Apologetics and abortion seem at first glance to be two completely unrelated topics. However, they are quite related upon deeper reflection. Jude 1:3 tells us that we are to earnestly contend for the faith once for all delivered. The content of our faith is found in the scriptures and includes our responsibility to protect the innocent and stand for righteousness and justice. Indeed, if we know what is right and fail to do what is right, for him it is sin (James 4:17). Again, if apologetics includes a defense of biblical propositions this would seem to entail a necessity of defending the biblical notion of justice, righteousness and the sanctity of life; For on a biblical view of life, life is precious because man was created in the image of God (Genesis 1:26).
Not only was man created in the image of God, but God has made it so that life reproduces after its own kind (Genesis 1:21, 24) and hence the baby in the mother’s womb is indeed a human life. To take human life is murder and therefore an abomination before God. The Bible specifies the value of human life made in the image of God when it reads, “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” (Genesis 9:6). Because of the value of human life as image bearers of God, the penalty in the Old Testament was very severe for murder. If an unborn baby is indeed a human life (clearly it is), then the taking of such life is murder in the eyes of God, even if not in the eyes of the state.
Killing vs. Murder
Killing is the taking of life and is not necessarily a wrong thing to do. There are certain contexts in which killing is permissible on a biblical basis: Self-defense, war-time, etc. However, murder is the “unlawful taking of life.” Hence murder is clearly wrong and sinful in the eyes of God. While it is true that abortion is legal and therefore not an example of “unlawful taking of life” on the human level, it is unlawful when we use the divine law which is higher than the often times unjust and immoral laws of man. It is true that as Christians we are called to obey the government (Romans 13) and those placed over us1, however, when those placed over us establish laws that cause us to choose between God’s ways and man’s ways, we are to side with God as opposed to man.
These truths entail that we fight for the innocent (unborn) and stand for justice (i.e. preserving life). The interesting thing is that never a time in history have we been in the position to know that the life within the womb is indeed human life, yet, we are establishing laws that make it permissible to end the life of unborn babies. This is just one manifestation of the varied and multitudinous irrational and sinful perspectives adopted by many in our world today. However, it is something that believers in Christ should stand against. It is quite remarkable when one considers the amount of abortions performed today make it such that the most dangerous place in the United States for a human being is inside the womb of a woman.2
Returning now to the beginning of this brief article, hopefully one can now see the connection between apologetics and abortion. Apologetics entails defending biblical propositions, and biblical propositions include our duty to do what is right. Murder (abortion) is wrong and preserving innocent life is right and therefore we should do what is right by protecting the innocent against immorality and its many manifestations. Let us pray that God uses our witness to change hearts and recapture a biblical conception of the sanctity of life. And let us pray for the many women who are confronted or are thinking about abortion as an option. The contexts under which abortion is chosen as an option are many and complex and so we pray that more women choose life. Lastly, in accord with the biblical notion of doing what is right, let our prayer also be that the church is a light to those who are hurting and confronted with these difficult issues.
1. Granted, the U.S. is supposed to be a democracy in which the people vote and laws are established through the democratic process, but the principle still holds that when the laws of man conflict with the laws of God, we are to side with God’s higher law.
2. Quote from R.C. Sproul (Source unknown).