This coming Sunday, January 18, 2009 is Sanctity of Human Life Sunday. Since Roe v. Wade, the landmark decision legalizing abortions, there have been over 49 million abortions performed.
We've become so accustom to these kinds of statistics that it's easy to overlook of the scope of this atrocity. Even today, we're still horrified by the 2001 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center as we should be - 2,752 deaths in a single day is terrible indeed. But in 2003, there were over 3500 abortions performed every single day. Somehow as a nation, we're not as troubled by this.
We're sympathetic to the tsunami victims - approximately 169,000 lives were lost in this natural disaster. Yet, 49 million deaths since 1973 doesn't seem to affect us quite as much. 49 million is about the size of South Korea or Spain - an entire nation of babies has been lost.
As a nation, we no longer view life from a biblically informed perspective and we are lost because of it. The high value of a human life is ascribed by God himself in Genesis 1 -"Then God said, 'let us make man in our image, after our likeness". Imago dei -the image of God in us means that every life has value outside of our utility or function or viability. It means that human life is sacred.
This week, especially this Sunday, pray for God to be actively at work in our courts, our homes and our hearts so that life is regarded as holy and the wicked practices of abortion might be no more. Let's also pray for National Right to Life and other newer groups like Abort73 as they continue to labor on behalf of the unborn.
9 comments:
I'm not surprised to find that some Christians shy away from the controversial issues, but I can't get over it when the sanctity of life is treated as an insignificant matter or worse -- when a believer passionately champions "reproductive rights." Last week, I actually raised my voice to a churchmate, speaking as persuasively as I could, for the protection of these precious little ones. He seemed to think there was nothing wrong with it, but it is evil, and we cannot expect that we won't suffer consequences for these horrible actions.
Craver - I'm not always aware or passionate about this issue as I should be but I'm glad for those who carry the torch on this and remind the rest of us why it's so important.
Let me add to this the Democratic "95/10 Initiative". Roe v Wade- let it be overturned, but I'm not convinced that that alone these days will reduce the number of abortions in this country at all.
And I have to agree with Ed Dobson (see my past Saturday posting, if you like on this) that for more and more Christians like myself, the sanctity of life does not end at conception or until birth. Christians speaking only about abortion in that light are missing a large part of that. Though we must speak out and battle against abortion, to be sure. But let's be careful not to rubber stamp supposedly "pro-life" politicians whose agenda and actions belie that in a good number of ways.
My opinion here, and convictions, but I know good Christians don't see eye to eye with me on this, though many do. Just my thoughts here.
What strikes me is how biblical this landscape is according to Isa 58:
Government: endorses and funds a genocide on a scale that has never been seen before- causing injustice
Government: crying injustice when someone else kills ~3000 of its citizens- crying out for justice
Mark - we don't think of it as Government funded genocide but it is functionally what is happening.
Speaking on the subject of Life, what do you think of my new blog entry on the subject of Yeshua HaMashiach?
http://777denny.wordpress.com/
Thank you,
777denny
Not much left to say but amen - the picture is quite compelling. Do you know if it is an actual fetus or if it is an artist's rendering?
777denny - thanks for stopping by with your comments although truthfully, if your blog is a reliable indication of your views, I do not agree with some of your positions.
Susan - I believe it is a cropped closeup photo.
Goood blog post
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