As Americans, we have lost our moral compass and we are facing a national crisis today. Many years ago, a court determined the value and the sacredness of life. It was determined then that the sacredness of a women’s choice is more valuable than the sacredness of the life she carries. Then traditional wisdom at the time was the court decision would lesson the stress caused by abortion. Traditional wisdom was dead wrong. It has been the most divisive issue in American history. Today we are here, lamenting and grieving the decision that has caused the death of 36 million of the unborn. The issue now is one of sacredness of the truth; the issue then and now is the sacredness of life.
I hate to say it but in my opinion the battle is not getting better, it is getting bitterer. Hate continues to grow. License for hate continues to be given and the walls continue to go up. Today, the charge of intolerance is a very powerful weapon in the war of values. It takes very little to substantiate and carries a heavy emotional weight. Today, personal conviction is damned if it confronts a personal choice. The battle is not getting better, its getting bitterer – and that’s not good.
I would like to take a familiar story from the Old Testament, I would like to look at the story of the battle of Jericho found in Joshua chapter 6 in our Bible and Jesus’ Bible.
Then the Lord said to Joshua, “See, I have delivered Jericho into your hands, along with it’s king and it’s fighting men. March around the city once with all the armed men. Do this for six days. Have seven priests carry trumpets of rams’ horns in front of the ark. On the seventh day, march around the city seven times, with the priests blowing the trumpets. When you hear them sound a long blast on the trumpets, have all the people give a loud shout: then the wall of the city will collapse and the people will go up, every man straight in.
Exemplification Essay: Abortion is Wrong
For years many different people from many different walks of life have had different opinions about abortion. For some abortion is never wrong, for others under certain circumstances it is O.K., and for still some others it is never right. Abortion is wrong not only because it goes against what God has said, but also because most women are so rushed into and unsure about their decision they regret it later in life.
Although the Bible ; the old testament used by Jewish believers; both the new and old testaments used by Christian believers, does not specifically deal with abortion it does place validity on life before birth. Exodus 21:22-23 says: If men who are fighting hit a pregnant woman and she gives birth prematurely but there is no serious injury, the offender must be fined whatever the woman’s husband demands and the court allows. But if there is serious injury, you are to take life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, burn for burn, wound for wound, bruise for bruise (Quest NIV pg.235). Though this does not directly say abortion is wrong it does say that the loss of the fetus, “giving birth prematurely”, should be punished. Whether by a fine or by taking that man’s life as well. This shows that God considers the fetus to be alive and the unnatural death to be murder. The words that emphasize the value of fetus life are “take life for life” meaning the fetus is alive. Other verses that show the validity of life before birth are Psalms 139:13-17: 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. My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place. When I was woven together in the depths of the earth, your eyes saw my unformed body. All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be. How precious to me are your thoughts, O God! How vast is the sum of them (Quest NIV pg.678)! These explain that God has a plan for each personÕs life before they are even formed. They say how He cares so much for each one of us that He watches over us while we are still in the womb.