Babies have value before they are born (6)

In Psalm 139 we see at least 7 important truths that teach us that babies have value before they are born. Look at what God’s word says. God forms us, knits us, makes us, shapes us, weaves us sees us plans us. All before we’re born. Knowing when life begins is not above our pay grade. Not if we hear the heart of God.

Martin Luther King Jr. once said, “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.”

We oppose abortion for the same reason we oppose slavery—it is a fundamental violation of human rights. We affirm the inalienable rights of all people. All people are “created equal,” not just “born equal.” (Randy Alcorn, ProLife Answers to ProChoice Arguments, Appendix H).

The concentration camps of Nazi Germany are a testimony to what happens when people start deciding who has the right to live and who doesn’t. The sign at Auschwitz says “Never Again.” We hope that someday our country will admit that abortion kills babies before they are born and will say “Never Again.”

The stakes are high. If the pro-choice people are correct, then the freedom to choose an abortion ought to be a basic civil right. But if the pro-life people are correct, then the almost 4,000 abortions that happen every day in America are human casualties, more than all the lives lost in the 9/11 destruction of the World Trade Center in NYC.

This isn’t an issue; it’s a baby. It’s not a choice; it’s a child. It’s not politics; it’s a precious human being created in the image of God.

Edmund Burke said, “All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing.” Abraham Lincoln said, “To sin by silence when they should protest makes cow-ards of men.”

Silence is never the solution. When churches are silent about abortion, we encourage it. Silence becomes a form of consent, a quiet permission. Let’s not be cow¬ards. Let’s stand up for truth; let’s reach out in compassion. Let’s make sure our public officials know where we stand on these issues.

Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves.
Proverbs 31:8 (NIV)

Who is less capable of speaking up for themselves than little boys and girls who haven’t yet been born? If we don’t speak up for these innocent children, who will?

I grew up in the deep south in the 60s. In 1968, there were racial riots at my high school. I had friends on my high school basketball team who were black. But one thing I regret is that I didn’t do nearly enough. I was too into my own stuff. I didn’t speak up. I know I was just 15. But I wish I had done more to help with the civil rights movement.

We wonder, “How could it happen in our country that brave college students in Greensboro, NC — African-Americans — would sit at a lunch counter as bullies stamped out cigarettes in their hair, squirted mustard and ketchup in their faces, then kicked them while white policemen looked on laughing. Or how could it happen that black children and adults were sprayed by whites with high-powered fire hoses in Birmingham, Alabama? Or how could it happen that black people were falsely accused and hung and burned without a fair trial?” We wonder now, “How could something like that happen?”

I pray that we will look back someday — hopefully someday soon — and we’ll wonder about abortion, “How could something like that have happened?”

When that day comes, don’t you want to look back and be able to say, “I wasn’t silent. I didn’t hold back. I prayed. I gave. I spoke up.”

I agree with Jonathan Schaeffer of Grace Church in Middleburg Heights. In a message at the Cleveland Pregnancy Center Banquet this past spring, he said, “If I live to be a grandpa, it’s going to be difficult to explain to my grandkids when they ask, ‘Grandpa, were you alive when our country used to end the lives of unborn children?’" Like Jonathan, I want to be able to say that I did something. I don't want to be like that 15 year old kid who was just into his own stuff.

Don't forget. Babies have value before they’re born.

I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well (Psalm 139:14, ESV).