, telling us, “..I know the thoughts I think toward you…”, which is to say He knows the plans He has for us. The scripture goes on to say, ‘…thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end.’ God knows what He has planned for us from before we are born He has an idea, a reason for our lives. If the power that created everything has something He intends for someone who are we to intervene that we know better?
The true problem with penning this response is that the majority of those who read it do not agree with me that the Bible is the word of God and an instruction manual for how to live. That causes many to proof-text a response without taking into account the whole of scripture. While others find flaws with the book I see things we as humans do not fully understand yet because we cannot see the big picture as the creator of all life can. Because of that we must continue to study His plan if we want to become better human beings. I don’t know it all yet even though sometimes I erroneously act like I do, and I hop God will forgive me for my prideful arrogance. I strive to take those things I do not yet understand and study them in the Bible until they fit with what I already have come to understand through His guidance. It is in this fashion that I hope to improve and grow into a better person, day by day.
Scripture Cited
All scripture listed here is from the King James Version of the Bible
27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.
Gen 1:27 (KJV)
21 And Isaac intreated the LORD for his wife, because she was barren: and the LORD was intreated of him, and Rebekah his wife conceived.
22 And the children struggled together within her; and she said, If it be so, why am I thus? And she went to enquire of the LORD.
23 And the LORD said unto her, Two nations are in thy womb, and two manner of people shall be separated from thy bowels; and the one people shall be stronger than the other people; and the elder shall serve the younger.
Gen 25:21-23 (KJV)
5 Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee; and before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee, and I ordained thee a prophet unto the nations.
Jer 1:5 (KJV)
11 For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the LORD, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end.
Jer 29:11 (KJV)
