Let’s continue our attempt to answer the top ten questions asked in relation to the topic of abortion. We’ve answered Question #1: “Who’s in charge of life and death?” and #2: “When does life begin?” Today we’ll start with Question #3: “Is God concerned with unborn children?”
I have a rather lengthy but I believe important answer to this question. Both Isaiah and Jeremiah reveal that God has an interest in us not just from conception in the womb but also from conception in His Eternal Mind! We are conceived by God in His own mind from eternity past, eons before we are ever physically conceived in our mother’s womb. In Isaiah 49:1 we read, “Before I was born the Lord called me; form my birth he has made mention of my name.” Then, in Jeremiah 1:5 we read, “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before I was born you set me apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations.”
God knows us before we are physically conceived. Some argue here that these quotes from both Isaiah and Jeremiah are nothing more than poetic verse meant only to establish the close relationship that these prophets have with God. Those who see this as nothing more than poetic verse, say that it is figurative language, not to be taken literally. Others will say that this kind of relationship with God was only reserved for a select few men of God such as the prophets Isaiah and Jeremiah. To those who charge that it is only poetic language I simply say that an eternal God has no reason to speak of eternity and of knowledge within that realm in a poetic way. He alone experiences eternity and he alone can speak of it. Who are we to question what we read and assume upon an eternal Being? Who are we to say that these verses must be poetic because we cannot understand such language literally? These types of arguments show a disregard for the potential magnitude of God both in existence, experience, and action. If God is eternal then such language taken literally is completely reasonable.
To those who suggest that these verses describe a relationship with God that only a few great men experienced should rethink such an argument. God does use some men for greater earthly purpose but he says time and time again that he desires that all should be saved and that none should perish! (2 Peter 3:9) Further, he tells us that “before the beginning of time” (Titus 1:2) he gave us the hope of “eternal life” (Titus 1:2) through Jesus Christ. Each of us are made in God’s image and are fearfully and wonderfully made! (Psalm 139) We alone are made in God’s image and in this way we are unique in all of God’s creation. Each one of us then was conceived in the mind of God from eternity past and share with Jeremiah and Isaiah the blessing of these words, “before I formed you in the womb, I knew you.” (Jeremiah 1:5)
So, does God show concern for unborn children? The answer can be summed up is this way: God is not only concerned with children in the womb, he is concerned with every child that has been fashioned in His eternal mind, those in the womb as well as those who, at present, exist as Divine Idea. My contention is that life begins before biological conception. Or, to put it another way, life began for all of us in the mind of God. Science cannot debate such a matter of faith and my conclusions may seem too “out of the box” for even the most mature believers. Scripture, however, bears out my conclusions in spades.
Your thoughts?
Carpe Deum! (Seize God!),
Todd Phillips
http://www.frontline.to/
http://www.toddphillips.net/
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
4 comments:
I like your conclusion that life begins as a divine idea. It really speaks of your view of the providence of God. I personally have a very high view of God's providence and believe that as time goes by God has already fashioned things together for a certain plan and he knows what will happen in the future. How does God do that and grant free will? Beats the heck out of me. But a person with a high view of the providence of God would state that life does begin before the person is even conceived. My question to you or anybody is...if we have a high view of God's providence (by the way a low view would be if God was along for the ride with you and did not know what the future entails) then doesn't that make a little room for the justification of abortion. I believe it does not because it is my opinion abortion is sin. However, one could make the arguement that since the baby was never born, God never intended for the baby to be born. Just a thought...
Allan posed a potential question one might ask. That is: If a baby wasn’t born, did God not intended for it to happen anyway?
I feel there should be a difference from knowing the future and planning it. I don’t believe God would put sin into His perfect plan for our lives, but He knows when it will happen. So does that fact that He knows when an abortion will take place mean He didn’t want the baby to be born? Or did our freewill and sinful nature step in the way of that perfect plan?
This is where faith simply needs to take over. The wisdom of God is almost like foolishness to us because we cannot comprehend it. God's providence and his ability to grant us free will is in of itself a miracle. I just thank God that when I screw up with that freewill, he will forgive me and continue to allow me to have the privilege of freewill and give me a chance to get it right. It's funny because I think the majority of Christians believe abortion is wrong. Yet we debate when life begins and try to break down the different aspect of the sin in order to label it as sin. However, when somebody has an abortion and they repent of their sin, God forgives and blesses that person. Our sin and freewill cannot step in the way of God's perfect plan because God has this amazing ability to take our screw-ups and use them to work with his perfect plan. That is how huge his grace is. He doesn't just forgive us; he blesses us through our screw-ups and repentance. Amazing.
Jeff—in your post you said “I don’t believe God would put sin into His perfect plan for our lives”—but I am afraid there is much scriptural evidence to contradict this claim. The very death of Christ is perhaps the most profound example of an instance in which it was God’s will for a sin to come to pass, but at the same time disapproving of that sin. We know from Luke 22:3 that Satan entered Judas, leading him to betray Jesus. Then in Acts 2:23 Luke says, “this Jesus, [was] delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God.” This betrayal was undoubtedly sinful—we know that it was inspired by Satan—yet we learn here that it was all part of God’s ordained plan. Thus one could say that God willed the delivering up of His Son (in the sense of his sovereign, foreordained will), even though the act itself was sin.
We see this aspect of God’s will echoed by the prophet Isaiah; “We esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted...it was the will of the Lord to crush him; he has put him to grief” (Isaiah 53:4,10). In fact, we find out in Acts 4:27-28 that in delivering Jesus to be crucified (through their disobedience to the moral law of God), Herod, Pilate, the Gentiles and the people of Israel all acted according to what was predestined to take place.
Now the above “will of God” (his foreordained plan) should not be confused with the “will of God” as the revealed, moral instruction of the Old and New Testament, which prohibits sin. It is of course God’s will (desire) that we obey his moral law, but he allows his will, in this sense, to be rejected by man (as can be seen in Matthew 7:21, 12:50, 1 John 2:17) so that his sovereign plan may be carried out for his glory (as can be seen in the example of Christ’s crucifixion).
It’s important to note that we cannot justify the rightness or wrongness of an action by saying it was within God’s will (as sovereign ordained plan). Nothing under the sun happens beyond the sovereign will of God, and yet we know that within that will, there exists a moral law through which God expresses how we are to live rightly. For example, if someone were to shoot and murder another person, we cannot say that it was right for that person to be shot and murdered because God did not intend for that person to live another day. Yes, he ordained it to happen that way, but the murder is still wrong. Similarly, while the abortion would not have happened but for God allowing it, that murder is still wrong.
And this point speaks to Alan’s initial hypothetical on abortion, namely, that “one could make the argument that since the baby was never born, God never intended for the baby to be born.”
This cannot be a valid argument in favor of abortion. If we take the same logic from the verses above, and apply it to Alan’s example, it seems clear that once the act of an abortion has taken place, in the first sense of God’s will, God predestined that abortion to happen (like he predestined that Christ be crucified). But in the second sense of God’s will—His revealed will written in the moral law—it was not at all God’s will for this woman to abort her child. The Bible, of course, condemns the taking of human life—“Thou shalt not kill” (Exodus 20:13)—and specifically forbids the spilling of innocent blood (Jeremiah 22:3), which includes the blood of children (Psalm 106:38). Note here that the Bible uses the exact same word for babies in the womb as it does for babies out of the womb (Genesis 25:22; Luke 1:41; cf. 2:12, 16; 18:15).
Brothers, I pray this begins to clear up some of the questions regarding this issue. You can find a more lengthy exposition on this topic in John Piper’s article “Are There Two Wills of God?” which can be found on his website: www.DesiringGod.org
Post a Comment