God and Desperate, Pregnant Women

Recently, I had a substantial debate on the topic of abortion with three pro-abortionists and fellow Christian, pro-life blogger Detective J. Hopefully, I will be able to post some of the content of that debate on Kingdom Advancing in the future. Today, however, I want to address a very small segment of the discussion.

At the conclusion, Detective J made known his belief in Jesus (my name makes my belief in Christ rather obvious). One of the pro-choicers replied with this:

I want you to know that I believe in G-d, too — only I believe that G-d aches for desperate women at least as much as for potential [unborn] children...

Now, I don't know why she dashed out the O's in her references to God, but that's beside the point. One could make the observation that this is a great example of a "figment-of-your-imagination"-god, a violation of the Second Commandment. But, that's not how I have decided to address the issue. This is my reply (I posted a link at the original site of the debate, but nowhere else, because I don't think that the antagonists in the debate would be interested anyway):

Of course God cares about desperate women. But turning to abortion only grieves Him more. God hates "...hands that shed innocent blood." (Proverbs 6:17) He would prefer these "hands that cause sin" (abortion, in this case) to be "cut off" (banned). (Mark 9:43) Women should not look for some kind of "salvation" or "savior" through abortion. For "...there is salvation in no one else; for there is no other name under heaven by which we must be saved." (Acts 4:12) Jesus says, "I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life; no one comes to the Father but by Me." (John 14:6) "Choice" is not the way; Planned Parenthood is not the truth; abortion does not bring life. Jesus says, "Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest." (Matthew 11:28) He does not say, "Go to Planned Parenthood..." God does not want women to try to solve their 'problems'--real, imagined, or distorted--on their own or apart from Him in any way. "Trust in the Lord with all your heart, And lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He will make your paths straight." (Proverbs 3:5-6) For "...you cannot make..." even "...one hair..." on your head "...white or black..." (Matthew 5:36) So, trusting God, Jesus says, "Do not worry then... for your Heavenly Father [knows your needs]." (Matthew 6:31-32)

Can Jesus sympathize with desperate women and their temptations, trials, and weaknesses, even the temptation to have an abortion? The Bible says that He can. "For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but One who has been tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin." (Hebrews 4:15) Jesus takes it a step further: "Surely our griefs He Himself bore, And our sorrows He carried... He was pierced through for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; The chastening for our well-being fell upon Him, And by His scourging we are healed... the Lord has caused the iniquity of us all To fall on Him... He was cut off out of the land of the living For the transgression of my people, to whom the stroke was due... My Servant will justify the many, As He will bear their iniquities." (Isaiah 53:4-6, 8, 11; emphasis mine)

Does God care about desperate women? As I said at the beginning: of course! "Are not two sparrows sold for a cent? And yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father... So do not fear; you are more valuablel than many sparrows." (Matthew 10:29-31) Cast "...all your anxiety on Him, for He cares for you." (1 Peter 5:7) Christians are called to love "...not...with word or with tongue, but in deed and truth." (1 John 3:18) We, as Christians, should be willing to do whatever we can to make the decision as easy as possible for pregnant women.

But the Bible also tells us that women--and men, for that matter--have bigger problems than unwanted pregnancies. "For what is man profited if He gains the whole world, and loses himself [his own soul]?" (Luke 9:25) "For the wages of sin is death..." (Romans 6:23) and "...all have sinned and fall short of the glory of god." (Romans 3:23) Only the shedding of One--and only One's blood can rectify the dire situation. (Hebrews 10) Then, we are not to continue to sin. We are not to compound one sin (immorality) with another (abortion). "Are we to continue to sin so that grace may increase? May it never be!" (Romans 6:1-2)

Women, considering abortion based on desperateness, convenience, or a sense of entitlement, need to remember the story of the man, who, after being released from a great debt, then went to demand repayment for a much lesser debt owed him.

"For this reason the kingdom heaven may be compared to a king who wished to settle accounts with his slaves. When he had begun to settle them, one who owed him ten thousand talents [a talent was worth more than fifteen years' wages of a laborers; in other words, 150,000 years worth of labor] was brought to him. But since he did not have the means to repay, his lord commanded him to be sold, along with his wife and children and all that he had, and repayment to be made. So the slave fell to the ground and prostrated himself before him, saying, 'Have patience with me and I will repay you everything [note: impossible].' And the lord of that slave felt compassion and released him and forgave him the debt. But that slave went out and found one of his fellow slaves who owed him a hundred denarii [a denarius was a day's wages; in other words, if you go by our current 365 days-each-year structure, the slave owed to the king 547,500 times as much as the other slave owed him]; and he seized him and began to choke him, saying, 'Pay back what you owe.' So his fellow slave fell to the ground and began to plead with him, saying, 'Have patience with me and I will repay you.' But he was unwilling and went and threw him in prison until he should pay back what was owed. So when his fellow slaves saw what happened, they were deeply grieved and came and reported to their lord all that had happened. Then summoning him, his lord said to him, 'You wicked slave, I forgave you all that debt because you pleaded with me. Should you not also have had mercy on your fellow slave, in the same way that I had mercy with you?' And his lord, moved with anger, handed him over to the torturers until he should repay all that was owed to him [note: never]. My heavenly Father will also do the same to you, if each of you does not forgive his brother from your heart." (Matthew 19:23-35)

Are children--are fetuses--indebted to their mothers? Of course! They effect their moms' health, appearance, social life, finances, free time [is there any?], and the list goes on... But how much more do mothers and mothers-to-be--how much more do us all--owe to God? How great has His mercy and grace--even His common grace to believers and unbelievers alike--been? How widespread His forgiveness? How much are we counting on it in the future? How much did all our lives hang in the balance when our moms made the life-and-death decisions when we were in our earliest days of existence?

"Permit the children to come to Me; do not hinder them." (Mark 10:14) Permit them to LIVE! Get right with God (for without that, none of the reasoning in this article will persuade you), stand up, and say, "I can do all things through Christ Who strengthens Me." (Philippians 4:13)

~Kingdom Advancer