Human embryo at 6 weeks

Abortion is sin.  There is no doubt about it.  Just a few days after conception, the baby’s heart is pumping blood through its body. You can see fingers and toes forming, you can hear the heart beat.  Yet, these babies are considered just a “mass of flesh” by the abortionists.

“Scripture seems to teach that the unborn fetus is an individual person.  Isaiah says, ‘The Lord called me from the womb’ (49:1, RSV).  Paul says that God ‘set me apart before I was born, and had called me through his grace’ (Gal. 1:15, RSV).  John the Baptist was ‘filled with the Holy Spirit, even from his mother’s womb’ (Luke 1:15, RSV). And a psalm writer called himself a ‘me’, a self, when he wrote that ‘in sin did my mother conceive me’ (Ps. 51:5, RSV).  Also, in Ps. 139:13 we read, ‘Thou didst knit me together in my mother’s womb’ (RSV).  And in Jeremiah, Yahweh says to the prophet, ‘Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you’ I appointed you a prophet to the nations’ (1:5, RSV)” (Beacon Dictionary of Theology).

God views the human fetus as a person -a whole person- one He can know and fill with the Holy Spirit.  To discard this person, this living, real person, is murder in most circumstances.  Abortion is the killing of unborn babies!

So, abortion is wrong.  We preach it, protest against it, write about it, send letters to politicians to encourage them to outlaw it, even vote for candidates who are against it, but as wrong as abortion is, which is worse:  a murder that allows that baby to avoid the trials of this life (and possibly a very difficult family situation) and go straight into the loving arms of his or her Savior, or legislating misery on that single, teenage, mother-to-be without the offer of help?

It’s fine to stand up against wrong, we should!  But along with that, we should provide the help and support that un-wed mothers need.

To whom is she going to turn?  Her parents may throw her out; her boyfriend may dump her; her girlfriends may be just as confused as she is.  Where does she go?

We can not take away what that woman feels to be her only solution without providing a better one.  We know that God can help her along the way.  We realize that if she can’t yet care for a child, there are many couples unable to have children that would be willing to adopt and give that child a good home.  We know that there is help available for her, but does she?  If the church doesn’t provide this help, who will?  We certainly can not expect the government, who legalized this form of murder to help her.  We, the church, must be willing to give of ourselves to meet the special needs of these people. We MUST be there  for them.  We must let the love of Christ show through us to them.

What Are the Needs?

1) EMOTIONAL SUPPORT.  This young mother is facing big changes in her life.  She is facing many decisions. She stands before many questions that seem unanswerable.  There must be somebody to whom she can turn. Someone with whom she can relate. Someone who knows God’s Word and His promises for her. Someone who can guide her into a real experience with a loving, caring and providing Savior.

2) FINANCIAL SUPPORT.  This young mother is facing many expenses in the future. She will need several visits to the doctor before the birth, and many more for the baby after. She will need proper food so the baby will develop properly, both in the womb, and after delivery. She will need different clothes, both for her as her pregnancy advances, and for the baby.

Many times the mother’s parents are unwilling, or unable, to help financially.  The church should be a source both of finances (or materials), and guidance to other agencies who can help.

3) FRIENDSHIP.  This young mother may be facing the loss of love from her family and friends.  She may feel rejected, deserted, unloved.  She needs friends to whom she can turn; ones who will not judge her; people to just be with, talk with, laugh with.  We need to be there for her.

By being her friend, we are not condoning the sin that produced the pregnancy [if it was the result of sin], She must realize that what she did was wrong, but she must know, also, that God does forgive, and that the door of the church is not shut on her because of her past sins. Jesus was a friend to sinners-that is how He won them.  We must be willing to be that friend as well.

How can these needs be met?

The church, with its limited resources (as we see it; UNlimited as God sees it), must develop a plan to meet these needs as efficiently and economically as possible.

There needs to be a place available, most any hour of the day, for walk-in counseling, fellowship with friends, a place to get needed food, clothing, etc., and many times a place to stay.  This place must be staffed 24 hours a day with trained counselors; friends; someone to sort through and distribute donated food and clothing; someone to prepare meals, and temporary living arrangements.  It must be in our community, where it can be easily accessed by those to whom we are responsible to minister.

One way that churches can help is to run a facility of their own:

1) Look into the purchase, rental or building of a large house that would have several rooms for living quarters, fellowship, counseling, food and clothes closets, and dining.

2) Members and friends of the church actively participate in the procuring of food and clothing.

3) Members and friends of the church, when led by God, give of their time to work unselfishly in this ministry.

4) The church as a whole, and each member as an individual, pray earnestly that many in the community will be reached, helped and saved through this ministry.

Another way that churches can be involved is to financially, materially and physically support their local Christian Crisis Pregnancy Centers, Pregnancy Resource Centers or un-wed mother’s homes.  (These weren’t very common in 1989 when I first wrote this article!)

We can legislate morality all we want, but until we do something to help everyone who it affects, we are just as guilty as those who physically kill the unborn babies of our country.

Will You Help?

Has this article spoken to you?  Do you feel God leading you into a ministry of this type? Are you willing to do whatever you can to see that these people are helped by your church?  Are you willing to do your part?  If you are, immediately contact one of the pastors or elders of your church, time is running out on many yet-unborn children!

(Adapted from a self-published article written by the author in 1989)