Abortion Violates the Image of God

A woman who is 8-months pregnant can have a party where gifts are given to her unborn baby. Often at a baby shower, the baby's sex is known and perhaps a name is already chosen. Sadly, it was decided in 1973 that it would be okay for this woman to go have her baby killed and removed. That grieves me. And now in some places, it is deemed okay even to the point of birth. How heartbreaking! In one scenario, what is in the woman's womb is a baby. In the other, what is in the woman's womb is deemed a clump of cells to be terminated and removed.

New York Governor Cuomo signed legislation allowing abortion all the way up to the point of birth, a sign of our barbaric and fallen times, a sign of our rebellion against God. Meanwhile, the World Trade Center was lit up pink in celebration as people cheered. It should have been lit up in blood red or perhaps not at all and left there in darkness. There should have been weeping. And there is weeping for those who care about life and the unborn. And there is the cry of the infant, 1 minute from exiting the birth canal, whose life is tragically and literally cut short.

Some try to argue that abortion is for the sake of the woman's health. There is no reason that a baby needs to be killed for a mother's health. Delivered? Yes. Killed? No. Either way, a baby will be delivered -- dead or alive. Every intention should be for the baby to live (though sadly, a baby could be lost, not inentionally killed). In contrast, Abortion is murder and is in conflict with Biblical theology.

I've written before that we are created in the Image of God. And by we, I mean humanity. Genesis 1:27 (NASB) says, "God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them."

One cannot claim the Image of God unless he or she takes the Bible seriously. The foundation of the Bible is Genesis which declares we are created in God's image, we are sinners who suffer the consequences of the Fall, and we have hope the promise of a Savior and so much more. If we are to be Biblical as Christ's followers, we must take Him at His Word. We must believe the Bible -- all of it. Yet, we live in a society that not only dismisses the Bible but even celebrates depraved thoughts and behaviors contrary to the teachings of Scripture. We live in a society that celebrates abortion -- the murder of children. Yet, each unborn individual is knit together in his or her mother's womb. Consider Psalm 139:14-16 (NASB):

I will give thanks to You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
Wonderful are Your works,
And my soul knows it very well.
My frame was not hidden from You,
When I was made in secret,
And skillfully wrought in the depths of the earth;
Your eyes have seen my unformed substance;
And in Your book were all written
The days that were ordained for me,
When as yet there was not one of them.

And Jeremiah 1:5 (NASB):

Before I formed you in the womb I knew you,
And before you were born I consecrated you;
I have appointed you a prophet to the nations.

Yet, as seen with the pregnant woman at the baby shower contrasted with the pregnant woman who goes to the abortion clinic, it is the mother who now determines personhood. It is the mother who decides if she will deliver a live baby or a dead one. And hence, our society has entered the realm of deeming some to not be persons, to be less in the image of God. Ecclesiastes 1:9b (NASB) states a timeless truth (as does all Scripture): "So there is nothing new under the sun." Once again, humankind has elevated itself to be as gods echoing Satan's lie to Eve: "For God knows that in the day you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil" (Genesis 3:5, NASB).

Seeing one as less than a person (i.e., not in the Image of God) echoes the evils of slavery, racism and the holocaust. This denies the Biblical teaching in Genesis and undermines the whole notion of treating others with dignity. After all, being God's image-bearers is a huge motivator for both the one doing the "treating" and the one receiving it. And if one claims abortion, then one claims some knitted together in the womb do not bear the image of God. Or if they do, then why murder them? That certainly isn't treating the unborn child with dignity.

Speaking of children, Jesus said in Matthew 18:5-6 (NASB), "And whoever receives one such child in My name receives Me; but whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in Me to stumble, it would be better for him to have a heavy millstone hung around his neck, and to be drowned in the depth of the sea." Since those knit together in the womb are created in the Image of God, this applies to the unborn child. Abortion goes further than causing little ones to stumble. Abortion is satanic. Abortion denies seeing one knit together in the womb as being a person created in the Image of God and elevates humanity to a place of acting as God in determining personhood, echoing Satan's confrontation to Eve.

I echo what I have written before: Denying God and questioning His Truth is just the age-old attempt of man trying to not be accountable to God. However, we are all accountable to Him. What are you trusting? Do you really believe you are created in the Image of God? You are. The unborn children are. If you claim the truth of humankind being God's image-bearers, then let go of the worldly falsehoods (like abortion) that conflict with the truth. Are you trusting Christ? Are you relying on false notions or resting in His truth and His perfect and completed work where He went to the cross, took your sin upon Himself, died and paid the penalty for mankind who could not pay the price, and resurrected to offer hope of new life in Him? Even if you have had an abortion, there is forgiveness and hope in Christ.

Choose life. Understand that a fetus (Latin for offspring) is a baby, its own body, not part of the mother's body, but a soul created in the Image of God. And therefore, speak up for and defend the unborn who cannot speak for themselves. This is not intended to be political, but a sound conclusion of one who takes the Bible at its word and sees others as created in the Image of God worthy of dignity and respect.

Choose life in Christ. It is a work of the Holy Spirit. You are created in His Image and have been since you were knit together in your mother's womb.

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