Understanding Abortion: A Christian Perspective
Introduction
Abortion is a headlining subject of debate these days. We see and hear about it regularly in today’s time, from the secular world and within the religious spectrum as well. While there are many different views on abortion, I am here to try and create a paradigm shift in the way you think about abortion. I hope to do this by examining our worldview, discussing the historical context of child sacrifice, how it relates to abortion, and providing a distinctly Christian perspective on this matter. This article will be the first of at least a couple of articles to cover such a broad topic.
Let’s begin.
Worldview Considerations
To think deeply about this subject, we need to consider the state of our worldview. Do we have categories for the supernatural, spiritual aspect of our lives?
It seems as if that part of the Christian worldview has all but been lost among American evangelical Christians.
While this particular topic is more than enough to write an entire book about (which Dr. Michael S. Heiser already has written about in The Unseen Realm: Recovering the Supernatural Worldview of the Bible), we need to understand there are far more insidious things going on than what meets the eye. Fallen angels are lurking amongst us with plans of destruction in mind. These fallen angels have been worshipped by Pagan nations since the fall of man. We know as Christians there is only one true God, the God of the Bible that has provided a means of salvation to all who come to Him. But historically, man has worshipped other “gods”, and those “gods” are real entities, fallen angels. These fallen angels are more commonly called demons.
We must realize that the idea that these “gods” are real entities has a biblical precedent, and in ancient Jewish culture wasn’t a novel or unusual idea.
In Exodus 12 we see the judgment of God come upon Pharoah and all of Egypt, but notice who else is being judged in verse 12. All the “gods” of Egypt. Verse 12 reads, “For I will pass through the land of Egypt that night, and I will strike all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and on all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgments: I am the Lord.” (Exodus 12:12 ESV)
As we begin to move forward, it is pertinent for us to understand that God is executing judgment on real, tangible beings here. Why would God judge an inanimate object, a carved image that is nothing more than some type of metal or wood? The answer is he wouldn’t. He is judging real fallen divine beings, just like he is judging the real Egyptian people and their Pharaoh. Those same “gods” mentioned in Exodus 12 are still at work today, with the wisdom of the ages on their side that they use to continue to deceive mankind.
With these supernatural categories of the Bible at the forefront of our mind, we can understand more about why abortion is seemingly ubiquitous in modern American society. To understand more about this topic regarding worldview, I highly recommend the aforementioned book by Dr. Michael S. Heiser.
The Abominable Practice of Child Sacrifice
Now that we’ve recovered a small piece of our supernatural, biblical worldview, let’s take a look at the ancient practice of child sacrifice in the nations surrounding Israel. In Deuteronomy 18, God gives a list of abominable practices (vs. 9–14). The very first thing on the list is the command against offering up children as a sacrifice, followed by commands against divination, sorcery, etc. (which is interesting in itself, but that is another topic, for another day).
We also see in Leviticus 18, God commands the people of Israel not to do as they do in Egypt where they lived, or as they do in the land of Canaan where God is bringing them (v. 3). As you read on down through the commands given about sexual relations, you stumble upon the command given in verse 21. It reads, “You shall not give any of your children to offer them to Molech, and so profane the name of your God: I am the Lord.” (Leviticus 18:21 ESV).
So who, and what is Molech? Molech was one of the Canaanite “gods” that was worshipped by giving up their children as an offering. In these ancient near eastern times, it was a fairly common practice to offer children up for sacrifice to these Pagan “gods” like Molech. How could they be foolish enough to willingly murder their own children? I believe what is going on isn’t just rank foolishness, but masterful deception.
You see, these Pagan gods like Molech aren’t just statues or other types of carven images like we mentioned earlier when examining our worldview. They are real demonic entities. We can look also in Psalm 106 and see that these children weren’t being offered to inanimate idols, but real demons. We read in verse 37 that the children were sacrificed to demons.
Just for clarity, here is Psalm 106:34–38, “34 They did not destroy the peoples, as the Lord commanded them, 35 but they mixed with the nations and learned to do as they did.36 They served their idols, which became a snare to them. 37 They sacrificed their sons and their daughters to the demons; 38 they poured out innocent blood, the blood of their sons and daughters, whom they sacrificed to the idols of Canaan, and the land was polluted with blood.”
I’m afraid we are also polluting this land with blood, and defiling it. What is horrifying to think about is the number of children that have been murdered by abortion alone in America. We have been deceived far worse than the Canaanites and other nations surrounding Israel were, killing children in numbers that are just simply unfathomable. The next article will go into more detail with abortion statistics, but I fear without a complete abolition of abortion in America, this nation will suffer a similar fate as many of those Pagan nations, and it wasn’t pretty.
Concluding Thoughts for Part I
I know this information given above is a lot to take in, and that’s the reason I am breaking this article into at least a couple of parts.
Most people don’t have these worldview categories, and it can be a bit of a shock when you hear about or read things like this from a Christian blog. I know, I’ve been there. I’ve only started developing these categories over the last few months myself.
But with all that being said, I believe that these same demonic powers are still at work today and correlate directly into our modern-day sacrifice of children that we call abortion. In part 2 of this article we will be discussing why I believe we are encountering and combatting these same spiritual beings, but experiencing a different method of the same practice through abortion. We will discuss the modern-day lie of Molech that deceives people into this thought that murdering our children is okay, among a few other things. I hope this article is helpful to all Christians and serves its purpose to edify the church, but most importantly glorify God.
As Christian radio host, Todd Friel would say, “Until next time, go serve your king.”