Abortion: Precious Child or Potential Child?

Emotions run high when an abortion is being considered. And so they should – a lot is at stake: For the mother, for the often forgotten father, and especially for their … what? Unborn child? Foetus? Blob of cells? Parasite? Potential-but-not-yet-fully-human offspring? At the heart of the abortion debate lies the crucial question: who or what is being aborted?

Looking at the Bible, there is good reason to believe that every unborn child is both precious and human from the point of conception. Why?

1. Creation. All things are created by Jesus, including the unborn (John 1:3). Just as we answer to God for the way we treat our friends, a developing embryo is not ours to do what we want with, but his first and last. In Psalm 139:13, David recognises that “you [God] knit me together in my mother’s womb”. Even though we’re gaining scientific understanding of the processes, it’s God’s creative miracle each and every time. We know the physics of stars, but we still gaze in awe at the night sky. In the same way, we know something of how one cell turns into a baby, but each is still a sign and a wonder, pointing to the creator of all. We must find out from the maker’s instructions how he expects us to treat the unborn.
2. Humanity. David says “you knit me” together. In making his body, God was making David - not a pre-David, a potential David - but David. God knew him as he multiplied the cells and gave each its place. God knew David in the womb, though David himself knew nothing. Stronger evidence still is the humanity of Christ. Christ was fully human, like us in every way. It was a miracle - a virgin conception. Christ’s humanity began then. Mary, Elizabeth, and even the unborn John the Baptist recognised it (Luke 1:30-45). Jesus’ human life, like every human life, began in the womb.

Abortion matters because every one of the 200,000 every year in this country, is ending a human life, made by God, in his image. God takes that very seriously (Genesis 9:4-6). That makes it an important issue – for the doctors and nurses involved, for the MPS who make the laws, for the women who make that choice, for the fathers behind the scenes. Most of all, it matters for the glory of God. Unborn babies are his work, his image, his children.

Andrew Nicholls is the pastor of Christ Church, Kingston. Before moving into full time ministry, he was a doctor.

Abortion: What's going on?

Nearly a quarter of all pregnancies in the UK end in abortion. 1 in 3 women will have one or more abortions during their life. And that makes it one of the most common social phenomena…

It’s not an option that many take lightly. Women who choose abortion often find it a hard and painful process. They deserve our deep, compassionate concern. But most women make their decision in a culture which teaches them, through the law and by common practice, that abortion is a good option.

Theoretically women considering an abortion should be able to access comprehensive and impartial advice, though the debate over whether this is actually happening continues to rage. But even when such advice is offered well, the gospel is unlikely to be included. Not included, that is, unless we speak…

Over the next few posts, we are going to dip a toe into some of the key issues and important pastoral imperatives that surround this difficult debate and look at how we can think and act with humility and for the glory of God…

Abortion: A pastoral word

It’s an emotive subject which touches the lives of many. Some of you reading this blog will have taken the decision to end a pregnancy in the past and are struggling with the aftermath, or you’re trying to pretend it didn’t happen or doesn’t matter. Others of you may be a relative or friend of someone who is hurting. Maybe you are in a crisis pregnancy right now and the option of abortion is looming large in your mind...

If any of those things are true of you, please let us encourage you to seek support from your church. Your brothers and sisters in Christ are your family and they are there, in part, to love you and encourage you to look to Jesus as you struggle with the past and the present. If you are open and honest with them, there should be no condemnation – just a desire to spur you on. After all, every Christian knows that life is sometimes incredibly tough and complex. All of us struggle to do what God would want a lot of the time. And the glorious message of forgiveness and grace is open to all.

In fact, it’s the knowledge that we are loved by Christ and forgiven by Christ despite who we are and what we’ve done that gives us a wonderful freedom. It means we can honestly confront our flaws and failings, rather than trying to cover them up or deal with them ourselves. Whatever we’ve done, whatever we do, we can freely admit them to our King (who, after all, already knows), and give them to Him to deal with once and for all at the cross. The Bible does challenge us not to deceive ourselves when it comes to things God says are sin—but it also always points us to the place we can see our sin taken, paid for and wiped away—the atoning sacrifice of Christ. We all have things in our past or our present that we are struggling to confront, or struggling with the guilt of. If you’re feeling that particularly when it comes to this issue, 1 John 1 v 8 – 2 v 2 is a great place to turn to.

Much of what is contained in the following blog posts is a biblical glimpse at what abortion is and how churches can respond. We’re not going to be looking at individual people’s stories or dealing with the desperately heart-rending situations that victims of rape or life-limiting health problems face. There is help and direction from God’s word for all these, but it won’t be a focus here. Nor are we going to be offering more pastoral advice to those who are struggling right now... That’s something that needs to happen in a church community, not via a blog. Our aim is to help equip church leaders and members with an understanding of some of the issues in the abortion debate and to encourage them to be proactive in establishing structures to support those in crisis pregnancy and post-abortion. We hope that this will be helpful, even if it doesn’t fully resonate with where you are at right now...

Andrew Nicholls is the pastor of Christ Church, Kingston. Before moving into full time ministry, he was a doctor.

On to a Good Thing

Gutsy love

It was when I was doing a Youthwork training series called "Head, Heart, Hands" that I first came to grips with the peculiar case of the shifting emotions.

You see, like everyone else, I grew up thinking that when you love something or someone, then it's the pounding thing in your chest that is the centre and source of that thing we call love. Makes sense. After all, didn't it start to thump alarmingly when I first set eyes on on my dearly beloved? Didn't it race away when I turned and saw a vision of loveliness walking up the aisle to say "Yes" to be being with me for the rest of our earthly lives?

But it seems it wasn't always that way. For Hebrews and Greeks, the seat of the emotion was slightly further south than that. Whereas we might say: "I love you with all my heart", the proper rendering of Paul's declaration of love for the Philippian believers (1:8) is literally:

"For God is my record, how greatly I long after you all in the bowels of Jesus Christ." (AV)

So rather than loving someone with all their hearts, they loved them with their icky plumbing. And that makes equal sense too. People who have fallen profoundly in love often describe it as being like a kick in the guts, or having a deep, visceral feeling of yearning to be with someone.

I doubt there will be many Valentine's Day cards sent and received today, or even heart-shaped balloons that are actually really heart shaped - we prefer a symmetrical, sanitised version of the heart for these kind of expressions of affection.

But it does make you wonder what a Hebrew or Greek Valentine's Day card might have looked like doesn't it!

Click the link - if you dare - to see a mock up of what Hosea, Samson, or Isaac might have sent to Gomer, Delilah or Rebekah.

The question of Valentine's Day

It’s February 13th and all is not calm. Two heartfelt questions are looming large in minds around the globe:

• Will I ever find the right gift for the one I love this Valentine’s Day?
• Will anyone ever love me enough to celebrate Valentine’s Day with me?

Such questions involve pain. And the issues behind them should not be minimised. But I suspect the original Valentine would be quite surprised that his legacy induced such feelings. His life, or more accurately, his death, poses us a question far more profound than those associated with the temporary struggles of singleness and relationships.

We don’t know much about him but as an early Christian martyr, we can be sure his priorities had little to do with roses, cards or chocolate hearts and everything to do with unswerving faithfulness to Christ. His example leaves us with just one key question that probes deep into the affections of our hearts this Valentine’s Day Eve: Are we willing to give up anything and everything for Jesus?

The Good Book Open Day

Fighting the Monday feeling

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting men’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God. God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

(2 Corinthians 5 v 17-21)

Self test for home group leaders...(how do you score?)

I asked a group of Home group leaders this question a couple of months ago: Can you give me a single word that sums up what you think your house group is about?

The answers were varied and interesting. We had caring; fellowship; worship; growth; love; and several others along the same lines. The slightly surprising answer I shared to that question was the one found in Hebrews 10:23-25. Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful. And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching.

Encouragement.

As far as I can tell, this verse in the NT is the only one which actually commands us to meet together as believers. It doesn't specify what day, or in what numbers, or in what set, or subset of the local congregation we should meet. Simply that we should not neglect doing so, and that the purpose of our meeting together is for mutual encouragement. But encouragement for what? The context of the verse tells us.

The writer to the Hebrews has been establishing for his readers some of the enormous privileges of being Christians. And our verse is a part of the paragraph where he sums them up with a call to action. The primary call is to "draw near to God" because Jesus has opened up the way for us to meet with God through his own blood. We should stand before God with absolute confidence, says the writer, because what we receive from Christ is absolute forgiveness, cleansing and removal of our guilt before God.

More than that, the writer tells us that Jesus is our great high priest, who is now in the heavenly temple making intercession for his people.

But we also need (v 23) to "hold fast" to our confession (belief and trust in Jesus as God's one true King) in face of opposition, with the encouragement that "God is faithful". And more than that (v 24) we must think hard how we stir each other up to live the new life that we have received - by doing good to others, and being filled with the love of the Lord Jesus for our lost world. And there is an urgency to this (v 25) because we know that a day is coming when Jesus will return and the world will be judged, and the new creation established.

So central to any gathering of God's people, and therefore your homegroup, I would suggest is that people leave with the following things having been underlined, impressed upon them, stirred up within themselves, or taught to them for the first time:

• The past work of Christ. The facts of the gospel, and their new status in Christ. Forgiven, cleansed, renewed by the blood of Christ
• The present work of Christ. He is your King and Priest in heaven, and is utterly committed to getting you through to the end. We need to know this, because life as a believer can be brutally hard.
• Our calling to follow him now in very practical ways. Expressed not just by being known as a Christian, but through being loving, and doing good works. Our badge of recognition as a believer is not church membership, but the character of Christ, a passionate lover of all people, and being committed to doing good to others.
• and all this set in the context of...
• The future work of Christ. Who will return as judge.

One lady at the training session said that her aim with the group she leads is "to keep them going as Christians for another week". A brilliant answer. And the way to keep people going, is not just to care for them, and look after their human needs for friendship, food and fun. It is to feed their souls by reminding them of what the Lord has done, is doing and will do for them. It is to remind them who they serve, and what he calls us to.

How does your homegroup match up to this standard?