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The Gospel and Abortion

Posted by James P. McGarvey , 15 January 2014 · 1257 views

(As we approach Sanctity of Human Life Sunday, I was asked to write this article for today's eLink, a communication to pastors from the Southeastern District of the Christian and Missionary Alliance.)

On Sanctity of Human Life Sunday (SOHLS) we remember the 1973 Roe v. Wade and Doe v. Bolton Supreme Court decisions that legalized the killing of unborn children during all nine months of pregnancy. Since then 56 million innocent children have lost their lives to abortion, 71,503 in Florida alone in 2013 (by County http://ahca.myflorid...County_2013.pdf)

By the age of 45, one in three American women will have an abortion.

In John 8:44 Jesus exposed Satan's intention with regard to human life. "You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father's desire. He was a murderer from the beginning..." later adding, "The thief comes to steal and kill and destroy." (10:10) With these words Jesus identified the agenda of man's arch enemy. (Gen. 3:15)

As pastors SOHLS affords us an opportunity to apply the Gospel to abortion by declaring that the unborn are created by God in His image and likeness, (Genesis 1:26, 27) and affirming the personhood of the unborn from the moment of conception. (Jeremiah 1:5);

by exposing the guilt of shedding innocent blood and proclaim the full pardon available through the shed blood of Jesus Christ (Genesis 4:10; Leviticus 17:11; Hebrews 9:14);

by responding pastorally to the post-abortive who bear the trauma, guilt, and shame that inevitably accompany child killing;

by leading God's people to live a "pure and faultless" religion as we "look after orphans and widows in their distress," there being no greater distress than the orphan abandoned to death by their parents. (James 1:27); and

by challenging God's people to love "your neighbor as yourself," responding with Good Samaritan acts of compassion and mercy to those at risk for abortion in their community. (Luke 10:37).

"If anyone, then, knows the good they ought to do and doesn’t do it, it is sin for them." (James 4:17).

(See Pastor John Ensor's message "Leading Well: A Pastor to Pastor Talk About Abortion" at and other resources at The Church for Life http://churchforlife.blogspot.com)