The Beginning of Life – The Law of God and Public Policy: Policies Regarding Life (2)

The Beginning of Life

The Law of God and Public Policy: Policies Regarding Life (2)

In Biblical Law, life begins in the womb.

“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 21:22-25

According to the Law of God, human life begins in the womb. Our text is deliberately not specific concerning the stage of development of the children who are forcibly ejected from the womb by outside violence. That abortion occurs indicates that a crime has been committed against life; and restitution and retribution must follow in order for justice to be achieved.

The present “pro-choice” mindset in America is insane. The basic idea is that a woman who becomes pregnant should be free to choose whether or not to carry her child to term. The underlying premises behind this agenda are two: First, that a child in the womb is not a person to whom the rights and privileges of life apply. Second, that a woman carrying a child is competent to decide whether or not to allow that which is conceived in her womb to come to life beyond the womb. Neither of these premises is amenable to any kind of proof, whether scientific or otherwise. They are assumed arbitrarily, as acts of faith, and as matters of mere convenience, to accommodate the changing (declining) morality of the day.

Christians for a generation now have resisted the practice of abortion, rejecting the false premises of the pro-choice agenda and arguing for a definition of life more in line with the teaching of God’s Word. We have been right to do so, and we must not back down from this commitment. The present tendency in national politics to focus on matters of economics more than on social policy represents a tilt away from an economy of justice toward an economy of material prosperity. Yet it is precisely devotion to this view of the economy which has made the practice of abortion as a matter of convenience so widespread. Christians must insist that all political candidates seeking their support be firm in their commitment to resist and overthrow the present abortion regime and to expose the lie of the pro-choice agenda by every available means.

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In the Gates is a devotional series on the Law of God by Rev. T.M. Moore, editor of the Worldview Church. He serves as dean of the Centurions Program of the Wilberforce Forum and principal of The Fellowship of Ailbe, a spiritual fellowship in the Celtic Christian tradition. He is the author or editor of twenty books, and has contributed chapters to four others. His essays, reviews, articles, papers, and poetry have appeared in dozens of national and international journals, and on a wide range of websites. His most recent books are The Ailbe Psalter and The Ground for Christian Ethics (Waxed Tablet).

Scripture quotations in this article are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version, (c) copyright 2001, 2007 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

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