2024-08-21 Sanctity of Life: Conception to Grave

• Some say the church should stay out of politics, but
  • All political topics are in some way biblical topics
  • Biblical topics that become political don’t stop being biblical.
  • All political ideas/laws/governance are based on SOMEONE’S morals & worldview.
  • There is no better morals and worldview than one that aligns with God’s.

 

• God is the one who creates and gives life

Genesis 2:7 (NLT2) Then the LORD God formed the man from the dust of the ground. He breathed the breath of life into the man’s nostrils, and the man became a living person.

Colossians 1:17 (NLT2) He existed before anything else, and he holds all creation together.

Acts 17:25 (NLT2) Human hands can’t serve his needs—for he has no needs. He himself gives life and breath to everything, and he satisfies every need.

• If there were no other reason, this is enough that we should honor and protect life
• He has made all humans in his image

Genesis 1:27 (NLT) ²⁷ So God created human beings in his own image. In the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.

What does it mean to be created “in his own image”? 

• We have been created to display something about God.
• Only humans have been created with the capacity
  • for intimate relationship with God and others.
  • the capacity to govern Creation.

Genesis 1:27-28 (NLT2) ²⁷  So God created human beings in his own image. In the image of God he created them; male and female he created them. ²⁸  Then God blessed them and said, “Be fruitful and multiply. Fill the earth and govern it. Reign over the fish in the sea, the birds in the sky, and all the animals that scurry along the ground.”

Every single human being, no matter how much the image of God is marred by sin, or illness, or weakness, or age, or any other disability, still has the status of being in God’s image and therefore must be treated with the dignity and respect that is due to God’s image-bearer.

– Focus on the Family

 

James 3:9–10 (NLT) ⁹ Sometimes (our tongue) praises our Lord and Father, and sometimes it curses those who have been made in the image of God. ¹⁰ …Surely, my brothers and sisters, this is not right!

 

Abortion

 

Psalm 139:13–16 (NLT) ¹³ You made all the delicate, inner parts of my body

     and knit me together in my mother’s womb.

¹⁴ Thank you for making me so wonderfully complex!

     Your workmanship is marvelous—how well I know it.

¹⁵ You watched me as I was being formed in utter seclusion,

     as I was woven together in the dark of the womb.

¹⁶ You saw me before I was born.

 

Psalm 51:5 (NIV) Surely I was sinful at birth, sinful from the time my mother conceived me.

 

“My body, my choice”?

• God doesn’t even allow us free choice over our OWN bodies:

1 Corinthians 6:19-20 (NLT2) ¹⁹  Don’t you realize that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, who lives in you and was given to you by God? You do not belong to yourself, ²⁰  for God bought you with a high price. So you must honor God with your body.

(MULTILINE REVEAL BIG)

 

Jeremiah 1:4-5 (NLT2) ⁴  The LORD gave me this message: ⁵  “I knew you before I formed you in your mother’s womb. Before you were born I set you apart and appointed you as my prophet to the nations.”

Exodus 21:22-25 (NLT2) ²²  “Now suppose two men are fighting, and in the process they accidentally strike a pregnant woman so she gives birth prematurely. If no further injury results, the man who struck the woman must pay the amount of compensation the woman’s husband demands and the judges approve. ²³  But if there is further injury, the punishment must match the injury: a life for a life, ²⁴  an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, a hand for a hand, a foot for a foot, ²⁵  a burn for a burn, a wound for a wound, a bruise for a bruise.”

(MULTILINE REVEAL BIG)

 

Exodus 20:13 (NIV84) “You shall not murder.”

• God’s reason for capital punishment that he gave to Noah after the flood:

Genesis 9:6 (NLT) ⁶ If anyone takes a human life, that person’s life will also be taken by human hands. For God made human beings in his own image.

 

Euthanasia

– to artificially hasten death

 

Psalm 39:4 (NIV) “Show me, O LORD, my life’s end and the number of my days; let me know how fleeting is my life.” 

• Moses said in Ps 90:

Psalm 90:12 (NIV) Teach us to number our days aright, that we may gain a heart of wisdom.

 

• In the Netherlands a number of elderly people have been put to death against their will
  • According to the Netherlands’ “adult euthanasia vetting commissions,” about 2,000 people/year are euthanized through a mix of sedatives and a lethal dose of muscle relaxant (as published in the Associated Press)
  • In 1997 the USSC quoted a 1991 Dutch study that found 5,941 of the 130,000 deaths (about 4%) the previous year were involuntarily euthanized

 

The Rise of Euthanasia in Canada – “MAiD”

1,018 deaths nationally in 2016

to 13,241 in 2022

(MULTILINE REVEAL BIG)

 

What to do?

 

CONSTITUTION AND CANONS of THE ANGLICAN CHURCH IN NORTH AMERICA

Title II, Canon 8, Section 3

God, and not man, is the creator of human life. The unjustified taking of life is sinful. Therefore, all members and clergy are called to promote and respect the sanctity of every human life from conception to natural death.

So how does this come to bear in our politics?

• Our first consideration is NOT what our political party suggests, but to align our lives with God’s will.

 

FL Amendment 4

(“Amendment to Limit Government Interference with Abortion”)

No law shall prohibit, penalize, delay, or restrict abortion before viability or when necessary to protect the patient’s health, as determined by the patient’s healthcare provider.

• Doesn’t define: Viability, Patient’s health, or Healthcare provider. These are HUGE LOOPHOLES.

 

How well does this align with what we know from Scripture? Would Scripture allow for Amendment 4 or not?

 

• This stand against abortion is based on 2 moral convictions:
  1. People should not murder other people
  2. The preborn child, elderly, and terminally ill should be considered as persons and protected as persons.

 

Democratic Platform on Abortion:

Democrats are committed to protecting and advancing reproductive health… including safe and legal abortion.

Democrats oppose restrictions on medication abortion care.

How well does this align with what we know from Scripture? 

 

Republican Platform on Abortion:

We believe that the 14th Amendment to the Constitution of the United States guarantees that no person can be denied Life or Liberty without Due Process, and that the States are, therefore, free to pass Laws protecting those Rights. After 51 years, because of us, that power has been given to the States and to a vote of the People. We will oppose Late Term Abortion, while supporting mothers and policies that advance Prenatal Care, access to Birth Control, and IVF (fertility treatments).

How well does this align with what we know from Scripture? 

 

Both SHOULD oppose the taking of another’s life.

• IVF (in vitro fertilization)
  • creates multiple embryos that are never implanted
  • Upwards of 1.5M (currently), and growing

 

• What about cases of…:
  • Birth defects
  • Rape
  • Incest

Is it ok to kill a child in these circumstances AFTER he/she is born? 

 

• What about Abortion to “save the life of the mother”?
  • According to the CDC this is extremely rare: 0.118% of all abortions (about 1/847)
  • The choice: either save the mom by taking the life of the baby, or lose both lives.
  • The lesser evil is to:

 

Romans 14:10b–12 (NIV84) ¹⁰ For we will all stand before God’s judgment seat. ¹¹ It is written:

“ ‘As surely as I live,’ says the Lord,

‘every knee will bow before me;

every tongue will confess to God.’ ”

¹² So then, each of us will give an account of himself to God.

 

Sanctity of Life: All human life is a sacred gift from God and is to be protected and defended from conception to natural death. We will uphold the sanctity of life and bring the grace and compassion of Christ to those who face the realities of previous abortion, unwanted pregnancy, and end-of-life illness.

– from the All Souls Statement of Faith

 

We support First Coast Women’s Services – who supports life at all stages

• Parenting classes
• Relationship Skills
• Financial Readiness
• Individualized mentoring
• New Cribs
• Baby clothes
• Diapers
• Breastfeeding support
• Healthcare providers
• Car seat providers
• Job search, resume assistance, job application
• Post-abortion healing and counselling
• Focus on building authentic biblical manhood and fatherhood through educational classes and one-on-one mentoring with a male volunteer
• Healthy pregnancy and to be equipped to care for their child.
• Adoption Assistance
  • 2% of all Americans have adopted.
    • 5% among practicing Christians.
    • Catholics are three times as likely.
    • evangelicals are five times as likely.

 

• • American adoptions comprise nearly half of all adoptions worldwide
  • 73% of adoptive parents are non–Hispanic white adults, yet non–Hispanic white adopted children are actually the minority (37%).