ATTIC

from I Once was Lost by Don Everts

An Open Letter to Christian Youth Across North America

After taking the high school students of my church to a crisis pregnancy center last month, I felt somewhat unsatisfied that the vast majority of Christians in youth groups across North America will never be challenged to stand up against the atrocity of abortion. I firmly believe that as a Christian, and a Reformed Christian at that, we have a responsibility to preserve this world as salt (Matthew 5:13), and emanate God’s righteousness in every sphere of life (Matthew 6:33). Tragically, I have seen a pervasive unwillingness among churchgoers to take a vocal stand in our culture against the most heinous perversion of law in history – the legality of abortion. I wrote the message below for the high school students of Harvest Bible Chapel, York Region, but never had the opportunity to present it. By posting it here, I hope that my friends at Harvest and even some from beyond would see why this is such an important issue to God, and hopefully be eager to take the steps needed to restore justice and bring peace to the oppressed.

Abortion is not just some political issue that divides conservatives and liberals, as some of your friends at school might think. Hundreds of millions of human beings have been murdered with the permission of those entrusted to care for them the most – their parents. I want to spend some time thinking through and talking about why this is perhaps the most important social issue that we as Christians face right now.

To start with, let’s look at what God has to say about the pre-born and work our response from there:

Jeremiah 1:5 “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you; I appointed you a prophet to the nations.”

Psalm 139:13 says: For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother’s womb.

The Lord has known us before he created the world and fashioned every one of us as we grew up in our mother’s wombs; Who we would be, our physical features, our sense of humor, our passions, our weakness, our aspirations in life, our failures – all of who are was known in the mind of God beforehand and he was bringing into being that wonderful work of art as he fashioned us in the workshop of our mother’s womb.

Remember that every life that begins in the mother’s womb is created in the image of God, and since we are all created in God’s divine image, none of us has the right to take anyone else’s life. One of the commandments God gave Noah as he left the ark was that no one shall take another person’s life because, and God provides a specific reason here, man is created in the image of God (Genesis 9:6).

Where mankind makes idols with their hands which have eyes that don’t see and ears that don’t hear, God has fashioned us with eyes to see the world he created, ears to hear the beautiful sounds he had composed, hearts to love with, and minds to think God’s thoughts after Him. No one has a right to destroy the wonderful work of God, both in the womb and outside the womb!

We know that those waiting to be born are accounted to God as equals deserving of the same rights and protections that we enjoy. We must then know that this poses a responsibility on us as Christians. I want to compare two sections in the Law of Moses to illustrate how high a view God has for the pre-born.

Exodus 21:22-24  “When men strive together and hit a pregnant woman, so that her children come out, but there is no harm, the one who hit her shall surely be fined, as the woman’s husband shall impose on him, and he shall pay as the judges determine. But if there is harm, then you shall pay life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, burn for burn, wound for wound, stripe for stripe."

Exodus 21:12-13 “Whoever strikes a man so that he dies shall be put to death. But if he did not lie in wait for him, but God let him fall into his hand, then I will appoint for you a place to which he may flee. 

What happens when an adult is killed by accident compared to what happens when a pre-born baby is killed? The person who killed the adult by accident is allowed to live and is given a place of refuge whereas the person who killed the pre-born baby by accident however is killed.

Why is this? In God’s created order, those among us who are the most secure are given the responsibility to care for and protect those who are the most vulnerable among us because where much is given, much is required. Compare this to what Jesus has said when he spoke about His triumphant return. He says in Matthew 25:40 "And the King will answer them, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.'" Who in society is more vulnerable and neglected than the preborn? They have no voices to yell ‘injustice’; no visible presence to stir sympathy; and worst of all, what is done to them is done behind closed doors.

When we care about the preborn, we are demonstrating the love that we have for the Lord because like us, He entered the world as a defenseless foetus.  But even then the righteous knew in whose presence they were in. John the Baptist jumped for joy in his mother’s womb when he came near to the preborn Jesus because he knew in his spirit that it was this child's path that he was destined to prepare the way for. There is ample evidence in God’s word to show you how valuable the pre-born are to God. The next step for you, young Christian is what to do about it.

You might be thinking to yourself, I’m just in high school, what could I possibly do to stop the murder of children? Remember what Paul said to Timothy in 1 Tim 4: 12 Let no one despise you for your youth, but set the believers an example in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith, in purity.

My advice to you is the same. Don’t give anyone any ammunition to shoot you down for holding the pro-life position - not your friends, not your teachers, not even the media. Remember what you learned today and take it with you as you continue to walk by faith, trusting that God will bring justice for every wrong. That’s my first exhortation.

Secondly, understand the root causes for this sin. In ancient times, the Canaanites worshiped the god Molech by sacrificing their children. They would burn their babies alive and drown out their screams with loud drums in order to move their god to bring blessing to the land. They did this because they believed that their god would help their crops grow if they gave up what was precious to them. Today, we sacrifice children on a different altar and for an even worse purpose. We do it on the altar of sexual liberation. In return for the life of the innocent, people are promised pleasure without payment and the value of the child is not even a consideration as it was in Molech worship. Sex was created as a ceremony of love between two people who give themselves to each other in love for life, and the fruit of which is a child of that love. The child IS the blessing. It is not the unforeseen consequence of a harmless pastime. At the root of abortion is a perversion of sex and its intended purpose. Exasperated by pornography, this and previous generations have been duped into believing that sex is harmless and merely recreational. Sexual liberation requires the death of these millions of human beings to sustain itself and it will continue to grow in the heart of this generation until we realize that sex is so much more than pleasure.

Lastly, be public with what you've learned. Evil prevails when people do nothing. Stand up when you can by finding opportunities to speak the truth. Create or join a club, learn ways you can defend the truth to your friends, seek to eradicate sexual sin in your life and in the community of the church, and let your peers know that you will be part of the generation that ends infanticide (murdering babies) by ruthlessly going after its sinful root causes. Be strong and courageous, and do not let anyone use your age as a way to discredit you.

Your Brother in Christ,

George