January 21, 2014

"Don’t just pretend to love others. Really love them. Hate what is wrong. Hold tightly to what is good. Love each other with genuine affection, and take delight in honoring each other." Romans 12:9-10

You have heard about "love/hate" relationships. Maybe you have had some. So you know there really is a fine line between love and hate. They are equally strong passions. Love has tremendous power for good while hatred can cause great harm.

Both love and hatred have a place in the heart of a Christian. In some situations you must hate one thing in order to love another. For instance, if you love the Chicago Bears (as I do) you MUST hate the Green Bay Packers. That's just the way it is! Always has been that way and always will be.

Okay, maybe I can find a better example.

In verses nine and ten, you are told that in order to love others with a godly love, you must hate evil. That would be the evil that tries to intrude into your heart as well and the evil that would attack or invade others. The word used here is a strong word. It indicates that you must be disgusted by evil and find it loathsome.

Are you? Do you?

If you saw an imminent physical threat to your loved one you would immediate cry out ro warm them or run to protect them. That is because true love protects. So, how then can you truly love someone and ignore a greater threat - the threat of evil to their immortal soul?

What would you think of a lifeguard at the beach who sees someone struggling in the waves and while fully aware of the threat, chooses to ignore it, preferring to work on his tan. That would anger you! And it should! You would conclude that lifeguard does not care about people nor takes his job seriously.

But in the same way, when you see evil or destructive habits or behavior in a loved one and you tolerate it you are not doing your duty as a Christian.

One measure of how much you love a brother or a sister is how much evil you are willing to tolerate in their lives. Or, another indication would be how much evil you are willing to condone or even participate in with them. The degree to which you ignore or tolerate evil is an indication of how little you love. Perhaps you have remained silent not wanting to offend or force a confrontation. Maybe you have convinced yourself that is the loving thing to do. Romans 12:9-10 challenges that notion.

Loving God and loving others demands a hatred of evil.

January 20, 2014

"Love must be honest and true. Hate what is evil. Hold on to what is good. Love each other deeply. Honor others more than yourselves." Romans 12:9-10

"Love each other deeply" says the Scripture. The word that is used is the word for "brotherly love". Within the fellowship of the church you are to love others like family. The "phileo" type of love is the highest measure of love which human beings are capable of sharing. It refers to a genuine warm emotional feeling of fondness and familiarity. In other words, when you love a fellow Christian give it all you've got. 

Don't hold back.

Why should you not love your fellow believers like you love family? After all, you have the same Father. If you love God you certainly should love those in your church fellowship who also love God. You love them because God, your Father loves them. You love them deeply because they are spiritual family.

And why should you not love your fellow believers who not only share you Father, but also share your faith. Faith is a powerful force in the life of a believer. Faith is a set of beliefs about Who God is, how He operates, how He loves you and what He wants you to do and to become. A common system of beliefs and values can form a strong bond for friendship and fellowship among believers in a local church. Sharing strong beliefs at the core of your being with other believers is a strong uniting factor.

Also, when you worship and work together within the fellowship of a church you share the same focus. You want that fellowship to prosper and grow. The people and the pastors and the ministries of that church has inspired you and instructed you and invested in you over the years and it has become an important part of your life. Because you value that you value others who share your passion for the the health of that church. You are a team, you are members of the body who are working together to achieve shared goals. That is a strong common bond.

Love one another deeply as you would a brother or a sister. Live in unity and harmony with them. Share spiritual community as you worship together , serve each other and reach out to the needs in your city.

Having the same Father, the same faith and an identical focus are important factors in loving each other deeply (like brothers or sisters) within a local church fellowship. It is a powerful bond! It will bless you in your spirit and build you in your spiritual development!

Do you have a brotherly love for those who worship with you? 

If not, why not?

January 19, 2014

“Teacher, what is the greatest commandment in the Law?” He replied, “You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your being, and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: You must love your neighbor as you love yourself. All the Law and the Prophets depend on these two commands.” Matthew 22:36-40

Don't you think God knows what He is doing?

Don't you believe He is much wiser than you?

Why, then, would you not consult His Word before you make any important decisions? Especially a decision as important as whether to terminate a pregnancy or not.

Over the last few days I have been placing some of "pro-choice" justifications for abortions beside God's Great Commandment. It has been quite effective in exposing the fallacy of their claims.

Today I want to examine a third claim: Abortion is safe and easy and I can get on with my life.

Well, let's examine the safety of it:

- The risk of ectopic pregnancy is 30% higher after one abortion and 400% higher after two or more abortions.

- An ectopic pregnancy places the woman at a 12% higher chance of death during her pregnancy.

- Women who have had an abortion have a 600% higher rate of a condition called abruptio placenta - a condition where the placenta tears away from the uterine lining during future pregnancies.

- After an abortion a woman has a 2-5% chance of becoming infertile.

- After an abortion the risk of breast cancer increases 100%

- After second or third abortion the risk increases 300%

- The increase risk of a young woman under 18 having a abortion developing breast cancer is +150%

- If the teen comes from a family with a history of cancer her risk increases 1000% after an abortion.

- These are some of physical risks that follow an abortion but the emotional and psychological impacts can be for worse.

- The suicide rate for women following a full-term birth is 6/100,000

- The suicide rate for women after an abortion is 35/100,000.

- A condition called "PTSD" usually follows an abortion. Some of those symptoms can be: Nagging guilt, anxiety, avoiding children or pregnant women, emotional shut-down, depression, suicidal thoughts, substance abuse, promiscuity, or difficulty bonding with future children.

I am not saying any of those will happen, but I am saying they are some of the risks that often do happen and make abortion far from being "safe" or "easy".

Or, for that matter, it may not be guaranteed that you could simple put the abortion behind you and get on with living.

These are facts confirmed by actual scientific date from 40 years of abortions. But behind the medical issues are the spiritual implications of breaking the commandment of God!

Can you honestly and in good conscience reconcile having an abortion with loving God with all your heart, and all your soul and with all your mind? 

Can you be confident that terminating a pregnancy is consistent with demonstrating your love for God?

And what about loving another as you love yourself? Can you square that with having an abortion. Don't you want to live? Don't you want to be happy and experience the best things in life?

Then God's commandment would require you to extend that same love to the life forming with in you.

Doesn't that make sense?

Isn't that what the Great Commandment demands?

Obeying the Great Commandment means loving God, loving others and loving yourself. I can't reconcile that with having an abortion.

Can you?

January 18, 2014

"He replied, “You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your being, and with all your mind. 38  This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: You must love your neighbor as you love yourself."  Matthew 22:37-39

A second rationale offered to justify abortion is this argument: I am not terminating a human life since it cannot survive outside of the womb.

I would have to ask, "How can it not be a human life when you have a human sperm uniting with a human egg?" If the sperm is alive and the egg is alive how can the cell formed by this union not be considered alive?

If you are lying to yourself about this, what else are you lying to yourself about?

Let me concede your point that it is just a few cells. If it is just a few harmless cells then why would you need a procedure to get rid of them? If it is because you know it is eventually going to be alive then aren't you still guilty of knowingly ending a life if you abort it?

"You are the one who created my innermost parts; you knit me together while I was still in my mother’s womb. I give thanks to you that I was marvelously set apart.  Your works are wonderful—I know that very well. My bones weren’t hidden from you when I was being put together in a secret place, when I was being woven together in the deep parts of the earth. Your eyes saw my embryo, and on your scroll every day was written that was being formed for me, before any one of them had yet happened." Psalm 139:13-16

But let's measure this argument against what God's commandment says.

What decision would you make if God was truly your Lord and you loved Him with all your heart and all your soul and all your mind? Would you please Him by ending a pregnancy?

And what about the second part of the Commandment? What decision would you make if you were to love another as you love yourself? And what about loving yourself? Can you be sure you will still love yourself if you terminate a pregnancy? Is having the abortion the best thing you can do for yourself? Are you glad your mother decided to carry you to full term and give you birth?

There is no doubt that making a decision on whether to end a pregnancy or carry it to term can be a very difficult decision. Shouldn't you seriously consider what God says about it before you make a final decision?

When you factor in God's commandment the decision becomes much clearer doesn't it? 

January 17, 2014

"Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’  This is the first and greatest commandment.  And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.” Matthew 22:37-39

I am convinced that every problem at its root is a spiritual problem. Why do I believe this? I believe it because the spiritual part of you is the part that will live for ever because the spiritual part of you is what connects with God.

So, as I address this evil thing called abortion, I want to approach it at the spiritual level. Actually, I am not going to address it but I will let Jesus address it.

"I didn't know Jesus said anything about abortion," you may be thinking, "I didn't know Jesus said anything about abortion."

When he was asked to identify the most important thing Jesus replied, "Loving God and loving others is most important." So, according to Jesus, love is the gold standard by which all things should be evaluated.

Let's see what happens if I take the three most common arguments for abortion and hold them up against this Great Commandment of God!

We will do the first one in this post and one per day for the next few days.

Argument One: It is my body and no one should tell me what to do with my body!

In fact, there are an increasing number of government laws and regulations that DO tell you what you can and cannot do with your body!

But that aside, God would say, "Is it really your body?" I remind you that He is your Creator! I remind you that all life begins and ends in Him. If you love Him with all your heart, and all your soul and all your mind you will realize you belong to Him. 

"Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God--this is your true and proper worship." Romans 12:1

"Or don’t you know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you? Don’t you know that you have the Holy Spirit from God, and you don’t belong to yourselves? You have been bought and paid for, so honor God with your body."  I Corinthians 6:19-20

Whether you like or not. Whether you want to admit it or not you are accountable to God! He is keeping a permanent record and there will be a day when you will give an accounting to Him for what you did with your body while you are in your body.

"Because it is written, As I live, says the Lord, every knee will bow to me and every tongue will give praise to God. So then, each of us will give an account of ourselves to God." Romans 14:11-12

So, if you belong to Him and if you are accountable to Him, don't you think it matters what you do with your body? 

If you are facing a life altering decision like an abortion, shouldn't you consider what He would want you to do? 

As the source of life and as the source of love, what do you think He would want you to do?

Doesn't that make sense?

There is another question you need to ask, "What about the body forming within my body?"

Think about that! If your body belongs to God then the body forming within you belongs to God, right?

The second part of the commandment says you need to love others like we love yourself. 

How do you love yourself?

You want the best for yourself, right? 

You want to live! You guard and protect your life, don't you?

Apply that to the life growing within you.

One big reason why women consider abortion is for selfish reasons. It seems easier to end the pregnancy rather than to deal with the complications and responsibilities of a child.

Is that really what it means to love yourself? Is it what means to love another?

If you deal with this "pro-choice" argument at the level that really matters - the spiritual level - and measure it against the Great Commandment, the argument sort of dissolves.

Life gets better when you live it according to God's loving laws.

January 16, 2014

“Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?” Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.” Matthew 22:36-40

I am proudly, purposefully, and passionately pro-life!

I am pro-life because I am pro-God and God is life! He is the beginning of life and at the end of life and everywhere in between! Where He is there is life and where He is not allowed there is death. I know that because I was once spiritually dead but through faith in Jesus Christ I have been made alive and given abundant life!

Loving God is demonstrated by keeping His commands and the commandments are wrapped up in this one Great Commandment! So, if I love God I will measure my choices, values and principles against this standard. There is no way I can reconcile abortion with the Great Commandment.

What do you think would happen to the abortion rate if every woman finding herself in a crisis pregnancy would factor the Great Commandment into her decision-making?

Is ending a pregnancy pleasing to God? Is it consistent with loving Him with all your heart and all your soul and all your mind?

What about the second part of the commandment? How does ending a pregnancy square with loving others as yourself? Is ending an innocent life consistent with the way you love yourself? Love requires you to desire the best for others. Can you honestly make a case for terminating a life being the best course of action for it?

Does having an abortion cause you to love yourself more? Can you end an innocent life and feel better about yourself as a person?

Abortion is a social issue, I could debate it on that basis. It is also a moral issue that could be argued from that perspective. And abortion is an emotional issue but emotional arguments usually don't end well. It has become a political issue and arguing politics is a tough win. But essentially abortion is a spiritual issue so I let God's Word speak to it and the Great Commandment summarizes the Word as well as any other Scripture passage. When the question of abortion is set against the answer of God's Word truth becomes evident.

Why not let God's Word do your talking?

Why not let God's Word guide your decisions?

January 15, 2014

"You saw my unformed body; all the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be." Psalms 139:16

On the day when I celebrate my birth, it seemed appropriate to argue for the right to be born and not aborted.

The Bible clearly indicates that God is intimately involved in human lives before they are even conceived and from the moment of their conceptions to the end of natural lives. 

It simply makes sense that when a sperm from a living man fertilizes an egg from a living woman that the cell produced by that union would be living.

To argue that no one really knows when life begins is either uniformed or intellectually dishonest.

Randy Alcorn documents testimonies from the Congressional record:

Some of the world’s most prominent scientists and physicians testified to a U.S. Senate committee that human life begins at conception:

A United States Senate Judiciary Subcommittee invited experts to testify on the question of when life begins. All of the quotes from the following experts come directly from the official government record of their testimony.1

Dr. Alfred M. Bongioanni, professor of pediatrics and obstetrics at the University of Pennsylvania, stated:

“I have learned from my earliest medical education that human life begins at the time of conception…. I submit that human life is present throughout this entire sequence from conception to adulthood and that any interruption at any point throughout this time constitutes a termination of human life….I am no more prepared to say that these early stages [of development in the womb] represent a incomplete human being than I would be to say that the child prior to the dramatic effects of puberty…is not a human being. This is human life at every stage.”

Dr. Jerome LeJeune, professor of genetics at the University of Descartes in Paris, was the discoverer of the chromosome pattern of Down syndrome. Dr. LeJeune testified to the Judiciary Subcommittee, “after fertilization has taken place a new human being has come into being.” He stated that this “is no longer a matter of taste or opinion,” and “not a metaphysical contention, it is plain experimental evidence.” He added, “Each individual has a very neat beginning, at conception.”

Professor Hymie Gordon, Mayo Clinic: “By all the criteria of modern molecular biology, life is present from the moment of conception.”

Professor Micheline Matthews-Roth, Harvard University Medical School: “It is incorrect to say that biological data cannot be decisive…. It is scientifically correct to say that an individual human life begins at conception…. Our laws, one function of which is to help preserve the lives of our people, should be based on accurate scientific data.”

Dr. Watson A. Bowes, University of Colorado Medical School: “The beginning of a single human life is from a biological point of view a simple and straightforward matter—the beginning is conception. This straightforward biological fact should not be distorted to serve sociological, political, or economic goals.”

A prominent physician points out that at these Senate hearings, “Pro-abortionists, though invited to do so, failed to produce even a single expert witness who would specifically testify that life begins at any point other than conception or implantation. Only one witness said no one can tell when life begins.”

Many other prominent scientists and physicians have likewise affirmed with certainty that human life begins at conception:

Ashley Montague, a geneticist and professor at Harvard and Rutgers, is unsympathetic to the prolife cause. Nevertheless, he affirms unequivocally, “The basic fact is simple: life begins not at birth, but conception.”

Dr. Bernard Nathanson, internationally known obstetrician and gynecologist, was a cofounder of what is now the National Abortion Rights Action League (NARAL). He owned and operated what was at the time the largest abortion clinic in the western hemisphere. He was directly involved in over sixty thousand abortions.

Dr. Nathanson’s study of developments in the science of fetology and his use of ultrasound to observe the unborn child in the womb led him to the conclusion that he had made a horrible mistake. Resigning from his lucrative position, Nathanson wrote in the New England Journal of Medicine that he was deeply troubled by his “increasing certainty that I had in fact presided over 60,000 deaths.”

In his film, “The Silent Scream,” Nathanson later stated, “Modern technologies have convinced us that beyond question the unborn child is simply another human being, another member of the human community, indistinguishable in every way from any of us.” Dr. Nathanson wrote Aborting America to inform the public of the realities behind the abortion rights movement of which he had been a primary leader.5 At the time Dr. Nathanson was an atheist. His conclusions were not even remotely religious, but squarely based on the biological facts.

Dr. Landrum Shettles was for twenty-seven years attending obstetrician-gynecologist at Columbia-Presbyterian Medical Center in New York. Shettles was a pioneer in sperm biology, fertility, and sterility. He is internationally famous for being the discoverer of male- and female-producing sperm. His intrauterine photographs of preborn children appear in over fifty medical textbooks. Dr. Shettles states, "I oppose abortion. I do so, first, because I accept what is biologically manifest—that human life commences at the time of conception—and, second, because I believe it is wrong to take innocent human life under any circumstances. My position is scientific, pragmatic, and humanitarian."

So, if life begins at conception, and it clearly does, then an abortion constitutes the taking of a human life. This is precisely why people of faith and conscience oppose abortion.

Any questions?