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Joseph
Slife, Lay Speaker Sanctity
of Human Life Sunday Prayer:
Lord, the Scriptures say that
Jesus is "full of grace and
truth." I pray that would be so
of me in this hour. I pray that
it would be true of this sermon
-- as we look at a difficult and,
for many, an uncomfortable topic.
Give us your grace. Speak to us
your truth -- that we might run
in the path of your commands with
hearts that are fully set free.
In Jesus I pray. Amen. How
should our profession of faith
affect our pattern of life? What
do Scripture, church tradition,
reason, and experience tell us
that can help us know what to
think about controversial
topics? Now,
my goal today is to give you
information -- from history, from
the testimony of someone in this
congregation, and from Scripture
-- information which can help you
make an informed, reflective
decision about the issue of
abortion. I will attempt to be as
evenhanded as possible, although
my view on this issue is probably
known to many of you. I
also, in this sermon, want to
speak a word of grace to anyone
who may have had an abortion or
who has been involved in helping
someone procure an
abortion. I
understand that this is a deeply
emotional issue for some of you.
For you, this is not just about
legal opinions and political
slogans. This issue touches
somewhere deep in your spirit,
and I want you to know at the
outset, that my purpose is not
condemnation. My
purpose is to help us all
understand how we got to where we
are -- and, out of that
understanding, to be people of
conviction as well as people of
grace. First,
let us go back through the
centuries. Earlier
this week I e-mailed a link to
those of you who are on the
church e-mail list. It was a link
to a piece titled
"The
Sanctification of Human
Life"
by Dr. Alvin Schmidt. It's
actually a chapter from an entire
book
on how Christianity, over the
centuries, has engaged and
transformed civilization. The
chapter on "The Sanctification of
Human Life" gives an overview of
the impact the church of Jesus
Christ has had on the cultural
understanding of the value of
human life. Some
of you have seen movies -- such
as Spartacus or
Gladiator or Quo
Vadis -- that give some sense
of just how much disregard there
was for human life in the
Greco-Roman world, the world into
which the church of Christ was
planted and began to
grow. Life
was cheap. In fact, it was so
cheap that 75 percent of all the
Roman emperors either were
assassinated or committed
suicide. Gladiatorial games were
all about which combatant would
die before the confrontation was
over. And, of course, you've
heard stories about the early
Christians being thrown to lions
in the full view of cheering
crowds. In
that time and culture,
infanticide -- the killing of
recently born children -- was a
common practice. Those born
deformed or physically frail were
especially prone to being killed,
often by drowning. Infant girls,
even though born healthy, were
common victims of infanticide,
because of the greater perceived
value of boys. (This practice is
still common even today in some
parts of the world.) The
early Christians were horrified
at the practice of infanticide.
To them, infants were creatures
bearing the very image of God,
the author and giver of life. And
so the killing of children
grieved the church. Another
practice prevalent in the
Greco-Roman world was child
abandonment. Rather than killing
a child outright, he or she would
simply be left somewhere -- at a
pagan religious shrine or along a
roadside. Some were tossed onto
manure piles or into
latrines. Christians
not only spoke out against the
practice of child abandonment,
they stepped in to help, taking
abandoned children into their
homes and adopting
them. And
then there was abortion. Abortion
is not a recent innovation. It
was a common practice in the
ancient world -- largely because
of the preponderance of marital
infidelity. One historian of the
time remarked that Roman marriage
was "deprived of all moral
character." Adultery
was rampant. Many married women
and men had frequent affairs and
liaisons, sometimes resulting in
pregnancy. To cover up
infidelity, women would take
herbal potions or sometimes even
poisons aimed at killing the
developing child. Sometimes,
women would submit themselves to
other dangerous acts in an
attempt to end the pregnancy,
such as being shaken violently or
allowing strong blows to the
midsection. This
is the context in which the
church first faced the issue of
abortion -- a society in which
life was cheap, and in which it
was not uncommon for children to
be purposely killed, abandoned or
aborted. I
have already told you about
church opposition to infanticide
and child abandonment. What about
abortion? A
great deal of church history has
been lost, of course -- but we do
have scattered writings of
various theologians in the 2nd
and 3rd centuries of the
church. These
writings demonstrate that these
particular theologians, at least,
were strongly opposed to the
practice of willfully aborting a
pregnancy. Then,
from early in the 4th century
A.D., we have records of official
pronouncements -- one from the
Synod of Elvira in about 305 A.D.
and another from the Council of
Ancyra in 314 A.D. -- that are
very clear in their opposition to
abortion. We
also have writings from the 4th
century which show that some
Christians of the time mobilized
to help women facing unwanted
pregnancies. We even have record
of public protests being staged
to oppose abortion -- again this
is in the 4th century
A.D. Finally,
after years of prayer and public
witness by the Church,
anti-abortion laws were put in
place. In the Roman Empire,
Emperor Valentinian outlawed
abortion, along with infanticide
and child abandonment, in 374
A.D. But
laws do not necessarily change
people's hearts -- the practice
of abortion continued, illegally.
And the church stood firm in its
opposition to it. It's
estimated that between the 4th
century and the 12th century,
more than four-thousand official
church teachings were issued that
affirmed the sanctity of human
life. Christian
opposition to abortion continued
virtually unabated until the 20th
century, actually the 1960s and
70s, when some denominations --
rocked by the sexual revolution
and the rise of feminism -- began
to weaken their stand on
abortion. Let
me move now from church history
to legislative and judicial
history -- not in ancient times
but in our own lifetime, for many
of us. Here
in the USA, most states -- until
the early 1970s -- had laws that
prohibited abortion, unless the
life of the mother was at
stake. These
laws were rooted in the
understanding that government had
a moral responsibility to protect
innocent life A
few states, including Georgia,
allowed abortion in the case of
child conceived by an act of rape
or in the case of severe fetal
abnormality. These allowances
were in the law to help women
caught up in traumatic situations
-- but these were "exceptions" to
the general rule that government
had the responsibility to protect
unborn life. Even
the Georgia law, though it
allowed several categories of
exceptions, still required three
doctors to approve any
abortion. In
1971, a Texas law against
abortion was challenged -- in a
case known as Roe vs.
Wade. That
case eventually made its way to
the U.S. Supreme Court, and in
one of the most sweeping rulings
in the court's history, the
Supreme Court, by a 7-to-2 vote,
effectively invalidated every
state law -- not only in Texas,
but in every other state -- every
state law aimed at protecting the
unborn. On
the same day that the court ruled
in Roe vs. Wade, it also
ruled in another abortion case,
Doe vs. Bolton. This case
related to Georgia's abortion's
law -- the one that required the
approval of three doctors. Taken
together, the two rulings --
Roe vs. Wade and Doe
vs. Bolton -- created a
"right" to what became known as
"abortion on demand." Now
listen carefully. The court said
that in deciding whether an
abortion is necessary, a doctor
may consider -- quote -- "all
factors -- physical, emotional,
psychological, familial and the
woman's age -- relevant to the
well-being of the
patient." As
the Los Angeles Times put
it an article
last September, "It soon became
clear that if a patient's
'emotional well-being' was reason
enough to justify an abortion,
then any abortion could be
justified." Again, that
characterization is from news
article in the Los Angeles
Times. Let
me read that again: "It soon
became clear that if a patient's
'emotional well-being' was reason
enough to justify an abortion,
then any abortion could be
justified." And
today, on average, there are five
abortions in the United States
every minute of every hour of
every day -- 1.2 million a year.
Over the past 33 years, nearly 50
million pregnancies in the U.S.
have been ended by
abortion. Statistical
research suggests that the
overwhelming majority of
abortions do not occur for
physical or medical
reasons. According
to Alan Guttmacher Institute, a
research organization with ties
to Planned Parenthood, women who
seek abortion do so primarily for
the following reasons: • Three-fourths
say that having a baby
would interfere with
work, school, or other
responsibilities; Two
more statistics: • Half
of America women
obtaining abortions are
under the age of
25; The
Roe vs. Wade and Doe
vs. Bolton rulings have led
to a protracted battle in America
between those who call themselves
pro-life -- that is, those who
oppose abortion-on-demand -- and
those who call themselves
pro-choice, that is, those who
think that abortion should remain
legal. Within
each camp there are gradations of
views. In the pro-life camp, some
want to outlaw all abortions.
Others would permit certain
exceptions, such as in cases of
rape or incest. In
the pro-choice camp, some want
the current law to stay as it is,
essentially allowing any abortion
for any reason. Others in the
pro-choice camp are uncomfortable
with the idea of no restrictions
at all, and think there should
some modification in existing
law. Now,
within our denomination -- the
United Methodist Church -- we
have people who would consider
themselves pro-life and other who
consider themselves pro-choice.
And I want to now to summarize,
as fairly as I can, their
respective positions on this
issue. Let
me start with the pro-choice
view. And here, I'm not talking
about what I would call
pro-choice "extremists," but
about our fellow Christians,
folks who love Jesus, but who
hold to a pro-choice position.
These are not folks who think
every abortion is justified and
that abortion is a good thing, in
and of itself. Instead,
these people come at this issue
from the standpoint of trying to
minister to women who are in
difficult and traumatic
situations. They have genuine
compassion toward hurting women
-- and they are convinced that in
some cases, the best way to ease
the hurt, the best way to relieve
the suffering, the best way to
end the trauma, is to terminate
the pregnancy. Let
me describe the types of hard
cases one of these pro-choice
Christians would probably cite if
he or she were standing where I
am standing today. A case of a
13-year-old girl -- yesterday
just a child it seemed -- but now
her body is capable of producing
a child. Her
dad walked out when she was just
a toddler and she has never known
natural fatherly affection. In
such a state, she becomes easy
prey for 17-year-old boy she
meets at school. One afternoon,
she is home by herself -- her
mother is at work -- and the boy
comes by to visit. Longing so
much for the attention of a male,
she puts up no resistance to his
advances. Fourteen or 15 weeks
later, it becomes apparent that
this young girl is with
child. The
pro-choice person would ask,
"Hasn't this girl -- barely a
teenager -- been through trauma
enough? Would you make her carry
this child to term? Wouldn't it
be better for her to have an
abortion? If she has this child,
what will happen to her? Will she
be able to finish school? Will
she ever be able to rise above
her circumstances? The most
compassionate thing for this
girl," the pro-choice person
would say, "would be a quick and
safe abortion." Or
what about a woman in poverty who
has already has five children?
She finds she is pregnant and
cannot bear the thought of
another mouth to feed, another
child to care for. The weight of
it all is bringing her to the
point of being suicidal. Isn't an
abortion the most compassionate
thing for this woman?" Well,
let me present the pro-life view.
"Yes," the pro-lifer would say,
"these are difficult cases -- but
no matter the circumstance of
conception, a child in the womb
is still a child, still a
creation of God. And God is large
enough, his grace and provision
are great enough, to make a way
where there seems to be no
way." And
this is why Christian pro-lifers
are the backbone of the ministry
of crisis pregnancy centers --
following in the footsteps of our
forebears centuries ago. These
Christians want to help both the
mother and the child find God's
provision and sustaining
care. Pro-lifers
are strong believers in the
providence of God, believing that
somehow, some way, He can and
will order the circumstances to
provide for and sustain those who
bring their babies to term, that
He can speak peace into even the
most traumatic circumstance and
bring forth good Think
of the biblical evidence for this
view. In the book of Genesis,
Joseph faced the trauma of being
sold by his brothers into
slavery. Later, God used that
awful experience to set the stage
for something extraordinary.
Joseph became the instrument
through which God rescued His
people Israel during a time of
famine. In
the New Testament, Paul was
thrown in prison. A terrible
thing. But there he wrote letters
that have helped sustain the
church for two
millennia. And,
of course, there is Jesus Himself
-- crucified, dead, and buried.
Yet, the third day, He rose from
the dead! Pro-lifers
trust in the providence of God to
transform situations and bring
forth good. The
pro-lifer would also argue that
submitting to an abortion is not
without its own trauma --
sometimes lasting trauma. For
many women, it is not simply
something they've done and have
then forgotten about. Just
a couple of weeks ago, a New
Zealand study found more than 40
percent of women who had had an
abortion -- 4 out of every 10 --
subsequently experienced major
depression. Others experienced
elevated rates of anxiety,
substance abuse, even suicidal
behavior. Many
of you have been walking with
Christ long enough to know that
he often calls people into
ministry areas out of their own
woundedness and pain. And,
indeed, many in the pro-life
movement speak out of their own
personal experience with abortion
-- and out of the healing have
found in Jesus Christ. We
have one of those people in our
congregation. Tomorrow, she'll be
in Atlanta, giving her testimony
at a pro-life rally. And
I've asked to come give it to you
this morning: Cathy
Coburn. Now,
in this sermon, I've given you
lots of information. We've talked
about the tradition of Christian
teaching on this issue; we've
looked at the legal cases that
made abortion-on-demand a reality
in America; and you've just heard
a personal testimony from someone
who has experienced both hurt and
healing. All
these sources of information are
important in helping us reach our
own personal conclusions about
how to view this issue. But there
is one source of information that
is of the most import: the
Bible. Scripture
claims to reveal to us the plans
and purposes of God. It tells
about His character -- and about
His design and plan for human
life. The
Bible doesn't address the issue
of abortion
specifically. But
let's look at what the Bible does
say in Psalm 139 -- I want to
give you just a couple of verses
from that passage. The psalmist,
under the inspiration of the Holy
Spirit, says to the LORD:
You
saw me before I was born. The
pro-life Christian argues that
the standard for deciding about
abortion must come beyond
ourselves. We must submit to the
fact that it is God who is the
author and giver of life. We dare
not treat lightly or take away
what God Himself has
given. I
hope I have persuaded you -- if
you weren't persuaded already --
that the church needs to stand
strong for life, and we need to
be in ministry to women in crisis
pregnancies. In
your bulletin is a prayer guide
supplied by LifeWatch, a United
Methodist pro-life ministry. I'd
like you to take that guide, put
it in your Bible, and pray over
it this week. In
addition, Cathy is looking to
enlist people who are willing to
become pro-life intercessors --
and she has some special wrist
bands to remind you to
pray. We
need to pray that what has
happened before will happen
again. That the church, through
our prayer and public witness,
can bring about a transformation
of society. Today,
who in America would think that
owning another person as a slave
is right? Millions of people used
to think that. But
the church started and sustained
the abolition movement that
eventually led to overthrow of
slavery. Not
too many years ago -- some of you
remember it -- black students
were not allowed to attend the
University of Georgia. Who would
defend that position
today? Transformation
came because Christian people
were in the forefront a movement
that stood for the rights of
all. Today,
views on abortion are changing.
Polls show that young people are
increasingly pro-life. We're
seeing more and more victories in
the courts, offering greater
protection for the
unborn. We
need to pray that these changes
will continue -- and that a
culture of life will take hold in
America again. Earlier,
I said I would offer a word of
grace to those here who have had
abortions or who have helped
someone else procure an
abortion. Let
me do that this way. Early one
morning, Jesus was teaching at
the temple, when suddenly there
was ruckus in the back of the
room. The scribes and Pharisees
pushed through the crowd,
dragging with them a woman who
had been caught in the act of
adultery. Looking
at Jesus, they taunted him. "For
committing adultery, the law says
this woman should be killed by
stoning. What do you think about
that, teacher?" Y'know
what? The law of Moses does say
that. People who committed
adultery -- both the woman and
the man -- were to be put to
death. The death penalty was
God's way of communicating just
how serious and destructive the
sin of adultery is. But
what did Jesus say? "Let the one
among you who is without sin be
the first to throw a stone at
her." This
should be the attitude of the
church toward women who've had
abortions -- and, yes, toward
those who in a crisis situation,
not knowing what else to do, have
helped someone get an
abortion. I
believe, based on Scripture,
church tradition, a reasonable
examination of current law, and
the personal experience of people
like Cathy and others I have
known, that abortion does violate
God's design and purpose for
life. It cheapens life and
increased human agony. Like
adultery, it is serious and
destructive -- at many
levels. But
"let the one among us who is
without sin be the first to throw
a stone." Jesus
is the only sinless One. Only He
had the right to throw a stone.
But after her accusers walked
away, Jesus said to the woman, "I
do not condemn you. Go and sin no
more." The
message of grace I have for you
today are those words that Jesus
spoke to that woman. The
Church does not condemn you.
Jesus does not condemn you. Go --
and by the grace of God -- sin no
more.
Gateway
Church gathers
for worship
Sundays
at 10:30 a.m.
(Hwy. 129) in Athens,
Georgia.
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For the Gateway family
Pastor
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A
GATEWAY SERMON
Pro-choice?
Pro-life?
(with a testimony by Cathy Coburn)
Gateway
Church,
Athens GA
January 22, 2006
For the idea -- and some of the
structure -- of this sermon, I am
indebted to Adam Hamilton, pastor
of the United Methodist Church of
the Resurrection in Kansas City.
Dr. Hamilton is known for helping
his congregation think about the
issues of the day from the
perspective of the Christian
faith.
The
witness of Church
history
Abortion
in modern America
•
Two-thirds say that the
cost of a child is too
high; and
•
Half say that they don't
want to be a single
parent or that they're
having relationship
problems with their
partner or
husband.
In other words, most abortions
are performed not for medical
reason but as a means of birth
control.
•
Black women are more
than 3 times as likely
as white women to have
an abortion, and
Hispanic women are
2-and-half times as
likely.
This last statistic is
particularly interesting, because
in its early days, the modern
pro-abortion movement in America
had strong racist overtones.
Margaret Sanger, founder of
Planned Parenthood, believed
strongly that non-white people
were inferior, and steps should
be taken to reduce their numbers
through birth control and even
forced sterilization.
Pro-Choice
/ Pro-Life
Wounded
healers(Cathy's
testimony)
What
does the Bible
say?You
made all the delicate, inner
parts of my body
and knit me together in my
mother's womb....
All the days ordained for me
were written in your book
before one of them came to be.
What
you can do
Word
of grace
A
mp3 audio file of this sermon is
here
(43
min.).
(Download
to a PC by right clicking on the
link and choosing "Save Target
As." Mac users: click, hold, and
choose "Download Link to Disk."
Depending on your connection
speed, the file may take several
minutes to
download.)
An
audio tape of the sermon
summarized above is available
free of charge (U.S. requests
only).
Request a tape by
calling
or writing the Gateway Church
office.
Please specify tape number
060122a: Pro-Choice?
Pro-Life?
©
2006 Joseph M.
Slife