SHOW NOTES
Pro-Life, pt1
Leadership in Context with Keith Tucci
Episode 200
There is a great controversy brewing in our country right now over abortion. This controversy is great and important because unborn children need all the publicity they can possibly get.
On Friday, June 24, 2022, Roe v. Wade was overturned. In response to that, I’m starting a new series on why this is so critical and crucial. Over the next few weeks, I’ll focus on the Bible, science, the law, and history.
THE BIBLE
The Bible has to be our greatest context. What does the Word of God say? When you determine that, then you can determine how and what we do.
The Bible is so unequivocally Pro-Life that it is beyond any stretch of the imagination to understand how someone could not understand that God is Pro-Life if they take the Bible seriously.
Let’s look at a few examples:
Genesis 1:27—Man was created in the image of God. The creation of man is unique from every other animal or mammal. We are absolutely distinct. We are a three-part being—spirit, soul, and body.
Job 33—We were made by God.
Psalm 119—The Lord’s hands fashioned us.
Isaiah 44—Isaiah was formed in his mother’s womb.
Psalm 127—Children are a gift of God.
Jeremiah 1—Jeremiah was formed in his mother’s womb.
The story of Moses—When Pharaoh was killing all the male babies, Moses’ mother hid him. Not only did the midwives help and applauded her for doing that, but God blessed it and sanctioned it.
Exodus 21—If there is a woman in a struggle and she is pregnant, if that person hurts her unborn child or causes premature delivery, that person then is guilty of hurting a person. That child is a person.
Galatians 1—Paul says he was called in his mother’s womb. A person and a destiny. In reading through the Bible, I found 27 people who were named by God before they were born. God recognized their identity and that they were a person while still in the womb.
Psalm 139:13-16
For You formed my inward parts; You wove me in my mother’s womb. 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.
This is not only a beautiful picture, but it is absolutely scientific. We were knit together. When you study child development in the womb, the word knit and coming together is a picture of how that really works.
Jesus didn’t just show up on earth. He was conceived by the Holy Spirit. He was not just placed in a womb, but He was conceived. Jesus went through the whole development process, being knit together, and then the birthing process. That is very significant. The first person on earth to praise Jesus was John while still in his mother’s womb.
Children are personages. They are people while they are in the womb. God likes children. Children are a blessing of the Lord. They come from God. Despite the circumstances of their conception, they are still children.
What about unwanted children? There are many unwanted pregnancies, but there are very few unwanted children. Someone wants that child, even if the mother doesn’t. And about 10:1 adoptions in process never get to completion because the mother ends up choosing her child.
Our position has to be that all children are a blessing, and they should be loved, nurtured, cared for, and protected. Jesus often demonstrated His love for children by talking about how the Kingdom of God was like a child. He talked about ministering to the least of these as a standard of righteousness and judgment. Surely unborn children qualify as the least of these.
This is not a social issue. This is a gospel issue from this context—life is valuable, and Jesus is life. When you diminish life by saying that not all life is valuable, you diminish the redemptive act of Jesus. If killing children is not wrong, then nothing is really wrong. If nothing is really wrong, there is no sin. If there is no sin, then we don’t need a Savior. If we don’t need a Savior, then Jesus is irrelevant.
This is the context of the Scripture. These children belong to God. They have been redeemed by God. He has paid for them. He wants them. He desires them. I’m Pro-Life because the Bible is Pro-Life. I’m Pro-Life because God is Pro-Life, and all life is valuable to God.
Join us next week as Keith Tucci continues to put leadership truth in the context of the local church. And as always, please like, share, rate/review, and invite others to listen. See you next week!
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