Praying for the Legal Protection of Unborn Children

Church Family, 

Tomorrow (Wednesday, December 1st), the supreme court of our country will hear oral arguments for the case of Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health, which is a challenge against the State of Mississippi's 15-week abortion ban. Those of us who mourn the reality of legal abortion in our country hope that the ban is upheld by the court. Further, we view this case as an opportunity to return decision-making regarding the legality of abortion to the states. Once returned, states could decide for themselves, through their own legislative processes, if abortion should be allowed and to what degree. We hope that the decision of the court will allow states to make abortion illegal and save the lives of millions of unborn children. 

As believers in Jesus Christ, who trust the Bible for what to believe and how to act, it is clear that children in the womb belong to the Lord and are the result of His creative work. Psalm 139:13-14 says: 

                                        For you created my inmost being;

                                           you knit me together in my mother’s womb.

 

                                        I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;

                                                    your works are wonderful,

                                                    I know that full well.

It's incredible to realize that at the moment of conception, God knits together DNA from the mother and father to form a new and unique person, complete with his or her own distinct DNA. From the very beginning, you have a new person and a God-initiated process of development has begun. Given that all of this is true, we understand that abortion ends a person, regardless of whether that person has yet to have a beating heart, to be viable outside the womb, or to have been born. The Bible teaches that people have no right to snuff out the innocent life of another. We rejoice that no one did this to us when we were vulnerable in the womb, and so now we need to ensure this doesn't happen to others.

Thus, we pray and work for the abolition of abortion. May the day come soon when our state and country are free of this sin. Nevertheless, until abolition becomes possible, we want it drastically limited so the lives of unborn children may be spared. I hope you will join me in praying for the judges of the supreme court, that their wisdom would be aligned with God and His Word. May Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health be a turning point.

If you are reading this and you have an unexpected pregnancy, please know that our church will walk with you and support you as you bring your child into the world. God will give you what you need to raise that life which He created. Your church will be by your side. You can also contact Hope Pregnancy Center for support and free limited ultrasounds (www.thinkimpregnant.org).

In Christ, 

Pastor Doug

P.S.-

This year, Southern Baptists have been vocal in their agreement that abortion should be abolished ultimately, and greatly limited in the meantime. The following are resolutions from the Southern Baptist Convention in Nashville in June. Following that is a resolution approved by Oklahoma Baptists in November.

From the SBC

On Abolishing Abortion

WHEREAS, from the moment of fertilization, all humans are created in God’s image by, through, and for Jesus to the glory of God, and all souls belong to Him (Genesis 1:27; 4:1; 21:2; Isaiah 7:14; Colossians 1:16; Romans 11:36; Ezekiel 18:4), and

WHEREAS, as God’s image-bearers, all humans both display His divine worth, power, and attributes, and possess equal, objective worth before God, not varying based on incidental characteristics; such as ethnicity, age, size, means of conception, mental development, physical development, gender, potential, or contribution to society (Rom 1:19-20; Gen 1:27; 9:6; Matthew 18:6), and

WHEREAS, to murder any preborn image-bearer is a sin, violating both the natural law of retributive justice as set forth in the Noahic covenant, as well as the sixth commandment forbidding murder, and as such, is ultimately an assault on God’s image, seeking to usurp God’s sovereignty as Creator (Gen 9:5-6; Exodus 20:13; Proverbs 6:17), and

WHEREAS, God’s Word declares that all human life is a sacred gift and that His Law is supreme over man’s life and man’s law (Psalm 127:3-5; 139:13-16; Rom 2:15-16; Acts 10:42; 17:31; 1 Corinthians 4:5), and

WHEREAS, God commands His people to “rescue those who are being taken away to death” and holds them responsible and without excuse when they fail to do so (Prov 24:11-12), and

WHEREAS, God establishes all governing authorities as His avenging servants to carry out His wrath on the evildoer, and commands these authorities to judge justly, neither showing partiality to the wicked, nor using unequal standards, which are abominations (Psa 82; Prov 20:10; Rom 13:4), and

WHEREAS, in 1973, the Supreme Court of the United States rendered an iniquitous decision on Roe v. Wade, and in doing so deprived the innocent of their rights, and usurped God, who sovereignly ordained their authority (Isa 5:23; 10:1-2; Psa 2; Matt 22:21; John 19:11; Acts 4:19; 5:29, Rom 13:1), and

WHEREAS, in the Roe v. Wade decision, the Supreme Court of the United States subverted the U.S. Constitution namely, the Preamble, as well as the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments without any legal authority (Article 6, Clause 2 “Supremacy Clause”), and

WHEREAS, governing authorities at every level have a duty before God to uphold justice asserting their God-ordained and constitutional authority to establish equal protection under the law for all, born and preborn, by intervening, ignoring, or nullifying iniquitous decisions when other authorities, such as the Supreme Court, condone such injustices as the legal taking of innocent life (Daniel 3; 1 Kings 12; 2 Kings 11; Jeremiah 26:10-16; 36:9-31; 37:11- 21; 39:7-10), and

WHEREAS, over the past 48 years with 60+ million abortions, traditional Pro-life laws, though well intended, have not established equal protection and justice for the preborn, but on the contrary, appallingly have established incremental, regulatory guidelines for when, where, why, and how to obtain legal abortion of innocent preborn children, thereby legally sanctioning abortion, and

WHEREAS, since 1980, the SBC has passed many resolutions reaffirming the importance of human life at all stages of development, but we have yet to call for the immediate abolition of abortion without exception or compromise, and

WHEREAS, our confessional statement, The Baptist Faith and Message, according to Article XV, affirms that children “from the moment of conception, are a blessing and heritage from the Lord”; and further affirms that Southern Baptists are mandated by Scripture to “speak on behalf of the unborn and contend for the sanctity of all human life from conception to natural death,” now, be it therefore

RESOLVED, that the messengers of the SBC meeting in Nashville, Tennessee, June 15-16, 2021, do state unequivocally that abortion is murder, and we reject any position that allows for any exceptions to the legal protection of our preborn neighbors, compromises God’s holy standard of justice, or promotes any God-hating partiality (Psa 94:6; Isa 10:1-2; Prov 24:11; Psa 82:1-4), and be it further

RESOLVED, that we will not embrace an incremental approach alone to ending abortion because it challenges God’s Lordship over the heart and the conscience, and rejects His call to repent of sin completely and immediately (Gen 3:1; John 8:44; Rom 2:14-15; 2 Corinthians 11:3), and be it further

RESOLVED, that we affirm that the murder of preborn children is a crime against humanity that must be punished equally under the law, and be it further

RESOLVED, that we humbly confess and lament any complicity in recognizing exceptions that legitimize or regulate abortion, and of any apathy, in not laboring with the power and influence we have to abolish abortion, and be it further

RESOLVED, that as Southern Baptists we will engage, with God’s help, in establishing equal justice and protection for the preborn according to the authority of God’s Word as well as local and federal law, and call upon pastors and leaders to use their God-given gifts of preaching, teaching, and leading with one unified, principled, prophetic voice to abolish abortion, and be it finally

RESOLVED, that, because abolishing abortion is a Great Commission issue, we must call upon governing authorities at all levels to repent and “obey everything that [Christ] has commanded,” exhorting them to bear fruit in keeping with repentance by faithfully executing their responsibilities as God’s servants of justice, and working with all urgency to enact legislation using the full weight of their office to interpose on behalf of the preborn, abolishing abortion immediately, without exception or compromise (Mark 6:18; Matt 28:18-20; Rom 13:4, 6).

From Oklahoma Baptists

Resolution No. 6, On Abortion and the Sanctity of Human Life

We, the messengers to the 2021 Annual Meeting of Oklahoma Baptists, meeting at Southern Hills Baptist Church, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, November 15-16, 2021, believe in the sanctity of human life beginning at conception, that every person—pre-born, born and unborn—is created in God’s image and deserves life. We echo and underscore the emphatic resolutions on ending abortion previously approved by Oklahoma Baptists in 2019 and by Southern Baptist messengers in June of 2021, both of which called for the immediate end, the abolition of abortion without exception or compromise. With God’s grace, we work to see a day in which every unborn child in Oklahoma and America is protected and valued.

(Genesis 1:27; Psalm 139; Proverbs 24:11-12)