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abortion, bloodguilt, and our savior Daniel Patz, Lead Pastor Grace Church, Sunday Worship Various Texts January 22nd, 2012
Genesis 4:8-10 ESV Cain spoke to Abel his brother. And when they were in the field, Cain rose up against his brother Abel and killed him. (9) Then the LORD said to Cain, "Where is Abel your brother?" He said, "I do not know; am I my brother's keeper?" (10) And the LORD said, "What have you done? The voice of your brother's blood is crying to me from the ground. Genesis 9:4-6 ESV But you shall not eat flesh with its life, that is, its blood. (5) And for your lifeblood I will require a reckoning: from every beast I will require it and from man. From his fellow man I will require a reckoning for the life of man. (6) "Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed, for God made man in his own image. Proverbs 24:10-12 ESV If you faint in the day of adversity, your strength is small. (11) Rescue those who are being taken away to death; hold back those who are stumbling to the slaughter. (12) If you say, "Behold, we did not know this," does not he who weighs the heart perceive it? Does not he who keeps watch over your soul know it, and will he not repay man according to his work? Hebrews 12:22-24 ESV But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to innumerable angels in festal gathering, (23) and to the assembly of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, and to God, the judge of all, and to the spirits of the righteous made perfect, (24) and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel. INTRODUCTION Today is Sanctity of Human Life Sunday. 39 years ago the Supreme Court decided on the case of Roe vs. Wade in favor of legalizing abortion on demand. They ruled that the decision to have or abort a baby (fetus) was a privacy issue for the mother under and not something the civil government could prohibit. Nearly half of pregnancies among American women are unintended and about four in ten of these are terminated by abortion. 22 percent of all pregnancies (excluding miscarriages) end in abortion. Each year, two percent of women aged 15–44 have an abortion. Half have had at least one previous abortion. At least half of American women will experience an unintended pregnancy by age 45, and, at current rates, one in 10 women will have an abortion by age 20, one in four by age 30 and three in 10 by age 45. In 2008, 1.21 million abortions took place. 42 million abortions are performed worldwide annually. “On that day the Supreme Court handed down its decision in the case Roe v. Wade. The nine men determined that every state had the duty to give women unfettered access to abortion up until the birth of the child. It was a day whose infamy overshadows December 7, 1941 in the memory of the church in America. Since that time perhaps 50,000,000 babies have been murdered in the womb with the full protection of the state and the knowledge of the church. Abortion in America is, in the judgment of my very wise father, the greatest evil in our history. The American holocaust dwarves the evil of Nazi Germany in both numbers of the dead, and the numbers of we who know what is happening.” (R. C. Sproul Jr.) There is a culture or kingdom of death that is at work against the kingdom of life. History Against Children Throughout history, children have always been under attack.
Pro-Life Movement’s Long History
Christianity brought to the western world the culture of life. This was not because they just happen to evolve and become more civilized. It is because of Ideas that they embraced based on an authority of revelation from God – the Bible. They believed something about human life based on God’s Word that moved them to sacrificial living the innocent who were being oppressed. CRISIS! 3 IMPORTANT TRUTHS REGARDING OUR ROLE IN THE ABORTION CRISIS
Mankind is made in the image of God – Genesis 1:26-28 The sixth command forbids murder and like the other commands has a positive command to care for and preserve life. The whole law is summed up in our command to love God and neighbor as ourselves.
The Bible presents to us a concept of bloodguilt – the shedding of innocent blood. “Innocent” is a relative word. Bloodguilt included both the taking of someone else’s life by intent or negligence or passively letting it happen. Example – Lynching in Marian, IN – 1930. Between 1882 and 1968, nearly 3,500 Black Americans were lynched in the United States. Among them were Thomas Shipp and Abram Smith, two men murdered in Marion, Indiana, on August 7, 1930. The night before, they had been arrested and charged with the armed robbery and murder of a white man, and the rape of a white woman. The case was never solved,[6] partly because, with thousands in attendance, the men were hung from a tree in the town center on the night of their arrest. What is God’s response to the lynching of Thomas Shipp and Abram Smith? Who shall be held accountable for their lifeblood? Surely the handful of men who actually did the hanging. Yes, of course. If I tell you that they were stoned and beaten to death before being strung up, then you will agree that all those who picked up a stone, or hit these men with a rake handle, or simply stood by cheering on the aggressors—these all share in the bloodguilt. Studio photographer Lawrence Beitler captured the scene. His photo of a crowd gathered around the tree from which the two men hung is the iconic picture of lynching in America. At first I thought it was good that he captured the horrible truth, no matter how graphic and anguishing. It arouses a righteous anger that ought to lead to righteous action. Then I learned that photos like this were routinely turned into postcards and sent to friends. Beitler himself made and sold thousands of copies of this picture in the days that followed, profiting from the shedding of innocent blood.[7] He treated it as a spectacle no different than photographing the Kentucky Derby. What is God’s response to these actions? And what about the thousands who did not actively kill these two men but watched it happen? What guilt do they bear? What about those who bought the photographs? What of those who received them and tacked them to their iceboxes? What guilt does the citizenry at-large bear? Many who were not in attendance that night may have soon thereafter attended church or had dinner or engaged in commerce with those who stood under that tree and watched approvingly until the bodies slowly stopped swinging. What guilt would I bear if I had been a pastor or elder in this town? Ensor, John (2011-09-01). Innocent Blood (Kindle Locations 671-675). Cruciform Press. Kindle Edition. Proverbs 24:10-12 says that we have an obligation to act when we see injustice of this kind. Proverbs 24:10-12 ESV If you faint in the day of adversity, your strength is small. (11) Rescue those who are being taken away to death; hold back those who are stumbling to the slaughter. (12) If you say, "Behold, we did not know this," does not he who weighs the heart perceive it? Does not he who keeps watch over your soul know it, and will he not repay man according to his work?
There are many who are guilty because they have had abortions. There are many who are guilty because they have stood bye and watched it happen. Europeans in the 1930s and 40s. We need a clean conscience. We need a courage from Christ. We need Jesus who gives both. Hebrews 12:24 ESV and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel. CONCLUSION 1. Repent and Take responsibility 2. Testify 3. Read 4. Pray 5. Volunteer 6 Support (300 per year) 7. Recruit
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