In my youth, I heard others say, "It is every woman's right to choose." Being in favor of freedom and rights, and too young and too shallow to think clearly and deeply about abortion, this seemed reasonable to me. Today, I think differently.
The Bible tells us "Thou shalt not kill". Seems plain and simple enough to understand.
Let's examine these complex, emotional, and gut wrenching issues.
War
We have had war with us for a very long time.It seem surprising that the recent death toll is below the historical norm. Perhaps that means we are overdue for the Big One. |
| Battles, and the resulting military and civilian death rates, from Year 1400 to 2000. Just wait till Nuclear War and Battle of Armageddon get added to this graph! |
Since WWII, it is estimated that US government has killed 20 Million People in 37 “Victim Nations”. We have no idea how many millions have been killed by all US wars, but I'm sure it's way more that 20 million.
I feel the US government is a blood thirty war monger that kills way too many people, and destroys nation after nation. To me, the US warmongering seems equivalent to the Imperial Roman army, Genghis Khan, and Alexander The Great.
In addition, the CIA and many other secret organizations inside and outside of the US government have done their unholy share of killing, assassinations, coups, explosions, and other mayhem.
Were any of these US wars and covert ops truly justified?
Humanism
Humanism is a broad worldview which describes a number of shades of opinion, but the core set of beliefs and values can be summarized as follows.A humanist…
- trusts to the scientific method when it comes to understanding how the universe works and rejects the idea of the supernatural (and is therefore an atheist or agnostic)
- makes their ethical decisions based on reason, empathy, and a concern for human beings and other sentient animals
- believes that, in the absence of an afterlife and any discernible purpose to the universe, human beings can act to give their own lives meaning by seeking happiness in this life and helping others to do the same.
Since I am a True Christian (recently upgraded from a Nominal Christian), I can no longer be a Humanist. Has the Devil been involved in twisting and complicating our world through a misguided humanist agenda? Some believe that Satan founded, and is the current leader of the Secular Humanist movement.
One Humanistic viewpoint on abortion is available here (MS Word document). All it says is we need to think about a broad range of issues before we decide; all issues except God and God's Moral Laws.
One issue the Humanists rightly raise is exactly when does life begin in a fetus? Humanists must rely upon logic and science to determine these types of issues, and avoid any religious teachings.
Starting Point of Human Life
Neither sperm nor egg can reproduce a human by themselves. Therefore neither of these cells are human; they are just cells, no better, no worse than somebody's fingernail, hair, or skin cells. Therefore none of these can rightfully receive the protection and rights which are reserved for a human.In 1 John 1:5, the Bible tells us that God is light:
"This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all."In 2011, scientists discovered that at the instant that a frog egg is fertilized, there is a burst of light emitted. In 2014, scientists duplicated the frog egg experiment with human eggs and sperm, and saw a similar flash of light. The greater the flash, the stronger and more alive is the egg. If there's no flash, then the egg failed to be fertilized, and is therefore dead and sterile.
I suggest that the flash of light at fertilization is when life begins.
Sperm have the unique DNA genetic codes of the man. The woman's egg contains her unique DNA. Immediately after the flash, there is an exchange of DNA between the egg and sperm. The DNA of the egg and sperm combine to produce a new, unique set of DNA; different from every other human on the planet.
After the DNA exchange, the fertilized egg will begin cell division within a few hours. It will grow into a new, unique human with unique DNA, different from both mother and father.
Here is a 9.5 minute TED talk video "Conception to Birth - Visualized" by Dr. Alexander Tsiaras in Dec. 2010.
Picking any other point in time (from after the flash, up to full term birth) for when life begins has significant moral dilemmas attached (eg. akin to euthanasia, murder of sleeping or unconscious people, murder of elderly or sick or disabled persons, etc.). The flash is life.
If life doesn't begin at conception, then I challenge you to pick the mm:ss timestamp in the video above as when it's OK to abort, and when it is no longer OK to abort because it is thereafter a human with the same rights to life that you currently enjoy (post your time mm:ss recommendation below in the Comments section, and explain exactly why and how you chose that particular moment).
Now that we know when life begins, let's talk about abortion.
Abortion
In 2012, U.S. Rep. Chris Smith (R-4th Dist., New Jersey) said that since 1973, when the US Supreme Court handed down its decision in Roe v. Wade, there's been "well over" 54 million abortions. This was based on data from The Guttmacher Institute.
In the video above, it is estimated that 3,000 abortions are performed each day in the USA, so that's 1.095 million US abortions every year. Therefore, since 2012, that's an additional 6.7 million, for a grand total of 60.7 million abortions.
Therefore there are 46 times more abortion casualties in the last 23 years than 238 years of war.
If you add the US troops killed (1.3 million) plus their victims (20 million enemy troops and civilians since WWII), US abortions are likely still significantly greater than war deaths; even for the greatest war mongering nation in the last 1,500 year.
For peace loving countries, abortion is likely their biggest killing field.
If we do the comparison based on dead per year, abortion is 2.64 million per year on average over a 23 year period, while war is 5,545 dead per year over a 238 years average, so abortions are 476 times deadlier than war (based on number killed per year).
Apparently, I have been focused on small potatoes. Abortions, I now see, is 476 times more important focal point for our attention.
If abortion in the US is worse than the rabid dog, blood curdling war mongering of the USA, then all other countries that have abortion but are more peaceful, abortion is even a greater target for changing for the better.
Canada gets along with most everybody. We generally don't start wars. How's Canada's abortion statistics?
Canada's Abortion Stats
Based on statistics from University of Ottawa, 40% of all pregnancies in Canada are unplanned. Of these, about half are carried to term; the other half are terminated. There are 330,000 live births and 100,000 abortions each year in Canada. In 2003, 103,768 abortions were recorded in Canada, about 15.2 per thousand women. The number appears to be declining by about 1% per year. A wide range of Canadian women undergo abortions. About 50% are under 25; 64% are single, and 45% have children.
Since the US is approximately 10 times bigger than Canada, Canada and US have similar number of abortions per female per year. When you look at the childbearing years incidence rate, US is 32.9% higher abortion rate than Canada (20.2/15.2*100%= 32.9%).
In Canada, there is no longer any law against abortion, nor when an abortion can be performed. This can lead to some grisly situations were a healthy baby that could easily survive if allowed to be birthed, is instead aborted by highly questionable methods.
Abortions Around the World
Abortion rates vary from a high of 53.7 per thousand women aged 15-44 in Russia, through 38 per thousand in China, 35 (Viet Nam and Kazakhstan); 33 (Estonia); 32 (Belarus); 27 (Ukraine); 20.2 (USA); 19.7 (Australia and New Zealand); 16.9 (France); 15.2 (Canada); 10.6 (Italy); 10.4 (Netherlands); to 0.2 (Portugal). Reassuringly, no abortions were reported from the Vatican City.
God's Viewpoint on Abortion
In the Bible Jeremiah 1:4-5, Jeremiah says:"Then the word of the Lord came unto me, saying, 'Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee; and before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee, and I ordained thee a prophet unto the nations.' "
Here, we learn that God knew Jeremiah, even before his conception. God sanctified Jeremiah (ie. made him holy) prior to his birth.
Perhaps God knows all the rest of God's children in a similar way to Jeremiah.
After the Flood, when there were only 8 people left on the Earth, in Genesis 1:28, it is written:
And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.This is a very specific commandment by God to be fruitful and multiply. When God is specific, you had better do it, or could face immediate punishment.
Failing to be fruitful (whether by failing to marry, homosexual relationships, abstinence, or direct birth control methods) frustrates God's commandment of "be fruitful and multiply".
Let's take another Biblical example.
When a husband dies, his widow is stranded if she has no children to help her. In ancient times, to ensure maximum fertility rates, a Levirate marriage (Hebrew: yibbum) is mandated by Deuteronomy 25:5-6, which obliges the oldest surviving brother of a man who dies childless to marry the widow of his childless deceased brother, with the firstborn child being treated as that of the deceased brother.
Levirate marriages shows you how serious God is about "be fruitful and multiply"
In Genesis 38:8-10, the Bible tells us about Onan, whose greed caused him not to follow God's Levirate marriage law. Onan wanted his brother's widow would die childless, so Onan would then inherit his dead brother's property. How did that work out for Onan?
And Judah [Onan's Father] said unto Onan, Go in unto thy brother's wife, and marry her, and raise up seed to thy brother. And Onan knew that the seed should not be his; and it came to pass, when he went in unto his brother's wife, that he spilled it on the ground, lest that he should give seed to his brother. And the thing which he did displeased the LORD: wherefore he slew him [Onan] also.Onan frustrated God's commandment of Levirate marriage, so God ended Onan's life as punishment, and likely as a message and example to all others.
God doesn't change. God's rules don't change. If this is how God felt in Onan's biblical time, He likely still feels the same now.
In another Biblical example, Genesis 4:8-10 tells us how God hears Able's blood calling to God from the Earth:
Now Cain said to his brother Abel, “Let’s go out to the field.” While they were in the field, Cain attacked his brother Abel and killed him. Then the Lord said to Cain, “Where is your brother Abel?”Blood from just one murdered person cries out to God for justice. What then, of the blood from 60.7 million babies?
“I don’t know,” he replied. “Am I my brother’s keeper?”
The Lord said, “What have you done? Listen! Your brother’s blood cries out to me from the ground.
During End Times, the Bible tells us in Revelation 6:9-11 that Christians will be persecuted by the Anti-Christ, and eventually Satan tries to kill all who refuse his Mark of the Beast. These persecuted souls also cry out to God:
"And when he had opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of them that were slain for the word of God, and for the testimony which they held: And they cried with a loud voice, saying, How long, O Lord, holy and true, dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth? And white robes were given unto every one of them; and it was said unto them, that they should rest yet for a little season, until their fellowservants also and their brethren, that should be killed as they were, should be fulfilled."I therefore conclude that God hears the voice of all aborted fetuses and babies who cry for justice.
Since God is just, there will eventually be justice for these aborted babies. Just because there is a fleeting moment between the crime and the punishment does not mean the sinner has escaped without punishment.
I therefore conclude:
Thou shalt not kill (babies and fetuses included).
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